The present paper is a non-academic and thus, hopefully, unpretentious, attempt at reviewing the literature on the the role of local institutions and their interaction in disaster risk mitigation (DRM). What will be found on the following pages is a non-exhaustive compendium of strengths and…

Growing trees with crops has environmental and economic implications. Trees can help prevent landdegradation and increase biodiversity while at the same time allow for the continued use of the land toproduce agricultural crops. In fact, growing trees alongside crops is known to improve both the…

How does the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) affect the livelihoods of rural women in Asia? This paper, prepared on the occasion of the WTO-AOA review in 2003, analyzes the impact of the new trading rules imposed by the WTO on Asian peasants. It illustrates…

Overproduction of coffee and low coffee prices have resulted in a global crisis affecting the people and biodiversity of many tropical countries. The authors, from the Wildlife Conservation Society in Indonesia, describe expanding production of low-quality robusta coffee, which contributes to…

This report summarises two separate Friends of the Earth reports on, respectively, the increasing demand for palm oil in developed countries, and the social and environmental impacts of palm oil cultivation in Southeast Asia - focussing particularly on Indonesia. Based on an analysis of the…

This report presents a collection of case studies which focus on processes of conflict management and resolution and the different ways and means that conflicts are addressed. The authors examine the intervention strategies, methods and tools employed by different actors, as well as the…

CIFOR facilitated 27 communities in the Upper Malinau watershed to develop agreements about their village boundaries and map them through participatory methods. Decentralization reforms created new values of forest resources and uncertainties that increased conflict over local resources. The…

This simple manual is intended for general guidelines on traditional methods in managing natural resources. It is based on the indigenous/traditional knowledge of people of Dayak Kenyah Uma' Jalan society, East Kutai, Kalimantan, Indonesia. Local traditional knowledge is one of the…

CIFOR facilitated 27 communities in the Upper Malinau watershed to develop agreements about their village boundaries and map them through participatory methods. Decentralization reforms created new values of forest resources and uncertainties that increased conflict over local resources. We…

This paper is an overview of participatory forest management in relation with property rights issue. It highlights the difficulty in defining property rights. Although the issues presented are applicable throughout tropical Asia, albeit less so in the Pacific, this paper is based primarily on…