This publication has two objectives. First, it analyzes the past research on deforestation and summarizes the findings of that research, in terms of its relevance to the development of future REDD regimes. Second, it highlights areas where future research and methodological development are needed to support national and international processes on avoided deforestation and degradation.

Cette etude a ete realisee en 1997-98 par le CIFOR en collaboration avec les institutions et les chercheurs camerounais, grace a l'appui financier du DFID du Royaume-Uni. Son objectif general est de compendre les causes qui expliqueraient le taux de deforestation beaucoup plus elevependantla crise economique (qui commenca en 1986) par rapport a ala periode avant le debut de la crise. Le project de recherche a examine les effects de la crise sur les migrations, les systemes de cultures, la division sexuelle du travail et leur incidence sur le couvert forestier.

A sample survey of 648 households was conducted in 54 villages in the humid forest zone of Cameroon to understand the effect of the economic crisis (dating from 1986) and the 1994 currency devaluation on the practices of small farmers, and the effect of these practices on forest cover change. Four hypotheses were tested concerning: the balance between plantation crop and food crop production; the degree of market-orientation of food crop production; the gender division of labour; and the degree of dependence on non-timber forest products (NTFPs).

This study analyses seven factors used to explain the conversion of forest to pasture in Central America between 1979 and 1994: 1) favourable markets for livestock products; 2) subsidised credit and road construction; 3) land-tenure policies; 4) limited technological change in livestock production; 5) policies which reduce timber values; 6) reduced levels of political violence; and 7) characteristics specific to cattle which make conversion attractive. Deforestation rates in Central America declined in the 1980s, but remained high.

For many decades, concerned by the undeniable deforestation data, environmental management hasincluded re-vegetation activities in unforested areas intended to (re)create a forest environment.

Meningkatnya laju deforestasi secara signifikan selama kurun waktu 1970-an sampai tahun 2000-an berdampak pada semakin tingginya desakan terhadap penegakan hukum kejahatan kehutanan yang lebih efektif dan komprehensif. Umumnya penanganan tindak pidana di bidang kehutanan hanya diproses berdasarkan ketentuan dalam Undang-Undang Kehutanan. Beberapa laporan dan hasil studi menyebutkan bahwa penanganan tersebut kurang efektif dalam menghentikan tindak pidana kehutanan.

Assessing forest changes is the baseline requirement for successful forest management. Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) are three essential components for achieving such assessments. Community participation in resource monitoring and management is increasingly seen as a scientifically efficient, cost-effective, and equitable way to employ such practices, particularly in the context of REDD+. We developed a multidisciplinary approach to study the feasibility of Participatory MRV (PMRV) across three sites along a forest degradation gradient in Indonesia.

As the problems of impact assessement are rather intractable, a fairly simple dual approach is proposed. First the major components of environmental impact of current agricultural production systems in Africa (i.e. impact of cropping, livestock keeping, fuelwood and timber extraction and burning) are summarised. Second, "danger zones" in which current and future environmental impacts will be most severe and on which ILCA has focused its problem solving-research is identified.

Four types of policies could reduce deforestation: policies to depress agricultural rent, policies to increase and capture forest rent, policies that directly regulate land use, and cross-sector policies that underpin the first three. While payments for environmental services (PES) have clear advantages, in the early stages of REDD+ implementation, broader policies which address underlying causes are more feasible and likely to be more successful. REDD+ is a new direction in forest conservation.