Desertification has had an acute impact in Africa, particularly in the Community of the Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD), which is characterised by climate ranging from hyper-arid to dry sub-humid. The local communities and their livelihoods are heavily dependent on the increasingly fragile natural resources. This note, conducted by the Sahara and Sahel Observatory (OSS) on the request from CEN-SAD, summarises the results obtained from available documentation and consultations from experts and practitioners for the preparation and implementation of the Great Green Wall in the region.

This annotated bibliography provides evidence that community tenure over forests can result in more forest cover and more species-rich forests, less deforestation and degradation, and fewer fires than some other approaches to protecting forests. The authors initiated the review by identifying relevant scholarly articles published since 2002 based on interviews with experts and keyword searches of databases.

Everyone agrees that logging and agriculture can cause deforestation. But does shifting cultivation, or ‘slash and burn’ farming destroy forests particularly? Are local farmers solely to blame? Recent research by Overseas Development Institute (ODI) suggests the role of shifting farming in starting forest fires has been exaggerated. It is not, in fact, a major cause of biodiversity loss. The report finds that the causes of deforestation are many and varied, and that governments and international investors are also responsible.

There is an increasing global demand for oil palm, but its production provokes societal debate on the environmental and social aspects that surround it, particularly in southeast Asia. This study, at the request of request of the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (LNV), ISRIC-World Soil Information, Alterra and Plant Research International, assessed the biophysical land suitability for the production of oil palm in Kalimantan, Indonesia.

This paper argues that legal reform of land tenure will not take place fast enough to enable developing countries to reduce carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation through REDD+. It highlights that a global agreement on REDD+ is needed by 2020, if the mechanism is to have a significant impact on mitigating climate change. However, legally defensible and enforceable land tenure rights, while a key enabling condition for effective and equitable REDD+, will not be achieved in most forest countries before this date.

Utilises a number of situations observed in tropical Asia to motivate a simple trade-theoretical analysis of the implications of technological progress in agriculture.

Large areas of the humid tropics are like mosaics, combining features of forests and agriculture and housing hundreds of millions of people. Land uses that store high quantities of carbon, such as agroforestry and other tree-based systems, make up a large part of those mosaic areas. Yet current discussions on reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) within the UNFCCC do not adequately address these land uses as part of a potential mitigation strategy.

This report analyses evidence linking community forest rights with healthier forests and lower carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.

This report examines the destruction and systematic plunder of Asia's greatest rainforests under former Indonesian president Suharto. The report focuses on the 1997-1998 forest fires in Indonesia that resulted in the burning of 10 million hectares of forests. Many of these fires were deliberately set by plantation owners who take advantage of the dry season to clear the forests and plant export crops like palm oil.

This paper provides a brief overview of the current knowledge and data on deforestation rates, research on the causes of deforestation and forest degradation and relevant policy options. It highlights issues of particular relevance to new discussions on reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) in developing countries at different stages of forest transition.

Using a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model this report identifies the links among economic growth, poverty alleviation, and natural resource degradation in Brazil.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief introduction to greenhouse and climate change, international frameworks, carbon sequestration and carbon trading. It focusses in particular on policy relating to Australia.The paper demonstrates that increasing levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have been identified as a major cause of global warming. The Kyoto Protocol set the collective target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions of industrialised countries by 5% of 1990 levels by 2008-2012.