This report presents guidelines which provide a basis for planning and implementation of nation wide village forest inventories integrated with or independent of a national forest inventory. It provides coverage of survey problems arising from the variety of spatial distribution conditions of forests and trees under village management landscapes. The guidelines cover survey planning, survey design, survey implementation and survey analysis /evaluation.

Vietnam has pilot-tested a payment for forest environmental services (PFES) program in an effort to restore and protect forest areas, some of which have been severely degraded by the excessive cutting of trees by small-scale farmers planting annual crops on steep, sloping lands. The pilot program implemented in southern Vietnam seems to be successful, yet the program in northern Vietnam has not produced the desired rates of planting and maintaining forest areas.

Gold and diamond mining constitute more than half of all mineral exploitation worldwide and an estimated 6 to 9 million artisanal miners are active in the gold and diamond sector. Africa hosts a third of the world’s natural mineral wealth, among which 65 percent of global diamond deposits. While mineral exploitation contributes to the livelihoods of many, it also generally leaves a negative impact on the environment, which may ultimately be detrimental to livelihoods.

Nepal introduced various community based forest management (CBFM) programmesthat aim to improve forest management while improving the livelihoods of the forest dependent poor. One of these programmes is the Leasehold Forestry and Livestock Programme (LFLP). Various studies have demonstrated its positive impacts but severa studies also pointed out its unintentional negative impacts. This policy brief presents implementation and related design constraints facing the LFLP and suggests ways to resolve them and improve programme outcomes.

This study analyzes the past, current and potential future deforestation resulting from the improvement of the road segment between San Juan Nepomuceno and the 6th route (PR-L1080) in Southeastern Paraguay. For the purpose of the analysis, the study used satellite images to detect deviations from the usual pattern of vegetation and thus identify anthropogenic change. The deforestation baseline in the study area was defined using Landsat imagery from 1987 to 2014.

This research project was initiated in 1995 to address some concerns of many people, including scientists, who were questioning the prospects of tropical plantations established in short-rotation forestry as a sustainable natural resource. It is an international partnership of public and private organisations coordinated by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR). It is based on the proposition that productivity is the foundation of successful plantation forestry managed for wood production and/or ecosystem services.