Paul Wolfowitz, President of the World Bank, congratulated the editorial team of National Geographic for the special issue on Africa. National Geographic has played a unique role in broadening the knowledge of the world. The World Bank partnered with National Geographic to produce a full-color wall map to raise awareness of the millennium development goals (MDGs) and to highlight each country's progress. We often hear about an Africa that is ravaged by poverty, disease and conflict. There is another face to Africa, one of hope, ambition, energy, intelligence and achievement.

Le présent Décret fixe les modalités d'application de la loi n° 2003-308 du 07 juillet 2003 portant transfert et répartition de compétences de l'Etat aux Collectivités Territoriales en matière de protection de l’environnement et de gestion des ressources naturelles, notamment la protection des forêts, la gestion et la protection des cours d’eau nationaux et internationaux; la gestion des déchets, la protection de la biodiversité, la lutte contre la pollution, la gestion des aires protégées; la gestion du littoral.

"Although locals were unfamiliar with even the local term for ‘biodiversity' they readily understood the concept and its importance after a brief explanation. Furthermore, it became clear that, as a result of the security of use rights in their community forests, locals did indeed value species for their contribution to the overall health of the ecosystem regardless of any other benefits they may bring."

This Regulation determines the conditions for: management, assignment of maintenance and restoration activities; assignment of tourist activities; implementation of forest security and control issues; implementation of management issues as regards the water areas present on the territory of previously designed state owned protected areas (also for national parks, reserves).The management and assignment of activities here listed will be in full accordance with the national strategies, plans and programmes in the field of environment, including the requirements of the international environmen

In the kingdom of Thailand, forest ecosystems play a pivotal role in the livelihoods of both rural and urban communities. Rural communities depend upon the forest as a source of food, shelter and income, whereas urban communities rely on forests to sustain the hydrological cycle and as a venue for recreational activities.

ABSTRACT:
Some countries have gained control of their forest-exploiting industries through
advanced regulatory regimes. But stricter regulation usually displaces forestexploitation
into countries with weaker regulatory regimes. The most important
current example is the shift of forest-exploitation for the Chinese market from
China into Southeast Asia following the logging ban in China in 1998. In this
paper we describe and document the impact of the logging ban after the 1998

SUMMARY:
"Myanmar is one of the most forested countries in
mainland South-east Asia. These forests support a
large number of important species and endemics and
have great value for global efforts in biodiversity
conservation. Landsat satellite imagery from the
1990s and 2000s was used to develop a countrywide
forest map and estimate deforestation. The country
has retained much of its forest cover, but forests
have declined by 0.3% annually. Deforestation varied
considerably among administrative units, with central

This summary of the Report of the Ndungu Commission on Illegal and Irregular Allocation of Public Land provides an insight into a critical recent episode in the struggles over land and graft in Kenya. Includes land and demography in Kenya; the law relating to the allocation of land; the Commission’s findings – (1) urban, state and ministries’ land, (2) settlement schemes and trust lands, (3) forest lands, national parks, wetlands, riparian resources and protected areas; the Commission’s recommendations; commentary.

Community forestry has no doubt come a long way towards becoming part of mainstream forestry in some countries. However, its potential to make a difference in the management of the forestry sector and rural development is yet to be widely recognized.

Desde la llegada de los españoles Chile ha sufrido grandes cambios en el paisaje forestal, particularmente a partir del siglo XIX. Las grandes pérdidas de bosques fueron causadas originalmente por la apertura de tierras para la agricultura y la ganadería. El período de destrucción indiscriminada de los bosques corresponde a la primera Etapa de "Explotación" de los recursos de acuerdo a la clasificación establecida por Kimmins, para describir el nivel de desarrollo forestal de los países.

This new report from FAO and CIFOR challenges the conventional wisdom linking large-scale flooding to deforestation. The report acknowledges that forests can play a role in minimising runoff that causes localised flooding. But it concludes that there is no evidence that a loss of trees significantly contributes to severe widespread flooding. Even at the local level, the report notes, the flood-reducing effects of forests are heavily dependent on soil depth and structure, and saturation levels, not exclusively on the presence of the trees.

The Sixth Schedule of the Constitution of India, enacted fifty years ago, allows autonomy to tribal communities in administrative, legislative and financial matters and was supposed to protect them from domination and exploitation by external forces. This paper examines the extent to which self-governance by tribal groups facilitated sustainability of common resources, especially forests, in the hill regions of North East India.