To review draft report on “Demand and supply of timber in Asia-Pacific region, past and future trends”.

This work aims to provide a comprehensive, wall-to-wall analysis of land use/cover changes in the continental areas of Portugal and Spain between 1990 and 2012. This overall objective is developed into two main research questions: (1) Whether differences between the extent and prevalence of changes exist between both countries and (2) which are the hotspots of change (areas where a given land use/cover transition dominates the landscape) in each country.

Identifying protected areas most susceptible to climate change and deforestation represents critical information for determining conservation investments. Development of effective landscape interventions is required to ensure the preservation and protection of these areas essential to ecosystem service provision, provide high biodiversity value, and serve a critical habitat connectivity role.

The Verified Carbon Standard (VCS) recommends the Figure of Merit (FOM) as a possible metric to confirm models that simulate deforestation baselines for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). The FOM ranges from 0% to 100%, where larger FOMs indicate more-accurate simulations. VCS requires that simulation models achieve a FOM greater than or equal to the percentage deforestation during the calibration period.

In Indonesia, land cover change for agriculture and mining is threatening tropical forests, biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, land cover change is highly dynamic and complex and varies over time and space. In this study, we combined Landsat-based land cover (change) mapping, pixel-to-pixel cross tabulations and expert knowledge to analyze land cover change and forest loss in the West Kutai and Mahakam Ulu districts in East Kalimantan from 1990–2009.

In Indonesia, land cover change for agriculture and mining is threatening tropical forests, biodiversity and ecosystem services. However, land cover change is highly dynamic and complex and varies over time and space. In this study, we combined Landsat-based land cover (change) mapping, pixel-to-pixel cross tabulations and expert knowledge to analyze land cover change and forest loss in the West Kutai and Mahakam Ulu districts in East Kalimantan from 1990-2009.

Land restoration has received increased attention recently as a tool to counteract negative externalities of unsustainable land management on human well-being. This is reflected in targets of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Framework of the Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). However, the implications of these targets for land use, especially considering their potential conflict with growing food production demands, are largely unexplored.

The Rights-based Approach (RBA) allows local communities, or others who are marginalized, excluded or discriminated (the rights holders), to exercise their rights; and for institutions, organizations or other agencies (the duty bearers) to provide support towards equitable and inclusive development programmes that benefit them. RBA interventions can address inequities and disparities evident in these communities. In the context of the management of forested landscapes, RBA emphasizes the rights of local communities for fair benefits, access to resources, secure tenure and gender equity.

Biodiversity offsets seek to counterbalance loss of biodiversity due to major developments by generating equivalent biodiversity benefits elsewhere, resulting, at least in theory, in ‘no net loss’ (or even a ‘net positive gain’) in biodiversity. While local costs of major developments themselves receive significant attention, the local costs of associated biodiversity offsets have not.

Colombia’s Andean-Amazonian foothills are among the most pressing deforestation hotspots in the country. Yet, the relationships and dependencies of underlying deforestation drivers are not well understood. For an adequate territorial reorganization in the post-conflict era that is sensitive to local context, a targeted analysis of the present situation at the local level is required. This study investigates direct and indirect deforestation drivers, relationships among these and potential measures to lower deforestation post-conflict.

The successful reduction of emissions from deforestation and forest degradation requires forest governance to be efficient, effective and equitable. The concept of forest governance has evolved to engage public and private actors at many levels to make and enforce decisions that are clear, transparent, just, and lead to the sustainability of forests and the fair distribution of the benefits derived from their use. Forest governance also refers to the institutional, policy and legal dimensions addressing both direct and indirect drivers of forest loss and degradation.