This occasional paper is the result of research carried out from 2006 to 2008 on the effects of new tenure rights for forest-based communities in Latin America on access to forest resources and benefits. Focused on seven different regions in four countries, the paper examines changes in statutory rights, the implementation of those rights in practice, and the extent to which they have led to tangible new benefits from forests, particularly to new sources of income.

This study adopts an institutional approach to analyze the way in which informal rules, in their interaction with formal rules, shape the use of forest resources by diverse types of smallholders and communities (i.e., indigenous people, agro-extractive and traditional communities) in Latin America. Attention is given to understanding the ‘working rules’, comprising both formal and informal rules, that individuals use in making their decisions for land and forest resources access and use, which in turn affect benefits generation and distribution from such resources use.

In Slovenia, the Natura 2000 network covers 35.5% of its territory or 286 areas, encompassing 10 forest habitat types. The majority of indicators for the assessment of the conservation status and changes of forest habitat types are to be estimated within the forest management planning framework. In this paper, a hierarchical concept of forest habitat types monitoring in Pohorje Mts (810 km2) was examined and presented, based on landscape structure and position of habitat types in this structure.

Opportunities for forest managers to gain knowledge and skills in participatory resource management processes are still limited. A recent survey by IUCN has brought this out where a third of PA managers indicated that one of the areas priority training areas for them was related to sustainable development. Recognising the need for such training, a number of organisations including CARE, FAO, MSTCDC, RECOFTC and WWF initiated a series of workshops and training courses on different facets of this topic. 

Under present and foreseeable economic and social trends in the Asia-Pacific region, can we achieve sustainable forest management and better realize the potential of forests and forestry to contribute to improved human well-being? 

The Asia-Pacific region is experiencing rapid changes. There is a major need to strengthen capacities to assist countries and forestry stakeholders to respond in ways that benefit both people and forests.

Over the last two decades, Vietnam has made significant progress in forest tenure reform, which aims to meaningfully include all relevant stakeholders in the management of forest resources. Under these reforms, forest area officially under the management of local people has expanded from almost nothing in the early 1990s to nearly 3.5 million ha (27% of the national forest area) in 2006. However, until now little is known about the extent to which such tenure reform has worked in practice and how it has affected local people’s livelihoods and wellbeing.