Projects
Maintenance of Hydropower Potential in Rwanda Through Ecosystem Restoration: World Resources Report Case StudyBackgroundRwanda’s rapidly expanding electricity production is highly reliant on hydropower. However, hydropower as a sole source presents risks during changing global and regional hydrological conditions. Open access copy available |
What does it take? The role of incentives in forest plantation development in Asia and the PacificBackgroundThe Asia-Pacific region has a significant amount of diverse forest cover. While many countries have experience deforestation, the remaining forests are still valued for their ecosystem services and timber products. To protect these two benefits, severa government have promoted forest plantations as a forest management strategy. This reports assess the impact of incentives on forest plantation development. Open access copy available |
Modelling Deforestation in Dzalanyama Forest Reserve, Lilongwe, Malawi: Using Multi-agent Simulation ApproachBackgroundThe Dzalanyama Forest Reserve is a 90,000 + hectare area in Lilongwe, Malwi. There has been an increase in charcoal production in the area leading to land cover transitions in the reserve, particularly that forest cover decreased by 22,000 ha over a twenty year span between 1990 and 2010. Open access copy available |
Dipterocarp Forest Ecosystems: Towards Sustainable ManagementBackgroundThis book describes the difficult problem of sustainably managing the valuable resources of Dipterocarp forests in Southeast Asia. It highlights the social, economic, and forest management challenges associated with Dipterocarp governance and attempts to reconcile the often disparate roles of forest scientists and local community managers. Available with subscription or purchase |
Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture: Contributing to Food Security and Sustainability in a Changing WorldbackgroundThis report identifies challenges in current agricultural production and argues for the incorporation of biodiverse agricultural practices to best realize sustainable development goals. Open access copy available |
National Forest Policy of MalawiBackgroundIn Malawi, there has been extensive forest degradation, estimated at an annual loss of 2.8%. The degradation is caused by a variety of factors, including agriculture expansion, human settlement, fire use, timber and non-timber over extraction. The 2016 Forest Policy of Malawi outlines a policy-approach to stop and revert these trends. Open access copy available |
The World Bank Forest Strategy: Striking the Right BalancebackgroundIn response to the changing dynamics of the forest sector and global economy, the World Bank launched a Forest Policy Implementation Review and Strategy process. Through this process the Operations and Evaluation Department (OED) was asked to conduct an independent evaluation of the Bank's 1991 Forest Strategy, which is reviewed in this report. Available with subscription or purchase |
Towards Productive LandscapesBackgroundIncreasingly, practitioners, scientists, and policymakers are recognizing the need to puruse integrated landscape level initiatives to address restoration issues. Given this, this report draws on 29 papers by practitioners all over the world that highlight both the successes and challenges of landscape approaches in order to inform the future of these practices. Open access copy available |
Payments for Environmental Services: Some Nuts and BoltsBackgroundThis paper reviews current literature and considers observations from Latin America and Asia to describe Payment for Environmental Services (PES) strategies. Research Goals & MethodsThis paper aims to help demystify PES for non-economists, starting with a simple and coherent definition of the term. Open access copy available |
A Cost-Benefit Framework for Analyzing Forest Landscape Restoration DecisionsBackgroundThis report provides a cost-benefit analysis of forest land restoration (FLR) decisions with a focus on African countries. It seeks to help decision makers "set prices for payment for ecosystem services, identify sources of restoration finance, identify low-cost/high-benefit pathways towards carbon sequestration, and identify priority landscapes for restoration based on return-on-investment analysis." Open access copy available |