Projects
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 |
Paying for RestorationBackgroundThe authors examine the payments for ecosystem services and review strategies for funding ecological restoration. They do so by conducting a literature review that is focused on two main questions: "how should ecological and economic considerations be balanced in determining expenditures on restoration projects? how is society going to pay for the substantial costs involved?" Available with subscription or purchase |
Forest Landscape Restoration Opportunity Assessment for RwandaBackgroundRwanda is a densely populated, landlocked country that relies significantly on non-mechanized agriculture. In 2011, the country also committed to restore 2 million hectares of forest and agricultural land to the Bonn Challenge. The government has recognized the Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) approach as the ideal means to achieving this goal. Open access copy available |
Strategies for Landscape-Scale Restoration in the TropicsAboutThis publication summarizes the proceedings from the 2012 Conference of the International Society of Tropical Foresters, Yale Student Chapter, which took place on January 26-28,2012 at Yale University in New Haven, CT. Open access copy available |