This volume contains proceedings of a historic workshop held in December 2005 that has brought clarity to the concept of community forestry in Liberia. The workshop addressed a wide range of issues pertaining to community forestry, based on presentations from a range of experts, local community representatives, policy makers, researchers and the donor community. The ‘Monrovia Declaration’ adopted by the wide cross-section of stakeholders in Liberian forestry who attended the workshop, sets out a framework for future action on community forestry based on a common understanding of how the concept can be made practical in the Liberian context. It was the unanimous view of all workshop participants that community forestry had great potential to act as the motor for sustainable development of Liberia’s rural areas, and within an integrated framework that will help safeguard the country’s rich and diverse forest for posterity.
Tag: conferences
Ethnicity and resource use in the Kouilou (Congo): a paper presented at the 5th International Congress of Ethnobiology, Nairobi (Kenya), National Museum of Kenya,
From Rio to Johannesburg and beyond: forest conservation and rural livelihoods in the global South
In the last few years, forests have lost their previous prominence on the international agenda. The forestry and conservation community needs to work hard to change that because forests can contribute greatly to meeting the challenges of poverty, disease, access to clean water, biodiversity conservation, climate change and violent conflict. There have been more successes than most policy-makers realize, particularly in the areas of devolving rights over forests to disadvantaged groups and forest restoration. Poverty Reduction Strategies should ensure that poor people maintain access to forest safety nets and provide support for small-scale forest-based enterprises. Biodiversity conservation strategies in developing countries should: 1) reduce incentives for forest destruction, 2) give rights to groups that are less likely to destroy forests; 3) pay people to conserve biodiversity, and 4) focus on landscape mosaics, in addition to supporting protected areas. World leaders should recognize the potential contribution of forests to global peace and take action to realize that potential.
Forests in the pressure of global policy making
Report on Discussion Forum on Information Services in the Asia-Pacific and AGRIS/CARIS in the 21st Century – An Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation
The information available to researchers in today’s world and the technology to access and utilise it is expanding rapidly. Unfortunately, most forestry and forestry research organisations in the Asia-Pacific region neither have access to nor can utilise effectively the vast amount of existing information for decision making. A number of organisations in the region share common objectives to develop capacity in the forestry research sector. To this end, representatives of the ASEAN Forest Tree Seed Centre (AFTSC) Project, ASEAN Institute of Forest Management (AIFM), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), International Development Research Council (IDRC) and CAB International (CABI), and the Forestry Research Support Programme for Asia and the P acific (FORSPA) proposed solutions through collaborative activities. This report is the proceedings of the discussion forum on Information Services in the Asia-Pacific held at Bogor, Indonesia, from October 30 to 1 November 1996. The list of perceived needs generated by a preliminary survey guided the deliberations of the forum. Participants identified priority goals, action plans for their achievement and responsible agents/ agencies, expected time frames and likely costs. The Integrated Information System for the Agricultural Sciences and Technology (AGRIS) and the Current Agricultural Research Information System (CARIS) are part of the FAO’s larger network providing an extensive, worldwide database of information on research in agriculture and related issues. To address the issue of AGRIS/CARIS in the 21st century, an Asia-Pacific Regional Consultation was held in conjunction with the discussion forum. This report documents the discussions designed to enhance cooperative activities and develop new approaches to improve the coverage of forestry literature in AGRIS and for forestry research information in CARIS among the countries in the Asia-Pacific region; as well as review new developments in information technology and their impacts on information providers and users. A detailed, independent review was recommended to evaluate AGRIS and CARIS, and their future directions in the 21st century with special attention to the coverage of forestry information
The global forest fund from Rio to IFF4: what issues remain
The paper reviewed the ongoing international forest policy deliberation on finance issues, and specifically a proposal to establish an international forest fund. The paper includes annexes from the report of the final sessions of the Intergovernmental Panel on Forests and the Intergovernmental Forum on Forests. Justifications given for Global Forests Fund include the need to pay for international public goods produced by forests and for the cost of making the transition to sustainable forest management practices. Opponents of the Global Forest Fund advocate better use of the existing funds before calling for a new mechanism. This paper provide a basis for further discussion by the Oslo Workshop of issues left unresolved.
How do we set the reference levels for REDD payments?
Information and dataset system on the rehabilitation of degraded tropical forest ecosystems project for international network
This information and dataset system aims to facilitate international exchange and synthesis of the scientific and technical information based on results of the CIFOR/Japan project on the rehabilitation of degraded tropical forest ecosystems. There are two main pathways. One path integrates general information at the study site from annual reports, site map, remote sensing data, aerial chart and vegetation map into plot data of each site. Their outputs are data on site condition, vegetation, soil, climate, etc. which are accessible to the public. Another path is to accumulate experimental raw data into “Download” the use of which is restricted and requires a password. Version 1 of this system is experimentally located on the website at: http://www.ffpri.affrc.go.jp/labs/fmrt/cifor/start.htm
Cultivating communities of practice: the CGIAR Fund information management professionals’ experience
A community of practice (CoP) is defined as a group who share a common concern or a commitment towards a goal, and find solutions to common problems. Successful collaboration through CoPs is well documented in current literature. Presently, information providers face bigger challenges in servicing the requirements of end-users and stakeholders. Information and communication technologies (ICT) altered the format, quantity, and quality of information, access points, and the way libraries support organizations. Moreover, agricultural research has become multidisciplinary, embracing the fields of biophysics and the social sciences, so that no single library can provide information as expected by scientists. This paper traces teh development of the CoP of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR Fund) information managemnet professionals (IMPs) and discusses the issues, challenges, constraints, activities and future plans.
Property rights and participatory forest management: an overview
This paper is an overview of participatory forest management in relation with property rights issue. It highlights the difficulty in defining property rights. Although the issues presented are applicable throughout tropical Asia, albeit less so in the Pacific, this paper is based primarily on the author’s experience in Indonesia, and almost all of examples are from indonesia. This paper discuss the diversity and changing nature of property rights and continues with a discussion on the issue of communities demanding the rights and possible responses of the government. At the end it presents a short review on participation of local communities in forest management.