Forests blogs
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China’s investments, Africa’s forests: from raw deals to mutual gains?
19 June 2019The grand-scale Belt and Road Initiative is driving ever greater Chinese investment in Africa’s forests. But will the benefits of this ‘development’ reach local people? And will it be sustainable? A recent IIED project in Cameroon highlights both the potential and the pitfalls of surging investment.
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Vietnamese forest and farm producers work towards more resilient livelihoods and landscapes
27 May 2019As the UN launches the Decade of Family Farming, Duncan Macqueen considers the role of the Forest and Farm Facility programme in improving incomes, employment and sustainable agricultural practices for Vietnamese farmers
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Modern food systems to emerge in new decade of family farming
4 April 2019Global farmers affirmed the vital relevance of small-holders at the World Rural Forum in Bilbao, Spain recently, highlighting how through innovative approaches they will contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals over the next ten years
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Incendiary observations from the 4th FLARE conference
22 October 2018Researchers into forest livelihoods recently met in Copenhagen to share ideas on how to support forests, sustainable forestry and forest peoples. Duncan Macqueen reports back on some of the highlights
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Locally controlled forest enterprises are the whole enchilada
10 September 2018Duncan Macqueen explains how community forest enterprises in Mexico are already supporting the integrated delivery of the SDGs
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Crucial agreement with China could save Mozambique’s forests
14 August 2018Chinese companies can help Mozambique conserve country’s threatened forests, writes Duncan Macqueen
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Mass mobilisation: boosting businesses and protecting forests
20 March 2018As Phase I of the Forest and Farm Facility partnership closes, Duncan Macqueen reflects on its impressive achievements and the role that the mass mobilisation of forest and farm producers has played in its success
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Forest rights create new livelihoods in Myanmar
5 December 2017In Myanmar, the National League for Democracy (NLD) is transferring the rights to forest land – and all its potential bounty – to local communities. Duncan Macqueen explains how this important move, supported by peer-to-peer learning, is helping to establish new long-term livelihoods
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If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise…
27 October 2017Bwindi Impenetrable National Park is a magnet for tourists wanting to see gorillas in the wild, but surrounding communities don't get much revenue from the tourist trade. Dilys Roe describes a project that is helping local people who live close to the edge of the forest to develop products and activities that will attract visitors – and much-needed income
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Shaping the future of forest and farm landscapes in Africa
21 August 2017As part of a new interdisciplinary partnership, IIED will be working with sector experts, scientists and practitioners to better understand and manage the growing competition for land in Sub-Saharan Africa, as governments seek to balance food production with forest conservation targets
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Protecting Cameroon's forests: a fishy business?
28 July 2017Projects that invest in more efficient fish smoking businesses are improving livelihoods and conserving mangrove forests on Cameroon's coastline. Valuable lessons in forest protection can be taken from the coast, deep into the country's rainforests.
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Restorative insights at the pool in Kigali
8 June 2017A recent meeting in Rwanda concluded that enabling investment in business capacity development is vital to get small-scale forest entrepreneurs ready for 'asset investment' – and promote forest landscape restoration at scale
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A Chinese passion: adding value to Mozambique's timber exports
10 April 2017Mozambique wants to encourage a timber industry that creates jobs and adds value: Duncan Macqueen visited one Chinese company keen to do just that and saw how an IIED-led project is providing support
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Bridging the two worlds of carbon forestry
5 April 2017Drones and satellites swirl overhead to monitor our forests. Computers churn out calculations of forest growth, while carbon markets ring up transactions. This is the backdrop to carbon credits that are financing forest conservation. But how do local people fit into this fast-evolving world of technology?
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Cameroon's real indomitable lions are in the forest
20 March 2017A planning mission to Cameroon's community forests by the CoNGOs project team found the Baka people brimming with business ideas, but needing a little help from their friends
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Business incubation motivates fire management
6 March 2017Entrepreneurs from forest communities in Belize are embarking on new businesses ventures, where the products and services come from the forest itself. As well as supporting livelihoods, driving these businesses forward doubles up as an incentive to protect the forests from fire
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How much can the eyes in the sky really tell us about deforestation?
11 January 2017A recent study by the University of Edinburgh and IIED reveals the limitations of remote sensing technology to monitor the impacts of agriculture expansion on forests in Sub-Saharan Africa
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In the king's wake
20 December 2016As part of a recent meeting in Bangkok, forest and farm producers heard about initiatives that add value to forest products and motivate farmers to plant trees – particularly significant in light of progressive ideas on sustainability championed by Thailand's late king
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Bamboozled by bamboo?
9 December 2016A workshop in Ecuador heard how a new toolkit is helping practitioners get to grips with risk in locally controlled forest and farm business
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Community forest-farm business training under way in Belize
14 September 2016IIED and partners are providing business training to community groups hoping to set up forest-farm enterprises in the pine woodlands of southern Belize. The project aims to promote conservation, community-based fire risk management and just and sustainable use of woodland resources
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Investing in locally controlled forestry – a planetary-scale solution for forests and people
7 September 2016Smallholder farmers who live in and around tropical forests are critical to protecting forest landscapes
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Seeds of the post-capitalist forest?
11 February 2016Could innovative local organisations working with forests, together with the Paris climate agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and global financial crisis help deliver us into a post-capitalist era
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Flaming parrots and palmetto palms
8 February 2016A new business opportunity could help protect Belize's Yellow-headed parrots and benefit local communities as well
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The Paris Agreement, SDGs and simple local monitoring
7 January 2016How can we minimise monitoring costs and make sure that money intended for local "development" ends up with the people who need it?
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REDD+: missionaries, conservation fortresses and the politics of carbon landscapes in Africa
23 December 2015As a new book warns that carbon forestry in Africa is heading for failure, representing little more than "green grabbing", Isilda Nhantumbo argues that we need to urgently learn the lessons about what works and what doesn't when it comes to forest (and carbon) management