Improving local rights and livelihoods by strenghtening the capacity of local forest and farm producer organisations to organise themselves around products, markets and policy. Researching the challenges small scale forestry enterprises face and what the enabling conditions are that will allow locally controlled forest enterprises to develop and become successfull, and the benefits of this alternative rural development model. Other research areas includes the impact of Chinese investment on Africa's forest, looking at land use sectors such as forestry, mining, infrastructure and agriculture and what the options are for improving these for long-term sustainable development.