The Program on Forests (PROFOR) supported a research project in the miombo ecoregion to address these and other issues that a REDD program in the region would be confronted with.

Deforestation and forest degradation have long been recognized as environmental problems, with concerns over conservation of natural habitats and biological diversity capturing both scientific and public attention.

Natural resources often stretch across borders that separate modern nation states. This can create conflict and limit opportunities for regulated consumption of their goods and services, but also provide opportunities for joint multinational efforts that exceed single country capabilities.

Many countries around the world are engaged in decentralization processes, and most African countries face serious problems with forest governance, from benefits sharing to illegality and sustainable forest management. This book summarizes experiences to date on the extent and nature of decentralization and its outcomes - most of which suggest an underperformance of governance reforms - and explores the viability of different governance instruments in the context of weak governance and expanding commercial pressures over forests.

As new mechanisms for ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation’ (REDD) are being negotiated in international climate change talks, resource tenure must be given greater attention.

Approximately 17 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions are caused by land-use change and, in particular, the destruction of tropical forests. Reducing land-use change and forest degradation has been shown as a cost-effective way of slowing carbon emissions compared to other mitigation strategies such as curbing emissions from power stations.

Small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) in Mozambique account for 95.8% of the formally registered enterprises in the forest sector and more than 99.9% of the enterprise numbers if the predominant informal enterprises are included. Total forest sector employment exceeds 600,000 people, 80% of which is based in SMFEs. Despite their significance to the economy and potential for sustainability and poverty reduction, SMFEs are poorly catered for by national policies and programmes.

Forests are not only important for the 1.6 billion people who depend on them for their livelihoods, but for the world’s population at large. Forests play a critical role in the Earth’s life support system, including global carbon and hydrological cycles. The Vital Forest Graphics provides an overview of the global trends in forest cover and looks specifically at the four largest forest ecosystems and analyses the trends and challenges in their conservation and management. It scrutinizes some of the key drivers behind forest loss, including the increasing demand for commodities and energy.

The annual value of small and medium forest enterprises (SMFEs) in Ethiopia amounts to hundreds of millions of dollars – dominated in rough order of value by fuelwood, herbal remedies, wild coffee, honey and beeswax and timber furniture. The majority of these enterprises are informal and remain largely unregulated and untaxed by any government authority.

The decentralization of control over the vast forests of the world is moving at a rapid pace, with both positive and negative ramifications for people and forests themselves. The fresh research from a host of Asia-Pacific countries described in this book presents rich and varied experience with decentralization and provides important lessons for other regions.

This book, written for a broad audience, is the first comprehensive introduction to the issues surrounding the health of people living in and around forests, particularly in Asia, South America and Africa.