A debate over the need to conserve forests versus converting them for industrial use grew heated last week at Australian National University (ANU).

A forum brought together policy experts, scientists, and a forestry lobbyist to discuss Australia's role in overseas forestry. But an exchange between William F. Laurance, an ecologist at James Cook University, and Alan Oxley, a former Australian trade ambassador who lobbies on behalf of forestry interests, became the focus of the event.

The co-founder of an initiative that discourages illegal logging by bringing affordable, high quality health care to impoverished communities in Indonesian Borneo has been recognized with a prestigious conservation award.

Dr. Hotlin Ompusunggu, co-founder of Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI), was this week awarded the £30,000 Whitley Award during a ceremony hosted in London by Princess Anne.

Himachal Pradesh became the first State in the country on Sunday to sign an agreement with the World Bank for securing carbon credits for its ‘Clean Development Mechanism' project in 11 watershed divisions under Mid Himalayan Watershed Development Project.

KUALA LUMPUR, June 3 (Bernama) -- Malaysia received RM43 million in official development aid (ODA) from the European Union (EU) last year to promote legal timber trade and sustainable forest management.

In a statement Friday, the EU Delegation to Malaysia said the EU was also funding projects for small and middle enterprises to commercialise products made of biomass and for making batik production cleaner and safer for the workers.

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania (15 June, 2011)_Driving along a narrow country road leading towards the Rubeho mountains in Central Tanzania’s Kilosa district, we come across bicycle after bicycle loaded with sacks of charcoal, heading towards sprawling urban centres.

The forest organization, FERN, has pulled its support from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), reports FSC-Watch. FERN has quit the increasingly troubled organization due to FSC pursuing carbon credits through forestry. The FSC loses FERN just weeks before its 6th General Assembly, in which FSC partners—including private corporations and some environmental groups—will meet to debate current practices.

Islamabad—Speakers on a seminar demanded revision of forest laws addressing landownership and judicious distribution of royalty in forest communities. Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here organized, “A Roundtable Conference on Sustainable Forest Management”. Prof. Dr. Babar Shahbaz University of Agriculture Faisalabad, said provision of livelihood opportunities, alternate energy sources and removal of ban on harvesting of trees necessary for sustainable forest management.

This paper reviews three leading forest sector policy approaches relevant to benefit-sharing for reduc- ing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+): payments for ecosystem services, also known as payments for environmental services (PES), participatory forest management (PFM),

We examine five forested landscapes in Africa (Cameroon, Madagascar, and Tanzania) and Asia (Indonesia and Laos) at different stages of landscape change. In all five areas, forest cover (outside of protected areas) continues to decrease despite local people’s recognition of the importance of forest products and services. After forest conversion, agroforestry systems and fallows provide multiple functions and valued products, and retain significant biodiversity. But there are indications that such land use is transitory, with gradual simplification and loss of complex agroforests and fallows as land use becomes increasingly individualistic and profit driven. In Indonesia and Tanzania, farmers favor monocultures (rubber and oil palm, and sugarcane, respectively) for their high financial returns, with these systems replacing existing complex agroforests. In the study sites in Madagascar and Laos, investments in agroforests and new crops remain rare, despite government attempts to eradicate swidden systems and their multifunctional fallows. We discuss approaches to assessing local values related to landscape cover and associated goods and services. We highlight discrepancies between individual and collective responses in characterizing land use tendencies, and discuss the effects of accessibility on land management. We conclude that a combination of social, economic, and spatially explicit assessment methods is necessary to inform land use planning. Furthermore, any efforts to modify current trends will require clear incentives, such as through carbon finance. We speculate on the nature of such incentive schemes and the possibility of rewarding the provision of ecosystem services at a landscape scale and in a socially equitable manner.

BRUNEI'S deforestation rate from 2005 to 2010 was among the lowest in Southeast Asia, according to the Centre for People and Forests (RECOFTC).

During the period, deforestation in Brunei was recorded at an average annual rate of change of less than 0.5 per cent.

Laos shared a similar record in forest cover with Brunei, but the republic suffered a higher annual rate of change, of slightly over negative 0.5 per cent.

Delegates meeting at the 16th UN Climate Change Conference held in Cancún, in December 2010, agreed on a framework for addressing the essential elements needed for comprehensive international action on climate change – the Cancún Agreements.