Nearly two-thirds of West Africa’s remaining rainforests are in the small but troubled nation of Liberia. That is a small miracle. A decade ago, Liberia’s forests were being stripped bare by warlords to fund a vicious 14-year civil war that left 150,000 dead. In 2003, the United Nations belatedly imposed an embargo on Liberian “logs of war.” Revenues crashed and, coincidentally or not, the war swiftly came to an end.

UGRA NATIONAL PARK, Kaluga Region — Viktor Grishenkov uses the weight of his spade to open a slit in the sandy ground, inserts a 30-centimeter oak seedling into the hole and packs the earth tight around it with his foot.

31 May 2011: The Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) has released its annual report, titled "Focus on Forests: Time to Act," which includes eight stories outlining CIFOR's global work.

Dear colleagues,

Kees Stigter and Mohan Reddy Vishwavaram make a fair point in their article "A Plea for a REDD++ approach". Having said that it seems we, the environmentally conscious community-of-practice are either suffering from mass amnesia, or are determined to remain on the fringe of global development/environmental discourse or we are simply talking past one another.

South Sudan’s tropical montane forests are fast disappearing according to new analysis by PRINS Engineering. At current rates, Mount Dongotomea, located in South Sudan’s most biodiverse ecosystem, could be completely stripped of tree cover by 2020.

Global study finds forests provide one-fifth of household income in rural communities and says access for them should be prioritised in REDD-type conservation projects

A CQUniversity researcher has spent the past two and half years investigating ways to reduce carbon emissions to positively impact on climate change, while reducing poverty in developing countries.

PhD researcher Thakur Bhattarai has been looking into the impact of carbon trading on developing countries and hopes to convince governments on policies that will maintain the integrity of forests and improve the well-being of forest communities.

Despite a whole range of national efforts, Nigeria’s environmental performance on the global scene still appears dismal. In fact, the 56.2 score recorded in a recent Environmental Performance Index (EPI) ranks the country 126th out of 149 nations surveyed.

Ministers have agreed to back plans to introduce a legally binding agreement to protect Europe's forests.

Delegates also agreed to adopt resolutions that would help shape forest policy over the next decade.

An enviromental organisation has been established in Port St Johns to assist communities in 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),

THE United Nations says it will closely monitor all the funds it will give Zambia for climate change projects.

And the UN has given Zambia US$4.5 million for the implementation of the UN-REDD plus project.

In an interview, United Nations Development Plan (UNDP) environment finance advisor for Africa Josep Gari said corruption was undermining the country’s development.

Gari said the UN would set up an anti-corruption initiative to ensure that the funds were put to good use.