The IMF’s April 2025 Regional Economic Outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa presents a clear warning: regional growth is slowing, debt pressures are mounting, and donor assistance is declining. Yet the report outlines critical opportunities particularly in domestic revenue mobilization, structural reform, and private sector activation that can shape a more resilient …
This paper develops a broad framework to conceptualize the multiple ways forests contribute to poverty reduction and inform interventions in forest landscapes. The paper identifies five key strategies for reducing poverty in forest landscapes: improvements in the productivity of forest land and labor; strengthened community, household, and women's rights over …
The Panchayats (Extension to the Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 and the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers Act of 2006 offer a great opportunity to provide equitable governance in tribal-dominated backward areas. But these laws are skeletons and need the flesh and sinews of operational rules and guidelines, removal …
State has the highest potential CFR area of 48,20,028 hectares recorded till 2016. Mumbai: Maharashtra tops in community forest resource management across the states in India, as per a recently released report by Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi. Under the Forest Rights Act, Community Forest Resource (CFR) management was …
The turnover from tendu leaves exceeded Rs 3 crore and the average annual earnings for a village was a little over Rs 4 lakh. Mumbai: As a part of Communities Forest Resource (CFR) management, Maharashtra has seen an increasing trend in the auction of Tendu leaves by gram sabhas, as …
Balangir: A fire has been ravaging forests in Boudh for the past three days. The fire has spread in Kantamal, Puruna katak, Madhapur and Manamunda forest divisions. People living in the area have expressed concerns that forest fires have become a regular feature every summer. Senior forest officials, however, claim …
The Central African Republic (CAR) has a total land area of 623,000 km2 of which close to 23 million hectares, i.e. 37%, is composed of forested lands. In the southwestern part of the country all forest operations are industrial. At present there are 11 logging companies, with an average annual …
The Africa Asia-Pacific Symposium on Strengthening Legal Frameworks to Combat Wildlife Crime (Symposium) was convened by the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Illicit Trade in Wildlife and Forest Products (Task Force), in partnership with the World Bank-led, Global Environment Facility (GEF)-financed Global Wildlife Program (GWP) and USAID. The event …
Global production of major wood products surged in 2016 for the seventh consecutive year with a growth rate of three to six percent, according to new data published by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. The fastest increase in major wood products (industrial roundwood, sawnwood, wood-based panels, wood pellets) occurred …
This report aims to initiate the process of supporting timber-exporting African countries in combating illegal timber harvesting and trade. It focuses, in particular, on Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) national strategies and the implementation of European Union Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Voluntary Partnership Agreements (EU-FLEGT VPAs). The report …
Govt.-controlled organisation will continue to accept kendu leaf The Odisha government has handed over trade rights of kendu (tendu) leaf, an important minor forest produce, to residents of six villages in Kalahandi district. “Residents of six villages in the Kegaon range of the Bhawanipatna kendu leaf division are free to …
Analysing the problem-ridden process of implementing the Forest Rights Act 2006 in Odisha, this paper points out that it has focused more on providing land rights to individual claimants, neglecting community forest rights, the rights in protected areas, and other such provisions. Even so, the number of titles granted to …
The Indian Forest Act, 1927- was enacted to ‘consolidate the law related to forest, the transit of forest produce, and the duty liable on timber and other forest produce’. The preamble to the Indian Forest Act, 1927 (16 of 1927) states that the Act seeks to consolidate the law relating …
Wood is an important natural resource. In a developing country like India, on the one end of the spectrum, fuelwood continues to be the primary source of energy for millions of (mostly rural) citizens, while on other end of the spectrum, a healthy GDP growth rate ensures that a bourgeoning …
The African Development Bank (AfDB) and the Climate Investment Funds’ forest investment programme (CIF FIP) have released a report on how unlocking capital can foster forest sector development in Africa and highlights the benefits of forestry investments in Ghana and in West Africa. The report has been built on the …
This policy paper provides a brief overview of the status of wood and wood products in India. The main objectives of this policy paper are: To portray an overall situation of wood market in India; To find out gaps between demand and supply of wood in India and find sources …
The consent of gram sabha will not be mandatory for artificial regeneration of forests or plantation drives by the forest department, going by a latest draft of the Centre's compensatory afforestation fund (CAF) rules 2017. A draft of the rules of the CAF Act Rajya Sabha passed last year was …
After decades of industrial logging and forest mismanagement, the Liberian government has pledged that it will now only issue forest licenses to the communities who own the forest. This welcome change could be undermined however, by weaknesses in the country’s laws that govern how community forest licenses are awarded and …
The collection and sale of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) forms a significant part of the livelihoods of forest fringe communities in India, with an estimated 10-27 crore people involved in it. The leaf of tendu (Diospyros melanoxylon), which is used to roll beedis (Indian cigarettes), is one of the most …
Judgement of the Supreme Court of India in the matter of State of Madhya Pradesh & Others Vs Kallo Bai dated 08/05/2017 regarding confiscation of vehicles by the Forest Development Corporation, Dhuma District, Seoni for carrying teak wood without the requisite documents. The offence was registered under Madhya Pradesh Van …
This catalogue provides an overview of management options that can enhance the ecological and economic benefits of exclosures, promote local ownership and support communities to adopt exclosures. Particularly, this catalogue discusses management option that can be implemented during the regeneration of phase of exclosure land management. This catalogue of options …
