Deforestation in Indonesia and links with the pulp and paper industry has led environmental groups to campaign against the industry's practices. This paper focuses on two environmental campaigns against the activities of an Asian pulp and paper company that were widely perceived to be having a strongly detrimental effect on the rainforests of Sumatra, Indonesia. The analysis is based on interviews and questionnaires of those involved in the campaigns, as well as a review of related published and unpublished documents. The results show that the target company has become more sustainable since the campaigns started, though is still failing on certain issues. These findings are supported by some Environmental Non-Government Organisations (ENGOs), although others strongly believe that the company has made no progress at all and is still involved in illegal and unsustainable practices. Despite the increased awareness of the implications and destructiveness of deforestation in Indonesia, and the increasingly dynamic role taken by international ENGOs to halt the forest loss, deforestation continues apace.

The Bolivian forestry law requires that 10 per cent of areas under forest management must be set aside as ‘ecological reserves’, serving as protected areas from resource extraction. These guidelines appear to be based largely on reserve design theory from the conservation biology literature including recommendations for large, contiguous blocks of reserves interconnected with other protected areas through corridor networks. Such recommendations, however, are largely applicable to protected areas that are embedded within fragmented landscapes or where there is significant threat of deforestation. In contrast, protected areas within managed forests in Bolivia are surrounded by areas of largely intact forest subjected to low-intensity reduced impact logging and where logging occurs with a felling cycle not less than 20 years. Following an analysis of the current Bolivian law, conservation goals, and pertinent literature, we argue that issues of size and connectivity are perhaps less important within landscapes dominated by areas under forest management for timber production compared to protected areas imbedded within fragmented landscapes. It may, therefore, be more effective to disperse ecological reserves throughout management units to protect critical habitat and sites prone to damage from logging.

The paper examines the financial implications of both abandoned and destroyed wood by illegal pitsawers in Budongo Forest, Uganda. It also compares the intensity of pitsawing in the Strict Nature Reserve (SNR) and the forest edge as well as the species and diameter classes of trees most affected. The total wastage of round wood was found to be 0.218 m³/ha/yr and 0.098 m³/ha/yr in the SNR and forest edge respectively. This is about a third of the mean annual increment per hectare per year for tropical moist forests. The present value of monetary losses in the SNR and forest edge were UGX 30 000 /ha/yr and UGX 17 814/ha/year respectively; with Mahogany species as the most affected. There was no significant loss of wood between the SNR and the forest edge and no significant diameter variations in the illegally pitsawn trees within and between the different pitsawing sites. More trees were pitsawn at the forest edge as compared to the SNR, although a larger volume of wood was harvested in the SNR. There is a need to enforce effective forest regulations governing SNRs; and foster a functional working relationship between the National Forestry Authority and local communities around the forest in the management of the SNR.

Titling of Indigenous common-property lands in eastern Nicaragua is a necessary base for forest management. Titling alone will not be sufficient to assure sustainable practices, and the success of demarcation programmes rests on processes of negotiation leading up to tenure decisions. Nevertheless, a review of decades of history in Indigenous territories suggests that key problems in forest resource administration are inextricably linked to tenure insecurities, as explorations of current resource disputes in seven villages demonstrate. Analysis also suggests that ineffective implementation of Nicaragua's multiethnic autonomy fosters illegality and resource mismanagement. Fundamental structural changes to improve inclusion, accountability and transparency are necessary. Remediation also requires inclusive multiscale negotiations of land claims and participatory mapping to resolve tenure disputes.

This paper presents a comprehensive review of the policy and practice of community-based forest management (CBFM) in the Philippines over the last three decades - one of the longest experiences in Asia. As a form of structural policy reform, CBFM may be viewed as radical and progressive. It replaced the century-old corporate mode of forest utilization where benefits flowed directly to an elite minority and attempts to institutionalize a more “people-oriented,” approach of forest management. However, progress on the ground in terms of achieving the CBFM's goals on sustainable and equitable forest management remains elusive. Unstable policy, overly bureaucratic procedures, CBFM viewed as a project and not as an approach to replacing commercial large-scale forestry, and weak institutional support system, deter effective implementation. Drawing from three decades of experience, the paper distilled emerging lessons for sustainable and equitable forest management that may be useful to other countries promoting community forestry.

A review of forestry education based on literature and a survey of 186 foresters reveals the diversity of interests within the Australian forestry profession. The survey reflects the utility of subjects such as silviculture, mensuration and forest management, and highlights the need to include subjects such as human resource management, business studies and communication skills in forestry programmes. Results also suggest that there is the need for more innovation in the teaching of foundation subjects such as chemistry. Important but unexpected findings from the survey were the high proportion of respondents who stated that their bachelor studies provided their formative career preparation, and the acknowledgement of the role of vacation work experience in reinforcing formal academic study.

A range of countries have sought more equitable governance of their natural resources, by devolving decision-making and resource control to local populations. In 1994, Cameroon adopted a new law granting local communities the possibility of greater control over forests, principally in response to donor conditionality on Structural Adjustment Loans (SALs). However, the enactment of the law lacked significant domestic support. Conflicting interests and Cameroon's highly centralized administrative machinery have prevented effective devolution of forest management. In 2003, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and a consortium of institutional stakeholders started the Model Forest Project in Cameroon. This project is part of the International Model Forest Network (IMFN). The goal of the IMFN is to assist in the development of sustainable management of forests around the world, while taking into account the needs of local communities. In 2005, the government of Cameroon recognized Campo Ma'an and Dja et Mpomo as model forest sites. The partnership involved, policy dimensions, government commitment, accomplishment to date and its contributions to national and sub regional forestry programmes are discussed.

The State of Victoria, Australia has approximately 8.3 million hectares of forest, of which 7.1 million hectares of native eucalypt forest lies in the public jurisdiction. This paper describes recent sub-national policy developments in Victoria, where the State Government has adopted an innovative Sustainable Forest Management monitoring and reporting framework through a combination of legislative and policy processes. This has resulted in three inter-dependant policy tools designed specifically to define and demonstrate progress towards sustainable forest management in Victoria, as follows: 1) the Sustainability Charter for Victoria's State forests; 2) Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management in Victoria; and 3) Victoria's State of the Forests Report. The Victorian approach combines the government's desire for overarching and strategic policy statements with the need for structured monitoring and greater performance evaluation and transparency. We commend this approach as a successful example of government integrating international sustainable forest management principles into a sub-national political and legal framework.