In China a substantial plantation industry involving 5.4 M ha of exotic eucalypts and up to 50 000 ha of exotic acacias, has been built on a foundation of collaborative R&D sponsored by both China and Australia over the past 40 years. Germplasm derived from some of the early collaboration still provides the majority of trees deployed in current eucalypt plantations in China. But, whilst the past 2 decades has been the best of times for plantation eucalypts in China, the past decade has simultaneously been the worst of times for plantation acacias. Improved plantation productivities achieved through R&D programs coupled with innovations in processing markedly increased the profitability of young eucalypt plantations; this provided strong market pull for expansion of these plantations. For exotic acacias though, plantation areas in China have declined over the past decade. Factors that have contributed to the contrasting fates of these species in China, along with their future outlooks, are reviewed in this report.

‘Forest management' aims to maintain forests as producers of goods and services, while ensuring their conservation for future generations. Forest certification has become one of the most widely used mechanisms to encourage and recognize this ‘forest stewardship’, with the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) among the most well-known systems worldwide. FSC is widely used in several Management Units on the American Continent, which is home to large forest areas. Therefore, we evaluated the main difficulties in complying with the principles of the FSC standard in 18 American countries based on verification of non-conformities generated in the process. The data were obtained from information contained in the certification audit reports available on the FSC official website, covering all organizations with valid certificates from 1995 to 2013. We found that the United States presented the lowest mean of non-conformities per audit, which may indicate better capacity of managers to implement practices of its forestry activities. Regarding the deviation type, the United States and Canada presented higher indices in relation to the adequacy of the environmental impacts (P6) of their activities. Meanwhile, the greatest non-conformities in the Central and South America countries occurred in the labor and social area (P4), followed by environmental issues (P6). All organizations presented some type of non-compliance with the criteria set by the FSC and needed to adapt. The major difficulties encountered were related to compliance with environmental requirements. The need to implement corrective actions to maintain the certificate demonstrates a change of management influenced by the forest certification process, thus contributing to minimizing socio-environmental impacts resulting from forest operations.

From 2011–2015, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) trained field teams in Nicaragua in Adaptive Collaborative Management (ACM) methods. ACM is a social learning-based approach to help forest communities manage their natural resources in a more equitable and sustainable way and respond to change. This paper presents the lessons-learned from the training and field work. It argues that understanding and building social learning processes among the ACM team members and facilitators are crucial components of the ACM methodology and necessary in order to recognize and address the complex nature of socio-ecological relationships. In particular, promoting women's participation in forest decision-making in their own rural communities requires not only a consideration of gender relations but also of the gender perspectives of each member of the field team.

In the last three decades, purchases and sales of large timberland estates have become a common event worldwide. Timberland investments generally entail the purchase of land containing (or suitable for growing) merchantable timber in order to obtain future cash flows and an appreciation in the value of the entire estate. This review documents many of the critical steps involved in a comprehensive due diligence of investable timberland estates, and illustrates the sources and components of the transaction costs involved. Detailed insights into the processes involved in assessing potential timberland transactions and how market participants conduct these transactions are presented. These are followed by the discussion of implications of these findings for investment decisions and the assessment of pertinent research needs. This review attempts to create a framework to discuss and investigate the relevant costs of the due diligence process. Since almost no forestry due diligence literature was discovered, future research may then build upon this framework.

Community-based management is an increasingly important form of governance and control of forests and other natural resources. In Indonesia, government policy aims to expand the role of communities in controlling and managing forests. Since the 1970s, many different forms of community forestry (CF) have been implemented in Indonesia but there has been little systematic analysis of these different approaches. This paper presents a typology of CF in Indonesia to present academic knowledge of CF in a form that is useful for practice. The typology acknowledges the networked nature of communities and was developed through qualitative analysis of 311 documents representing 112 cases of CF. Two dimensions emerged that illustrate the evolution of CF: a ‘formality' dimension and a ‘support’ dimension. The former indicated the degree of government authorisation and the latter indicated the degree and type of support provided to communities from governments, businesses, NGOs or other external actors. Nine types of CF were identified, six formal, two partially formalised and one informal. An analysis of these types revealed there are mixed benefits for communities in formalising their access to forests and that the challenges, and therefore needs for support, differ markedly between communities. This study provides a systematic basis for researchers aiming to understand the processes of transition to CF, and for policy makers and practitioners aiming to implement CF in Indonesia and elsewhere.

The debate on whether governments are willing to translate decentralization theory into practice given the importance of natural resources as a source of livelihoods for local populations and a source of revenue generation for governments continue to yield varying outcomes. This study examines the decentralization process within a multidimensional framework of power with and power over, and systematically assesses outcomes of the exercise of power from both perspectives and their interrelations and implications on forest governance. In what some have lauded as an excellent attempt by the Kenyan government to transfer management of forests to community forest associations (CFAs), others have termed the process as a mere illusion. The results indicate that decentralization efforts offer a high transformational potential when power is exercised with others (co-operation and learning), rather than when exercised over others (coercion and manipulation). However, both power over and power with are not mutually exclusive in practice. To achieve an effective decentralized forest governance system, appropriate behavioural change among forest stakeholders is paramount. The challenge is how to define and transfer adequate and meaningful power to the local level actors and institutions to drive the required behavioural change.

Many countries have implemented policies to reduce the negative effects of deforestation. In Iran, the Zagros Forest Preservation Plan (ZFPP) began in 2003. This study evaluates the effectiveness of ZFPP on land cover changes in two periods, before (1993–2002) and after (2002–2017) implementation of the plan. Logistic regression (LR) analysis was used to examine the effectiveness of key socio-economic, environmental and demographic drivers associated with deforestation activities. The results showed that despite the implementation of ZFPP forest conversion to other land-use types increased during the second period compared to the first. Calculating the annual rate of deforestation showed that this rate increased from -0.4% to -0.5%. The results of LR showed that the occurrence of deforestation in different years was significantly related to distance from rivers, croplands, cities, roads, and slope such that areas with low slope and close to these features have a high probability of deforestation activities.

Projects aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) have expanded in Central Africa following carbon certification standards, which were intended to demonstrate the feasibility of payments and rewards earned depending on a measured quantity of avoided deforestation. We used storytelling as a communication concept to analyse the narratives of five main certification standards that accompanied the implementation of REDD+ projects in Central Africa. Our analysis focuses on two storylines: the measurement of avoided deforestation, and payments or rewards. The examination of official documents disseminated by certification standards and the results from a survey of REDD+ stakeholders highlighted a gap between these promises and reality. Our findings show that carbon standards have diffused an idyllic view of REDD+, simplifying methods of measuring avoided deforestation and promising payments, co-benefits and sustainable development. Unkept promises result in disappointment and declining enthusiasm on the part of those involved in REDD+ projects at an early stage.

Since the founding of New China 70 years ago, China's forestry industry has reached important milestones. The country's total industrial output value has been increasing, structures have been continuously optimized, and emerging industries have developed rapidly. This paper initially takes the construction of China's industrial system as its main focus and divides it into four stages based on data and policy documents: an initial period of industrial system establishment, a period of reform and exploration, a period of refinement and stabilization, and finally a period of diversification and expansion. The paper then analyses important driving factors including policies and systems, investment and financing, international trade, technology and other impacts on China's forestry industry, and in turn builds a forestry industry drive path map. Finally, the authors propose that China's future forestry industry will be ecological, green, modern, refined, multi-integrated and cross-composite.