Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are often seen as tools to promote rural development and biodiversity conservation but little attention has been given to the different policy approaches adopted for their governance, nor to the role played by customary law. Through the lens of one of the most revered and economically important trees in Africa, marula (Sclerocarya birred), NTFP governance is explored in case studies across South Africa and Namibia. Results are presented from a study that examined the interface between statutory and customary rules and regulations governing marula conservation and use. The major finding is that ‘less’ is often ‘more’ when it comes to government regulation of marula, a result that resonates with other NTFP studies from around the world that indicate the need for state-led interventions to be purposely crafted to reflect local circumstances and needs. Such interventions are also most effective when government and traditional authorities cooperate, authorities have legitimacy and sufficient capacity, and there is acceptance of the rules by user groups. It is suggested that state intervention may be least useful where traditional governance is strong, and with the exception of areas and cases in which customary law and traditional authority fall short and commercial pressures on species are significant, governments might do best by leaving well enough alone.

China, India and Viet Nam have recently experienced forest transitions from net deforestation to net reforestation as many European countries and US states underwent in the past. An embryonic forest-transition theory seeks to explain the phenomenon. Three recent Asian cases indicate that long established trends, usually perceived as representing environmental degradation, can be halted and reversed in the global South. Similarities and differences among the cases confirm that existing forest-transition theory needs refinement, in part by acknowledging the significant role played by government.

Amongst the market-based instruments designed to protect biodiversity, some directly target acquisition of land-use rights to turn natural forests into conservation areas and protect them against destructive activities such as logging or agricultural conversion. Whereas some instruments, such as Transferable Development Rights and Conservation Easements, require the privatisation of land, conservation concessions are based on financial compensations to the state, logging companies and local populations against their rights to ‘develop’ these lands. This principle of ‘rent for development swaps’ embodied in three instruments designed for buying back land use rights must be discussed according to efficiency and equity criteria. Four issues are critical in this respect: the property rights structure, prevailing local representations, the size of the area concerned and existing institutional arrangements regarding forest resource access cost. This paper suggests that the opportunity cost of setting up large scale conservation concessions is much higher than generally suggested, especially in countries which have moved away from former discretionary allocation practices and have reformed their forest sector regulation framework according to prominent donors' recommendations. It concludes that using the so-called ‘lower cost of conservation’ in poorest countries, which makes large scale operation affordable for conservation investors, also raises ethical issues, since this means compensating stakeholders at their current poverty level.

We assessed the impact on the world forest sector of reducing the risk of exotic pest spread by curtailing the roundwood trade. The analysis compared predictions from 2006 to 2015, with and without a gradual ban of roundwood exports between 2006 and 2010. With a ban on roundwood trade, world consumer expenditures for wood products and producer revenues would rise by 2.2 percent and 1.9 percent respectively. World value added would remain unchanged. However, producer revenues would decrease for the main log exporters (16 percent for the Russian Federation, and 10 percent for New Zealand). Value added would decrease most for the main log importers (13 percent in Japan, 7 percent in Korea, and 4 percent in China). Although the global cost of banning roundwood trade seems modest compared to the cost of catastrophic pest invasions, its varying effects on countries must be taken into account in forging equitable policies.

Illegal logging has been at the centre of policy debates about the current state and future prospects of Indonesia's forestry sector. One of the prevailing views is that clandestine cross-border timber trade is responsible for illegal logging in the country. This paper shows the core of the illegal logging problem lies not in timber smuggling in remote locations but in licensed forestry operations that engage in gross over-harvesting and violate shipping regulations. These actions, in turn, are necessitated by a vast supply-demand disparity in Indonesia's wood-working sector. The current timber trade system in Indonesia that stresses administrative and document compliance is insufficient because it is easy to manipulate and its enforcement is lax. Therefore, there is an urgent need for a more stringent timber legality standard that would be simpler to enforce and easier to evaluate. However, this will only work if a serious effort is made to restructure (downsize) forest industries and develop sustainable industrial timber plantations.

Shifting cultivation is claimed as the major cause of drastic deforestation in the uplands of Eastern Bangladesh. Agroforestry is considered as one of the very few options to protect the existing forest and, additionally, lift people out of the poverty trap. This paper indicates that agroforestry may not only be good for (agro)biodiversity and sustainability, but has a good economic rate of return. Both quantitative and qualitative methods are used to analyse data. The financial analysis indicates that agroforestry systems give positive and much higher net present value (NPV) than shifting cultivation. In addition, it is more profitable and less risky than other agricultural options. Appropriate strategies leading to the right choice of species, optimal species combinations, solving land tenure problems, ensuring initial support and imparting training to farmers could promote agroforestry systems and enhance farm income.

In what was probably the best orchestrated and publicly cohesive reforestation event in world history, the people of South Korea came together in the 1970s and 1980s and reforested their country after it had been denuded during thirty-five years of Japanese colonization and the subsequent Korean War. Reforestation was needed at the time primarily for developing a domestic timber supply to support its largely rural and agrarian economy. But South Korea has changed. It is now one of the world's most densely populated countries with a rapidly increasing industrial economy, and more than half its population is urban. It is no longer clear that providing a domestic timber supply is either desirable or feasible. In this article, we argue that providing recreational opportunities, especially for urbanites, and ecological restoration for biodiversity conservation are now the best strategic uses of Korea's forests.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse what we know about the impacts of HIV/AIDS on the forest sector in sub-Saharan Africa and summarise the implications for policy and programming. A review of the evidence base on the effects of the epidemic and an analysis of the interface between HIV/AIDS and forestry indicate that forestry has an important role to play in preventing the spread of HIV, in mitigating epidemic impacts and in addressing treatment issues. Four areas of response are proposed: a) mainstreaming HIV/AIDS issues in forest policy and programming; b) prioritising the sustainability and access of forest benefits (particularly fuelwood, food and medicine) for vulnerable individuals, households and communities; c) setting up HIV/AIDS workplace programmes for forestry institutions and industries; and d) building the capacity of forestry institutions to address HIV/AIDS through specialised training courses, curriculum revision, new technologies, improved practices and scenario-building exercises.

There has been an expansion in Independent Forest Monitoring (IFM) initiatives, with more predicted under the FLEGT processes. Yet the characteristics of IFM are not widely understood, and other activities such as management systems audits, log tracking, civil society activism and NGO campaigning are seen as substitutes, whereas in fact they all complement each other in a ‘system of accountability’. The official yet independent nature of IFM is particularly suited to ‘bridging the gap’ between the role of the state and that of civil society in regulation and law enforcement, and needs to be adapted to local circumstances. IFM-style mechanisms of civil society oversight need to include freedom to investigate a broad range of issues, a review mechanism to build ownership and accountability, a firm legal basis and proper authority, and secure funding, so that reports are acted on and the monitoring function is institutionalised beyond a project horizon.