Publications

February 2012: The ninth biennial issue of State of the World's Forests, published at the outset of 2011, the International Year of Forests, considers the theme 'Changing pathways, changing lives: forests as multiple pathways to sustainable development'. It takes a holistic view of the multiple ways in which forests support livelihoods. The chapters assembled for this year's State of the World's Forests highlight four key areas that warrant greater attention: regional trends on forest resources; the development of sustainable forest industries; climate change mitigation and adaptation; and the local value of forests. Considered together, these themes provide insights on the true contribution of forests to the creation of sustainable livelihoods and alleviation of poverty.

The report does not present any warnings of imminent environmental collapse. However, it does note that some local and global thresholds are being crossed, and that negative environmental trends could lead to dramatic and irreversible damage to some of the ecosystems and services that we take for granted. In other words, the current insufficient rate of progress observed over the past few decades in addressing environmental issues may severely undermine our ability to deal with potential future negative impacts. Download report.

While millions of the world’s poorest people depend heavily on nature for their livelihoods, efforts to use biodiversity to boost incomes often fail — because of poor policies and legal frameworks that govern how biological resources are used and by whom.

A graphical record of Ireland's role in illegal-logging. Good intentions are simply not enough. What we require is a robust framework which will translate aspirations into action. It needs to be driven from the very top in a coordinated integrated fashion and it needs to be grounded in legislation. The ‘development’ rationale of this presentation pivots around a number of key issues & challenges: wood & poverty, wood and energy, wood & livelihoods/construction, wood & health, wood & education, wood & biodiversity, wood & sustainability, wood & climate-change, wood & conflict/war and wood & economic development.

Forest destruction is costing the global economy US$2 to $5 trillion per year-more than Wall Street has lost since the start of the current financial crisis

A new report 'UNDERCUTTING AFRICA', from Friends of the Earth-UK spells out how new EU trade laws will devestate African forests and increase poverty

In an open letter to Commission President Barroso, FERN, Greenpeace, FoE, WWF and Global Witness express their concern that a legislative proposal to control the import and use of illegal timber, as part of the EU FLEGT Programme, has been postponed again.

The report of the first international Forest Connect workshop on "Developing a toolkit for the facilitation of support to small forest enterprises", 2-4 July 2008, Edinburgh, UK has just been released.

The International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) is pleased to announce the publication of their final report on the World Bank's proposal for a Global Forest Partnership. The final report (in English) and summary versions in French, Spanish and Portuguese can be downloaded from here.... The report warns that the bank will have to heed the advice of hundreds of experts IIED consulted if it is to make a real breakthrough in tackling the problems of past decades and the weaknesses of typical international forest programmes. EXPIRED LINK......

Updated version will be available in October 2010 to mark our 21st Anniversary (1989-2010)

Foreword by Ms. Liz O'Donnell, T.D., Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for Overseas Development Aid (ODA) and Human Rights.