This report gives an overview of the Woodfuel Integrated Supply/Demand Overview Mapping (WISDOM) analysis carrried out under the Sustainable Forest Management and Bio-Energy Markets to Promote Environmental Sustainability and to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Cambodia (SFM) project in order to understand the viability of fuelwoodbased businesses in its target community forest (CF) sites and to assess their possible integration into an overall energy plan at the commune level.

Hand tools are the most commonly used for subsistence or household use when harvesting bamboo or fuelwood. Axes, two-man handsaws and other hand tools are presented and discussed in this factsheet.

Steep-slope harvesting probably poses the biggest challenges in forest harvesting throughout the world. Traditionally, on slopes above 30 percent, gravitational transport is applied in manual harvesting operations by simply sliding logs downhill.

The Asia-Pacific region is experiencing rapid changes. There is a major need to strengthen capacities to assist countries and forestry stakeholders to respond in ways that benefit both people and forests.

Development projects conceived now are rarely expected to have a life of more than five years, perhaps ten years at most. Looking back over more than twenty years of project experience in community forestry - itself grounded on an integrated development project of a similar time span - is thus a rare opportunity. The project has sought to promote social change in favor of the poor and disadvantaged, and it was recognized both by those involved in the project and by independent evaluators that this is not rapidly achieved

Over the last two decades, Vietnam has made significant progress in forest tenure reform, which aims to meaningfully include all relevant stakeholders in the management of forest resources. Under these reforms, forest area officially under the management of local people has expanded from almost nothing in the early 1990s to nearly 3.5 million ha (27% of the national forest area) in 2006. However, until now little is known about the extent to which such tenure reform has worked in practice and how it has affected local people’s livelihoods and wellbeing.

Forests worldwide are home to approximately 1.3 billion people and must cater to the multiple needs of people - from providing local goods and services (access to income, food, clean water, wood energy, construction materials, fertile soils, medicinal and cosmetic products, and recreation) to providing global goods and services (climate change mitigation, biodiversity conservation, hydrological and mineral cycles). It is a tall order because many of these needs compete with one another.

This is a regional overview of the main legal and regulatory questions concerning ownership or access to and management of land-based natural resources. Using the Listening Learning and Sharing (LLS) method, RECOFTC, the Southeast Asia office of the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) and other RRI partners from the Asia region produced a regional overview of the main legal and regulatory questions concerning ownership or access to and management of land-based natural resources.

The workshop was attended by 89 participants representing government agencies, national assembly, civil society groups, and international organizations working in Lao PDR. In order to share experience of reforming forest tenure from other countries, resource persons were also invited from China, Nepal, Brazil and Vietnam.The key objective of the workshop was to continue the process of learning on forest land tenure reform from various countries, review and reflect on the current states of forest tenure in Lao PDR, and work out on pathways to forest tenure change.

Wood energy is vital to the livelihoods of rural communities in the Mekong region, where over five times more fuelwood than timber is extracted for daily use. However, the energy needs of the community are commonly not factored into the establishment of market-oriented enterprises, which can lead to supply disruptions and subsequent impact on income as well as the environment. Hence, the importance of establishing sustainable community forest (CF) management, to ensure a stable provision of wood energy and to prevent gaps in supply and demand is significant.

This article from the World Forestry Congress Proceeding aims to inform policy makers and other key stakeholders about issues and concerns of grassroots stakeholders with regards to REDD+ policy and program development. The lessons shared here are generated from REDD+ capacity development at grassroots level in South and Southeast Asia, covering, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal and Viet Nam. 

This book captures the main lessons and issues emerging from national and regional discussions on 'benefit sharing.' It also presents one case study from each country, selected to highlight issues in different sectors. As we struggle to find ways to strengthen the poverty reduction potential of CBNRM, we hope that this book offers some practical areas to target for future action.