Tropical Forest Update

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The road forks for tropical forests

Cover image

Photo: A. Sarre

Tropical forests are approaching a fork in the road, both in the way they are managed and, more importantly, in the way that their management and conservation is funded. In terms of management, ever larger areas are being devolved to some form of community tenure. According to advocacy groups like Forest Trends and the Rights and Resources Initiative, policy shifts to recognize traditional and indigenous rights have resulted in a doubling of community-owned and administered forest lands in developing countries over the past two decades, to around 370 million hectares of natural forest.

Contents

  • The US market for tropical wood

    Photo courtesy of Scottiedog
    Woodworks

    US domestic manufacturers are feeling the effects of surging imports of tropical hardwood products

    By Håkan Ekström and Alberto Goetzl

  • Further processing in Central Africa

    Photo: P. Langbour

    Legislation to encourage further processing in Central African countries has resulted in a noticeable reduction in log exports but additional measures are needed

    By Patrick Langbour and Jean Gérard

  • The model forest experience in Cameroon

    Photo: Cyprain Jum/CIFOR

    Two model forests in Cameroon are building broad-based partnerships between diverse stakeholders to make sustainable forest management a reality

    By Cyprain Jum, Joachim Nguiebouri, Mireille Zoa and Chimere Diaw

  • Keeping track of Guyana's logs

    Photo: P. Bholanath

    An ITTO activity examines the effectiveness of Guyana's log tracking system in the identification of illegally harvested timber

    By James Singh

  • Out on a limb

    Photo: ITTO

    Emmanuel Ze Meka, recently appointed ITTO's next Executive Director, on his background and vision for the Organization

  • ITTO's recently funded projects

    The projects and pre-projects summarized below were financed at the Forty-second Session of the International Tropical Timber Council, which was held in May 2007

  • Market trends

    Market concerned about short supply and export taxes

    By Jairo Castaño

  • Fellowship report

    Photo: P. Shanmughavel

    A database provides comprehensive information on India's tropical forest resources

    By P. Shanmughavel

  • On the conference circuit

    Reports on the 42nd Session of the International Tropical Timber Council, the International Conference on Wood-based Bioenergy, the 14th Conference of the Parties (CoP) to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and the FAO/ITTO Regional Workshop on Forest Law Enforcement in Central America

  • Recent editions

    New books and reports and short training courses for professionals in forestry and related disciplines

  • Courses

    Short training courses for professionals in forestry and related disciplines

  • Meetings

    A comprehensive listing of coming conferences relevant to sustainable tropical forest management

Full edition

The ITTO Tropical Forest Update is published quarterly in English, French and Spanish.
The French and Spanish editions are usually posted about one month after the English.

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Content does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of ITTO. ITTO holds the copyright to all photos unless otherwise stated. Articles may be reprinted without charge providing the Tropical Forest Update and author are credited and the editor notified (tfu@itto.int).