East Asia and Pacific Environmental Initiative USAID and State working with partners protecting the environment and improving livelihoods

Technical Links
Forestry and land use planning
See also EAPEI Forestry Activities
See also EAPEI Forestry Electronic Library

Forest Resource Management
Community Forestry
Non-timber Forest Products and Services
Forest Fire
Conservation of Biological Diversity
Agroforestry and other Agriculture

WWW Virtual Library: Forestry
FAO Forestry Department

Forest Resource Management

USAID: Promoting Sustainable Natural Resource Management

Tropical forest library-The University of Minnesota's tropical forestry web site contains a bibliography on tropical forest conservation and development and selected publications since 1992. Index subjects include; tropical forest resources; deforestation; conservation; indigenous people; management; policy; trade and industrial development; non-timber forest products-NTFPs; research; educations and training; and history.

Tropenbos International, established in 1988, is an independent, internationally oriented organization that facilitates research and development activities to support the conservation and sustainable utilization of tropical rain forests.

European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN)  Established in 1991, the European Tropical Forest Research Network (ETFRN) is a forum for communication between European organizations, researchers, EU institutions and others concerned with (sub-)tropical forest research. The ETFRN Network seeks to promote the involvement of European research expertise towards the conservation and wise use of forests and woodlands in tropical and subtropical countries.

Center for International Forestry Research

International Tropical Timber Organization was created by treaty in 1983 and its headquarters was established in Yokohama, Japan, in late 1986. The primary idea is to provide an effective framework for consultation among producer and consumer member countries on all aspects of the world timber economy within its mandate. Tropical Forests On-line is the electronic and printed Newsletter.

Rainforest Cooperative Research Program is a research partnership involving the Commonwealth and Queensland State governments, the Wet Tropics Management Authority, the tourism industry, Aboriginal groups, the CSIRO, James Cook University, Griffith University and The University of Queensland.

The CSIRO Tropical Forest Research Centre is located in Far North Queensland, Austalia has facilities for scientists and support staff from CSIRO Wildlife and Ecology and CSIRO Plant Industry as well as Tropical Rainforest Ecology and Management (CRC-TREM). The function of the TFRC is to research tropical forest ecosystems with a focus on developing an understanding of the interrelationships of the ecological processes involved in the rainforest system.

Global Forest Watch The World Resources Institute (WRI) has recently launched the Global Forest Watch (GFW) - an independent, world-wide forest monitoring network. GFW combines advanced satellite technology, GIS, and field information to continuously monitor development within the world's remaining large tracts of forest and provide a comprehensive picture of the conditions of these threatened ecosystems.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) Forests page promoting stewardship in and around the world's last major frontier forests provides numerous web links and publications such as Trial by fire: Forest fires and forestry policy in Indonesia's era of crisis and reform, and Logging Burma's frontier forests: Resources and the regime.

Rainforest action network

The World Rainforest Movement is a global network of citizens' groups of North and South involved in efforts to defend the world's rainforests against the forces that destroy them. It works to secure the lands and livelihoods of forest peoples and supports their efforts to defend the forests from commercial logging, dams, mining, plantations, shrimp farms, colonization and settlement and other projects that threaten them.

Tropical Rainforests Theme Page

ForestWorld  This interesting site provides a wealth of information on the forestry industry, with some attention to ecology and conservation. The heart of the site is the three forestry databases: Woods of the World Online (with detailed information on 900+ wood species/ products and a glossary -- free registration is required); Sustainable Forests Marketplace (a database of third party certified wood products and suppliers "committed to responsible forest management"); and a contact list of foresters, loggers, and sawmills. For those interested in current forestry certification events and other forestry issues, the NewsCenter offers daily headlines. Created with the industry in mind, this resource serves a useful purpose by providing useful information on "the industry perspective" towards forests.

The mission of Forests.org is to contribute to ending deforestation, preserving old-growth forests, conserving all forests, maintaining climatic systems and commencing the age of ecological restoration.

The International Society of Tropical Foresters (ISTF) is dedicated to providing a communications network for tropical forestry disciplines.

The World Forest Institute was established in 1989 as the information services division of the World Forestry Center, a nonprofit organization located in Portland, Oregon, USA.

The International Agricultural Centre (IAC) and the National Reference Centre for Nature Management (EC LNV) are pleased to announce that Theme Study Series  No.  5, "The management of buffer zones"  by Arthur Ebregt & Pol de Greve, is now available. Theme Studies No. 1-4 have been reprinted and are also still available: 1. "Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs); their role in sustainable forest management in the tropics" by Jeanette van Rijsoort; 2. "Natural forest management by local groups in the humid tropics" by Arend Jan van Bodegom; 3. "National forest programmes; from political concept to practical instrument in developing countries" by Herman Savenije; 4. "The challenge of including forests as sinks within the clean development mechanism" by A.J. van Bodegom, H.J.F. Savenije and G.  van Tol. The Theme Studies Series are published jointly by the International Agricultural Centre (IAC) and the National Reference Centre for Nature Management (EC LNV) under the aegis of the Forests, Forestry and Biological Diversity Support Group of the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature Management and Fisheries (LNV) of the Netherlands.  The reports can be downloaded for free from the Internet: http://www.minlnv.nl/inm. Hard copies can be ordered from: EC LNV Information Desk, P.O. Box 30, 6700 AA Wageningen, Netherlands. phone:  +31-317-474801, fax: +31-317-427561, e-mail: balie@eclnv.agro.nl

International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) LIBRARY DATABASE - The entire International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) Library database is now available on-line at http://www.icimod.org.np/library. You can search the catalogue by author, title or keyword. You can also fill in a form to create searches on a particular subject.

The Center for the Study of Institutions, Population, and Environmental Change (CIPEC) is a center funded by the National Science Foundation that studies processes of change in forest environments as mediated by institutional arrangements, demographic factors, and other major human driving forces.

World Bank Forest Policy Implementation Review and Strategy.  This site provides relevant documents and updates on the World Bank's Forest Policy Implementation Review and Strategy. As the World Bank is seeking to engage stakeholders in the dialogue and strategy formation, visitors to this site are encouraged to provide input and comments. The current Forest Policy (1991) can be found under Background Documents

ATROFI - Archive of Tropical Forest Information is a meta-database of historical tropical and sub-tropical forest inventory datasets held in the UK that has been developed under a DfID Forest Research Programme project (R7277). The database contains basic information of the location, extent and protocols used in each inventory along with contact details of the data holders and owners.  The intention is to make historical (1950s to 1990s) forest datasets available to researchers and others interested in tropical forests. The following data types are included:
- Volume functions for natural forest and plantation species
- Repeated permanent plot data for natural forest and plantations
- One-off inventory data for natural forest

The mission of Forest Trends is to maintain and restore forest ecosystems by promoting incentives that diversify trade in the forest sector, moving beyond exclusive focus on lumber and fiber to a broader range of products and services. 

Helsinki Conference Intergovernmental Seminar on Criteria and Indicators for Sustainable Forest Management

Sustainability Roundtable

Listing of Ministries of Forestry Websites Gyde Lund of Forest Information Services has updated a listing of Ministries of Forestry websites and email addresses. 

Links from Forest Information Updates by Gyde Lund

IUFRO announces its Task Force on Global Forest Information Service 

The Society of American Foresters (SAF) is the national scientific and educational organization representing the forestry profession in the United States. The mission of the Society of American Foresters is to advance the science, education, technology, and practice of forestry; to enhance the competency of its members; to establish professional excellence; and, to use the knowledge, skills, and conservation ethic of the profession to ensure the continued health and use of forest ecosystems and the present and future availability of forest resources to benefit society.  Links.

National Association of State Foresters links.  Domestic US forestry.

Community Forestry

Community Forestry International, Inc. (CFI) assists rural communities to stabilize and regenerate forests by helping policy makers, development agencies, NGOs, and professional foresters create the legal instruments, human resource capacities, and negotiation processes and methods to support resident resource managers. At CFI, we believe that including local communities in the management of natural resources leads to increased livelihood security and poverty alleviation that, in turn, encourages greater sustainable development.

MekongInfo is an interactive Web-based system for sharing information and knowledge related to participatory natural resource management in Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. MekongInfo aims to provide a portal to participatory natural resource management in the region.

The Regional Community Forestry Training Center for Asia and the Pacific (RECOFTC) is an international organization which works in close collaboration with partner organizations to actively support community forestry development in the region.  As a learning organization, RECOFTC designs and facilitates learning processes and systems that support the capacity development of commuity forestry institutions and organizations. RECOFTC seeks to constructively promote dialogue between multi-stakeholders to ensure equitable management of forest resources.  Good Links

FAO Community Forestry Unit in conjunction with the Forest. Trees and People Programme has developed a wide range of publications and information materials to increase awareness of community forestry and enable effective participation of communities in natural resources management

The Community Forestry Resource Center established by the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy promotes responsible forest management through collaboration, support and assistance to sustainable forestry cooperatives and associations of private forest owners

International Network of Forests and Communities works to actively promote and support ecosystem-based community forestry worldwide, and in the global arena.  Includes Country profiles for Indonesia, Lao PDR, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

INEF-International Network on Ethnoforestry

The Land Policy Network of the World Bank seeks to improve land policy and administration by paying special attention to specific issues and innovative policy responses.  The work includes: 1. Understanding Land Policy - an introduction to the terms, importance, and applications of land policy.  2. The Researcher's Center provides papers and tools useful to furthering understanding and improving practice. 3. Conferences and Events - a listing of upcoming events submitted to LPN.  See also University of Wisconsin Land Tenure Center

The ODI Forest Policy and Environment Group (FPEG) seeks to inform the processes of policy change in tropical forestry in ways which improve the livelihoods and well-being of the forest-dependent poor, whilst also securing the long-term future of forest resources. This site contains an archive of over 200 full-text papers (most in English, French and Spanish) charting the development of people-oriented forestry from 1985 to the present day.

USAID Africa Bureau FRAME links on CBNRM

Non-timber Forest Products and Services

NTFP Exchange Programme for South and Southeast Asia.  The NTFP Exchange Programme for South and Southeast Asia is a joint initiative of the Dutch organisations Both ENDS, NC-IUCN and ProFound in collaboration with the Asian organizations NATRIPAL and UNAC (Philippines), PLASMA (Kalimantan, Indonesia), BRIMAS (Sarawak, Malaysia), Keystone (Western Ghats, India), Neo Synthesis Research Centre (NSRC, Sri Lanka), TEW/CIRD (Vietnam) and other local and regional NGOs and indigenous organizations in South and Southeast Asia. The programme will assist partners to establish contacts with other peer organizations and sources of relevant information and expertise, through: regional meetings, technical workshops, training, internships, exposure visits, and information transfer

Searchable Online Nontimber Forest Product Bibliography.  The web-based international bibliographic data base on NTFPs is a free, nonprofit venture. It is now online with over 1,300 entries and has a new permanent home.

Non-wood Forest Products (NWFP) web page FAO has now put up a Non-wood Forest Products (NWFP) web page. By browsing through this database you may find and make a listing by country of (governmental and non-governmental) agencies dealing with NWFP (Email and web URL are also given when available). For each agency, information is given on how and who to contact, the kind of agency (ngo, government., national ,..), the type of activities (processing, trade, education, etc...) and the NWF Products it is dealing with. See the first draft of the "Global Directory of Who is Who on NWFP"

Cultivating Trees, People and Plants Handbook: No. 5, edited by G.J. Martin, A.L. Agama, and R.R.B. Leakey, UNESCO, Paris, 1999 (40pp). A resource guide for agroforestry and nontimber forest products. For hardcopy contact: Dr. Roger Leakey, Head of Tropical Ecology, Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Bush Estate, PENICUIK, Midlothian, Scotland, UK EH26 0QB; fax: +44-0131-445-3943

Bamboo to site matching - Bamboo species can grow in areas where the climate and soil are suitable for their environmental requirements. A geographic information system (GIS)-based program can display the potential areas suitable for each species according to the bamboo climate and soil requirements. Contact Person: Fu Jinhe, International Network for Bamboo and Rattan, Beijing 100101-80, P.R. China.

The Global Information Network on Medicinal Plants (MEDPLANT) is a support to the existing medicinal plant networks sharing information and facilitating discussions.

Forest Fire

USDA FS/IF Indonesia activities summary page
USDA FS/IF Regional Fire and Disaster Response Coordination
ASEAN Regional Haze Action Plan Coordination and Support Unit
Ministry of Forestry and Estate Crops of Indonesia
Forest Fires in Indonesia by WWF/Indonesia
FireGlobe: Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC)

Coal Seam fire suppression

International Workshop on Community Based Fire Management 6 - 8 December 2000 Organized by RECOFTC and Project Firefight SE Asia

Conservation of Biological Diversity

USAID: Improving Conservation of Biologically Significant Habitat

Biodiversity Support Program

The ASEAN Regional Centre for Biodiversity Conservation (ARCBC) serves as the central focus for networking and institutional linkage among ASEAN Member Countries (AMCs) and between ASEAN and European Union (EU) partner organizations to enhance the capacity of ASEAN in promoting biodiversity conservation.

Biodiversity conservation at the World Bank

International Centre for Nature Conservation established in 1999 to build on and focus the extensive skills and scholarship of Canterbury, New Zealand Lincoln University staff for research, teaching and vocational training in nature conservation. This includes discipline areas such as conservation biology, community and landscape ecology, sustainable management of natural resources, recreation and tourism in natural environments, development and use of environmental indicators, landscape design, habitat restoration and species recovery programmes, ethnobiology and wildlife management, ex situ (botanic garden, zoo and germ plasm bank) conservation, bio-economics and the ethics of nature.

IUCN Sustainable Use Initiative  contains information about the fourteen existing regional Sustainable Use Specialist Groups including contact details, undertaken activities as well as achievements. The web site provides a concise overview of SUI's institutional context, its overall structure and publications and current activities. 

After seven years, the Biodiversity Conservation Network shut its doors on September 30, 1999. BCN was established to test hypotheses about the conditions under which community-based enterprises can lead to conservation. BCN's legacy of analytic research and on-the-ground project support lives on through a collection of publications now available through the Biodiversity Support Program (BSP) and the BSP Web site, www.bsponline.org.

The Biodiversity Education Network (BEN) enhances biodiversity awareness and education through collaboration, networking, communication, and capacity building.

The Biodiversity Project work plan is currently focused in three areas. We are working to: 1) develop the strategy and resources to implement an integrated outreach campaign on biodiversity, working in partnership with many organizations and institutions; 2) integrate biodiversity messages into outreach campaigns on issues related to biodiversity; 3) develop the strategies and resources to reach new audiences beyond the environmental "choir."

DIVERSITAS - International Biodiversity Observation Year (IBOY) 2001 - 2002 contains information on current biodiversity research activities and products of IBOY Projects and the IBOY Secretariat, including publications, international meetings, research expeditions, awards and collaborative opportunities.

Benefits of Biodiversity:  Scientists offer 27 recommendations for preserving the full range of biological diversity and state that stewardship of biodiversity is an unavoidable permanent obligation of modern society. (Biodiversity February 26, 1999). The report and interpretive summary are available.

Journal of International Wildlife Law & Policy: Mission is to address legal and political issues concerning the human race's interrelationship with and management of wildlife species, their habitats, and the biosphere.

The Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF) will be an interoperable network of biodiversity databases and information technology tools that will enable users to navigate and put to use the world’s vast quantities of biodiversity information to produce national economic, environmental and social benefits.  The purpose of establishing GBIF is to design, implement, co-ordinate, and promote the compilation, linking, standardisation, digitisation and global dissemination of the world’s biodiversity data, within an appropriate framework for property rights and due attribution.  Little data yet but good links

Agroforestry and other Agriculture  

ICRAF has recently re-launched its Alternatives to Slash and Burn web site.  (old site)

Green ideas sleep furiously : an analysis of agricultural trends in Asia and the Near East during the 1990s.  Publication Date: 2001-01.  Author: Johnson, Brook.  Institutional Author: Academy for Educational Development, Inc. (AED); USAID. Bur. for Policy and Program Coordination. Center for Development Information and Evaluation. Document Type: Other USAID Supported Study. Order Number: PN-ACK-557.  482 KB

Agroforester.com:  Your Resource for Tropical Forestry and Agroforestry.  Publishes The Overstory,  a free noncommercial e-mail journal. Subscribers are agroforestry practitioners, researchers, professionals, and enthusiasts in over 145 countries. Each issue focuses on a concept or tropical agricultural systems which integrate trees and other perennial plants.

LEAD Initiative (Livestock, Environment and Development) targets at the protection and enhancement of natural resources as affected by livestock production while alleviating poverty.

Future Harvest is a global initiative, incorporated in June 1998 as a charitable and educational organization to advance debate and catalyze action for a world with less poverty, a healthier human family, and a better environment. Future Harvest was created by 16 food and environmental research centers, known as the Future Harvest Centers, located around the world. These centers are supported by 58 governments, private foundations, and international and regional organizations known as the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).

Global link to research on agriculture, hunger, poverty, and the environment. This new search engine developed in collaboration with CGIAR and FAO/WAICENT allows you to easily find digital information from the websites of all 16 Future Harvest Centers, the CGIAR, and FAO.

The Virtual Library:  Agriculture

Web-Agri.com : The Agricultural Search Engine

Development Gateway on Food Security

Updated November 30, 2004