Caption

Hydroelectric dam of the Amaluza Reservoir produces more than half of Ecuador’s electricity, but suffers from siltation problems. In the upper Paute watershed, a planned PES scheme aims to alleviate the dam’s sedimentation problems. Photo by Sven Wunder.

Payments for environmental services: A matter of scale in Ecuador and Colombia

Small can be beautiful, and effective, when designing payments for environmental services (PES) schemes, a CIFOR study has concluded

By Debra Lodoen

Paying landholders in developing countries to manage their natural resources sustainably is an innovative approach to protecting the environment, and can often help reduce poverty at the same time. PES schemes are gaining increasing attention from conservationists, development experts, governments and businesses. There is also much discussion about the best way to implement them.

Making nature count: Enhancing payments for environmental services in Ecuador and Colombia, was a 3-year CIFOR project which ended in late 2009. Its main goal was to help build capacity in the two countries by distilling and disseminating information on PES best practices to support new and ongoing initiatives. more

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New publications

Bosques y derechos comunitarios: las reformas en la tenencia forestal (2010)

Larson, A.M.; Barry, D.; Dahal, G.R.; Colfer C. J. P. details


PDF: Spanish (1.37 MB)

Guidelines for adapted Multidisciplinary Landscape Assessment methods for fire management projects in India (2009).

Liswanti, N.; Basuki, I. details


PDF: English (0.59 MB)

Bois légal: vérification et gouvernance dans le secteur forestier (2009)

Brown, D.; Schreckenberg, K.; Bird, N.; Cerutti,P.; Gatto, F.D.; Diaw, C.; Fomété, T.; Luttrell, C.; Navarro, G.; Oberndorf, R.; Thiel, H.; Wells, A. details


PDF: French (2.65 MB)

Opportunities for climate change mitigation in agriculture: a semi-quantitative assessment of costs and reductions (2009)

Verchot, L.V. details

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RESEARCH THEMES
Climate change mitigation
Climate change adaptation
Improving livelihoods
Conservation and development
trade-offs
Globalised trade and investment
Production forests

Forests and climate change
This website contains an overview of the
linkages between climate change and forests.
It introduces ways to address climate change
in forestry programmes, provides a brief introduction to mitigation and adaptation and discusses climate change policies and carbon markets.

Forests and climate change toolbox
This toolbox is an interactive learning packet. 
It builds understanding and technical proficiency on issues of climate change and forests including mitigation, adaptation, carbon accounting and markets, and biofuels.

Report from Forest Day 3
The third annual Forest Day brought together nearly 1500 forestry experts, policy makers and environmental activists to discuss key issues affecting forests and climate change.

Taking stock of smallholder and community forestry: Where do we go from here?

24-26 March 2010 in Montpellier, France

Participants will share and evaluate global patterns in the ways smallholders and community groups manage and use forests and forest resources The forum will outline the current state of knowledge and identify directions for future research. more

 

Online registration

Forests for the future: Sustaining society and the environment

23-28 August 2010, Seoul, Republic of Korea

The 23d World Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations


This Congress will bring together leading professionals and expert scientists in all fields of forestry from around the world. more

Learn more about CIFOR and climate change

International negotiations are in the final stretch on the road to Copenhagen, and a post-Kyoto climate agreement.

 

 
 
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)
CIFOR advances human wellbeing, environmental conservation and equity by conducting research to inform policies and practices that affect forests in developing countries. CIFOR is one of 15 centres within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR).