The problem of food insecurity is growing, triggering global debates on the gap in understanding alternative ways of accessing foods, including those from forestlands. This paper aims to address this gap by demonstrating a variety of ways in which forests carry the potential to contribute to food security, drawing on the case study of community based forest management in Nepal. It shows that forests not only complement farms in providing foods in critical periods, but also provide an important platform for collective actions, which have the potential to enhance smallholders' entitlement to food. The paper, then, identifies barriers in the current policy framework to capitalize on the potential of forests to enhance food security. An important implication of this finding is that there is an urgent need to reframe forest governance to incorporate food security concerns, without necessarily compromising forests' role in biodiversity conservation.

This paper evaluates the contribution of NTFPs to cash and non-cash income of local communities within the jointly managed Sangha Tri-National and Dja-Odzala-Minkébé Tri-National forest landscapes that lie between Cameroon, Republic of Congo, Gabon and the Central African Republic in Central Africa. Data were collected from respectively 172 and 158 Bantu and IP households by applying the Poverty-Forests Linkages Toolkit method. Ten species of NTFPs that are important sources of cash and non-cash income for the study groups were recorded. More than 45% and 55% of Bantu and IP incomes are respectively derived from NTFPs. NTFPs contribute higher to non-cash income for the Bantu and IP in Cameroon and CAR but contribute more to cash income in Congo. Bantu communities get higher total incomes from NTFPs than IP. In all groups, Bushmeat is the most important income generating NTFP. These results could contribute to resource allocation for implementation of long-term development plans in Central Africa, for instance programmes for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation.

Reduced-impact logging (RIL) is widely expected to maximize conservation values of selectively logged tropical forests; however, there remains a lack of supporting data to confirm the effectiveness of individual RIL practices. This study evaluates the extent of damage to residual stands and soil caused by directional felling, elephant skidding, and road construction in a tropical mixed deciduous forest under the Myanmar Selection System (MSS). The felling damage number was consistently larger for bamboo clumps than for trees over the range of felled tree size and felling intensity. Soil disturbed by road construction made up 4.6% of the 9-ha study area, but no visible damage to residual trees and soil from elephant skidding was found three months after the operation. Directional felling toward bamboos and elephant skidding of MSS are effective as RIL practices, producing the lowest level of damage to residual trees and soil as compared with other RIL studies.

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries (REDD ) is a global climate change mitigation initiative. The United Nations REDD Programme (UN-REDD) is building capacity in developing countries interested in REDD including Nigeria. REDD will reduce access to forests and compromise the livelihoods of local people. UN-REDD commits to strengthen local democracy as a safeguard to prevent elite capture of benefits from REDD for local people. This study examined whether local representation in the UN-REDD international policy board and during the consultative process accompanying adoption of REDD in Nigeria strengthened local democracy. The study is based on field research in Nigeria in 2012 and 2013. It found that local government authority, the substantive political representatives of local people were not in the UN-REDD policy board, and were absent from the consultative process that led to adoption of REDD in Nigeria.

The perceptions of forest-based communities in Vhembe District, South Africa, were examined. Special attention in this study was paid to the aspects linked to climate change, namely socio-cultural issues, views and awareness, beliefs about causes, concerns, and lifestyle adjustments that people are prepared to make. Vegetation type was considered as the major criterion when selecting Makhado, Mutale and Thulamela municipalities, which together with Musina, constitute Vhembe District in Limpopo Province. Seven rural communities in each municipality were selected. Using stratified proportionate random sampling in combination with weighted enumeration area (EA) for these communities, 366 households were chosen and interviewed. It was found that although awareness of ‘climate change’ was poor, most respondents understood what it meant and its associated challenges. Increasing occurrence of erratic rainfall and forest fires were regarded as visible manifestations of climate change. There was also strong concern about the effects of climate change on forests and forest-related products. The respondents expressed a desire to adopt responsible behaviour towards the use and management of forests as a climate-change intervention strategy. However, most community members were sceptical about the causes of climate change. Taking all these issues into account, it was clear that activities that would enlighten the people on the causes and consequences of climate change regarding their livelihoods should be carried out. This would help promote awareness of climate change and encourage people's participation in crafting measures that might help mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Numerous conceptual and empirical studies have been undertaken on the participation of women in decision-making bodies related to forestry. However, very little of this knowledge and experience has been applied to REDD decision-making at the national level. This study uses Vietnam as a case study to analyse factors that influence women's participation in national level REDD decision-making processes. Although large numbers of women participate in REDD meetings, and women at the national level are less affected by discriminatory cultural and social norms, considerable obstacles remain to the full participation of women. The recruitment protocol of Vietnam's forestry sector is not favourable to women, they are rarely appointed to leadership positions and their participation in REDD working groups is often nominal. In addition to weak capacity to implement gender strategies, a lack of concern for gender issues prevails among national organizations working on REDD in Vietnam.

This paper explains the process, methodology and some key outcomes of ex ante Livelihood Impact Assessment (LIA) of Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) under the EU FLEGT Action Plan. It is based on undertaking LIA in Vietnam, Indonesia and Honduras. LIA involves a series of multiple stakeholder workshops informed by background contextual studies such as vulnerable stakeholder analysis. By raising the capacity and credibility of civil society to undertake systematic analysis of the livelihood implications of VPAs, LIA can contribute to the theory of change of how the FLEGT-VPA process can promote equitable outcomes. Specifically LIA helps meet the VPA social safeguard — the commitment by VPA signatories to understand, monitor and mitigate adverse social effects. The wider utility of the LIA methodology is shown by its spontaneous adoption and/or adaptation by NGOs in Vietnam and Honduras, and its adaptation for subnational REDD planning in Vietnam and Nepal.

This paper analyzes the distribution of powers before and after the implementation of participatory forest management (PFM) in Kenya. The paper is a case study of the Karima forest in the Central Highlands of Kenya. The study relies primarily on 34 semi-structured interviews with key actors involved in and affected by the PFM. The paper finds that the established Community Forest Association (CFA) has not been entrusted with significant powers; all powers and benefits remain with the local authority (county government). Moreover, the paper documents that the CFA offers a poor representation of the forest communities and weak downward accountability relations. Finally, it illustrates a planning process, which has weaknesses in participation and inclusiveness. Consequently, the paper suggests three areas for PFM policy reform in Kenya: (i) the role (powers) and function of CFAs; (ii) benefit sharing; and (iii) ways to make the PFM process more participatory and inclusive.