region: Asia Pacific


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  • Evidence-based options for advancing social equity in Indonesian palm oil: Implications for research, policy and advocacy

Evidence-based options for advancing social equity in Indonesian palm oil: Implications for research, policy and advocacy

09 May, 2018

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  • Social equity is crucial to sustainable development: equity means ensuring that everyone has the resources they need to secure their well-being now and in the future.
  • Oil palm is a profitable crop, but the costs and benefits of its expansion are distributed unevenly according to gender, age, class and community of origin.
  • Different social dynamics pertain to large-scale plantations employing wage workers, tied smallholders attached to plantations and independent smallholders planting oil palm on their own land.
  • Policy should favor independent smallholders with up to 6 ha of land to optimize distributive outcomes for women and men, young and old, while giving priority to customary landholders.

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  • Institutionalization of REDD+ MRV in Indonesia, Peru, and Tanzania: progress and implications

Institutionalization of REDD+ MRV in Indonesia, Peru, and Tanzania: progress and implications

30 April, 2018

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Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+) has opened up a new global discussion on forest monitoring and carbon accounting in developing countries. We analyze and compare the extent to which the concept of measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) for REDD+ has become institutionalized in terms of new policy discourses, actors, resources, and rules in Indonesia, Peru, and Tanzania. To do so, we draw on discursive institutionalism and the policy arrangement approach. A qualitative scale that distinguishes between “shallow” institutionalization on the one end, and “deep” institutionalization on the other, is developed to structure the analysis and comparison. Results show that in all countries MRV has become institutionalized in new or revised aims, scope, and strategies for forest monitoring, and development of new agencies and mobilization of new actors and resources. New legislations to anchor forest monitoring in law and procedures to institutionalize the roles of the various agencies are being developed. Nevertheless, the extent to which MRV has been institutionalized varies across countries, with Indonesia experiencing “deep” institutionalization, Peru “shallow-intermediate” institutionalization, and Tanzania “intermediate-deep” institutionalization. We explore possible reasons for and consequences of differences in extent of institutionalization of MRV across countries.

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  • Unpacking 'sustainable' cocoa: do sustainability standards, development projects and policies address producer concerns in Indonesia, Cameroon and Peru?

Unpacking ‘sustainable’ cocoa: do sustainability standards, development projects and policies address producer concerns in Indonesia, Cameroon and Peru?

26 April, 2018

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Sustainable cocoa has attracted considerable attention. However, stakeholders in cocoa development may differ in their understanding of sustainable cocoa, their interests and actions taken in advancing sustainable cocoa. This article analyses cocoa sustainability at nested scales and analyses to what extent sustainability standards, policies and development projects address sustainability concerns and contribute to ecosystem services. The analysis is based on literature reviews and key informant interviews in Sulawesi (Indonesia), Ucayali (Peru) and Centre Region (Cameroon). Producers in all three countries shared concerns of price volatility, weak farmer organizations and dependence on few buyers. Producers in Sulawesi and Centre Region compensated low returns to cocoa production by diversification of cocoa systems. Public and private development actors were concerned with low production volumes. Research has so far focused on biodiversity loss, which differed depending on the cocoa sector’s age in a country. Policies and development programs in all countries have focused on cocoa sector expansion and productivity increases, irrespective of smallholder needs for economically viable farming systems and existing market structures resulting in little bargaining power to farmers. Sustainability standards have spread unevenly and have converged in compliance criteria over time, although initially differing in focus. Recently added business and development criteria of sustainability standards can potentially address farmers’ concerns. Competing interests and interdependencies between different actors’ responses to concerns have so far not been openly acknowledged by public and private sector actors.

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  • Highlights from the 3rd Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit

Highlights from the 3rd Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit


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Themed “Protecting forests and people, supporting economic growth”, the 2018 Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit (APRS) focused on conservation, livelihoods and investment over three days of international dialogue and knowledge-sharing in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

The first day kicked off with an opening ceremony featuring APRS host Indonesia’s Minister of Environment and Forestry, Siti Nurabaya, and Australian Minister of Environment and Energy Josh Frydenberg, followed by statements from regional ministers and two high-level panels highlighting the role of forests in countries’ Nationally Determined Contributions.

Read more: FTA at the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit

Originally published by CIFOR.

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  • Welcome to the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit 2018

Welcome to the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit 2018

25 April, 2018

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The 2018 Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit (APRS) took place in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from April 23 to 25. APRS provides the opportunity for countries across Asia-Pacific to showcase their work on forest conservation and demonstrate their progress on implementation of the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) were the 2018 APRS science and engagement partners, backstopping the summit from the science side. The host country partner for APRS 2018 was the Indonesian Ministry of Environment and Forestry, and the coordinating partner was the Australian Government’s Department of the Environment and Energy.

Read more: FTA at the Asia-Pacific Rainforest Summit 

Originally published by CIFOR. 

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  • Fungal diversity notes 709-839: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal taxa with an emphasis on fungi on Rosaceae

Fungal diversity notes 709-839: taxonomic and phylogenetic contributions to fungal taxa with an emphasis on fungi on Rosaceae

24 April, 2018

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This paper is the seventh in the Fungal Diversity Notes series, where 131 taxa accommodated in 28 families are mainly described from Rosa (Rosaceae) and a few other hosts. Novel fungal taxa are described in the present study, including 17 new genera, 93 new species, four combinations, a sexual record for a species and new host records for 16 species. Some are introduced as new ascomycete genera. We also introduce new species. New host records are provided for others. New combinations are noted. This study also provides some insights into the diversity of fungi on Rosa species and especially those on Rosa spines that resulted in the characterization of eight new genera, 45 new species, and nine new host records. We also collected taxa from Rosa stems and there was 31% (20/65) overlap with taxa found on stems with that on spines. Because of the limited and non-targeted sampling for comparison with collections from spines and stems of the same host and location, it is not possible to say that the fungi on spines of Rosa differ from those on stems. The study however, does illustrate how spines are interesting substrates with high fungal biodiversity. This may be because of their hard structure resulting in slow decay and hence are suitable substrates leading to fungal colonization. All data presented herein are based on morphological examination of specimens, coupled with phylogenetic sequence data to better integrate taxa into appropriate taxonomic ranks and infer their evolutionary relationships.

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  • Applied Mycology Can Contribute to Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Building upon China's Matsutake Management Initiatives

Applied Mycology Can Contribute to Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: Building upon China’s Matsutake Management Initiatives

19 April, 2018

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Matsutake mushrooms are an important part of rural livelihoods and forest ecosystems across large parts of China, as well as elsewhere in East Asia, Northern Europe and North America. Mushroom harvesters have developed sophisticated understandings of matsutake ecology and production, and are applying this knowledge in various innovative management strategies. At the same time, Chinese government agencies and scientists are promoting matsutake-based livelihoods to support development and conservation goals. We collanorated with matsutake harvesters in one Yunnan community to carry out a systematic experiment on a popular shiro-level management technique: covering matsutake shiros with either plastic or leaf litter. Our experimental results suggest that although leaf litter coverings are superior to plastic coverings, shiros that are left uncovered may produce the highest yields. Complementing our experimental work is a multi-sited household survey of existing matsutake management practices across Yunnan, which shows that a high proportion of harvesters are already engaged in a broad range of potentially beneficial management strategies. Though both findings highlight limitations of previous initiatives led by government and research actors in China, this existing body of work is an important foundation and opportunity for developing applied mycology in the region. In and beyond China, working with communities to develop site-specific management strategies through rigorous and participanory scientific inquiry can provide salient benefits for both scientists and resource users.

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  • The returnee: Inside the lives of migrant workers from Nepal

The returnee: Inside the lives of migrant workers from Nepal

11 April, 2018

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With seven children and a wife of 21 years, Bahadur believed moving abroad from the village of Nalma in Nepal to Saudi Arabia in order to work was a financially wise choice for his family. All was going well until the news came, six months into his time abroad, that his wife had eloped with someone else, leading Bahadur to returned to his children in Nepal.

Originally published by CIFOR.

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  • Unpacking migration and gender in Nepal

Unpacking migration and gender in Nepal

09 April, 2018

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In the village of Nalma, Nepal, scientist Bimbika Sijapati Basnett from the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) talks about her research on the impact of migration on lives and landscapes.

Originally published by CIFOR.

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  • Secrets of the Mutis Honey Hunters

Secrets of the Mutis Honey Hunters

02 April, 2018

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This story book is based on traditions and folk tales passed down for generations by the Olin Fobia people in Bonleu village, South Central Timor, Indonesia. These traditions have been practiced for hundreds of years. As some Olin Fobia traditions and tales are beginning to disappear, the Kanoppi Project and CIFOR are striving to document them before they do. Further, this book aims to motivate the younger generation to become involved in efforts to preserve forests, and to protect forest flora and fauna and their habitats.

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  • Secrets of the Mutis Honey Hunters

Secrets of the Mutis Honey Hunters


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In the Mount Mutis valley in West Timor, Indonesia, there lives a people with a tradition of hunting. They do not hunt deer or wild boar, but honey. As a non-timber forest product, Mount Mutis honey provides supplementary income for its harvesters’ livelihoods. And because honey production relies on a healthy forest environment, there is an extra economic incentive to ensure protection of the ecosystem it depends on.

Originally published by CIFOR.

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  • Rural women left behind in Nepal

Rural women left behind in Nepal

24 October, 2017

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Sita Pariyar, a 27-year-old mother of two living in the village of Nalma, Nepal, has balanced housework, childcare and field work alone for a year now since her husband moved to Qatar as a migrant worker. Nearly three-quarters of Nepal’s young male population now works overseas, sending money back to their families in the form of remittances that contribute almost 30 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. On the home front, women, children and the elderly are left to keep village life running, reshaping traditional roles, responsibilities and land management practices.

Read more at Forests News. Originally published by CIFOR.

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  • Gendered Responses to Drought in Yunnan Province, China

Gendered Responses to Drought in Yunnan Province, China

21 August, 2017

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Vulnerability to and perceptions of climate change may be significantly affected by gender. However, in China, gender is rarely addressed in climate adaption or resource management strategies. This paper demonstrates the relevance of gender in responses to climate change in the mountainous province of Yunnan in southwest China.

Based on surveys undertaken during a record-breaking drought, the paper explores how women and men in a village in Baoshan Prefecture differ in their perceptions of and responses to drought, and how the changing roles of women and men in the home and the community are influencing water management at the village level.

Our results show that despite the increasingly active role of women in managing water during the drought, they are excluded from community-level decision-making about water. The paper argues that given the importance of gender differences in perceptions of and responses to drought, the lack of a gender perspective in Chinese policy may undermine efforts to support local resource management and climate adaptation.

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  • Tropical fruit tree diversity: Good practices for in situ and on-farm conservation

Tropical fruit tree diversity: Good practices for in situ and on-farm conservation

26 July, 2017

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Farmers have developed a range of agricultural practices to sustainably use and maintain a wide diversity of crop species in many parts of the world. This book documents good practices innovated by farmers and collects key reviews on good practices from global experts, not only from the case study countries but also from Brazil, China and other parts of Asia and Latin America.

A good practice for diversity is defined as a system, organization or process that, over time and space, maintains, enhances and creates crop genetic diversity, and ensures its availability to and from farmers and other users. Drawing on experiences from a UNEP-GEF project on “Conservation and Sustainable Use of Wild and Cultivated Tropical Fruit Tree Diversity for Promoting Livelihoods, Food Security and Ecosystem Services”, with case studies from India, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand, the authors show how methods for identifying good practices are still evolving and challenges in scaling-up remain.

They identify key principles effective as a strategy for mainstreaming good practice into development efforts. Few books draw principles and lessons learned from good practices. This book fills this gap by combining good practices from the research project on tropical fruit trees with chapters from external experts to broaden its scope and relevance.

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  • What should be included in the Green Climate Fund’s new Gender Policy and Action Plan?: Lessons from CIFOR’s research and analyses

What should be included in the Green Climate Fund’s new Gender Policy and Action Plan?: Lessons from CIFOR’s research and analyses

25 July, 2017

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Key points

  • Despite a clear mandate for addressing gender equality in climate policy and action, gender considerations tend to be sidelined or watered down at national/program levels. The Green Climate Fund is well placed to help bridge this gap and contribute toward a global vision to address gender equality and women’s empowerment in climate policy and action.
  • For this, the updated gender policy of the Green Climate Fund must be guided by a ‘gender-responsive’ approach, and hence move beyond the ‘gender-sensitive’ approach of the current gender policy.
  • The objectives of the new gender policy should be two-fold: (i) advance gender equality and women’s empowerment through climate change mitigation and/or adaptation actions; (ii) minimize gender-related risks and safeguard women’s rights in all climate change actions.
  • The Gender Policy and Action Plan need to be aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals. This will allow for clearer sets of targets and progress indicators for assessing the Fund’s contribution toward enhancing gender equality and women’s empowerment (SDG5).

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