Publications

Environmental Aspects of China’s Papermaking Fiber Supply

In recent years, China’s expanding pulp and paper sector has become a major influence on the global forests and forest product markets. Since 1990, China has accounted for over 50 per cent the world’s overall growth in paper and paperboard production. To meet growing domestic demand, the government is promoting a new industry based on […]

Forest Products Trade Between China & Africa

An Analysis of Imports & Exports

Recent reports of China’s efforts to secure access to natural resources in Africa suggest that timber has already become an important traded commodity between China and the African continent. Many hold a general impression that Africa exports a significant and growing amount of timber to China. However, the true magnitude of the China-Africa forest product […]

Recent Developments in Forest Product Trade between Russia and China

Potential Production, Processing, Consumption and Trade Scenarios

China has a very significant role in the global timber market and this has significant ramifications for forests, forest livelihoods and the structure of forest industries around the world. In this report we will focus on possible future trends in the forest products-processing, consumption and trade between China and its main suppliers, with a particular […]

Amendment to the U.S. Lacey Act

Implications for Malaysian Forest Products Exporters

Malaysia is one of the largest producers and suppliers of tropical hardwood and related products destined for the United States. In 2007, the United States imported almost 2.2 m3 RWE of timber products from Malaysia – mostly plywood and furniture – totaling USD$1.1 billion in value. Sabah and Sarawak supply the great majority of the […]

Linking FLEGT Voluntary Partnership Agreements to Jobs and Growth

Potential Challenges and Benefits for Small and Medium Sized Forest Enterprises

This brief report discusses the potential impact of the European Commission’s Voluntary Partnership Agreements (VPAs) on the extent to which improved investment and business climates supported by VPA programs can support the small and medium forest enterprise (SMFE) sector. Recognizing the important roles that SMFEs play in rural development and the alleviation of rural poverty, […]

Forest Company-Community Agreements in Mexico

Identifying Succesful Models

Agreements between the private sector and local forest communities have been increasingly recognized as a potential solution to problems related to poverty alleviation, the increasing demand for wood products, and the need to increase the part of global forest area that is under sustainable forest management. Mexico represents one of the few countries that have […]

China’s Forest Product Import Trends 1997-2002

Analysis of Customs Data with Emphasis on Asia-Pacific Supplying Countries

China plays a major, and growing, role in the global forest products market today. The largest importer of industrial roundwood in the world since 2001, China is now second only to the United States in total imports of forest products, rising from seventh in less than ten years. In recent years, over 40 percent of […]

Social, Environmental and Economic Dimensions of Forest Policy Reform in Bolivia

Bolivian forests cover some 53 million hectares – or almost half of the total area of the country – mainly in the departments of Santa Cruz, Beni, La Paz, Pando and Cochabamba. During the last decade or so, there was a growing concern that the nation’s forests were increasingly under threat and that there was […]

Rights and Resources Initiative

A New Global Initiative Advancing Forest Tenure, Policy and Market Reforms to Reduce Rural Poverty, Strengthen Forest Gove

Many communities are asserting their rights to manage their forests, and some governments and private sector leaders are introducing substantive changes to forest tenure, policies and markets. The forest sector is now undergoing important reforms.

Who Owns, Who Conserves and Why It Matters

When thinking about forest tenure and conservation, it is important to recall that there are somewhere between 1 and 1.5 billion of the world’s poorest people living in and around forests. Recent studies indicate that about 80 per cent of the extreme poor – those living on less than one dollar a day – depend […]