Publications

A Brief Overview of China’s Timber Market

China’s timber market has undergone dramatic changes in recent decades and continues to change rapidly. Currently, timber producers are allowed to market their timber directly to different buyers, although timber harvest and transport remain heavily regulated by the government. China’s primary wood-processing industry and wood-consuming sectors have experienced rapid growth in recent years. Sectors like […]

Forest Governance in Federal Systems

An Overview of Experiences and Implications for Decentralization

Internationally recognized problems such as illegal logging and uncontrolled deforestation, as well as the broader political trends, are driving many countries to reconsider centralized systems of decision-making and direct government implementation of forest programs. The paper assesses the experiences of eight countries with federal systems including Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Russia, and the […]

Logging, Legality and Livelihoods in Papua New Guinea

Synthesis of Official Assessments of the Large-Scale Logging Industry Volume II

Between 2000 and 2005, in response to a widely held view that forest management in Papua New Guinea was not providing long-term benefits to the country or its citizens, and to assess the implementation and effectiveness of the new governance regime introduced in the PNG Forestry Act of 1991, the Papua New Guinea government commissioned […]

Developing Future Ecosystem Service Payments In China

Lessons Learned from International Experience

Across the world, the growing scarcity of ecosystem services has led to a flurry of conservation innovations over the past decade in the form of payment schemes and nascent markets for these services. The global economic value of ecosystem services is estimated in the trillions of dollars, though actual payments for protecting these services are […]

Developing Markets for Water Services from Forests

Issues and Lessons for Innovators

Of the many services that forests provide, hydrological services, such as water quality and water flow, are among the most valuable. As we look ahead into the next decade, water will become an increasingly critical issue as it becomes an increasingly scarce resource. The value of these hydrological services will only grow over time. Policy […]

Beyond Timber

Certification of Non-Timber Forest Products

Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) are critical to rural livelihoods in both temperate and tropical areas. They provide communities with important subsistence resources like medicine, food and shelter, as well as a source of cash income. NTFPs are also part of large regional and international markets, and for centuries products such as spices, medicinal plants, fragrances […]

Customs, Concessionaires and Conflict

Tracking Cambodia's Forestry Commodity Chains and Export Links to China

Cambodia has obviously experienced some difficulty in implementing an effective framework of sustainable forest management. Indeed, the Cambodian forest sector can be considered a paradigmatic example of the close links between vast resource wealth on the one hand, and structural conflict and rural violence on the other. From the early to the mid-1990s, Cambodia’s illegal […]

For Services Rendered

The Current Status and Future Potential of Markets for the Ecosystem Services Provided by Tropical Forests

The past decade has seen the widespread emergence of markets and other payment schemes for forest ecosystem services – such as watershed protection, biodiversity protection and carbon sequestration -around the world. At a global scale, several recent reviews indicate that these activities are nascent and still limited in scope and scale, but that they may […]

China’s Forest Product Exports

An Overview of Trends by Segment and Destinations

In only 7 years, China’s timber product exports have tripled in volume and increased fourfold in value. The total volume of all forest product exports – including both timber and pulp and paper products – is now one-third of China’s total forest product import volume. The total volume of only primary timber products (excluding pulp […]

State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets 2008

Forging A Frontier

The volume of voluntary emission offsets traded on the “over the counter” market (e.g., outside of the formalized Chicago Climate Exchange, or CCX) nearly tripled in 2007, and Ecosystem Marketplace has once again teamed up with New Carbon Finance to crunch and analyze this fascinating market. The full report is now available for download. Titled “Forging […]