Contribution of Forestry to Poverty Alleviation - APFNet

Introduction
Overview
Peter Walpole*
Jeremy Broadhead**
Dallay Annawi*
Poverty poses a major challenge for developing countries and contributing to poverty alleviation
has been a crucial issue for the Asia-Pacific forestry sector over the last decade. Achievements have,
however, often fallen short of expectations. The high incidence of poverty in forested areas, the high
dependence of the poor on forest resources and the vast areas of forestland under state control demand
an enhanced role for forestry in poverty eradication and a redoubling and re-strategizing of efforts in
the forestry sector as the 2015 target for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), particularly
MDG 1 of halving the number of people living in absolute poverty, draws closer.
This regional study implemented by the Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Asia
and the Pacific, in partnership with Asia Forest Network (AFN) with the support of Asia-Pacific Network
for Sustainable Forest Management and Rehabilitation (APFNet), aims to document the extent to which
different activities and factors in forestry have been effective in reducing poverty, as well as to identify
the opportunities and threats to future efforts given existing initiatives and the outlook for the region’s
forestry sector. The study forms part of FAO’s APFNet-funded project, “Making forestry work for the
poor: Adapting forest policies to poverty alleviation strategies in Asia and the Pacific”, which is aimed
at assisting forestry agencies in contributing to national poverty alleviation goals.
This overview chapter provides background information on the study and summarises key themes
drawn from the country reports and other relevant studies.
Scope and Organization of the Study
The study covers 11 countries in Asia and the Pacific region: Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia,
Lao PDR, Nepal, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Thailand and Viet Nam. The contribution of forests
and forestry to poverty alleviation was assessed in terms of three broad areas of forestry:
(i) Community forestry. This broadly refers to local forest management modalities, categorised
in the country reports into subsistence use of forest resources and the allocation (devolution)
of forest lands and management or access rights to local people or communities.
(ii) Commercial and industrial forestry. Commercial forestry involves forest-related
activities done at the local level that are involved in the markets, such as the collection,
processing and sale of non-wood forest products (NWFPs) for commercial purposes as
opposed to traditional or subsistence use; use of small wood and production of handicrafts
and furniture; and outgrower schemes or contract farming. Industrial forestry, on the other
hand, involves larger-scale operations for logging and the primary production of timber,
growing timber (plantations) and processing (sawmill operation), and manufacture of
wood products (sawnwood, panels, pulp and paper) and furniture.
(iii) Payments for environmental services (PES) and carbon payments. PES includes
rewards, compensation or market mechanisms for the provision of environmental services,
such as landscape beauty, watershed regulation, biodiversity conservation, and carbon
sequestration and storage.
* Asia Forest Network
** Food and Agriculture Organization-Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
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