Topic: forests

This working paper presents positive trends and overarching gaps in how countries designing programs to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) are proposing to address governance challenges. It can serve as a starting point to help governments, donors, and civil society groups identify where additional analysis, financial support, and capacity-building are needed to build effective REDD+ strategies, systems, and institutions.

This publication is part of a series of case studies is intended to show commercial buyers of wood and paper-based products how their supply chains can conform with U.S. legal requirements on importing certain types of wood. The case studies, compiled by the Forest Legality Alliance, draw lessons from emerging best practices for managing risk in high-risk contexts.

This study focuses on two mahogany supply chains that originate in remote, biodiversity-rich forests in Honduras. The wood is harvested by community cooperatives and used to make guitars in the United States. The issue brief describes two approaches buyers use to minimize the risk of sourcing illegal wood. The first approach is to establish strong relationships with suppliers, and the second is to prefer certified wood.

This series of case studies is intended to show commercial buyers of wood and paper-based products how their supply chains can conform with U.S. legal requirements on importing certain types of wood. The case studies, compiled by the Forest Legality Alliance (FLA), draw lessons from emerging best practices for managing risk in high-risk contexts.

In this case, WRI worked with IKEA on a demonstration study focused on the production of a composite product (board materials such as particle board, Medium Density Fiber Board, etc). We looked at the controls needed to procure the raw material for this product’s manufacture. The study reviews how IKEA’s internal systems work to ensure that source materials are purchased with an adequate level of due care.

One of the goals of this report is to initiate a discussion with policy makers and the private sector on implementation of due care systems to ensure that materials are sourced legally. Specifically, we hope to address how the United States can import composite products that are largely made up of waste materials and produced by a number of diverse, small producers within a weak local governance system while still showing a high level of due care. One focus is the level of detail that IKEA is trying to achieve. The report looks at this policy’s applicability in the field and its practicability for Lacey Act’s reporting requirements.

Version 3.0 of the Interactive Forest Atlas provides users with more complete and up-to-date information on the Congo forest sector – timber extraction areas, forest concession management plan status, volume of timber logged, and more. One of its main objectives is to strengthen forest management and land use planning by bringing all major land use categories onto the same standardized platform.

La version 3.0 de l’Atlas Forestier Interactif du Congo fournit aux utilisateurs une information complète et actualisée sur le secteur forestier au Congo – superficie exploitée, statut des plans d’aménagement des concessions forestières, volume de bois exploité, etc. L’un de ses objectifs majeurs est de renforcer la gestion forestière et la planification de l’utilisation des sols en regroupant toutes les catégories d’utilisation des sols sur une plateforme unique.

This WRI/WBCSD guide provides simple, clear information about the 10 key issues related to sustainable procurement of wood and paper-based products. The guide is designed as an information support tool to assist users as they develop and implement their own procurement policies for forest products.

During the design of REDD+, Parties recognized that REDD+ actions will likely not be sustainable unless they account for the role of local people and ecosystems. As a result, Parties defined seven “safeguards” to guide implementation of REDD+, among them transparency, participation, protection of biodiversity, and protection of the rights of local people.

Governments in REDD+ countries are tasked with providing information on how these safeguards will be “addressed and respected.” One option is to develop a national system focused on implementing the safeguards and to provide information on how the system functions. The purpose of this report is to support this process by providing a framework for what a robust national system to implement the REDD+ safeguards would include.