Archive of completed locally-controlled forestry projects

Forests and livelihoods have been the focus of pioneering work by IIED since the 1980s. This archive page links to past forest projects managed by IIED.

Article, 22 February 2019
Collection
Locally-controlled forestry
How IIED supports just transitions towards locally-controlled forestry that safeguard biocultural heritage, enhance entrepreneurship and improve prosperity within diverse and resilient landscapes
A Vietnamese man poses in front of buildings and piles of timber

Cooperative cinnamon tree growers in Viet Nam managed to attract this private sector partner and bank finance for a US$3.5 million processing factory in less than four years (Photo: Duncan Macqueen, IIED)

IIED’s forest and land use programme was established by Duncan Poore, whose many achievements included the landmark book ‘No Timber Without Trees’ on sustainable forest management. Some of the team's early achievements include:

Below are links to our more recent, archived projects:

Integrating forests into the post-2015 development framework

In preparation for the introduction and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, this project was designed to incorporate forest-related targets and indicators into the post-2015 development framework. Through exploring credible metrics and other incentives for investment, the team was able to create forest-specific SDG implementation guidance.

Growing Forest Partnerships Initiative

In 2009 IIED, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), launched Growing Forest Partnerships (GFP), an initiative to develop and support networks of people and organisations at local, national and international levels working towards the equitable and sustainable management of forestry resources.

The final evaluation found widespread impact, through the creation of platforms from which marginalised forest voices could be heard and communicated. Direct impacts of the project included changes in national policy or legal processes, such as revisions to the Ghana Forest Policy, chainsaw regulations in Liberia and the introduction of a new law in Guatemala that provides financial incentives for refforestation and conservation.

Forest Connect

Forest Connect was a knowledge network co-managed by IIED, FAO, RECOFTC and the Earth Innovation Institute for agencies that supported locally-controlled forest enterprises. Active between 2007 and 2018, it aimed to reduce poverty and maintain forest landscapes by better linking such enterprises, not only to each other, but also to markets, financial and business support services and to decision makers, policymakers and policy processes.

It involved an active membership of more than 1,000 practitioners from 94 countries, ran a series of international learning events, and channelled financial support to NGO partners at varying times in Brazil, Cambodia, China, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Indonesia, Laos, Liberia, Mali, Mexico, Myanmar, Nepal, Thailand, South Africa, Uganda and Vietnam.

Latterly, it shifted emphasis towards building entrepreneurial capacity into forest and farm producer organisations (FFPOs) directly and helped design the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) which took on its work.

Contact

Duncan Macqueen (duncan.macqueen@iied.org), principal researcher, Natural Resources research group