Illegal logging is massively widespread - more than 50 per cent of all timber in some countries - and hugely damaging, yet how can it be tackled without causing poverty in local communities?

Several participatory forest management approaches have emerged in different countries in South Asia in the effort to develop an effective institutional framework and mechanisms for the management of forest resources. These different approaches have different features, characteristics, and degrees of participation by local forest users, and thus different implications for the management of forest resources and the livelihoods of forest-dependent people.

In recent decades 'participatory' approaches to forest management have been introduced around the world. This book assesses their implementation in the highly politicized environments of India and Nepal. The authors critically examine the policy, implementation processes and causal factors affecting livelihood impacts.

This study examines two major transitions in forest governance - decentralisation and state-sponsored (formal) community forestry - with respect to whether they are opening spaces for communities to contribute to sustainable forest management. The study consists of an introductory chapter and seven individual country studies - India, Nepal, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam and China.

This report summarizes the key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, and the key policy options available to reduce the resulting carbon emissions. It reviews current deforestation rates and the associated issues related to monitoring forest-based carbon emissions and establishing baselines. The findings of research into the direct and underlying causes of deforestation and degradation provide a basis for outlining REDD policy options, while highlighting the associated challenges.