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New forestry books available
Earthscan are pleased to announce the publication of these new forestry books. If you are a course leader and would like an inspection copy, please fill in the form here. If you are a book review editor and would like a press copy, please email me at Alice.Haworth-Booth@earthscan.co.uk with the details of your publication.
Forests for People: Community Rights and Forest Tenure Reform
Edited By Anne M. Larson, Deborah Barry, Ganga Ram Dahal and Carol J. Pierce Colfer
Who has rights to forests and forest resources? In recent years governments in the South have transferred at least 200 million hectares of forests to communities living in and around them. This book assesses the experience of what appears to be a new international trend that has substantially increased the share of the world’s forests under community administration. Based on research in over 30 communities in selected countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, it examines the process and outcomes of granting new rights, assessing a variety of governance issues in implementation, access to forest products and markets and outcomes for people and forests.
Forest tenure reforms have been highly varied, ranging from the titling of indigenous territories to the granting of small land areas for forest regeneration or the right to a share in timber revenues. While in many cases these rights have been significant, new statutory rights do not automatically result in rights in practice, and a variety of institutional weaknesses and policy distortions have limited the impacts of change. Through the comparison of selected cases, the chapters explore the nature of forest reform, the extent and meaning of rights transferred or recognized, and the role of authority and citizens’ networks in forest governance. They also assess opportunities and obstacles associated with government regulations and markets for forest products and the effects across the cases on livelihoods, forest condition and equity.
Governing Africa’s Forests in a Globalized World
Edited By Laura A. German, Alain Karsenty and Anne-Marie Tiani
Many countries around the world are engaged in decentralization processes, and most African countries face serious problems with forest governance, from benefits sharing to illegality and sustainable forest management. This book summarizes experiences to date on the extent and nature of decentralization and its outcomes – most of which suggest an underperformance of governance reforms – and explores the viability of different governance instruments in the context of weak governance and expanding commercial pressures over forests.
Findings are grouped into two thematic areas: decentralization, livelihoods and sustainable forest management; and international trade, finance and forest sector governance reforms. The authors examine diverse forces shaping the forest sector, including the theory and practice of decentralization, usurpation of authority, corruption and illegality, inequitable patterns of benefits capture and expansion of international trade in timber and carbon credits, and discuss related outcomes on livelihoods, forest condition and equity. The book builds on earlier volumes exploring different dimensions of decentralization and perspectives from other world regions, and distills dimensions of forest governance that are both unique to Africa and representative of broader global patterns. The authors ground their analysis in relevant theory while drawing out implications of their findings for policy and practice.
All the best,
Alice
Alice Haworth-Booth
Marketing Assistant
Earthscan
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