When forest degradation and destruction meet local communities who are simply feeding themselves or making their livelihoods, the case for forest preservation gets complicated. In Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly the Congo Basin, this pattern of clearing and regrowth for subsistence — dubbed shifting cultivation — is thought to have driven the majority of recent, extensive tree […]

By Bo Li and Yaxin Yan China’s investments in Africa have exploded in recent years, with outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) stock growing from $1 billion in 2004 to more than $30 billion in 2014. Investment in forests—particularly the timber sector—is no different. China’s overseas forest project investments grew from eight in 2007 to 84 in […]

For this installment of GFW User Profiles, we spoke with Craig Leisher, Director of Monitoring and Evaluations in Africa for The Nature Conservancy. What organization do you work with and what do you do? I’m the director for Monitoring and Evaluations in Africa at The Nature Conservancy (TNC). My job is to measure socioeconomic and […]

By Wanjira Mathai Restoration could boost food and water security, improve livelihoods, and curb climate change in some of the most vulnerable regions on Earth. Photo credit: teachandlearn, Flickr. As the public excitement subsides from the UN Climate Summit 2014, the hard work of turning commitments into reality begins. One of the most far-reaching of those commitments is the New […]

By Pascal Douard and Craig Hanson The rainforests of Africa’s Congo Basin are vast—the world’s second largest—and one of the last bastions of a once-widespread system of intact, biodiverse, and carbon-rich forests. And they are increasingly one of the most threatened. Agriculture, mining, logging, and climate change are already chipping away and thinning out the forests’ edge […]