Routledge Forest Tenure Reform in Asia and Africa: Local Control for Improved Livelihoods, Forest Management, and Carbon Sequestration (Environment for Development)

Forest tenure reforms are occurring in many developing countries around the world. These reforms typically include devolution of forest lands to local people and communities, which has attracted a great deal of attention and interest. While the nature and level of devolution vary by country, all have potentially important implications for resource allocation, local ecosystem services, livelihoods and climate change. This book helps students, researchers and professionals to understand the importance and implications of these reforms for local environmental quality, climate change, and the livelihoods of villagers, who are often poor. It is shown that local forest management can often be more successful than top-down management of common pool forest resources. The relationship of local forest tenure reform to the important climate change initiative REDD+ is also considered. The work includes a number of generic chapters and also detailed case studies from China, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nepal, Tanzania and Uganda. Using specific examples and a wide variety of disciplinary perspectives, including quantitative and qualitative analytical methods, the book provides an authoritative and critical picture of local forest reforms in light of the key challenges humanity faces today. Review "This very readable book looks at different countries’ strategies to use tenure innovations to manage forest resources. An especially interesting contribution is the comparison of China’s privatization of forest rights to the community-based forestry management approach in other developing countries. The book evaluates a variety of outcomes – livelihoods, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration potential – in these different settings. Based on extensive on-the-ground experience, the editors and authors demonstrate valuable insights into the important role of tenure reform in managing forest resources." –  Peter Berck, Professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics and Policy, S.J. Hall Professor of Forestry, University of California, Berkeley, USA. "This book presents some very interesting and pragmatic insights and recommendations concerning forest-tenure reforms, independent of, or in conjunction with, redd+. It shows that it is essential to consider the impact that policy choices may have on poor and indigenous communities, and to take into account gender issues and involve women in decision-making." – Climate Law, Elizabeth Dooley, Ecologic Institute, Berlin "This volume serves as a well-informed reference for students, researchers, and practitioners to understand forest tenure reforms, its challenges, and its major implications. Overall, it is a very readable, well researched and organized reference on forest tenure reforms and their implications." – Sarah Eissler, Agriculture and Human Values Journal "Forest Tenure Reform in Asia and Africa: local control for improved livelihoods, forest management, and carbon sequestration is a timely contribution to understand these tenure reforms, their strengths and weaknesses in practice, and their implications for the affected livelihoods and environment. Bluffstone and Robinson (editors) bring together a very well-researched and complementary compilation of case studies, empirical research, and theoretical and contextual considerations to inform the topic of global forest tenure reforms, with a particular focus on Asia and Africa. This volume serves as a well-informed reference for students, researchers, and practitioners to understand forest tenure reforms, its challenges, and its major implications. Overall, it is a very readable, well researched and organized reference on forest tenure reforms and their implications." -  Sarah Eissler in Agriculture and Human Values (June 2017) About the Author Randall A. Bluffstone is Professor of Economics and Fellow of the Institute for Sustainable Solutions, Portland State University, USA and Research Associate with the Environment for De