CIFOR–ICRAF publishes over 750 publications every year on agroforestry, forests and climate change, landscape restoration, rights, forest policy and much more – in multiple languages.

CIFOR–ICRAF addresses local challenges and opportunities while providing solutions to global problems for forests, landscapes, people and the planet.

We deliver actionable evidence and solutions to transform how land is used and how food is produced: conserving and restoring ecosystems, responding to the global climate, malnutrition, biodiversity and desertification crises. In short, improving people’s lives.

Toward a pro-poor forest science

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Two distinct visions of tropical forests co-exist in the scientific literature. One is more neo-Malthusian. The other is more pro-poor. The evidence increasingly favours the latter, although many uncertainties remain. The pro-poor literature emphasises that poor families create and manage forests as well as destroy them, that the forests and the communities have evolved together, and that many forestry regulations and conservation initiatives hurt the poor without helping the forest. For those that support a more pro-poor vision, the challenge is to find ways to reach broader audiences with their message. That will require communicating in ways people can relate to and convincing them that they and the rural poor share many common interests.
    Publication year

    2002

    Authors

    Kaimowitz, D.

    Language

    English

    Keywords

    forest policy, poverty, communication

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