The IIED forests newsletter updates on our work to improve forest livelihoods and ensure forests are managed in a fair and sustainable way.

Dear friends,

Welcome to another edition of IIED's Forests newsletter. In this issue we will look back on the recent CoNGOs learning event in Cameroon, we'll share a profile of our work on the Multistakeholder Forestry Programme (MFP3) in Indonesia and feature latest events, blogs and publications.

- The Forest team

News and blogs

CoNGOs: NGOs collaborating for equitable and sustainable community livelihoods in Congo Basin forests

IIED’s CoNGOs project held its first learning event on ‘approaches and opportunities for supporting community forest enterprises’ in Kribi, Cameroon from 18–20 July. It was attended by CoNGOs consortium members and forest champions from the UK and Congo Basin; members of the Forest Connect knowledge network from Africa, Asia and Latin America; and representatives from the Cameroon Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife.

The event explored the positive livelihood impacts that might be gained in ensuring that community forest rights translate into enterprise opportunities, and that community forestry serves both people and forest in the Congo Basin. Participants attended a field visit to a community mangrove business run by a women's fish smoking group, members of the Forest Connect network presented examples of best practice from existing knowledge networks, and participants heard about the business incubation techniques currently being used to develop community forest enterprise opportunities in Cameroon.

Cameroon's real indomitable lions are in the forest

Cameroon’s Baka forest communities shared their business ideas with the CoNGOs project team during a recent mission to the country’s southeastern region.

A Chinese passion: adding value to Mozambique's timber exports

Mozambique wants to encourage a timber industry that creates jobs and adds value. Duncan Macqueen visited one Chinese company keen to do just that and saw how an IIED-led project is providing support.

Inputs to the Multistakeholder Forestry Programme Phase 3 (MFP3)

The Forest Team recently completed a mission as part of the DFID-funded Multistakeholder Forestry Programme (MFP3) to strengthen the technical capacity of Community-based Forest Enterprises (CBFE) in Indonesia. The programme began in April 2014 and focuses on strengthening governance in the forestry sector while alleviating poverty for those who make a living from the forest and its resources. MFP3 supports the improvement of community-based forest enterprises to complement corporate industrial forest production.

The programme is committed to reducing illegality, providing greater tenure security, improving rural livelihoods, protecting forest ecosystems and the environment, and mitigating climate change. IIED’s inputs included an assessment of various CBFE value chains on the islands of Java, Sumbawa and Sulawesi with recommendations about how best to organise business incubation services for emerging enterprises – including through 600 reshaped Forest Management Units – as part of the Indonesian government’s commitment to transfer 12.7 million hectares of forest land to communities to improve livelihood options.

Publications and briefings

Making chocolate truly sustainable [pdf]

This article features in the most recent issue of ETFRN News: Zero deforestation: A commitment to change. It follows the production chain from tree to consumer, examining how zero deforestation efforts can address the challenges in making cocoa production and trade sustainable. This analysis proceeds from 2014 research on private sector engagement with REDD+ and the greening of the supply chain in the cocoa-chocolate industry.

Boosting governance in Mozambique’s forests. Options for more sustainable forestry among Chinese timber traders and Mozambican partners

The governments of Mozambique and China are currently considering how to address reports of illegality and unsustainable logging in timber exports to China. This report explores the incentives that can put in place more sustainable forestry and improve the practices of Chinese timber traders, concession holders and their Mozambican partners, while maintaining their important bilateral relationship.

China-Africa Forest Governance Learning Platform: learning event

23–26 October 2017 | Pemba, Mozambique

The 4th international learning event of the China-Africa Forest Governance Platform will be held in Pemba, Mozambique. Co-hosted by the Direcção Nacional de Terras e Florestas, Terra Firma, WWF and IIED, this year’s platform event will bring together Chinese and African stakeholders from policymaking, business, civil society and research communities to learn from each other about Chinese investments in Africa’s forests and other land-use sectors, and shape innovative pro-poor, pro-forest China-Africa policy and business initiatives.

Partner spotlight

Institut Africain pour le Développement Economique et Social (INADES)

Inades-Formation Cameroon is part of a pan-African network which operates in ten countries: Burundi, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, DR Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Chad and Togo. INADES aims to improve the socio-economic self-reliance of rural populations, placing an emphasis on the participation of women and ethnic minorities in the development process of their communities. This is achieved through a range of programmes that focus on decentralisation and local development; rural financing and entrepreneurship; agriculture and the sustainable management of natural resources. INADES’ vision is to stimulate and support development alternatives for the common good, while advocating for an egalitarian and supportive society in Cameroon.

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