id21 Trade

How does illegal logging affect livelihoods in Cameroon?

id21 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:48:42 +0000

Illegal logging is said to account for more than half of the trees harvested in, and exported from, many developing countries. But new data suggest that export-related illegal logging has decreased in recent years. How does illegal logging affect the livelihoods of people living in and near forests?

Can non-timber forest products provide a way out of poverty?

id21 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:34:34 +0000

Over the last three decades, policymakers and conservation non-government organisations have focused on the sustainable production and commercialisation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). Some have seen this as a potential way forward for rural development in tropical forested areas, with the possibility of achieving both conservation and development outcomes

Governing rubber market chains in Indonesia

id21 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:30:54 +0000

Rubber (Hevea brasiliensis) has generated substantial profits to communities living near forests in many countries. In Indonesia, rubber producers have taken advantage of international demand, national development schemes, and high competition among wholesalers working for processing plants

Local processing of non-timber forestry products

id21 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:26:22 +0000

Households that gather non-timber forestry products (NTFPs) rarely generate enough income from this alone to sustain themselves. Harvesters at the primary producer end of the value chain usually get less than ten percent of the actual retail value their products achieve when traded beyond local markets

Governing non-timber forest product market chains

id21 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:20:22 +0000

Strategies to extract and cultivate non-timber forest products (NTFP) can increase financial returns to poor producers. However, a global study by the Center for International Forestry Research demonstrates that such strategies have also led to resource depletion and inequalities between households and people within the market chains

Sharing science with remote forest communities in Amazonia

id21 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:15:37 +0000

People in remote Amazonian villages regularly sell 30-metre fruit trees to loggers. These trees can produce up to 2,000 nutritious fruits a year; villagers, who rarely know the market price for timber or fruit, earn the equivalent of just US$2 per tree. They are losing valuable timber trees as well as the fruit and medicinal trees that sustain their families

The commercialisation of non-timber forest products: what determines success?

id21 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:07:55 +0000

The commercialisation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) has been widely promoted as an approach to rural development in tropical forest areas. However, the expected benefits of poverty alleviation and natural resource conservation are often hard to achieve.

Bushmeat, wildlife products and forest livelihoods

id21 — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 19:04:34 +0000

Wildlife products from forests are a significant source of food, income and fuel for many people living in tropical forested regions. These products include bushmeat (meat from wild animals), freshwater fish and wild plants. Harvests are often unmonitored, but where research has been done, evidence suggests that many tropical forest species are being overexploited, particularly mammals

Food trade and food policy in sub-Saharan Africa: old myths and new challenges

id21 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:55:45 +0000

2004/11 - id21 [Patterns of agricultural trade and policy are changing rapidly. Africa is being squeezed not by formal World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations but through the rearrangement of agricultural subsidies in developed countries, changes in trade preferences and Africa’s inability to participate in setting standards. Africa faces the prospect of paying more for the cereals it imports and earning less from its agricultural exports]

More 'globalised' countries have less, not more child labour

id21 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:48:11 +0000

2006/01 - id21 [Critics of globalisation argue that developing countries may seek to attract foreign direct investment by keeping their labour costs low. One way of doing this is by allowing child labour. Globalisation is often blamed for increased levels of child labour, but the reality is not so simple. Trade openness may actually have the opposite effect]

Slipping through the net: can poor people benefit from the international fisheries trade?

id21 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:42:08 +0000

2006/03 - id21 [The global export value of fisheries products is around €60 billion annually and growing. This trade has significant implications for poor people in Asia, where fisheries provide food and income for poor, marginalised people]

Changes in trade policies

id21 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:38:23 +0000

2006/06 - id21 [There is little understanding of the effects of trade policy changes on urban and rural communities. However, gathering evidence confirms links between levels of trade liberalisation, urbanisation and inequality. Is it becoming possible to forecast how a trade policy change might affect the balance between rural and urban economies in a particular country?]

European initiative links trade policy with sustainable development

id21 — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 15:30:48 +0000

2008/08 - id21 [The European Commission (EC) has pledged to assess the economic, social and environmental impacts of its trade policies. Its Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) programme is indicating that the economic benefits expected from the efficiency gains of trade liberalisation are small. Dynamic effects can be much larger, but the potential gains are strongly dependent on other policy measures. Adverse impacts will occur unless effective parallel policies are implemented]

UK qualification suppliers in Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe

id21 — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 13:49:00 +0000

2008/08 - id21 [Liberalisation allows foreign qualification suppliers to operate in states from which they were previously excluded. Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe have both attempted a process of economic liberalisation, but with varying results. Do UK-based qualification suppliers operate in the same way across these two countries or vary their operations in response to the local context?]