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A survey of 396 undergraduate and graduate students from 51 countries on 5 continents currently enrolled in Forestry or Related Natural Resource (FRNR) degree programmes was conducted of attendees to the International Union of Forest Research Organizations' (IUFRO) conference in Salt Lake City, Utah, 2014. These perspectives come from some of the most active students in their respective fields. We explored the motivating reasons for enrolling in their current FRNR programme, and conversely why they may have been hesitant to do so. Results indicate that enjoyment of nature was the most important factor on average driving the decision to enroll, closely followed by job satisfaction, concern for the environment, enjoyment of outdoor recreation, being outdoors, and an interest in subject material. Hesitancy factors included earning potential, availability of funding/scholarships, and politically contentious issues. A number of significant differences were found across demographic categories. Of particular note was the greater hesitancy on the part of women and people of color to enroll in FRNR degree programmes compared to their white male counterparts. We discuss the limitations of our study arising from its international scope and imbalance of responses among countries and regions.

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We document the perceptions, practices and policy options in managing lowland bamboo [Oxytenanthera abyssinica] in Benishangul Gumuz Regional State (BGRS) in Ethiopia, particularly to enable small-scale enterprises (SSE) to become more active in this field. This region hosts the largest extent of natural bamboo forests in Ethiopia. There is a recent push to realize bamboo's economic and environmental potential in Ethiopia, which puts SSEs as crucial actors. There is little or scattered published information on local perceptions and practices surrounding natural bamboo forest management and options for realizing bamboo's potential from a subnational/local perspective in Africa, including in Ethiopia. In 2018, we conducted a literature review, spatial analysis, participatory mapping, and interviewed experts working in governmental and non-governmental organizations and local stakeholders in BGRS. We find some consensus of the environmental importance of bamboo. In contrast, there is some debate at the subnational level about the economic importance of bamboo, leading to decisions favouring other land uses. Bamboo forests in this region suffer neglect, as they are perceived to be ‘owned by no one and used by everyone’ and will continue to be there without management. Lack of market-driven opportunities, bamboo-specific training among foresters, data on economic contributions of bamboo, and regulations or guidelines to support existing laws have prevented effective management of the bamboo resource. There are multiple bamboo management approaches that open economic opportunities for SSEs in the region. There needs to be more clarity on how to secure land use rights over bamboo forests, accessible financing, market linkages, business training, and low-tech/low-cost technologies to encourage the development of bamboo SSEs.

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The last three decades have witnessed shifts in forest governance in favour of more inclusive approaches. In Uganda, two main approaches have been embraced in the forest sector: collaborative forest management and community forest management. However, there is scanty empirical evidence on how the latter has affected the forest condition over time. Using data from two bio-physical surveys (2006 and 2016) and Key Informant Interviews, this study examined changes in vegetation characteristics in two de facto community forests (Ongo and Alimugonza) over a 10-year period. The basal area and stem densities of tree species locally preferred for poles and charcoal declined in both forests due to extractive uses, some of which were illegal. The densities of those preferred for timber increased as a result of their heightened protection by the community members. However, the community members still faced challenges of apprehending rulebreakers due to the high costs involved and their informal recognition as responsible bodies since the two forests have not yet been declared “community forests” as required by law. The gains made by the approach amidst these challenges demonstrate its potential to achieve conservation goals.

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Trade-in Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) in the Congo Basin is a source of cash income for stakeholders in their value chains, from harvesters to traders. However, gender-disaggregated data on the benefits of such trade in Gabon remains poorly captured and used by policymakers, despite a decree on women's empowerment enacted by the Republic of Gabon in 2017. This study assesses gender dynamics, reasons for entering the trade, economics, and perceived threats to Coula edulis, Dacryodes buettneri, and Irvingia gabonensis value chains originating in Makokou, Gabon. Data from field observations, key informants, and 79 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders in three markets showed that activities in the value chains of these three NTFPs were highly gender-differentiated. Women dominate in all three chains, particularly in the two lower-value products. This was driven by women's vulnerability and men's preference for higher-value timber and NTFPs. Both men and women enter the trade mostly because they lack other ways to generate income and employment. The men involved in the chains tended to harvest slightly larger volumes and sell at higher prices. The NTFPs and their value chains were all perceived as threatened by climate change, deforestation, and unsustainable forest resources management, with both men and women aware of these threats. The importance of the NTFP trade for women suggested that policies and gender focus interventions, for example on domestication, cultivation, value-adding to improve and sustain their income, could contribute to more sustainable value chains and livelihoods.

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This study conducted around three provinces of Gabon (Estuaire, Ngounié, and Nyanga) aims at exploring gender dynamics, economics, and vulnerability perceptions in the bush mango value chain by analyzing male-female roles and relationships. Interviews were randomly conducted with 174 actors as follows: 132 (Estuaire), 12 (Ngounié), and 30 (Nyanga) provinces using a semi-structured questionnaire and field observations. Women headed households dominate harvesting (21.8%), processing/trading (10.3%) and trading stages (55.2%) compared to men harvesting (7.5%), processing/trading (0.6%) and trading (4.6%). Women tend to generate relatively higher annual gross average income (1.4 million FCFA per annum), which is 1.7 times higher than that of men. Poor management of resources, the lack of harvesting norms, logging-driven deforestation, and slash-and-burn agriculture are among the perceived factors threatening the value chain. Targeted policy and actions on a gender perspective are suggested to reduce income inequality between men and women along the value chain. A long-term ecological study to monitor changes over forest resources use is crucial before carrying out any mitigating measures based on cultivation and domestication in the study areas.

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Despite widespread participatory governance reforms in the forest sector in Nepal, how forest administration can be re-organised at multiple levels to enable community based forest management remains unexplored. Forest governance reforms in Nepal have involved numerous forms of collaboration and contestation between the state agencies and community-based forest stakeholders in the rapidly evolving federalist political context. Analysing an empirical case of community forestry in Nepal, this paper shows how state agencies and communities interact in the process of controlling and managing forest resources. It is argued in the paper that instituting deliberative processes in multi-level governance structure is a key to the functioning of a well-devolved forest governance. With the nation already adopting a new federal system of governance, it is crucial to clearly define the authorities of the federal, provincial and local level administrations. We also argue that the need for creating institutions and spaces for deliberative engagement between forest dependent community groups and the public administration is at an all-time high for achieving accountability and more effective forest governance. The future of Nepal's forestry and people living around forest resources depend to a large extent on how powers are shared by different levels of governments, and how these governments interact with one another, and with people and civil societies in their respective domains of governance.

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If 150 years of continued use counts as a sustainability indicator, the river-bank agroforests in the peat landscapes of Central Kalimantan suggest solutions for current challenges. The 2015 fire season in Indonesian peatlands triggered a fire ban and peatland restoration response, prioritizing canal blocking and rewetting. However, sustainable livelihood options remain elusive. We report local ecological knowledge of soils and vegetation applied in land use choices in swiddens and agroforests in five Dayak Ngaju villages in Jabiren Raya and Kahayan Hilir subdistrict (Pulang Pisau, C. Kalimantan, Indonesia) on the banks of the Kahayan river and discuss impacts of fire-ban policies. Plots accessible from the river with no or shallow peat were traditionally preferred for swiddening, with various indicator plants and soil characteristics underpinning the choices. Without swiddening farmers depend on off-farm jobs and agroforests for income. More policy attention for non-peat riparian-zone agroforestry as part of peat landscape livelihood systems is warranted.

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Rural household livelihoods usually depend on the use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) as a strategy for income diversification and survival. Thus, this research seeks to determine the role played by NTFPs at the household level. A survey was conducted with 212 households in four localities with a high degree of marginalization, located on the South Pacific coast of Mexico in Oaxaca State. The results show that, firstly, NTFPs are used by all households, even the wealthiest families, and that the most important products used are fuelwood and medicinal plants. Secondly, the findings indicate that the collection and self-consumption of fuelwood and medicinal plants by households with lower incomes generate savings of at least 20% of their total annual gross income. Thirdly, for the majority of the surveyed households (90%), NTFPs are perceived as important for their well-being. This could be due to traditional or cultural attachment to ancestral practices, such as the use of fuelwood for cooking traditional food and the collection of medicinal plants. Finally, NTFP use is a livelihood diversification strategy and promotes the objective and subjective well-being of rural households. Social and environmental policies need to consider the potential of NTFPs for poverty alleviation and rural development through sustainable use and coordinated actions.

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What drives discrepancies and inconsistencies in global forest statistics? The use of global statistics has influenced academic research and sectoral policies of forest ecosystems since the first global forest assessment was conducted in 1948 or even earlier. Very little work has been done to provide a comprehensive analysis of the governance structure and the quality of predominant international forest databases. Furthermore, very little is known about the attractiveness and/or repulsiveness of global forest statistics platforms to scholars, policy-makers and other users. To reduce knowledge gap, this article examines the governance structure and strategies of three major databases which provide data on global forest products trade including timber export/import flows data, namely FAOSTAT, the United Nations Comtrade, and Chatham House's Resource Trade Earth. This paper uses conceptual and theoretical frameworks of data governance and nudge theories are used to study the production, quality, attractiveness and repulsiveness of global forest statistics and the related platforms through research on a qualitative and quantitative methodological approach. The main findings show that among the above three data platforms, only Comtrade received first-hand data directly from UN producing member states' offices, while the other organisations depend on Comtrade, transform second-hand data. More importantly, the article reveals that the levels of quality and attractiveness of the forest databases in our study are unequal and that database attractiveness is not based on quality. As a result, global forest statistics providers may be motivated to put more effort into improving database attractiveness rather than quality, which is more challenging. Consequently, it is likely that the governance structure and strategies reported in these databases can substantially affect the reliability of numbers used in academic research and policy-decisions since they are generated from the related global forest statistics.