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Day 18: CIFOR

We spent the day at CIFOR where we met with a couple of people and discussed different aspects of forestry conservation:
  • Forest fires: cheapest way to convert secondary forests into oil palm plantations
    • Value of forest fire conversion is much higher than any potential benefit from using other method
    • Forests are improving and stabilizing
    • Cycles of burning affects Malaysia and Singapore;
    • nothing done: policy is reactive
    • Costs $47b due to haze
    • Swidden
      • Ancient practice for restoring soil fertility
      • It has been sustainable, all along; not the cause of the haze??
      • 3-4 years' cycle
  • Sustainable palm oil:  EU report on Indonesian palm oil not being sustainable
    • Tension btn US/EU priorities on sustainability, with agenda of Indonesia on development
  • REDD+ policy: struggle because of financial flow problems
    • Policy in Brazil not automatically transferrable because of the different contexts
    • Subnational government doing more than the national govt.
  • Social forestry:
    • Customary forests managed by communities
    • Indicative Map of Social Forestry: hand in hand with One Map
    • Participatory mapping by involving communities
    • Work with donors and civil society
    • Principles: Justice, sustainability, legal certainty, participatory, accountable 



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