About Forests and Poverty Reduction
Introduction
In January 2008, the world’s population measured in at around 6.6 billion. Every single one of us on earth depends on trees and forests to some extent for timber, paper, foods and medicines, and for fundamental environmental services. (To go to Forest Environmental Services section, click here). But one in six of us are directly dependent on forest contributions for incomes. Known as “forest dependent communities”, these are the people who live in or near forests and who gather, rather than buy, the forest products that they need. Forest products substitute for their shortfalls in on-farm production, for the fertiliser and medicine they cannot afford to buy and for the income from migrant labouring which is not accessible in remote places. In total, forests contribute between 20% and 60% of the cash and non-cash incomes of these forest dependent communities. It is this group upon which the poverty work of the Forest Conservation Programme is focused.
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Our mission and vision |
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Experiences and lessons learned |
