The 2014 Annual Report of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) features, among other achievements: follow up to the first-ever full independent evaluation of a CGIAR Research Program; critical analyses of green economy policies in several South East Asian countries; and contributions to the first State of the World's Forest Genetic Resources of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), and its associated Global Plan of Action.
August 2015: The 2014 Annual Report of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) features, among other achievements: follow-up to the first-ever full independent evaluation of a CGIAR Research Program; critical analyses of green economy policies in several South East Asian countries; and contributions to the first State of the World’s Forest Genetic Resources of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), and its associated Global Plan of Action.
The report highlights efforts by FTA scientists to support national partners in South East Asia to critically assess their commodity export policies for rice, rubber, coffee, cocoa and oil palm, especially with regard to the impact on smallholder producers. In the case of Indonesia, the report notes that FTA’s analysis “contributed to the way the new government tries to improve on past performance and face the challenges in a more integrated way.”
Describing CGIAR’s contribution to the Global Plan of Action for Conservation, Sustainable Use and Development of Forest Genetic Resources (GPA FGR), the report notes that the 27 priority actions at the national, regional and international levels integrated issues, priorities and recommendations derived from FTA research, and that 14 country members of the Asia Pacific Forest Genetic Resources Network subsequently met to plan for implementation in the sub-region.
The report states that FTA “reached a 96% compliance level” with its Programme of Work and Budget in 2014, producing more than 700 publications, of which 51% were open access. Some “flagship products” mentioned in the report include: ‘REDD+ on the ground,’ an analysis of 23 subnational REDD+ pilot initiatives in Brazil, Peru, Cameroon, Tanzania, Indonesia and Vietnam; ‘Climate Smart Landscapes,’ a book synthesizing experiences and literature on landscape multi-functionality; 16 ‘Analysis and Policy Dialogues’ on the socio-political, economic and environmental factors shaping large-scale investments around oil palm and sugarcane in Indonesia, Brazil, Mozambique and Tanzania; and best practice principles for coastal wetland carbon projects.
Among evidence of FTA’s research impact, the report highlights, inter alia: new legislation in Peru allowing farmers to legally market timber from fallow plots; implementation of the Sloping Land Management (SLM) Program in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea; a public-private partnership to revive the endangered Allanblackia tree species on degraded land in Ghana, Nigeria and Tanzania that resulted in marketing of the first Allanblackia-based margarine in Europe; and the implementation of a payment for ecosystem services agreement between the Indonesian state electricity company and local communities in Sumatra.
Other themes covered in the report are FTA’s progress in the area of gender research, partnership building and capacity development.
The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry is led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), in partnership with Bioversity International, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). [Publication: FTA Annual Report 2014]