The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a report on forest management options in tropical forests, which focuses on managing forests in a sustainable manner through multiple-use forest management (MFM).
17 September 2013: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a report on forest management options in tropical forests, which focuses on managing forests in a sustainable manner through multiple-use forest management (MFM).
Titled, ‘Multiple-use Forest Management in the Humid Tropics – Opportunities and challenges for sustainable forest management,’ the report considers timber, non-timber forest products, fisheries, ecotourism, forest conservation, fuelwood and charcoal, and other ecosystem services.
Based on regional assessments for the Amazon, Congo Basin and Southeast Asia, the report concludes that MFM is currently limited. To enhance MFM, the report contains a number of recommendations including policy and legal reforms, the promotion of MFM adoption, the provision of incentives and adequate credit, and the establishment and strengthening of partnerships for MFM.
The report also recognizes the need for additional capacity building through the exchange of experiences on MFM, development of a community of practice, establishment of multi-disciplinary technical teams, dissemination of MFM information, and institutional strengthening for communities and smallholders.
Finally, the publication calls for additional research on the ecology of timber and non-timber forest species within the MFM context. [Publication: Multiple-use Forest Management in the Humid Tropics – Opportunities and challenges for sustainable forest management]