European Tropical Forest Research Network

Dear readers,

Tropical forest management is facing new challenges. New actors and partnerships for the conservation and sustainable management of forests have been formed and are operating at multiple scales. These new global-local partnerships received an impulse through: globalisation, which connects local communities with international actors such as environmental NGOs and research organisations lending support to sustainable forest use; and localisation (i.e. decentralisation, democratisation, devolution of power and political autonomy for indigenous people), which creates new actors in environmental management.

As a result, forest management is no longer in the exclusive hands of a single entity - whether government, private, NGO or local community - and new forums for stakeholder negotiations, alliances and joint actions are emerging. Examples can be found at global level (e.g. the World Bank/WWF Alliance for Forest Conservation) and at regional level (e.g. the Guiana Shield Initiative), while numerous partnerships between international donors, government agencies, national and international NGOs, private sector actors, research organisations and communities are emerging at local level for the protection and co-management of forest resources.

Will these new alliances and partnerships be able to curb the destruction and degradation of tropical forests, and under which conditions? Will they be able to put sustainable forest management into effect? Will new markets and market incentives for sustainable management that emerge as a result of globalisation be able to affect the way forests are managed? And how will all these changes influence the livelihoods of forest-dwelling people and poor populations living at the forest fringe?

Dealing with these questions, the articles in this issue are organised under several headings, (listed on pages) , which correspond with the titles of panels and mini-symposia at the congress on 'Globalisation, localisation and tropical forest management in the 21st century', that is to be held in Amsterdam on 22-23 October 2003 (http://www2.fmg.uva.nl/agids/agids/globalisation.html). This event is organised by the Amsterdam Research Institute for Global Issues and Development Studies (AGIDS, University of Amsterdam) in collaboration with the Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA), the Institute for Environmental Studies (IVM, Free University), the International Agricultural Centre (IAC), Tropenbos International, the Environmental Policy Group and the Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group of Wageningen University and Forest Trends in Washington, USA.

I wish to thank all the authors for their smooth cooperation, ETFRN for dedicating this issue of ETFRN News to the congress theme and the Amsterdam Institute for International Development (AIID), University of Amsterdam, Municipality of Amsterdam, Novib (Oxfam-Netherlands), the Netherlands Foundation for the Advancement of Tropical Research (WOTRO), the International Agricultural Centre (IAC) and the Centre for Resource Studies of Development (CERES) for supporting the congress financially.

I hope you will enjoy reading this issue and that the articles will provide food for thought and debate.

Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen
AGIDS, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands

We are grateful to Dr Mirjam A.F. Ros-Tonen for editing this issue of the ETFRN News.

Willemine Brinkman
ETFRN Coordinator

ETFRN News is a publication of the European Tropical Forest Research Network and has a ciruculation of 3,600 copies. Texts may be reproduced for non-commercial purposes citing the source.