Global Forces of Change: Implications For Forest-Poverty Dynamics
This article analyzes global trends—climate change, markets, financing, technology, politics and disease—shaping forests and their poverty impacts. It warns of rising risks for forest-dependent poor but highlights how better management and policies can foster resilience and prosperity.
Subject Tags
- Climate mitigation
- Forest
- Equitable conservation
Abstract
This article examines global trends likely to influence forests and tree-based systems and considers the poverty implications of these interactions. The trends, identified through a series of expert discussions and review of the literature, include: (i) climatic impacts mediated through changes in forests, (ii) growth in commodity markets, (iii) shifts in private and public forest sector financing, (iv) technological advances and rising interconnectivity, (v) global socio-political movements, and (vi) emerging infectious diseases. These trends bring opportunities and risks to the forest-reliant poor. A review of available evidence suggests that in a business-as-usual scenario, the cumulative risks posed by these global forces, in conjunction with limited rights, resources, and skills required to prosper from global changes, are likely to place poor and transient poor households under additional stress. The article concludes with an assessment of how interventions for enhancing forest management, combined with supportive policy and institutional conditions, can contribute to a different and more prosperous future for forests and people.
Citation
Shyamsundar, P., Sauls, L.A., Cheek, J.Z., Sullivan-Wiley, K., Erbaugh, J.T. and Krishnapriya, P.P., 2021. Global forces of change: Implications for forest-poverty dynamics. Forest Policy and Economics, 133, p.102607.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1389934121002136
TNC Authors
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Priya Shyamsundar
Lead Economist • Global Science
The Nature Conservancy
Email: priya.shyamsundar@tnc.org