Poverty Reduction - Deforestation, Poverty & Economic Dependency

The development of programmes to reduce emissions from deforestation has sparked debate about the need for climate change actions in the forest sector to create extra benefits for local communities and biodiversity.

HCM CITY — A road completed four years ago has lured farmers who have cleared hundreds of hectares of evergreen forest in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong's Lac Duong District.

Atnafu Endashaw, 12, travels on foot two hours every day from home to school. He is from the isolated Menja communities found in Sheka zone of Southern region of Ethiopia, 765 kilometers southwest of Addis Ababa. Unlike the members of Sheka tribe, Menja communities are mainly marginalized because they feed on leftovers of dead animals. “My mother told me that we (Shekas and Menjas) were brothers of the same father and mother,” says Endashaw Ayno, father of Atnafu, commenting on the origin of marginalization of Menjas from the rest of Sheka tribe.

A forest in Oddar Meanchey province is facing environmental “disaster” after thousands of people destroyed up to 1,000 hectares of natural habitat, putting revenues from a carbon credit scheme worth tens of millions of dollars at risk.

Proceeds from a United Nations-backed Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation scheme are said to be in danger after waves of settlers destroyed parts of the forest in Samroang district, chief of the Romdoul Veasna community forest programme, Malis Hoeuth, said yesterday.