Global Forest Information Service

Chest-deep in brackish, tea-coloured water, a team of scientists wades into a towering mangrove forest in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. It’s not the easiest place to do research. The trees are up to 25 metres tall and densely packed, with webs of entangled prop roots extending like skirts from each trunk. High tide floods the forest,... Read more

RISI, the leading information provider for the global forest products industry, today announces new program updates for the 15th Annual European Pulp and Paper Conference. The European Conference, the premier event for the pulp and paper industry, will take place April 22-24, 2013 at the Marriott Hotel in Vienna, Austria.

Over-hunting in tropical forests changes the forest itself, say Rhett D. Harrison, Sylvester Tan, Joshua B. Plotkin, Ferry Slik, Matteo Detto, Tania Brenes, Akira Itoh and Stuart J. Davies   People have hunted in tropical forests ever since we have been defined as human, but with modern weapons hunting is rarely sustainable. Our study in [...]

Save  $25: Enroll by April 16 and get an Early Bird Discount for Online Development Courses   Join us on May 7 for an intensive series of online field courses with other students from all over the world & save $25.

Questions? Just write us at Online.Learning@csd-i.org.   May 7, 2013
Enroll early in an Online Field Course by April 16 and save $25 Are you interested in:
OL 101. Designing and Funding Sustainable Development Projects OL 102. Project Architecture: Planning for Impact OL 341. Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change 1 OL 342. Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change 2 OL 340. Diploma Program: Community Based Adaptation to Climate Change OL 440. Diploma Program: Integrated CBA, DRR, & Rural Development   March 12, 2013
Advanced Courses

OL 303. Food Security, Nutrition and Home Gardens 1 OL 304. Food Security, Nutrition and Home Gardens 2 OL 332. Water Conservation and Management OL 333. Climate Smart Agriculture OL 345 Community Based DRR
OL 343. Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change 3 OL 344. Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change 4
BECOME THE SOLUTION. Are you a donor, development practitioner, or a student who wants to learn more about "what works" in development? Join students world-wide to design, fund and launch a community based field project. Student projects have utilized 270 different kinds of solution-oriented activities to address community need. Scan the list to see which would work best for your project.   Development professionals from 475 organizations in 146 countries have used our online field courses to develop projects impacting over 300,000 people.
Dear CSDi,

On behalf of the Zambia team, I wish to extend our heartfelt gratitude for the knowledge addition in our careers and the time you take to correct our assignments. This has opened doors for us to venture into designing our own projects, very sure we shall never go POOR.

You've indeed taught us how to 'FISH not provided FISH'. Thank you very much.

Dianah Nakubulwa
OL 341, January 2013
  STEP 1. Enroll in the first course of this series: OL 341. 341 Community Based Adaptation 1: Gain an insight into contemporary methods of developing community based, sustainable, impact-oriented projects. Gain practical field tools and develop a range of skills: facilitating participatory needs assessments and DRR assessments, designing projects, and evidence-based activities. Develop a real project in real time.
342 Community Based Adaptation 2: Planning for Impact. Imbed impact into your adaptation project design with a powerful set of management tools. Log frames, detailed budgets, timelines, compelling fact sheets, M&E plans, outcomes and impact. These tools will communicate to donors and stakeholders exactly what you are trying to accomplish and can be used for effective management of the project once funded. 343 Community Based Adaptation 3: The Community Focus. What does climate change adaptation mean at the community level? What practical tools are available today for communities to use in adaptation and in DRR? Conduct a baseline survey including climate vulnerability, risk assessment, an adaptation capacity analysis, and gain an understanding of local knowledge of a changing climate and of coping strategies. For practitioners who wish to begin working now at the community level to successfully adapt to the challenges that face us. 344 Community Based Adaptation 4: Sustainable Implementation. How do you launch and implement a community based adaptation/DRR project? The importance of community engagement and project co-management. Developing skill sets for your community to use in the adaptation process. Learning tools: monitoring & evaluation. Community empowerment during project hand-over. Sustainability, follow-up & mentoring 303. Food Security, Nutrition and Home Gardens 1: Implement a 12-month family gardening project. Develop a baseline of your community's food security and nutritional levels. Learn about food security, good nutrition, and the garden activities that support them—and then learn how to build a project that puts your community on the path to using their own skills to address their specific needs. Become the Solution. 304. Food Security, Nutrition and Home Gardens 2: How do you care for & maintain a food garden? How do you control pests? What happens if you have desert soil—or a shortage of water? Learn how to combine garden produce with daily staples to prepare nutritious meals that contain vitamins A, C and D. Increase family understanding of kitchen hygiene, cooking, and nutrition—including using delicious nutrition-packed recipes. 332. Water Conservation and Management: Students develop a community-based water use management plan with community members beginning with a participatory mapping of water resources and uses, and then consult with a water management expert to develop a training program in implementing conservation and water harvesting technologies. 333. Climate Smart Agriculture.  Students and their community members will develop a participatory mapping of crop systems, and soil and water resources, and then consult with an expert in soil, water and agriculture to develop a participatory training process for developing a Climate Smart Agricultural Program specific to their local context. The course includes an overview of climate smart agricultural practices complete with downloadable manuals and field guides for each technique. 345. Community Based DRR.  It is estimated that over 70% of all disasters are now related to extreme weather events. Because of this, disaster risk reduction should become an integral part of adaptation projects. Community based disaster risk reduction holds the same merit that community based adaptation does: ownership and sustainability.  101. From the Ground Up: Designing & Funding Sustainable Projects.  Develop a Real Project in Real Time. We'll walk you, step-by-step, through a community-based project using proven methods. Learn a range of skills including participatory needs assessments, community capacity building workshops, and evidence-based project design. You will learn strategies from others in the class facing similar challenges. Become the Solution. 102. Project Architecture: Planning for Impact. Imbed impact into your 101 project design with powerful management tools. LogFrames, detailed budgets, schedules, compelling fact sheets, M&E plans, outcomes & impact. These tools will communicate to donors & stakeholders exactly what your project will accomplish, and lead the effective management of the project once funded. See a complete course catalogue.
The Courses also Provide the Following Resources:

• $50 Scholarship opportunities for citizens of developing nations.
• 300 adaptation field activities.
• Compilation of 50 full program outlines for use in project design.
• Manuals & field guides for project activities.
• Instructors that provide project consulting, suggestions, and encouragement individually for each student assignment.
• Access to tools and resources on the Center site.
• There are no books to buy—all course materials can be linked to, or downloaded from the course site.

Who should participate? Course participants are of all different ages, genders and professions—and have included Northern and Southern staff from INGOs, field staff from in-country NGOs, donors, executive directors, students, scientists, consultants and people who would like to transition into development work.
CSDi Online Courses Capture a True Field Experience
Our online courses use each class assignment as a concrete step in developing a real project within a real community. You will take an assignment into the field and use it as a solution-oriented activity that you do together with community members—thereby finishing one component of the project you are developing in the class. And there you have it: an online field course with tangible, concrete results.
Don't have community access?
No problem: we partner you with a fellow student in a developing nation who does.
Questions? Just write us at Online.Learning@csd-i.org.
Would you like to learn more about what the course environment is like? Just visit these pages: Student Testimonials International Partnerships Learning Environment Student Field Projects Example Assignment: Kenya Student Countries, Organizations, Project Challenges   Be sure to visit CSDi’s Development Community. Join 780 colleagues in sharing resources & collaborating online. Like us: CSDi Facebook.
Learn more about design and implementing CBA projects.   Would you like to subscribe to this newsletter?   The Center for Sustainable Development specializes in providing sound, evidence-based information, tools and training for humanitarian development professionals worldwide. CSDi is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.   Contact Us

Inter Press Service: Defence establishments around the world increasingly see climate change as posing potentially serious threats to national and international security, according to a review of high-level statements by the world's governments released here Thursday. The review, "The Global Security Defense Index on Climate Change: Preliminary Results," found that nearly three out of four governments for which relevant information is available view the possible effects of climate change as a serious national security...

New York Times: China’s state leadership transition took place this month against an ominous backdrop. More than 13,000 dead pigs were found floating in a river that provides drinking water to Shanghai. A haze akin to volcanic fumes cloaked the capital, causing convulsive coughing and obscuring the portrait of Mao Zedong on the gate to the Forbidden City. So severe are China’s environmental woes, especially the noxious air, that top government officials have been forced to openly acknowledge them. Fu Ying, the...

This yearly meeting of the Advisory Committee on Sustainable Forest-based Industries (ACSFI) provides guidance on the activities and work program of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) Forestry Department on issues relevant to the paper and forest products industry. ACSFI is a statutory body of the FAO, composed of senior executives from the private industry sector worldwide. The Associação Brasileira de Celulose e Papel (BRACELPA), International Council of Forest and Paper Associations (ICFPA) and FAO are organizing the event.

Altamira, Brazil – Today some 150 protestors from four indigenous groups and allied riverbank communities occupied a major work camp and halted construction of the controversial Belo Monte Dam on the Xingu River in the Brazilian Amazon.

I love to take photos, lucky enough for me I get the chance to go out and about and see many beautiful trees. There might be a picture of my goats in there too, it's not just because I love my goats it's also because they're foraging on their favourite tree, willow!

February 5th this year was probably the most important day in the history of APP. We published our new Forest Conservation Policy, the most significant part of which was the announcement of an immediate end to all natural forest clearance throughout our entire supply chain. This means we are two years ahead of our target ...

Mongabay: Scientists have discovered two new species of woodlizards from the Peruvian Amazon. Woodlizards, in the genus Enyalioides, are little-known reptiles with only 10 described species found in South and Central America. Described in a new paper in ZooKeys, both new woodlizards were found in Cordillera Azul National Park, the nations third-largest. "These species were discovered in recent expeditions to poorly explored areas on both sides of the Andes in Ecuador and Peru, suggesting that more species...

While Amazon Watch team is on the ground in Brazil heading out to another occupation in efforts to stop the Belo Monte Dam, heavy rains continue to fall in the Xingu region. The water started rising earlier this week and now Altamira is totally flooded.

RedOrbit: Despite the predictions of a popular theory, maintaining biodiversity in an ecosystem does not necessarily reduce the transmission of diseases from animals to humans, say researchers from the Stanford University Woods Institute for the Environment. Writing in the journal Ecology Letters, co-authors James Holland Jones and Dan Salkeld challenge what is known as the dilution effect – a widely held hypothesis claiming that the risk of human illness resulting from animal pathogens decreases as the...

On the occasion of the first International Day of Forests, the Collaborative Partnership on Forests (CPF) has released a 360° view of forests based on information gathered during the International Year of Forests in 2011.

Mongabay: Using recycled paper instead of virgin fiber for magazine paper offers strong environmental benefits, finds a new study involving National Geographic, Green America, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), World Resources Institute (WRI), and other groups. The study, based on a comprehensive life-cycle assessment (LCA) of recycled fiber, has led National Geographic to consider using recycled paper for its publications. “The information gleaned [from the LCA report] will further inform our...

ScienceDaily: A Kansas State University research team has found that despite humans increasing nitrogen production through industrialization, nitrogen availability in many ecosystems has remained steady for the past 500 years. Their work appears in the journal Nature. "People have been really interested in nitrogen in current times because it's a major pollutant," said Kendra McLauchlan, assistant professor of geography and director of the university's Paleoenvironmental Laboratory. "Humans are producing a...

World Resources Institute: This piece was co-authored with Achim Steiner, UN under-secretary general and executive director of UN Environment Programme (UNEP). This piece explores how advances in technology can curb illegal logging, written in honor of the first International Day of Forests. It originally appeared on The Guardian`s Sustainable Business Blog. Our future is inextricably linked to forests. The social and economic benefits they provide are essential to realizing a sustainable century. A key litmus test of...

AlertNet: The new development agenda to follow on from the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which expire in 2015, should focus on how countries can achieve growth that includes everyone, going beyond poverty eradication and international aid, according to an early snapshot of consultations with people around the world. The United Nations launched what it calls a "global conversation" in August last year, and more than 200,000 people from across the world have contributed to a process that will run until...