This article uses househld panel data spanning the period 2000–2007 to test hypotheses from the literature that secure land tenure, market access and collective action promote accumulation of private capital assets in rural highland Ethiopia. The three natural capital assets analysed in the article, livestock, eucalyptus trees and non-eucalyptus trees on households’ farm plots, make up virtually 100 per cent of privately held disposable assets. Incomes and capital stocks are extremely low and constant and tree assets are at least as important as livestock.

This paper demonstrates the importance of wildlife in the portfolio of environmental income in the livelihoods of poor rural communities living adjacent to a national park. The results show that wealthier households consume more wildlife products in total than do relatively poor households. However, poorer households derive greater proportional benefit than wealthier households from the consumption of wildlife resources. Excluding wildlife understates the relative contribution of environmental resources while at the same time overstating the relative contribution of farm and wage income.

Climate change impacts threaten the actual and future achievements to provide safe water in many parts of the world. Drought events are expected to be more intense and prolonged in different areas of Latin American and the Caribbean (LAC), with significant impacts in the volume, timing, and quality of water provided by water suppliers (Kundzewicz & Döll, 2008).

The main objective of the study was to assess the economic value of Zambia’s forest ecosystem services. The study estimates that, when ecosystem services provided by forests are accounted for, forests make a direct contribution to the national economy equivalent to about 4.7% of gross domestic product (GDP), which rises to 6.3% with the application of multiplier effects.

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This study examines the welfare effects of community plantations in Ethiopia via contingent valuation. Both single-bounded and double-bounded survey methods were considered, and, with respect to double-bounded methods, the potential for anomalous response behaviour was also taken into account. The results generally confirm that there are statistically significant welfare benefits to be derived from community forestry; however, the range of the estimated benefits is large.

Biodiversity plays a key role in sustaining the functioning of ecosystems and thus in the provision of ecosystem services. A great deal of biodiversity is to be found in private forests, thus the way in which these forests are managed has major implications for biodiversity.

The majority of Africa is characterised by high levels of poverty, high population densities and limited economic development. Botswana is, however, different in having the highest gross domestic product per capita in Africa, relatively low population densities and high levels of socio-economic development. Inequality, however, remains high. A community-based natural resource management programme was introduced in 1989 to ensure that local communities benefit from the country's abundant natural resources, with the hope that they will then protect them.

This policy brief discusses the whether the  preference of Swedish forestry stakeholders is biodiversity or production goals. Healthy and productive forests benefit us all, but what are the priorities of those directly managing Swedish forests? This brief presents a comparison of the preferences of key stakeholders regarding Swedish forest management and biodiversity protection.