Indonesia’s economy has changed from one in which forests were sacrificed in return for economic growth to an environmentally sustainable one, where forests are prized for the wide range of ecological services that they provide to society, the president said. He declared that by 2025, “no exploitation of resources should exceed its biological regenerative capacity” and that “Losing our tropical rain forests would constitute the ultimate national, global and planetary disaster. That’s why Indonesia has reversed course by committing to sustainable forestry.”

Climate change is manmade, and its solutions are also manmade. We must arrest the growing trend of‘ecological footprint’ deficit worldwide. We must avoid the dangerous trap of a waiting game. Consensus building – especially on global stage – will take time to build. We know the problems. We know the solutions. We must act now.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
Indonesian President

The President cemented his visit by planting a tree on the campus, and then signing a memorial plaque that was inscribed: “Thanks CIFOR. Let’s save our forests for our future.”

Indonesia, where CIFOR is headquartered, is home to the world’s third largest area of tropical forests. The second longest expanse of mangrove forests in the world is stretched along its coastlines, which provide support to coastal fisheries and protect communities from destructive storm surges. Indonesia has 50 percent of the world’s tropical peatlands, which are an enormous storehouse of carbon.

The President’s speech attracted a large audience within Indonesia and globally, raising the profile of forestry issues and CIFOR’s research. It was broadcast live on Metro TV, a top-rated national news channel, and watched by some 675,000 viewers. The video was streamed live on the web, and the state national radio station, Radio Republik Indonesia, aired the speech on its lunchtime slot. More than 35 national and international print media outlets covered the speech, while CIFOR blog posts regarding the Presidential speech were read nearly 1,000 times and shared on Facebook more than 3,000 times.

Read more and watch the video at
blog.cifor.org/president-SBY

The objective: to bridge the gap between research, policy and practice, to enhance multiple feedback channels, to speed the delivery of results to stakeholders, and to slash the time to impact.

Web-centric
At the heart of the communications effort is CIFOR.org. After studying the world’s 50 most influential websites, an expanded web team relaunched the CIFOR website in late 2010. Then throughout 2011, the team redesigned and relaunched 10 project sites, all using the same look and feel as the main site. In April, in partnership with Indonesia’s Ministry of Forestry, CIFOR launched REDD Indonesia.org, an Indonesian-language site designed as a learning centre on REDD (in six months, users downloaded 10,000 publications). By the end of 2011, one year after its launch, traffic to CIFOR.org had increased by 30%, while page views had climbed 340% to 15.3 million according to web-tracking service AWStats. In addition, CIFOR’s publications were visited 151,857 times on Google Books in 2011, almost double that in 2010.

Newly launched social media platforms reached out to new audiences, drove traffic to the sites and provided valuable feedback channels. By the end of the year, followers of CIFOR’s multilingual newsfeeds on Twitter and Facebook reached 6,000. On YouTube, users watched our videos 45,000 times; on Slideshare, stakeholders viewed our PowerPoint presentations some 60,000 times; and on Flickr, views of our photographs reached 45,000, many used by newspapers, magazines and journals worldwide.

Be your own CNN
Seeing a demand for independent news on forests and enlisting former correspondents from Jakarta to Lima (Time, Associated Press, Bloomberg), the Center launched its Forests News blog. In 2011, the blog published 260 articles (many also translated into French, Indonesian, Spanish and Japanese) and readership increased from 2,000 per month to 26,000. In August, Google accredited the blog as a legitimate news outlet (one of the first for an environmental research organisation) and an increasing number of news aggregators – such as Huffington Post and Reuters AlertNet – republished stories, including documentary videos and photo essays. In March, CIFOR relaunched POLEX, a forest-policy listserv first established in the mid-1990s. One surprising result: journal articles covered by a blog or POLEX showed at least three-fold increases or more in readership.

Despite the power of social media, the Center recognises that policy makers still rely on traditional media as their main source of information; indeed, research funded by the UK found that policy change rarely occurs without a public debate as fostered by traditional media. With a goal of becoming a reliable media source on tropical forests, CIFOR changed its policy to allow journalists to contact scientists directly and it expanded its media database to 2,600 contacts. As a result, the number of times CIFOR research was quoted in the media and online tripled.

The communication model gathered momentum at 10 international conferences and 15 national events that CIFOR convened or attended to assist the global effort to spotlight the challenges highlighted during the International Year of Forests. Included in this report are separate stories on Forest Day 5 and the Forests Indonesia Conference.

Throughout 2012, CIFOR continued to work with decision makers and stakeholders across all levels to ensure that forestry policy is informed by quality research.

I joined CIFOR in September 2012 and feel honoured to be leading the organisation on its next chapter as we look to further extend our research approaches and collaborations. I would like to take this opportunity to recognise the outstanding contribution of my predecessor, Frances Seymour, who stepped down in mid 2012. Her dedication over her six-year tenure had a significant impact on global forestry policy and her leadership was instrumental in raising the standards and visibility of CIFOR’s work.

As CIFOR celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2013, we are taking time to reflect on these past achievements and creating strategies to meet the challenges ahead.

In November, on the sidelines of the Doha climate talks, Forest Day 6 signalled a new era in forestry research by focusing on landscapes. Climate change needs to be dealt with across sector boundaries and food security must not become a trade-off between agriculture and forests. With a landscape-based approach, we can tackle these challenges in a more holistic way.

CIFOR’s leadership of the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry: Livelihoods, Landscapes and Governance, which is now in its second year, is another example of this collaborative and cross-sectoral ethos.

These are exciting developments for forestry and CIFOR is ready to inform and contribute to these new paradigms in research and help provide the evidence base that is required for achieving a sustainable future.

Peter Holmgren
Director General

However, CIFOR has not only looked at the natural environment through its work, it has also put the concerns of people who rely on the forest for livelihoods at the centre: CIFOR research on non-timber forest products, gender, human rights and tenure has helped some of the world’s poorest people.

This annual report showcases CIFOR’s role in empowering decision makers for forests in communities across the globe and CIFOR’s ability to innovate and respond to new knowledge and challenges.

CIFOR has seen a number of changes during 2012. Peter Holmgren taken the reigns as Director General after Frances Seymour stepped down. We have also been joined by a new Deputy Director General, Peter Kanowski.

We welcome both Peter Holmgren and Peter Kanowski to CIFOR and are excited to embark on the next stages of growth in the organisation and to improve outcomes for forests with them at the helm.

The Board would like to take this opportunity to thank Frances for her leadership at CIFOR and her passion for forestry issues, which will have a lasting contribution to the organisation and to the forestry field at large.

The 20th anniversary year will be one for reflecting on our achievements and looking forward to what needs to be done next. Forestry has never been more important and CIFOR is unable to carry out its work alone. Our relationships with partners and donors are growing each year and this helps increase CIFOR’s influence and reach.

M. Hosny El Lakany
Chair, Board of Trustees

Building these partnerships gives us the opportunity to better showcase our research and continue to influence policy makers, not only in Central Africa, but around the world.

Richard Eba’a Atyi
Regional Coordinator, CIFOR
Central Africa Office

CIFOR and its partners organised a workshop in February 2012 in Douala, Cameroon, to reflect a new agenda for forestry research in Central Africa.

“There was a lot of interesting discussion and we came to the decision to establish a platform for research organisations for exchange, joint research work and capacity building,” said Richard Eba’a Atyi, Regional Coordinator for CIFOR’s Central Africa Office.

CIFOR’s other capacity-building projects, such as REFORCO, will be enhanced by its involvement in this initiative, said Eba’a Atyi.

The new platform for forestry research will create efficiencies both through research collaboration, and also in the use of funding and resources.

COMIFAC, Central Africa’s regional forum for conservation and the sustainable management of forest ecosystems, now includes the common strategy sketched out at the meeting in its longterm planning.

“National research institutes are very important partners but they are still facing challenges with capacity, so by working on this, we can improve the skills of researchers and improve both the quality of the available science and our collaboration,” said Eba’a Atyi. “CIFOR has grown in the region – initially, our presence was very small, but now we are attracting the attention of key policy makers. Building these partnerships gives us the opportunity to better showcase our research and continue to influence policy makers, not only in Central Africa, but around the world.”

For more information, visit blog.cifor.org/congo

Cross-cutting initiatives such as sentinel landscapes offer a new, unprecedented opportunity to work with a range of partners worldwide on long-term monitoring of forestdependent people and tree-based ecosystems.

Alain Billand
CIRAD

CIFOR and its CGIAR partners have been advocating a shift to move research out from sector boundaries to an integrated landscape level to improve knowledge and outcomes for forests, people and livelihoods.

CIFOR, Bioversity International, the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the World Agroforestry Centre are currently implementing the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry.

The program is now in its second year of implementation and is on track for its outputs and knowledge generation targets.

This year, the Agriculture Research for Development Centre (CIRAD) became the first non-CGIAR centre to join the program’s steering committee, bringing a wealth of expertise on development and agricultural research.

“CIRAD’s position within [the program] acknowledges its long-time collaboration with CIFOR and witnesses that CRPs are an effective instrument of the CGIAR reform in its relations with partners,” said Pierre Fabre of CIRAD.

“The main point of the CGIAR reform,” says the program’s Director, Robert Nasi, “was that it was perceived there were too many barriers between institutions and not enough cross-disciplinary, collaborative research taking place . . . There are now joint collaborative plans between the core centres . . . and our budget is being directed towards research on emerging, cutting-edge topics. Having CIRAD on board will only enhance this fruitful partnership.”

A key part of the collaboration is the sentinel landscapes approach. In these landscapes, scientists measure change by applying similar methodologies to gain a deeper understanding of how these areas interact with global processes. Landscape research looks at forests in connection with other types of land and has the potential for multiple levels of impact. Local people will benefit from an increased understanding of natural resource management, while at the national and global levels, scientists will produce policy-relevant research to inform decision making.

Watch our video “Papua: Planning a better future” at cifor.org/collaborating

Climate change needs to be dealt with across sector boundaries. Forests and forestry must be looked at through the lenses of agriculture, food security and broader sustainable development. It is time for forestry to come out of the forest and contribute more broadly.

Peter Holmgren
CIFOR Director General

With more than 700 high-level attendees from governments, NGOs, donors and the international media, including 241 UNFCCC negotiators, the discussions centred on the need for a landscape approach to holistically tackle the challenges of climate change, food security and forest conservation.

“It is time for forestry to come out of the forest and contribute more broadly,” said CIFOR Director General Peter Holmgren in his opening address.

Will Steffen, Executive Director of the Climate Change Institute at the Australian National University, delivered the keynote speech on changing approaches to growth and sustainable development, placing special emphasis on climate and biodiversity.

Other speakers covered topics such as finance, food security, and poverty reduction.

“The window to stay in a two-degree world is closing very rapidly,” said Mary Barton-Dock, Director of Climate Policy and Finance at the World Bank. “A landscape approach is going to be essential to meet the growing need for food without invading forests.”

For the first time, the event was held in conjunction with Agriculture, Landscapes and Livelihoods Day, exploring the potential of landscapes to offer sustainable solutions for climate change adaptation, mitigation and livelihoods.

An additional 700 people watched the Forest Day live stream on the web, with a further 4,300 watching the videos of the panels on YouTube. International media covered the event extensively and CIFOR’s blog coverage of the COP received 93,000 pageviews in December and January. Overall, the social media campaign reached nearly 650,000 people.

Some 94 percent of respondents to a survey on Forest Day 6 said they thought the event was “successful” or “very successful”, citing its value for networking, informing policy and exchanging knowledge.

Watch the Forest Day 6 video playlist at cifor.org/forestday6

We have seen that more women are becoming involved in community meetings and more women are demanding spaces to learn about the forest.

Xochilt Hernández
Researcher

The three-year ‘Gender, Tenure and Community Forest’ project aims to address this by promoting the inclusion of women in forest decision making and improving their tenure rights.

In Nicaragua, the project is being implemented in an autonomous region where the large population of  indigenous peoples is currently going through the process of claiming formal title over their historic territories.

The first working paper from the project, released in October 2012, identified a number of areas where women’s involvement could be improved.

“Women have a harder time  attending meetings and speaking up in public and only rarely assume leadership roles at the community level. And even in communities where  women believe they have influence over many important decisions, they do not have similar influence over forest-related decisions,” said CIFOR Senior Scientist Anne Larson.

In its first year, the project focused on research, but in the second phase, adaptive collaborative management  techniques have been used to help generate clear internal and community norms for the use of forest resources. Some communities have started  reforestation projects as part of their working plans, while others have clarified  traditional rules so that leaders can better manage forest  resources and settle disputes.

“One year ago, we would mostly only see men speaking up and participating. Women would attend the workshops, but they wouldn’t speak as much as the men,” said researcher Xochilt Hernández. “[Now] we have seen that more women are becoming involved in community meetings and more women are demanding spaces to learn about the forest.”

For more information, visit cifor.org/gender

Gnetum spp., called okok or eru in  different parts of Cameroon, is a non-timber forest product (NTFP) of huge cultural and financial significance. Okok grows naturally in the Congo  Basin rainforest. It climbs the trunks and entwines around the branches of established trees. But the vegetable’s soaring popularity in Cameroon  has led to concerns about sustainability. CIFOR’s research estimates that in Cameroon alone, trade in the okok plant exceeds US$ 12 million each year.

I’m happy because I see the impact on the population is direct, it’s something we can see. It’s not something we can just talk about at conferences – when you go to the field you can see what is happening and you can evaluate the change that is taking place.

Abdon Awono
CIFOR Scientist

“[Okok] is very important in terms of food, it is very important in terms of medicine, and it is very important in terms of income generation,” says CIFOR Scientist Abdon Awono.

While researching NTFPs in his home region, Abdon Awono noticed that villagers needed to walk further and further into the forest to find okok. He encouraged CIFOR to partner with the Cameroonian research organisation IRAD and a local NGO to develop a trial domestication program in several villages.

“We started convincing them that it was also possible to plant okok as they do with cocoa and other agricultural products. Believe me, it was very difficult because they said, ‘What are you talking about, we have it in the forest, you cannot tell us to plant,’ But . . . they started to realise it was very useful because they could not get the quantity they needed from the wild.”

Nurseries were set up in 2003, villagers were trained and plantations were established. Now, the success of the CIFOR trial has seen okok cultivation programmes rolled out across the country, with the Cameroonian government committing around US$ 500,000 per year since 2009.

Watch our video “Taming okok” at cifor.org/okok

Understanding the different functions of landscapes is vital to ensure that countries have more resilience and are able to better adapt to climatic changes, such as food insecurity.

Terry Sunderland
CIFOR Principal Scientist

‘Landscapes’ are a new way of considering land management based on social, economic and environmental services. Proponents hope that moving away from thinking of land in segregated terms could end the ongoing debate that forests have to be sacrificed for the sake of development. It could also help stakeholders decide how to maximise the potential of their land to secure sustainable food and energy supplies, while maintaining the ecosystem services that trees and forests provide. This approach is focused on poverty alleviation and livelihoods rather than conservation or biological considerations.

The landscape-level approach to sustainability is a set of 10 guiding principles that outline ways to better integrate research into the agricultural, forestry, energy, and fishery sectors. The guidelines were submitted for consideration to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in October 2012. The CBD has officially “taken note” of the guidelines – a testament to their relevance for multifunctional landscape management.

“These guidelines could set a standard for policy makers,  NGOs, and practitioners working in conservation and development in over 100 countries across the world on how to develop and improve land use planning policies,” said TerrySunderland, CIFOR Principal Scientist and lead researcher of the principles.

The landscape approach provides an alternative way of looking at many factors that affect landscapes, including restoration, payments for environmental services schemes, interventions aiming at reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+), water  management across watersheds and appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures to climate change.

“Countries would need to  trengthen relationships with national and international stakeholders, improve communication between sectors and invest in more  integrated approaches to multifunctional landscape management in order to make the most of the approach,” Sunderland said.