CIFOR recently published a Systematic Review Protocol to answer the question: What are the direct and indirect socioeconomic impacts of large-scale tree plantations on local human populations?
Arttu Malkamäki, Prof. Kanninen and Nick Hogarth from VITRI participated in the preparation of the protocol and the actual review is expected to be ready by the end of the year.
Visit CIFOR's webpage for the full publication
Background: To meet increasing demand for forest products and services, the global area of planted forests has increased dramatically over the past 25 years. Further increases in large-scale tree plantations are expected due to their high productivity, economic profitability and contribution to climate change mitigation targets. This raises questions about their long-term sustainability, as well as their impacts on forest ecosystem services and local livelihoods, particularly in countries characterized by rural poverty and insecure property rights. Previous studies have revealed mixed impacts, but there is a lack of research on the contexts and practices that can contribute to positive and/or negative socioeconomic impacts. This protocol provides guidelines for a systematic review that synthesizes the current literature on the direct and indirect impacts of large-scale plantations on local communities, and which will also identify trends, bias and gaps in the empirical evidence base.