The relationship between forests and development is complex. It is often said that more than one billion of the world’s poorest people rely on forests for their livelihoods. But while people in poverty often rely on forests, we cannot assume that forests will help lift these people out of poverty.
Three areas need further consideration in order to improve understanding of this relationship: better valuation of the non-cash benefits of forests, how forests contribute to other sectors and the differing impacts on different groups of alternative options for forest use.
Read the full blog, by Emily Brickell, ODI Research Officer, on the ODI website