Incidents of violent conflict over forest resources and forestland are widespread in the developing countries of Asia and are reported in the news media daily. Forest conflict undermines attempts to improve governance, retards economic development, impoverishes rural people, and impairs key environmental functions. Governments and rebel groups in several Asian countries have used tropical timber to bankroll armed conflict, while lower-level conflict over forests occurs in most of the tropical developing countries of the region. In many of these countries, politicians and security forces harvest timber to get cash to buy political support and fund operations, often using intimidation and violence to overcome resistance from communities that depend on forests for their livelihoods. Unable to protect their forests, these already poor people become further impoverished when they lose access to resources and land.

Forest conflict results from poor governance, specifically the lack of accountability and corruption of government and military officials and the failure to establish and enforce laws that grant access to forest resources and forestland in a way that is transparent and seen as legitimate by all stakeholders. Most developing countries in Asia have failed to equitably allocate and sustainably manage their forests, leading to steep declines in the quantity and quality of this valuable resource. Expanding road networks, increasing populations, and exposure to global trade networks have made Asia’s forests vulnerable and more attractive to those wishing to liquidate them for their own ends. The decline of forests, coupled with greater demand for forest products in growing economies, is driving a rush to claim remaining timber, and after that, the land itself.

USAID’s Asia and Near East Bureau, ARD, Inc., and several USAID missions in the Asia are working to analyze the types and causes of forest conflict, identifying approaches to reducing conflict, and communicating the seriousness of this problem to governments, the private sector, the donor community, and the US public. This work, under a task order entitled Managing Conflict in Asian Forest Communities, builds on the findings of a previous task order that ARD implemented for USAID entitled Conflict Timber: Dimensions of the Problem in Asia and Africa, which identified the extent to which timber is used to finance armed conflict and drive other types of conflict on these two continents.

For more information about this topic, please contact Dr. Mary Melnyk (mmelnyk@usaid.gov), Jim Schweithelm, ARD Senior Associate (jschweithelm@ardinc.com) or Ramzy Kanaan, ARD Associate (rkanaan@ardinc.com).