Private sector delivery of state services is increasingly common worldwide, and state forest plantation management is no exception. Increasingly governments are transferring rights and responsibilities to the private sector for state-owned plantations. Some claim that this is the road to achieving sustainable forest management, greater contributions to local livelihoods and poverty reduction, others disagree. This book examines the evidence and explores the many issues raised by these changing relationships between the state, the private sector and local livelihoods. Experiences from around the world are described through seven case studies from Australia, China, Chile, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom, and key lessons and clear guidance are provided on how governments can best achieve a balance between private and public involvement while continuing to deliver the key social goods and services expected by all citizens.

How to finance sustainable forest management (SFM) has been a question of perennial interest and concern for the forestry community. It has been estimated that the required funding for SFM is in the order of US$70-160 billion per year globally. At present, official development assistance disbursements to forestry cover about 1 percent of the estimated total financing needs for SFM, and other available public sector financing sources barely double that amount. To scale up SFM, to create value-added economic growth and employment and protect forests from competing unsustainable land uses, domestic and foreign private financing and investments need to increase significantly.Despite the importance of the private sector, information on private forest financing is scarce and inadequate at all levels. Studies related to finance flows in the private sector have begun to emerge in recent years, and data of varying quality--especially on international private investments in wood processing--have become available in selected public statistics. However, there is no coordinated and systematic effort to collect and synthesize information on private investment flows in the forest sector. Also, none of the ad hoc studies have tried to provide a comprehensive, global picture of these flows. The objective of the study is to provide updated, comprehensive information to inform global dialogue on the role of private financing for SFM, including forest plantation development, and to the production of forest products. This report (i) reviews what private forest sector financing data are available, (ii) provides a snapshot of different financing flows in the forest sector, (iii) improves our understanding of challenges related to forest financing, and (iv) presents a roadmap for better information and improved access to finance. The scope of the report is forestry and forest industry investments in developing and emerging countries, with more focus on foreign direct investment than on domestic investments, mainly due to data constraints. The target audience includes the national governments in developing countries, donor agencies, international finance institutions with particular reference to the World Bank Group, other stakeholders of the United Nations Forum on Forests, and other forest finance practitioners.