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CIFOR's Partnership Research Strategy

Research on forests has suffered from a lack of resources and a narrow disciplinary base. It has also been highly site-specific. Recent demands for a "new forestry" require a comprehensive view of the forest ecosystem, but there is still little research that combines biological, physical, economic and social variables to support decision making about long-term management of forests.

CIFOR works through research partnerships with a holistic, inter-disciplinary approach to solving general or widespread problems. CIFOR's strategic research is focused on policy issues and technologies that will enable more productive, sustainable and equitable decisions about the management and use of forests. Approximately 70 per cent of the research is conducted away from the Bogor headquarters through collaborative arrangements with national scientists and institutes. The results complement the work of national, regional and international researchers and development agencies. The partnership process is essential not only to produce high-quality research "answers" but also to ensure the adoption and use of the findings at both the policy and field levels.

CIFOR presently gives priority to research in seven key eco-regions:

• the tropical moist forests in central-west Africa and the Congo;
• the drier forests (the Miombo woodlands) of eastern and southern Africa;
• the rainforest-dry forest continuum in southern India (the Western Ghats);
• the tropical moist forests in insular South-east Asia (e.g., Borneo);
• the uplands of mainland South-east Asia;
• the tropical moist forests of the western Amazon; and
• the mixed forest systems of Central America.

These sites have very high ecological and biodiversity significance and face rapid or sustained disturbance or clearance. But even more importantly, they are the homes of hundreds of millions of people _ CIFOR's main target beneficiaries _ whose livelihoods and well-being depend significantly and directly on forests.

Most CIFOR training in research is "learning by doing" as part of our research collaboration. CIFOR aims to strengthen the capabilities of our partner institutions in managing scientific information. We work with other research leaders in the tropics to promote a careful re-consideration of research needs and priorities. The CIFOR headquarters does not contain big laboratories. We believe it may be unnecessary and inefficient, and sometimes even counter-productive, to have expensive internal facilities while partners' facilities are under-utilised or under-resourced. Where appropriate, CIFOR favours funding to increase the skills, staffing and equipment of partners' facilities to achieve and sustain research objectives.