The project integrates strategic research with research-policy engagement at global and regional levels. Research methods include literature reviews, case studies, policy analysis, cross-regional comparative studies, and the review of existing and development of new methods and standards for carbon accounting and corporate social responsibility. Policy engagement consists of participatory scenario building at diverse levels to integrate analysis of past developments with plausible future trends and support planning with an understanding of projected outcomes from different courses of action.

Case studies are identified based on research objectives. Some case studies are conducted in specific countries, to enable observation of the local manifestations of global and regional trends. Such case studies are chosen to capture dynamics within major forest ecoregions, such as the Congo Basin, African dry forests, the Amazon Basin, and the humid tropical forests of Mesoamerica and Southeast Asia. Specific countries are selected on the basis of specific criteria such as risk of forest conversion, status of sector development, and degree of smallholder participation. Other case studies are defined by ecoregion and feedstock, to enable an understanding of the relationship between different feedstocks and forests and thus assess the net carbon balance of shifts in land use and vegetation cover. Such case studies explore the net impacts of jatropha and oil palm, for example, on carbon stocks.

Both case studies and synthetic reviews are subject to global comparative analysis to enable us to assess which findings are unique to specific countries and regions and which are more generalised. Global comparisons also enable the identification of factors mediating outcomes, such as national policies and regulatory frameworks, ecological and economic features of specific forest ecoregions, or the broader political economic context.

Finally, the project utilises research-policy dialogue and communications as essential tools for enabling research findings to influence key decision makers. National and regional science-policy dialogues are designed in such a way that policy makers provide strategic inputs into research at an early stage, enabling the development of future scenarios that are of direct relevance to policy decision processes. The project also provides information to relevant international policy processes and audiences, including the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Energy and Transport. Communications and outreach are another strategy for reaching key audiences. In addition to providing a window into CIFOR’s research on bioenergy, this website is designed as a clearinghouse of information on bioenergy initiatives and publications. Key publications produced by the project will be disseminated via this website as well as through academic publications.