In response to rapidly evolving opportunities in the forestry sector, the World Bank proposed the creation of a Global Forest Partnership (GFP) and asked the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED) to survey experts’ opinions on the initiative. A research team surveyed more than 600 experts, and the results have been published on the IIED website in a report titled Towards a global forest partnership: Consultation, assessment and recommendations by the International Institute for Environment and Development.

It is generally accepted that globalization (or trade liberalization) is leading to greater inequalities worldwide, although the causes and solutions (if any) are heavily debated. There is less certainty about the spatial distribution of these inequalities. Is the greatest gap still between the North and South, a premise that has been the basis of development cooperation for the last 40 years? Or are the most serious disparities to be found within countries, between urban and rural areas, as others have recently demonstrated?