There are many compelling reasons for policymakers to pay more attention to forested regions and invest more resources there. Forests provide valuable products and en- ronmental services and several hundred million extremely poor people live near them. Perhaps the most compelling reason of all, however, is that unless policymakers take forest governance seriously and respond better to the needs of the people living there, these regions will continue to be breeding grounds for violent con?ict, banditry, and illicit crops. From Nicaragua's Atlantic Coast to the jungles of Cambodia, there are...