Timor-Leste’s environment has been under fundamental stress since the colonial period, particularly during
the Indonesian occupation when much of the country’s primary forests was logged or burned (The World
Bank 2009). Today, the sustainability of forests in Timor-Leste continues to be threatened by increasing
population pressures and poor environmental governance. The country’s deforestation rate remains one of
the highest in the world at 1.3 percent (The World Bank 2008). Population growth rate on the other hand is
very high at 2.41 percent due to unprecedented high fertility rate of 5.7 children per women (The
Government of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste 2010). While forests are disappearing at a rapid
rate, the impact of the same on people’s livelihoods is unknown. This paper aims to highlight the role of
forests in supporting people’s livelihoods in Timor-Leste. The conceptual framework in this paper applies a
sustainable livelihoods approach for its analysis and identifies forest reliance as a household’s livelihood
strategy. Within this framework livelihood strategy is considered as the range and combination of activities
and choices that people make and undertake in order to achieve their livelihood goal (DFID 1999). Adopted
from DFID’s conceptual framework this paper explores six distinct uses of forest resources under the
context of a household’s forest reliance (see Fig 1). Forest reliance in this paper is considered as a
livelihood strategy adopted by households in order to achieve livelihood goals expressed in terms of
improved wellbeing, increased income, improved food security and reduced vulnerability.