How to Organize a Large-Scale Ecological Restoration Program? The Framework Developed by the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact in Brazil

Large-scale ecological restoration programs across the world have begun to extensively transform degraded lands into young native ecosystems. However, more projects like these will be necessary in the coming years to fulfill the goal of restoring 150 million ha established by United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. Here, we present and discuss the steps required for and the lessons learned from the organization of a large-scale ecological restoration program in Brazil, the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact. These lessons are organized around 9 steps: (a) the presentation of the motivations driving the promotion of large-scale restoration, (b) the organization of the main stakeholders, (c) the definition of goals, (d) the organization of a database, (e) the indication of both available and priority areas for restoration, (f) the proposal of science-based and field-validated methods, (g) the establishment of a monitoring protocol, (h) the proposal of a communication program to unite members and interact with society, and (i) the strategies for promoting the establishment of public policies conducive to restoration. This framework may provide a template to help other initiatives to mainstream isolated restoration projects into a large and well-organized movement, which may increase the chances of successful restoration in the future.     

Analysis of forest landscape dynamics based on Forest Landscape Restoration: a case study of Yong’an city,Fujian province,China

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is a process that aims to regain ecological integrity and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded forest landscapes. To ensure that restoration efforts are successful, the first step is to understand the dynamics of the forest landscape and the dominant forces responsible for its change. Taking Yong’an city, Fujian province in China as a case for study, this paper constructed a Markov model to predict the dynamics of the forest landscape based on sample-plot data of Continuous Forest Inventory at a county level. The study area was divided into eight landscape element types based on FLR, including approximated primary forest, secondary broad-leaved forest, secondary forest of Pinus massoniana, natural bamboo forest, planted forest, non-timber product forest, degraded forest land and non-forestry land. The analysis showed the following: (1) the extent of reforestation of planted forest, non-timber product forest and secondary forest of Pinus massoniana would be greater than that of deforestation of approximated primary forest, broad-leaved secondary forest and natural bamboo forest. Therefore, the total area covered by forest would increase steadily. (2) Conversely, conversion among different landscape element types would occur frequently and have high transition proportions. (3) Remarkable decrease of the extent of approximated primary forest, together with the conversion from degraded forest land to secondary forest, would probably result in the decline of forest volume. (4) Forest productivity in the meantime will not be maintained or enhanced because of the conversion from secondary forest to planted forest. These results suggest that the direct and underlying driving force of landscape dynamics should be understood and addressed in the upcoming studies for remnant approximated primary forest protection, secondary forest management and degraded forest land rehabilitation. The conclusion is that the Markov model can be used to analyze the forest landscape dynamics for FLR based on sample-plot survey data of Continuous Forest Inventory at a county level.     

Governance issues in the Ecosystem Approach: what lessons from the Forest Stewardship Council?

The certification scheme of the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) and the Ecosystem Approach (EA) as conceptualised under the Convention on Biological Diversity show substantial convergence in their broader aims and normative background. Taking this finding as a starting point, the paper discusses what lessons could be learned from FSC’s experience in developing and implementing specific norms and standards. The elaborate decision-making mechanisms of FSC may prove useful for the refinement and implementation of the EA, in particular regarding the transformation of generic principles into national and regional level standards. FSC’s strong reliance on market mechanisms, however, and the related influence of dominant economic actors limit its suitability as an overall blueprint for the implementation of the EA.     

A New Indicator for Modern Forestry Development: Forest Thickness

Modern forestry focusing on ecological dimension needs some new indicators different from those designed for the traditional forestry. On the basis of the evaluation indicators for traditional forestry, such as forest coverage, total standing stock volume and forest volume per unit area, the paper came up with a new indicator called "forest thickness" (FT). FT refers to the thickness which can be got if using total stock volume of forest and trees to cover the total land in a given area, and it is charged b...     

Forest Landscape Development Scenarios (FoLDS)–A framework for integrating forest models,owners' behaviour and socio-economic developments

The FoLDS framework presented in this paper is set up to develop scenarios for forested landscapes with a transparent connection between the broad-scale developments in socio-economic factors and the ecosystem services provided. The forests that provide these ecosystem services are managed by a multitude of forest owners. Different forest owners have their own objectives and will thus adjust their forest management differently to socio-economic developments. The FoLDS framework breaks down the connection from socio-economic developments to the landscape level in three steps. In the first step, a structure is provided for deciding on scenarios combining the socio-economic factors that have most influence on forest owners. In the second step, the scenarios are translated to the distribution of forest management approaches in the landscape by invoking a behavioural matrix of forest owner types and forest management decisions. The third step involves the implementation of these forest management approaches in a forest modelling tool that is tailored to the specific landscape at hand. The results of these calculations are then translated to a set of indicators for the ecosystem services of interest. A survey among researchers experienced with the FoLDS framework indicates that there is an added value in systematically including both qualitative and quantitative scenario methods for forested landscapes.     

Carbon Cautious: Israel’s Afforestation Experience and Approach to Sequestration

During the past 60 years, afforestation has transformed Israel’s landscape, with forests planted or planned on 10% of the country’s land, much of it with less than 300 mm of annual precipitation. After early efforts to establish a successful commercial timber industry failed, recreation and ecosystem services came to dominate forestry policy objectives. Given Israel’s status as a ‘developing country’ under the Kyoto Protocol, forests’ economic potential through carbon sequestration has been explored, but has not yet proven to be compelling. Several considerations cooled initial enthusiasm for seeking international carbon credits through afforestation. These include administrative obstacles associated with international accreditation, limited potential economic profitability, and ethical considerations. Rather, a voluntary offsetting program was adopted, allowing donors to plant trees in Israel, that balance individual carbon emissions. Afforestation in drylands exhibit meaningful potential to counteract chronic carbon loss due to land degradation. As trees planted in Israel’s semi-arid regions exhibit surprisingly high carbon sequestration properties that are comparable to forests in temperate Europe, the potential for offsetting may become a growing factor in local forestry policy once Israel begins to regulate CO₂ emissions.     

Observance–Influence Analysis: A Case Study in a Forest Recreation Area

Importance–performance (I-P) analysis is a common evaluative measure in forest recreation management. However, concerns with I-P analysis have been raised. In this study, the observance–influence (O-I) analysis technique modified from I-P analysis was adapted for analysing the observance of various use and resource impacts by on-site visitors, and the influence that these impact conditions have on forest recreation area visitor experiences. During the summer and autumn of 2000, 476 Worak-san Forest National Park visitors in Korea were surveyed. The O-I grid generated from the survey data indicated that managers are doing a good job. The grid revealed most impacts clustering in the low priority concern and no concern quadrants. Impacts shown to be of most concern related to utility poles and power lines, poor maintenance of buildings, dead and dying trees, and discourteous behaviour. The O-I grid analysis model has considerable utility for park managers in analysing visitors’ perceptions of park impacts.     

Increasing Tree Cover in Degrading Landscapes: ‘Integration’ and ‘Intensification’ of Smallholder Forest Culture in the Alutilla Valley,Matiranga, Bangladesh

Research was conducted in Alutilla Valley in eastern Bangladesh to identify the nature of existing agroforestry systems and to identify potential agroforestry models that could ameliorate currently degrading forest resources Data were collected through farmer participatory research and a structured quarterly survey in two villages. Qualitative and supplementary quantitative analysis methods were used to assess the financial potential of agroforestry systems. Various patterns of agroforestry exist in the study site, but all have two common principles, namely ‘integration with agriculture’ and ‘multi-functionality’. Two agroforestry models suitable for adoption by farmers have been identified. Multi-strata agroforestry, based on a fruit and timber tree canopy with vegetables and tuber species in the understorey, can be practiced in the shifting cultivation fields near settlements. Fruit and timber tree-based conservation agroforestry is well suited to manage large-scale biologically depleted landscapes. Both systems yield early financial returns, facilitating the change from shifting cultivation to multi-strata agroforestry or fruit and tree-based conservation agroforestry.     

Effect Evaluation of Collective Forestry Tenure Reform and Forest Farmers Willingness to Participate in the Reform: A Case Study of Shaowu, Fujian Province

Since 2003, China has carried out the pilot of collective forest tenure reform (CFTR). Inrecent years, there have been lots of researches about evaluation of the CFTR, which are, however,mostly qualitative research with little focus on the quantitative research. This paper used the AnalyticHierarchy Process (AHP) and expert assignment method to define the comprehensive evaluation indexes and monitoring indexes of the CFTR. In this study, the authors did a quantitative evaluation of the CFTR in Shaowu, Fujia...     

Application of GIS in Biodiversity Appraisal—A Case Study of Solan Forest Division (HP), India

The study was conducted in the Solan Forest Division with an area of 57,158 ha in Himachal Pradesh to study spatial distribution of plant biodiversity. The forest division has an altitudinal gradient from 600–2,260 m amsl. The contours on the Forest Survey of India (FSI) topo sheets (1:25000 scale) for this division were digitized to generate its Digital Elevation Model (DEM). It was stratified into five elevation classes (600–900, 900–1,200, 1,200–1,500, 1,500–1,800, 1800 m and above). A stock map of the division was digitized and superimposed on stratified DEM to know the distribution of vegetation at different elevations. Eight types of land use covers recorded in this division are: (a) chir pine (Pinus roxburghii) forests, (b) bamboo (Dendrocalamus strictus) forests, (c) khair (Acacia catechu) forests, (d) ban oak (Quercus leucotricophora) forests, (e) deodar (Cedrus deodara) forests, (f) broad leaved forests, (g) cultivation, and (h) culturable blank. Around 16.50% of the division's area was estimated to be under different land uses. Total biomass of vegetation in different land uses of the division is estimated as 63.80?×?10⁴ tons. Total carbon stock of the division was 11.71?×?10⁵ tons. Biomass density and carbon density were found to increase with elevation.     

Fifteen Years of Forest Community Management in Niger: from a Technician’s Dream to Social Reality

Forest management policies in tropical countries have undergone a paradigm shift in the 1980s. International environmental policies have recommended redirecting natural resource management from state control to approaches giving responsibilities to local people. In Niger, forest cooperatives and firewood rural markets characterized the transition in forest policies toward the integration of rural people in forest management. Forest management principles have been progressively adapted to the social and ecological context, since the establishment of the first cooperatives in 1986. Changes in forest policies concerned two fronts: forest management governance and forest management technical instruments. In this paper, the impact of governance and technical instruments on forest management is studied in two types of firewood rural markets found in Niger. Both rural markets have been designed to bring about a governance shift in favour of rural people. In one type of rural market, rigorous technical instruments were added, consisting in a rotational system among several plots to be harvested in the forest. This paper shows that in the implementation of rural markets, the shift is mainly on governance of forest management, and not so much on technical instruments. The general management principles remain based on scientific knowledge and are not enforced by rural people. These principles have been shown to be inappropriate with regard to Sahelian people’s representation of space, but because they are scientific, they cannot be questioned. The study suggests that sustainable forest management will be better served by interesting rural people in the rural markets, and thereby promoting their appropriation of forest resources, than by defining rigorous technical rules.     

Valuation of Forest Ecosystem Services and Benefit Sharing:A Case Study of Qingdao City, China

The forest ecosystem goods and services and the natural capital stocks that produce them make great contribution to national economy and human welfare both directly and indirectly. This paper evaluates the economic value of natural capital stock and the annual output flow of forest ecosystem goods and services taking Qingdao City and its eight districts as case study. The results of the valuation study showed, that the stock value of forest natural capital of Qingdao was RMB 13.46 billion at the end of 2007...     

Consequences of an Improved Road Network in Rural Iran: Does it Lead to Better Livelihoods and Forest Protection?

Construction of new roads in rural areas is closely linked to market accessibility and economic growth. It also leads to exploitation of natural resources that may accelerate deforestation. These conflicting effects of an improved road network on rural development and depletion of forest resources present a serious challenge to policy makers interested in sustainable development. This paper investigates the effects of road networks on biological and socio-economic behaviour. The analysis was conducted by using a non-linear bio-economic model for a community in southern Zagros, Iran where they manage the adjoining forest according to traditional rules. Data for the model were obtained through village surveys and published resources. The model followed a holistic approach by incorporating a number of livelihood activities, such as, crop cultivation, goat husbandry, charcoal production and hiring out of community labour, along with several logical resource constraints. It was run over a period of 45 years. The results showed that new roads can either fuel forest degradation or contribute to forest protection depending on the choice of policy options. The study concludes that construction of new roads should be accompanied by policies aimed at higher state controls over newly accessible forest areas through regulatory measures, creation of new non-farm employment opportunities and strengthening of traditional institutions through providing extension services for local communities and facilitating NGO involvement so as to minimize the adverse effects on forest resources.     

Conservation and Development of Forest Mushrooms: A Case Study on Song Rong (Tricholoma matsutake) from China

Song Rong (i.e. Matsutake, Tricholoma matsutake) is the most favorite edible mushroom in Japan and restrictedly distributes in forests in East Asia. The yield of Song Rong, however, has been extremely dropping since 1940 's in the region due to changes of environmental ecology of nature forests. As a compensation for consumption, Japan imported products of T. matsutake from Korea and China, and T. magnivelare from North America since mid-1970s, but T. matsutake stili accounts for a large portion of the import components. About 6,000 to 7,000 ton of fresh Matsutake mushrooms were transported to Japanese markets, one fourth of these were harvested from uplandforests in Yunnan Province, southwest China. On the basis ofa case study of Song Rong in the Zixi Mountain Area of Chuxiong, Yunnan Province, this paper pays great attention to the sodai, economical and ecological aspects and issues relative to the production and sustainable management are addressed.     

Forest as a place for recreation but also the source of allergenic plant pollen: to come or avoid?

For many years, we have observed a significant rise in urban population, the spatial development of cities, and an increase in urbanized areas. More and more people feel the need to have contact with nature. The interest in forest recreation is growing, though the forest is a serious source of allergenic plant pollen. The aim of the present study was to compare two forest types in the context of their recreational potential and the effect strength of aeroallergens. This study was conducted in SE Poland in a Nemoral Scots pine forest (RB) and in a Central European submountainous beech forest (TH). Their recreational potential was assessed. Samples of moss containing plant pollen were collected under the canopy, from forest clearings and forest edges as well as in an open area. Based on the number of pollen grains deposited in moss pollsters, the forest impact on humans was calculated. The recreational potential values for both sites studied are evidence of the high recreational suitability of these forests, but the recreational capacity of RB is lower compared to TH. Palynological analysis showed that the pollen deposition is higher in BR and that the plant pollen risk is lowest under the canopy, regardless of the forest type. The beech forest was found to be characterized by greater recreational potential and a weaker actual effect of pollen allergens than the pine forest. In assessing forest recreational potential, palynological data should form the basis for modification of the degree of recreational suitability. Such information would also be useful in controlling recreational traffic since, as we have proved, visiting appropriate places in a forest allows the exposure of allergen sensitive people to be reduced.     

The role of social and environmental attitudes in non-market valuation: An application to the Białowieża Forest

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of non-economic motivations such as altruism and environmental concerns on social preferences and hence willingness to pay (WTP) for changes in forest management strategies in the Białowieża Forest in Poland. We used data from a discrete choice experiment (CE) with attributes describing changes in the quality of the forest and recreation. The choice experiment technique makes it possible to disentangle the effect of the trait of altruism and environmental concern with regard to different attributes and their levels. Environmental attitudes were measured using the New Ecological Paradigm (NEP) scale, whereas the trait of altruism was determined using the Self-Reported Altruism (SRA) scale. The parameterization employed in the survey was a WTP space model. Results show that both altruism and environmental concerns have significant effects on the amount people are willing to pay for changes in forest management.     

Developing Homegarden Forestry:A Good Way to Prosperity for the Farmers

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Family Forest Owners’ Perceptions of Landowner Assistance Programs in the USA: A Qualitative Exploration of Program Impacts on Behaviour

Using data collected from a series of focus groups, this study examines how landowner assistance programs (which may include management plans, cost-share, technical assistance and advice, and education components) affect family forest owner behaviour in the USA. Not surprisingly, most owners who participated in assistance programs had pre-existing management objectives. Participation in the management plan and cost-share components was found to facilitate the stewardship of private forests by assisting and reinforcing the behaviour of those landowners who already intend to manage their land in some pre-conceived manner. Advice and educational components appeared to do more in terms of introducing owners to new ideas. The mix of components offered as part of a landowner assistance program should consider the goals of the program and which components will be most effective in achieving those goals.