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.     

How much do Irish Private Forest Owners Know about Forestry?

Since 1980, over 20,000 Irish landowners have afforested land, for the first time, as part of an afforestation programme subsidised by the Government and the EU. A survey of 99 private forest owners was conducted to determine their knowledge of broad aspects of forest management. Key questions were scored so as to test whether respondents had passed or failed a forestry knowledge test. Over two-thirds of private forest owners passed the test. Success in this test was shown to be related to whether respondents had (a) attended extension field days; (b) been active in forest operations in the early stages of the forest cycle and (c) been members of farming and/or forestry groups. Younger respondents (i.e., ≤50 years) were more likely to pass the knowledge test than older respondents.     

Restoring Landscapes—Governing Place: A Learning Approach to Forest Landscape Restoration

Forest landscape restoration is gaining ground, not least because of the role of forests in mitigating climate change. At present, pilot projects are initiated to generate “good practice” and “lessons learned” that can be scaled up to higher levels of policy making. However, landscape restoration is not new. People have always been constructing and restoring their landscapes to safeguard their livelihoods. A better understanding of existing local practice will help in identifying and implementing new restoration initiatives, and assure sustainable outcomes. Understanding local restoration practice means: (a) understanding how the biophysical conditions of landscapes are reshaped over time through the collective decisions of a landscape's inhabitants; and (b) understanding the governance mechanisms underlying these collective decisions. Thinking of governance from a landscape perspective adds a spatial dimension to governance as a means of reconnecting governance to landscape, citizenship to place. This offers the opportunity to cross administrative and political boundaries, allowing for broader groups of actors to engage in spatial decision making. Constructing networks across scales thus becomes an instrument for enhancing learning processes within and between landscapes and a means to scale up good forest landscape restoration practice for wider application at a global scale.     

What Can an Understanding of the Changing Small-Scale Forest Owner Contribute to Rural Studies? The Swedish Case

Small-scale Forestry - Over the centuries, Swedish rural areas have been formed in close interaction with their inhabitants and different and various uses. Based on studies, particularly of...     

Gap Dynamics and Tree Species Diversity in a Tropical Montane Rain Forest of Hainan Island,China

Based on investigation of 53 gaps and 25 quadrats (15m×15m each) of non-gap closed stand in an old-growth tropical montane rain forest of Hainan Island, China, canopy disturbance regimes and gap regeneration were studied. Gaps were elliptical in horizontal form, the ratio of long axis /short axis was about 1.4. Percentage of expanded gaps (EG) and canopy gaps (CG) area in the landscape were 53.5% and 25.2% respectively. EG ranged from 31.4 m2 to 488.2m2 and CG/rom 14.9m2 to 354.2m2, their average sizes were about 160 m2 and 80m2 respectively. Natural disturbance frequency for canopy gaps     

How are Swedish Forest Owners’ Associations Adapting to the Needs of Current and Future Members and Their Organizations?

This paper examines how Swedish forest owners’ associations are adapting their strategies to fit the changing needs of current and future members, and assesses how this development affects the organizations’ profile and relationship with members. To explore this issue eight semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with chairmen and senior managers from three associations and the Federation of Swedish Family Forest Owners were performed. Results showed that associations have identified an increasing need for management-support activities among members due to their decreasing familiarity with the basics of forestry. Help is increasingly needed both for setting up goals and objectives for their forest ownership, and to practically manage their properties. The associations’ education programmes are also being improved and adapted to suit members’ varying understanding of forestry by the introduction of A-, B- and C-level courses. Education campaigns have proved to be a successful tool for affecting members’ management objectives. Further, the associations see an increasing need for political activity to counter calls for stricter management regulations being made by the media, politicians and environmental organizations and thereby protect members’ ownership rights. Initiatives within the organizations for more efficient governance processes and the professionalization of working procedures within the member organizations may, however, come to reduce individual member involvement in the associations. Members may thus increasingly come to act as customers of service in their interaction with the organizations.     

A New Function for Modelling Diameter Frequency Distribution in the Tropical Rain Forest of Xishuangbanna, Southwest of China

Permanent plots in the montane tropical rain forests in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, were established, and different empirical models, based on observation data of these plots in 1992, were built to model diameter frequency distributions.The focus of this study is on predicting accuracy of stem number in the larger diameter classes, which is much more important than that of the smallcr trees, from the view of forest management, and must be adequately considered in the modelling and estimate.There exist 3 traditional ways of modelling the diameter frequency distribution: the negative exponential function model, limiting line function model, and Weibull distribution model. In this study, a new model, named as the logarithmic J-shape function, together with the others, was experimented and was found as a more suitable model for modelling works in the tropical forests.     

Can Bioprospecting Save Itself?

Abstract

Bioprospecting has had a bumpy ride over the last twenty years. High expectations for bioprospecting peaked in 1991 when Costa Rica's INBio program reached a signature deal with Merck Pharmaceuticals. But hopes have waned as bioprospecting has yielded few promising compounds and little in the way of conservation benefits. This paper examines the potential for bioprospecting to contribute to conservation efforts, both broadly and within the specific context of Panama. Today, global markets for bioprospecting services stand at an estimated $60 million per year. A new model for bioprospecting, exemplified by Panama's ICBG project, may be emerging, one that takes a more business-oriented approach to finding drugs. By using ecological insights to guide sample collection, monetizing compounds earlier, and leveraging institutional clout, ICBG Panama may be increasing its odds of scientific success and contributing to conservation in non-monetary ways. I argue that in addition, ICBG Panama, its funders, and other bioprospectors must increase the scale of their operations if they are to create sustainable entities in the Darwinian world of drug discovery. Finally, I make specific policy recommendations for improving the supply and demand of bioprospecting in Panama and globally.     

Will Livestock Intensification Help Save Latin America's Tropical Forests?

ABSTRACT

Researchers have long argued that improved livestock technologies and intensification will reduce the pressure on Latin America's forests. This article combines economic theory with insights from seven case studies to examine under what conditions technological change will reduce (or increase) forest clearing. In many contexts improved technologies—by making cattle production more profitable—will result in more forest being converted to pasture. Silvopastoral systems and other labor-intensive practices can restrain pasture expansion, at least in the short-run. Unfortunately, in most cases ranchers will only be willing to adopt such land-saving practices when land has become scarce and most of the forest is gone.     

Development of an Ideotype-Based Selection Tool for Native Tropical Tree Breeding by Smallholder Planters in Mexico’s Maya Forest

Tree planters of the Yucatan peninsula in México are mostly first-generation small-scale forest owners. As a consequence of the lack of a management plan, trees employed for plantations are currently produced without any traceability or genetic improvement protocol, resulting in the reduced quality and heterogeneity of established materials. Recently, the Mexican government published a law to force planters to reverse this situation through the initiation and operation of germplasm management and traceability programs within each physiographic sub-province. Thus, planters located in the “Campeche Karts sub-provenance” now need to select superior trees for plant production, provenance assays, and orchard establishment. As a reference for the improvement goals in this work, we developed a model ideotype tree and qualification tool based on a weight-free selection index to compare trees in established plantations to enable the effective selection of superior trees to be used as seed sources and as a starting population for genetic improvement programs. The tool presented here is easy to use by planters, requiring a very basic computer or smartphone to run a spreadsheet where simple morphometric evaluation are captured, trees are qualified in comparison to the ideotypic values of each parameter with the aid of common field equipment. When this tool was applied to individuals from two different plantations, the qualification methodology ranked the individuals, allowing for the selection of superior trees in a more robust way, in contrast to the use of parameters mostly based on price and driven by wood volume.     

Why Is Non-Timber Forest Product Harvesting an “Issue”?

Summary

Despite an encouraging trend in North America of growing interest across a range of disciplines in non-timber forest products (e.g., this volume), NTFP harvesters' knowledge and practices continue to be poorly understood and undervalued, if not ignored, both by research scientists and forestland policy-makers and managers. This article explores why NTFP harvesting suddenly emerged in North America as an “issue” in the early 1990s. Drawing from a three-year study of chanterelle mushroom harvesters on the Olympic Peninsula Biosphere Reserve (Washington, USA), we discuss a variety of forces which intersected in this period to bring NTFP harvesting to wider attention. Unfortunately, harvesters continue to be excluded as knowledgeable actors in, if not legitimate co-managers of, temperate forest ecosystems, resulting in both passive and active harvester resistance to research and management, a devaluing of local harvesting traditions, and missed opportunities for collaboration. We reluctantly conclude that despite “New Forestry” co-management rhetoric, given existing institutional barriers and positivist scientific categories, NTFP workers will likely remain excluded from active roles in temperate forest research and management-contributing in turn to the ongoing legitimacy crisis of public and private forest management entities.     

Bia?owie?a Primeval Forest as a remnant of culturally modified ancient forest

The present and past population status of oak (Quercus robur) in the Bia?owie?a National Park preserve (BNP) was analyzed with respect to the historic use of the ecosystem. I assessed average parameters (density, dbh distribution, differences between habitat categories) of the oak population in the whole BNP preserve, and performed detailed analyses of local populations on three 26.5-ha and one 3.5-ha plots, representing eutrophic sites of deciduous forest (3) and a mesotrophic site of mixed forest (1). Based on the tree ring data, I reconstructed the historic dbh distribution back to 1750–1825. The results of the reconstruction confirm the early 1800s expert account and the 1889 forestry survey report. The high oak concentration in eutrophic habitats are legacies of either active game management (e.g., bison habitat improvement measures, supplementary feeding), forest recovery after the ban on forest industries (baking potash, tar, charcoal), or abandonment of inner small farms. The emergence of oak on poorer sites in the mid 1800s coincides with the ban on use of fire—a common practice that earlier had perpetuated the dominating position of fire-resistant pine. The present oak regeneration in declining spruce stands is a further step of the forest natural adaptation to environmental changes. The study supports the view that BNP is a remnant of an ecosystem substantially shaped by human uses. Modern forestry, as practiced in the managed part of the Bia?owie?a forest, does not mimic either natural processes (as observed in BNP) or historic forest uses.     

Do Forest Values Influence Compliance with Forestry Legislation? The Case of Farmers in the Fringes of Forest Reserves in Ghana

Forest values play an important role in forest management practices, and in the design and implementation of forest policy and the legal framework. This paper assesses the importance of farmers’ forest values and the potential associations between farmers’ forest values and their compliance with the tree-felling rule in Ghana. The results are derived from a survey with farmers, inhabiting fringes of forest reserves in the High Forest Zone of Ghana. With the exception of the forest value for future generations, forest values that contribute to immediate subsistence and livelihoods are perceived as the most important (i.e. environmental, subsistence and economic forest values). These values provide, among others, wide variety of foods, such as wild crops and bushmeat, farming land, medicinal plants, household items such as ropes, lianas and mats, firewood and shelter. Aesthetic and religion-related forest values are considered to be the least important. Multivariate binary logistic regression analysis suggests that farmers’ forest values may to some extent influence their compliance with the tree-felling rule. Economic, religion-related and learning forest values are likely to encourage compliance with the tree-felling rule.     

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.     

Can oil palm plantations become bird friendly?

Despite the increasing claims that structural complexity in agroforestry plantations is a key variable for enhancing bird biodiversity, few studies have experimentally manipulated the understory component of structural complexity. Here, we examined the impact of removing understory vegetation from oil palm plantations on the richness and abundance of birds in eastern Guatemala, testing if bird richness and abundance are positively affected by the presence of understory vegetation. Oil palm plantations with understory hold more bird richness and abundance than those lacking it. The experimental removal of this vegetation, equivalent to a reduction in complexity, decreases bird richness but not abudance. Our analysis shows clear effects of vegetation removal on bird richness, such that removal reduces richness and abundance to levels found in areas without understory. Hence, leaving or implementing structural complexity within plantations could satisfy the current need of making commodity production a cleaner industry, fulfilling both, the production of highly demanded commodities and the conservation of biodiversity in productive landscapes. Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) is one of the most rapidly expanding crop in tropical regions, representing the major cause of loss of natural forests and of the decline of endangered species in several countries. Enhancing understory vegetation might reduce such negative effects. This is one of the few experimental tests about how a component of the vegetation and structural complexity of plantations affects birds.     

Indonesia's Forest Management Units: Effective intermediaries in REDD + implementation?

Previous literature encouraged a hybrid institutional approach for REDD + implementation, where clear government policies help reconcile the rules, regulations and interests of external institutions with those of the communities involved. However, it is unclear how such an approach can be designed in the scale necessary to match local, national and international interests in protecting forests. For this reason, the functions of intermediaries deserve explicit recognition by key actors in shaping REDD + policy nationally and internationally. Indonesia is promoting the more localized Forest Management Unit (Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan or KPH) as a key element of forest governance reform for embracing REDD + and related initiatives. Using a case study from eastern Indonesia, we analyzed local factors driving deforestation and forest degradation. We then reviewed the work of the local KPH to examine the necessary roles of a potential REDD + intermediary. We argue that progress made by the local KPH in improving forest governance, including partnerships with local communities, is made possible by the KPH fulfilling the role of policy intermediary while taking on transformative roles reshaping internal and external relations. However, for the KPHs to fulfill their mandate as effective REDD + intermediaries, more concerted efforts from the central and provincial governments, as well as from international donors, are still needed. These include greater consistency in government policies and regulations, improved policy communications, and the commitment to strengthening the capacity of individual KPHs.