SECTION 4:INTEGRATED ASSESSMENTS

Abstract

Reforestation of degraded lands is occurring on a limited basis in portions of the Panama Canal Watershed (PCW). In theory, markets for ecosystem services could encourage more extensive reforestation and ensure that reforestation efforts provide more than just timber. The most relevant ecosystem markets for the PCW are carbon sequestration, watershed services, and four biodiversity markets-bioprospecting, certification of biodiversity friendly products, ecotourism, and existence value. This paper examines the possibility for a land owner or land manager to participate in two or more of these markets. Two land use scenarios-native forest plantation and small-holder agroforestry-emerge as likely candidates for participation in multiple ecosystem service markets. These scenarios are examined to determine whether the strength of incentives to provide a bundle of timber and ecosystem services is sufficient to encourage expansion of these land uses with the Panama Canal Watershed.     

The Prospects for Integrated Watershed Management in the Panama Canal Watershed

Summary

The Panama Canal is inextricably linked to the Watershed which contains it. Effective policy is critical to manage this resource efficiently. Currently, a myriad of divisions along socio-political, organizational and technical lines are hindering integration of practical knowledge and policy experience. This lack of integration is resulting in inefficient management of the natural resources of the Panama Canal Watershed. This paper will rely on the policy sciences framework to describe, analyze and address this problem. It will begin by highlighting important organizations and their efforts in the Panama Canal Watershed, to understand the social context. Next, the trends and conditions which have shaped the problem will be described, to provide a historical context and help make projections for the future. Finally, alternatives will be presented to address the problem. Some of these options include: prototyping exercises to build practice-based experience, workshops designed to teach integration skills and to provide a common experience base for the participants, and an information coordinator to equalize the flow of information between organizations.     

Rehabilitating Abandoned Pastures in Panama: Control of the Invasive Exotic Grass,Saccharum spontaneum L., Using Artificial Shade Treatments

ABSTRACT

The exotic grass, Saccharum spontaneum L., has invaded abandoned agricultural lands in the Panama Canal Watershed for decades. The grass aggressively competes with regenerating tree seedlings preventing natural forest regeneration. To estimate effectual light level for controlling the grass, the growth of S. spontaneum was measured under a range of artificial shading conditions. Five shade treatment subplots–light intensities of 100% (full sunlight), 50, 25, 15, and 5%–were established at each of eight plots in land adjacent to the Panama Canal Watershed. Each site was cleared of S. spontaneum and then the regrowth was harvested. The regrowth of the grass was harvested and measured four times every one and half months for six months. The biomass of S. spontaneum was significantly less in lower light conditions than in full sunlight. The results showed that comparing growth of the grass at each harvest date, except for the first harvest date, there were significant differences between full sunlight and light intensities of 5, 15 and 25%. When compared by different harvest dates for each light level, only full sunlight showed a significant difference in biomass of the grass. The study demonstrates that shading is an effective method for controlling S. spontaneum. The results can be applied to developing reforestation strategies for abandoned lands occupied by S. spontaneum.     

Emerging Markets for Ecosystem Services

Abstract

Four main areas of learning were pursued during this exploration of die emerging markets for ecosystem services. First, die markets in Panama are dominated by the Panama Canal Authority and by timber revenues. Any strategy for expanding ecosystem services markets will have to reflect diese realities. Second, while the scientific and business components of die framework we used to analyze diese markets covered all the key points, more work needs to be done on die policy component. Articulating a simple, yet effective approach for developing policy recommendations to improve ecosystem services markets in context remains a key need. Third, valuable lessons were learned about ensuring tiiat the students capture die maximum benefits from an international, clinically-based field trip. Finally, interdisciplinary teaching/ research benefits dramatically from botii a focus on a single problem and recognition that the key challenge is turning complex scientific knowledge into accessible, good advice.     

A Case Study Assessment of Agroforestry

Summary

Finding sustainable land-use systems within the Panama Canal Watershed will be necessary for future management by the Panamanian government. Agroforestry is a land-use option for small-scale farmers living within the Watershed that can help achieve the goals of both conservation and productivity. This case study qualitatively evaluates current agroforestry projects in the Canal Watershed using an analytical framework based on other evaluations of agroforestry systems in Central America. Designated criteria for the analysis include: management objectives, project life span, incentives, technology, economic feasibility, community involvement, and extension. These factors can present obstacles to wide-scale adoption of agroforestry systems by small-scale farmers, thus preventing the realization of associated benefits of agroforestry. The analysis of the three field sites visited in March 1998 is followed by recommendations for expanding agroforestry practices among farmers in the Watershed.     

The Dynamics of Conservation Financing

Abstract

The central question for this paper is whether land managers in Panama might protect or restore forests on their lands in response to the market for the existence value of biodiversity. Conservation financing provided by non-Panamanian sources is used as a proxy for investigating the nature of the market for the existence value of biodiversity. Debt-for-nature swaps and environmental trust funds, such as the Global Environment Facility (GEF), provide examples of demand in this market. This paper examines trends and policies that could change the cost of supplying biodiversity protection and factors that could improve or undermine demand for the existence value of biodiversity. If ecological restoration receives as much support within the conservation community as protection of pristine areas has in the past, then demand in this market is likely to remain strong. The largest challenge for this market will be shifting to the provision of biodiversity conservation by private landowners rather than solely by the national government.     

Balancing Conservation and Economics

Summary

Ecotourism has been used successfully in many countries to promote economic well-being, conserve natural resources, and promote community development. A thorough examination of the factors that make a successful and unsuccessful ecotourism program was conducted in this paper. This analysis was performed in order to formulate recommendations for the development of an ecotourism program in the Panama Canal Watershed that will meet these objectives. A careful look at the conservation of natural areas, community development, and the economics of ecotourism fleshed out the good and the bad of existing programs. Case studies from other developing countries were used in order to set up criteria that should be used in Panama's blossoming ecotourism industry. Panama has a vast array of natural and cultural resources that can benefit from a carefully planned ecotourism program. When planning this initiative it is very important to take the politics of the country and communities into consideration, make sure the project is scaled to the carrying capacity of the natural resources and community involved, use existing infrastructure, train a skilled local work force, and maintain monitoring programs that ensure that an unsuccessful program be either improved or terminated.     

Working Toward Effective Policy Processes in Panama Canal Watershed National Parks

Summary

In the Panama Canal Watershed, the formulation and implementation of national park management policies has yet to realize all of the conservation, recreation, and educational goals set for the parks. We identify two underlying conditions that contribute to this breakdown in the policy process. First, national park management policies are based on the traditional United States national park model rather than on a model tailored to the unique ecological and social context of the Canal Watershed. Second, the structure and dynamics of participating institutions do not support effective decision making processes. This paper utilizes the policy science framework to provide a detailed analysis of these obstacles to effective park management and gives recommendations for improving the objectives for, decision processes concerning, and participant cooperation in national parks in the Canal Watershed. We recommend that participants initiate a prototype management program in one of the national parks in the Watershed that is easily adaptable and can be used as a demonstration site for other national park managers and participants.     

Policy Alternatives for Improving Markets for Water Quality and Quantity in the Panama Canal Watershed

Summary

Markets for ecosystem services are receiving ever-increasing attention from the global environmental community as a mechanism to conserve and protect environmental resources. Formal markets for the selling and buying of ecosystem services emerge as institutions and regulatory frameworks are developed and legitimized. For a small country with relatively abundant natural resources, such as Panama, ecosystem service markets have significant potential to provide landowners with a sustainable stream of income while facilitating national environmental protection goals. This paper takes one ecosystem service in Panama-water supply-and assesses a host of policy alternatives to improve markets for water in Panama. The analysis suggests that secured long-term financing mechanisms and strengthened institutional roles are important elements in shaping stakeholder behavior and advancing water markets in Panama.     

Field Trips in Natural Resources Professional Education

Summary

Field trips are vital components of professional education. The goal of field trips is to prepare graduates to be broad-based problem-solvers for sustainable management of natural resources in the common interest. Field trips are ideal vehicles to aid development of the kind of professional needed in today's complex and dynamic natural resources environment. For field trips to be successful, students must actively exercise their skills in thinking, observation, management, and technical subjects, in integration of diverse knowledge and experience, and in applying their judgments in applied contexts. We describe a 10 day field trip to the Panama Canal Watershed in March, 1998, to assist policymakers and managers administer natural resources. The 17 students on the field trip came from diverse backgrounds including from countries in Central America and Indonesia, Peace Corps experience, and other practical experiences. The Canal Watershed supplies all water for canal operations and drinking water for many Panamanians. The Watershed shows all resource conflicts that characterized upland forested watersheds in many countries. Pre-trip preparations are described, as is the field trip itself to numerous sites involving many discussions, to post-trip activities and reports. A basic analytic framework was used to investigate each resource case students studied (e.g., biodiversity conservation, park management, watershed planning). The framework is comprised of a comprehensive set of conceptual categories dealing with people involved in each case, their perspectives, the situation (including biogeographic and ecological features), values, strategies, outcomes, and effects. This framework is described and illustrated in an Appendix. Five recommendations are made to facilitate successful field trips.     

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.     

桂林恭城生态农业旅游用地现状及未来发展研究

生态农业旅游是一种以自然资源为依托,是发展农业经济与保护环境相结合的新兴的旅游项目,是近年来世界旅游业发展的一个新趋势。文章从恭城生态农业旅游的4个主要景区旅游用地现状入手,在对其旅游接待能力进行分析的基础上,进一步对恭城生态农业旅游用地未来供需进行深入分析,最后,对恭城生态农业旅游用地发展进行了展望。     

Agroforestry: working trees for sequestering carbon on agricultural lands

Agroforestry is an appealing option for sequestering carbon on agricultural lands because it can sequester significant amounts of carbon while leaving the bulk of the land in agricultural production. Simultaneously, it can help landowners and society address many other issues facing these lands, such as economic diversification, biodiversity, and water quality. Nonetheless, agroforestry remains under-recognized as a greenhouse gas mitigation option for agriculture in the US. Reasons for this include the limited information-base and number of tools agroforestry can currently offer as compared to that produced from the decades-worth of investment in agriculture and forestry, and agroforestry’s cross-cutting nature that puts it at the interface of agriculture and forestry where it is not strongly supported or promoted by either. Agroforestry research is beginning to establish the scientific foundation required for building carbon accounting and modeling tools, but more progress is needed before it is readily accepted within agricultural greenhouse gas mitigation programs and, further, incorporated into the broader scope of sustainable agricultural management. Agroforestry needs to become part of the agricultural tool box and not viewed as something separate from it. Government policies and programs driving research direction and investment are being formulated with or without data in order to meet pressing needs. Enhanced communication of agroforestry’s carbon co-benefit, as well as the other benefits afforded by these plantings, will help elevate agroforestry awareness within these discussions. This will be especially crucial in deliberations on such broad sweeping natural resource programs as the US Farm Bill.     

A Civic Conversation About Public Lands

Summary

Community-based ecosystem management (CBEM) is being offered as an alternative to agency-based public land management. Its fundamental premise is connecting communities to public lands for the purpose of increasing ecosystem stewardship and community sustainability. For CBEM to appropriately serve the public interest, new social and institutional relationships will need to be formed, collaborative learning will need to occur, and capacities in community participation and ecological literacy will need to be developed. A new civic conversation about public lands is essential to these relationships, learning, and capacities. Community governance processes, which guide these collaborative and participatory activities, must correspondingly reflect the community-based nature of CBEM, while preserving the national interests in public land resources.     

Creating Incentives for Beneficial Private Land Management in Protected Areas

Abstract

Land-use practices on private properties that abut protected areas can have a significant impact on the conservation goals of a park or reserve. In Ecuador, many of the protected areas have private properties within their boundaries, and several share buffer zones with sizeable communities. This paper (1) evaluates incentives for private landowners to assist with meeting the conservation goals of the Condor Bioreserve, and (2) makes recommendations on mechanisms and incentives that may be the most appropriate for generating a commitment from private landowners to manage for conservation values. Currently, the strategy to promote compatible management on private properties relies heavily on voluntary efforts by landowners, with only a small number of programs offering financial or material incentives in return. To create greater long-term stability in land use around protected areas, programs need to create incentives for private landowners to formalize a commitment to long-term sustainable management. We recommend (1) conservation easements and (2) conservation payments, and in special cases (3) private reserves. Solid commitments to manage private lands for conservation effectively extend protected area boundaries and allow management plans to better incorporate the ecosystem role and services that private lands provide.     

Fire Ecology and Management in the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve,Panama

Abstract

The use of fire in the La Amistad Biosphere Reserve, Panama, is a complex issue, especially given its biophysical, cultural, and socioeconomic context. A geographic gradient exists, depicting the threat from fire to the reserve. Areas around Volcan Baru have a high potential fire threat due to the biophysical aspects of the area and land-use activities. Fire use has a long cultural history in Panama. It continues to be frequently employed to clear land for swidden agriculture, cattle ranching on the Atlantic side of the Talamancan mountain range, and agricultural development on the Pacific side. Land tenure insecurity and perverse policies also incite its utilization for claiming land. Set fires often escape their boundaries and burn property, structures, crops, and fire-sensitive ecosystems. If left unchecked, anthropogenic fires pose a significant threat to both the ecological and socioeconomic well being of the Biosphere Reserve. Recommendations for the reserve's fire management plan focus on policy augmentation, educational outreach, monitoring, prevention, and fire research.     

Carbon in Terrestrial Systems

Abstract

This analysis reviews the state of the knowledge regarding carbon sequestration in terrestrial biomass with specific focus on tropical systems in Central America and Panama. Natural forests, exotic plantations, native species plantations, and agroforestry systems are considered in light of their carbon sequestration potential, their initiation and maintenance costs, and their ability to access the emerging regulated and informal carbon markets. All four of these systems show great potential to take up or store carbon and thus contribute to atmospheric reductions of C0₂. Research, investment, and institutional support are required to assist in the clear definition and expansion of carbon supply possibilities for market transactions.     

Restoration of dry tropical forests in Central America: A review of pattern and process

Much information on restoration and management exists for wet tropical forests of Central America but comparatively little work has been done in the dry forests of this region. Such information is critical for reforestation efforts that are now occurring throughout Central America. This paper describes processes of degradation due to land use and provides a conceptual framework for the restoration of dry tropical forest. Most of this forest type was initially harvested for timber and then cleared for cattle in the last century (1930-1970). Only 1.7% remains largely restricted to infertile soils and remote areas on the Pacific coastal side of Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Mexico. These cleared areas are again in a state of transition due to a combination of decreasing land productivity, and land speculation for tourism development. Some farms have been sold to new landowners who are interested in reforesting to increase biodiversity and forest cover. Attempts have therefore been made to reforest by protecting the land from fire and cattle, by supplementing natural regrowth with enrichment planting, or through use of tree plantations. Experimental studies have demonstrated the ability of these lands to grow back to forests because of native species ability to sprout after cutting, and the capacity of remnant trees in field and riparian zones to provide seeds and to moderate edge environment for seed germination and seedling establishment. However, research also shows that on sites with long histories of land clearance, species diversity will remain low with functional groups missing unless some active management occurs. Under-planting with late-successional native tree species can add structure and diversity; enrichment planting with large-fruited shade-intolerant species can initiate new islands of more diverse regeneration beneath their canopies; and plantings of fast-growing, nitrogen-fixing trees that provide light canopy shade can moderate the environment below, promoting regeneration establishment of late-successional species. Plantations are the only option for lands that have lost almost all remnants of native forest, and where soils and vegetation have changed to new states of structure and function. Conversion of pastures to tree plantations that can facilitate natural regeneration beneath them is appropriate when pastures are prone to fire and/or lack immediate seed sources nearby. After the grasses have been shaded out, natural recruitment can slowly occur over a 10-15 years period. Under-planting of shade-tolerant late-successional species can supplement species composition and structure.     

Assessing forest vulnerability and the potential distribution of pine beetles under current and future climate scenarios in the Interior West of the US

The aim of our study was to estimate forest vulnerability and potential distribution of three bark beetles (Curculionidae: Scolytinae) under current and projected climate conditions for 2020 and 2050. Our study focused on the mountain pine beetle (Dendroctonus ponderosae), western pine beetle (Dendroctonus brevicomis), and pine engraver (Ipspini). This study was conducted across eight states in the Interior West of the US covering approximately 2.2 million km² and encompassing about 95% of the Rocky Mountains in the contiguous US. Our analyses relied on aerial surveys of bark beetle outbreaks that occurred between 1991 and 2008. Occurrence points for each species were generated within polygons created from the aerial surveys. Current and projected climate scenarios were acquired from the WorldClim database and represented by 19 bioclimatic variables. We used Maxent modeling technique fit with occurrence points and current climate data to model potential beetle distributions and forest vulnerability. Three available climate models, each having two emission scenarios, were modeled independently and results averaged to produce two predictions for 2020 and two predictions for 2050 for each analysis. Environmental parameters defined by current climate models were then used to predict conditions under future climate scenarios, and changes in different species’ ranges were calculated. Our results suggested that the potential distribution for bark beetles under current climate conditions is extensive, which coincides with infestation trends observed in the last decade. Our results predicted that suitable habitats for the mountain pine beetle and pine engraver beetle will stabilize or decrease under future climate conditions, while habitat for the western pine beetle will continue to increase over time. The greatest increase in habitat area was for the western pine beetle, where one climate model predicted a 27% increase by 2050. In contrast, the predicted habitat of the mountain pine beetle from another climate model suggested a decrease in habitat areas as great as 46% by 2050. Generally, 2020 and 2050 models that tested the three climate scenarios independently had similar trends, though one climate scenario for the western pine beetle produced contrasting results. Ranges for all three species of bark beetles shifted considerably geographically suggesting that some host species may become more vulnerable to beetle attack in the future, while others may have a reduced risk over time.     

Willingness of Iowa agricultural landowners to allow fee hunting associated with in-field shelterbelts

In 2004, four focus groups consisting of agricultural landowners were organized in Northcentral Iowa to assess opportunities for hunting along in-field shelterbelts and on adjacent lands. A majority of respondents (95%) allowed/practiced some hunting on their lands. About 55% of respondents indicated that the potential existed for developing a fee hunting market associated with in-field shelterbelts. Intangible features of hunting, such as recreation/enjoyment and better land stewardship, were ranked higher than tangible ones—additional income and provision of economic opportunities for local communities. Respondents were highly concerned with negative consequences of hunting—trespassing and hunter misconduct. On average, agricultural landowners were willing to accept (WTA) US$30 per visit per party of four hunters to allow hunting of ring-necked pheasants (Phasianus colchicus) on their land. About 33% would grant access to hunters free of charge. Those who lived in urban areas would require five times the monetary compensation (US$50) as those who lived in rural areas (US$10).