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Initial performance and reforestation potential of 24 tropical tree species planted across a precipitation gradient in the Republic of Panama

Background

Panama has experience significant forest loss due to the conversion of forest lands to agriculture and pasture, causing significant negative effects on ecosystems. Since natural regeneration is slow, the country has recently turned to plantation forestry in order to restore these degraded. Yet, many of these initiatives simply use a few exotic species. This study explores the performance of a range of species, including both native and exotic, in order to better ensure the success and adoption of diversified reforestation strategies.  

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Use of native tree species by a Hispanic community in Panama

Background

Forest provide countless resources yet many of them go unreported since they are used locally and never make it to national or international markets. This study examines the uses of wild plants by a small farming community in central Panama as a case-study for timber and non-timber forest products used by tropical, nonforest-dwelling, nonindigenous peoples.

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The Humid Tropics Cattle Ranching Complex: Cases from Panama Reviewed

Background

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Linking forest conservation and food security through agroecology

Background

This chapter, found in Forest Landscape Restoration: Integrated Approaches to Support Effective Implementation, focuses on Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) in the tropics. Specifically, the authors examine agroecology as an integrated approach for both gaining food security and restoring agro-forest landscapes in post-conflict Colombia.

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Forests in the Time of Violence: Conservation Implications of the Colombian War

Background

While there has been extensive attention paid to the social, economic, and political effects of the decades of conflict in Colombia, there has been limited research that seeks to understand the environmental side. This is critical since Colombia ranks among a select few "megadiversity" countries in the world. This article aims to remedy this issue through analyzing the geographic distribution of forest remnants in the Colombian Amazon, Andes, and Chocó in relation to the armed conflict in country. 

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Green pretexts: Ecotourism, neoliberal conservation and land grabbing in Tayrona National Natural Park, Colombia

Background

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Creating space for large‐scale restoration in tropical agricultural landscapes

Background

The large-scale degradation and land-use conversion of ecosystems around the world has led to a global push to restore critical environments in order to preserve biodiversity and ecosystem services. One of the biggest challenges to these efforts though, is ensuring that preexisting land-uses are not simply displaced elsewhere. This article explores this problem, turning to the Brazilian Atlantic Forest as a case-study. The authors examine if restoration will lead to a discplacement of cattle production due to land-shortage. 

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Greening peace in Colombia

Background

Written in 2017, this article reviews the connection between Colombia's recent peace agreement after 50 years of conflict and the country's immense biodiversity. Given the social peace, the forests of Colombia are now more prone for development, specifically the increase of both official and unofficial road and infrustructures, which could have a detrimental affect on wildlife and ecosystem services. This article seeks to outline the challenges and opportunities that Colombia faces to integrate forest biodiversity conservation into economic development.

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Socioecological transition in the Cauca river valley, Colombia (1943–2010): towards an energy–landscape integrated analysis

Background 

Globally, agroecosytems are facing signficant challenges due to socio-ecological trends in which they are pressured to intensify in order to meat growing economic demands while also attempting to avoid the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services typically associated with agricultural intensification. This study uses the Cauca river valley in Colombia as a case-study in order to investigate the land use change and the ways human disturbance in agroecosystems are associated with landscape processes. 

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Native trees and shrubs for the productive rehabilitation of tropical cattle ranching lands

Background

Latin America, much like the rest of the rest of the world, has experienced significant deforestation rates. In this region, the primary driver has been large-scale land conversion to unsustainable uses, like industrial cattle ranching and agriculture. This article recognizes the deep-rootedness of cattle in Latin American economies and cultures, yet stresses the need to shift the paradigm by adopting intensive silvopastoral systems (ISS) that utilize native species. 

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