Montane Forest

Can tropical farmers reconcile subsistence needs with forest conservation?

background

Despite efforts to protect tropical rainforests through various policy initiatives, forests continue to face pressure from smallholders' subsistence needs, especially in montane regions. This paper proposes a means to turn abandoned montane pastoral land into productive agroforestry land as a viable alternative to further encroachment on existing forests.

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Laguna Pedro Palo - Reserva Tenasuca, Colombia

This project is located in a community reserve outside of Bogota, Colombia, in montane Andean oak forest. Plantings are performed by members of the reserve association, which includes a small NGO and local landowners.

2-3 hectares were planted around a lake in 1998, these plantings were predominantly Andean oak (Quercus humboltii), this forest area reached canopy closure in 2010-2013. Reserve managers believe that this oak buffer area helps to maintain a constant water level of the lake, by recharging a continuous supply of groundwater throughout the year.

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Restoration of the Cerros Orientales de Bogota - Jardin Botanico de Bogota

The Jose Celestino Mutis Botanic Garden of Bogota works with the Municipal government of Bogota in order to restore and rehabilitate various areas of forest habitat around the city of Bogota.

The most extensive plantings are conducted in the Cerros Orientales, hills located on the outskirts of Bogota. This very steep mountain area had been cleared and was subject to severe erosion, and was planted with exotic pine and eucalyptus throughout the 19th and 20th century. Parts of this forest continue to be grazed for cattle, and many areas have also been invaded by the invasive European gorse (Ulex europaeus).

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Memorias del I Congreso Colombiano de Restauración Ecológica

Background

These proceedings summarize the 11 Master Conferences at the "I Congreso Colombiano de Restauración Ecológica y II Simposio de Nacional de Experiencias en Restauración" in 2009. It includes information from dozens of forest restoration projects in Colombia. Most projects are restoration experiements with native species forest restoration in the montane zone of Colombia, although some reports describe projects in lowland humid forest, dry forest, and high mountain páramo.

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Clean Development Mechanism - Reforestation Projects, San Nicholas and Chinchina, Colombia

background

The CDM permits these projects to generate carbon credits based on the amount of carbon sequestered in trees that will be planted on private land currently used for agriculture.

Goals & approach

These two projects plan to use the clean development mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol to sell carbon credits via reforestation and afforestation.

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The Recovery of the Lower Montane Cloud Forest in the Mucujún Watershed, Mérida, Venezuela

Background

Given the recovery of degraded forests in some landscapes throughout the tropics, the authors analyze land use change and land cover change in a mountain region of the andes of venezuela during a period of 50 years.

Research Goals & Methods

The study relies on aerial photographs taken between 1952 and 2009 of a peri-urban watershed. 

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Catalago preliminar de la flora vascular de los bosques subandinos de la Cuchilla el Fara, Santander–Colombia (Preliminary catalogue of vascular plants of the sub-andean forests of Cuchilla el Fara, Santander-Colombia)

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antecedentes

La Región Andina de Colombia cuenta con una gran biodiversidad y concentra el 77.4% de la población total del país. Esfuerzos para la conservación y manejo sostenible de los bosques andinos vienen siendo implementados en el país como parte de una estrategia nacional.

objetivos y metodología

El estudio busca generar una lista preliminar de las plantas vasculares de los bosques sub-andinos de La Cuchilla El Fara, Santander, Colombia, incluyendo información ecológica de las especies registradas.

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Efecto de la zona de vida y la altitud en la mortalidad y adaptabilidad al primer año de especies forestales en la Cordillera Volcánica Central de Costa Rica

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Antecedentes

El entendimiento comprensivo de la restauración de bosques requiere de la comprensión del fenómeno de la mortalidad incluyendo su magnitud y ubicación espacial. En Costa Rica, no existe suficiente información capturando los efectos de climas pluviales sobre la mortalidad de especies forestales, especialmente en zonas altas.

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Potencial de regeneracion del banco de semillas germinable de un bosque subandino: implicaciones para la restauración ecologica (Regeneration potential of the germinable seedbank of a sub-Andean forest: Implications for ecological restoration)

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Evaluation of Native Tree Species for the Rehabilitation of Deforested Areas in a Mexican Cloud Forest

background

This study examines the survival of four native tree species used in mixed-experimental plantations in the tropical montane forest of Veracruz, Mexico (1300-1900m). Tropical montane covers only 1% of land surface in Mexico but contains ~ 10% of all flowering plants. In Veracruz, forest fragments occupy on 10% of the oringinal forest cover.

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