Tropical Dry Forest

Financial Analysis of Agroforestry Practices

Background

The analysis of economic of agroforestry is more complicated than annual crops because it involves trees and crops and because there is usually a period between establishment and when impact can be measured. This chapter analyses the financial returns of farmers in three practices: fodder shrubs (Calliandra calothyrsus) in Kenya were established to increase mil production; rotational woodlots in Tanzania were implemented to provide firewood (Acacia crassicarpa) and improved fallows (Sesbania sesban) were established in Zambia to increase fertility. 

Open access copy available

Ecological Restoration of Coal Mine-Degraded Lands in Dry Tropical Climate: What has been done? And what needs to be done?

Background

This paper discusses known methodology for how to restore native forest to abandoned coal mines. The paper splits the process of reclaiming abandoned coal mines into two sections, 1.) physical, technical, or engineering restoration and 2.) Biological Restoration. It also stresses taking a landscape scale approach to restoration, which includes 1.) an initial survey of the area, 2.) determination of the ultimate landscape objectives, and after restoration landuse possibilities, 3.) preparation of working plans for each phase of the restoration operation.

Available with subscription or purchase

Tree species selection for a mine tailigns bioremediation project in Peru

Background

This article explains a project in southern Peru where tree plantings were used as bioremediation for treating tailings water from a copper mine. A variety of 25 tree species were selected for trial plantings on the site that could also be suitable for fuel and construction wood in the future.

Available with subscription or purchase

Dominant species' resprout biomass dynamics after cutting in the Sudanian savanna-woodlands of West Africa: long term effects of annual early fire and grazing

Background

Given widespread anthropogenic disturbance and land degradation across the Sudanian savanna-woodlands of West Africa, these researchers examined the impacts of early annual fire and grazing on 6 dominant plant species in terms of: shoot mortality, height and girth. Though rather unoriginally, they hypothesized that forest biomass reconstitution is affected by disturbances such as fire and grazing. 

Open access copy available

Growing biodiverse carbon-rich forests

Background

Carbon storage and biodiversity has long been viewed as completely separate restoration objectives, resulting in parceling tracts of restoration land for one objective or the other. This study shows that the relationship between plant functional diversity and carbon sequestration rate depends on climate and habitat factors. Knowing this relationship, a restoration site can be managed for both objectives.

Open access copy available

Charaterization and Impact Assessment of Water Harvesting Techniques: A Case Study of Abreha Atsbeha Watershed, Tigray, Ethiopia

Background

This report gives a comprehensive overview of water harvesting techniques in a community called Abreha we Atsbeha in Tigray, Ethiopia.  This community was awarded the UN Equator Prize for their restoration work in 2012.  In addition to providing a detailed historical, demographic, ecological, and hydrological description of the site, the authors also detail the major water harvesting techniques employed, including: bench terracing, stone bunds, stine bunds with trenches, soil bunds with trenches, semi-circular stone bunds, percolation ponds check dams, shallow wells, diversion heads, and hand dug wells. 

Open access copy available

Imitating Natural Ecosystems through Successional Agroforestry for the Regeneration of Degraded Lands - A Case Study of Smallholder Agriculture in Northeastern Brazil

Background

Available with subscription or purchase

Gender Inequality in Malidino Biodiversity Community-based Reserve, Senegal: Political Parties and the 'Village Approach'

Background

This research examines some of the less visible, and ongoing social dynamics in a World Bank-funded conservation site in central Senegal. The goal of the World Bank project was to create a decentralized and community-based participatory forest management program that would re-structure the political economy of the charcoal industry, give more rights and autonomy to the local community, emphasize improved gender equity, and provide technical assistance to NGOs and community-based organizations.

Open access copy available

Local ecological knowledge of trees on farms, constraints and opportunities for further integratino in Tigray Region, northern Ethiopia: A Case Study of smallholder farmers in Abreha Wa Atsbeha and Adi Gudom

Background

The paper compared two Ethiopian sites with differing levels of on-farm tree adoption: Abreha we Atsbeha (high adoption) and Adi Gudom (low adoption). The author used a knowledge-based systems approach involving participatory rural appraisal, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews.  In both sites, farmers planted trees on their holdings for income generation, user rights, and direct benefits, and they planted trees on communal lands to comply with government policies, improve soil fertility and water harvesting, improve land for redistribution, and improve aesthetics. 

Open access copy available

Bridging the great divide: State, civil society, and ‘participatory’ conservation mapping in a resource extraction zone

Background

The author evaluates the outcomes of a participatory and inclusive mapping technique in a mineral extraction zone—the Cordillera Huayhuash—in the Andes of Central Peru. Knowing that land titling is often a source of mistrust and conflict between communities and the government, this technique offers a way to build counter-narratives to the unused territory story often told by state resource management agencies in charge of granting concessions to outside interests.

Available with subscription or purchase
Subscribe to Tropical Dry Forest