Tropical Wet Forest

Cultural Drivers of Reforestation in Tropical Forest Groves of the Western Ghats of India

background

This paper looks at sacred forest groves in the Western Ghats of India, examining their socio-ecological origins. The study asks whether the groves are remnants of former continuous forest or patches of regenerated vegetation. The study also asks about the impact of surrounding vegetation on the composition of the sacred groves. Finally, the study focuses on the social and cultural drivers of forest recovery in the groves, including land tenure and religious beliefs.

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Mapping Priority Areas for Forest Landscape Restoration and Improvement of Rural Community Livelihoods in Guatemala's San Marcos Highlands

background

This study maps priority areas for forest landscape restoration in three watershades of south-western Guatemala. This rural region has received attention from local government and international socio-economic development projects.

Research Goals & Methods

This study used GIS and Multi-criteria decision analysis to generate maps. These tools enabled the integration of a wide variety of complex information to evaluate different contexts and dynamics of the landscape.

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Understanding Forest Transition in the Philippines: Main Farm-Level Factors Influencing Smallholder’s Capacity and Intention to Plant Native Timber Trees

Background

Small-scale farmers' decisions on when, where, and how to plant trees in their use of natural, human, and capital resources is critical to understand as part of any forest transition trajectory. This paper studies these questions in the Philippines.  

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Does Tree Planting Change Minds? Assessing the Use of Community Participation in Reforestation to Address Illegal Logging in West Kalimantan

background

Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan, Indonesia has experienced illegal logging and fires that led to degradation and conversion of forests to grasslands in a state of arrested succession. A local NGO named Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) began a restoration effort to restore degraded forest areas and provide jobs to local community members that might otherwise participate in illegal logging.

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Land Cover Change in Colombia: Surprising Forest Recovery Trends between 2001 and 2010

background

This study mapped annual land-use and land-cover from 2001 to 2010 in Colombia using MODIS (250 m) products coupled with reference data from high spatial resolution imagery (QuickBird) in Google Earth.

Research Goals & Methods

The authors evaluated land cover change at four spatial scales: country, biome, ecoregion, and municipality.

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Identifying Hotspots of Deforestation and Reforestation in Colombia (2001–2010): Implications for Protected Areas

background

This article uses satellite imagery, MODIS MOD13Q1 Vegetation Indices 250 , the Virtual Interpretation of EarthWeb-Interface Tool (VIEW-IT) to conduct a land-use analysis of Colombia, mapping trends and "hotspot" areas of deforestation and of reforestation from 2001 to 2010.

Research Goals & Methods

The authors identify four hotspots of deforestation (clustered particularly in lowlands in the north of the country) and four of reforestation, mainly in the Andes highlands.

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Designing Mixed Species Tree Plantations for the Tropics: Balancing Ecological Attributes of Species with Landholder Preferences in the Philippines

background

This paper reports on the assessment of forest stands planted as part of the Rainforestation Farming Program and the management of plantations by local landowners regarding the original intent of planting.

Research Goals & Methods

Data was collected beginning 6-11 years after initial plot planting. Forest stands were evaluated for structure and floristic composition. Subsequent measurements were taken in 2008 and 2012.

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Seed Dispersal by Birds and Bats in Lowland Philippine Forest Successional Area

Background

While seed dispersal by birds and bats can be an important driver of succession, few studies have studied this dynamic in the tropical forests of SE Asia. This study compares the role of bird and bat dispersal in the lowland dipterocarp forest of the Subic Watershed Forest Reserve (SWFR) in Luzon Island, Philippines.

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Nature Conservation Foundation, GEF: Southern Western Ghats, India

Background

This project, funded by the GEF small grants program, utilized restoration and conservation efforts in order to improve the degraded rainforests of western Ghats, India. The project occurred over a four-year span from 2004 to 2008.

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ANCON, ANARAP, CCIAP: Panama

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Antecedentes

Para el 2014, Panamá había perdido mas del 65% de sus áreas forestales, con una tasa anual de deforestación de mas de 20 mil hectáreas. Hasta el 2009, esfuerzos de restauración forestal solo habían logrado regenerar aproximadamente 75 mil hectáreas, correspondiendo a 14% de lo destruido. La economía de Panamá es altamente dependiente de bosques y servicios forestales por lo cual es imprescindible la restauración sostenible de las areas restantes.

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