General
Land Degradation, Less Favored Lands and the Rural Poor: A Spatial and Economic Analysis.BackgroundPrevious studies have examined the differing economic consequences of land degradation for various groups of people, finding that the rural poor of less developed countries rely on some of the most marginal, degraded land. Yet, these studes seignificantly differ in their use of key spatial land and population indicators and the spatially referenced data generated are inadequate for cross-country economic analysis of the impact of land degradation on global poverty. This study aims to rectify these shortcomings. Open access copy available |
Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture: Contributing to Food Security and Sustainability in a Changing WorldbackgroundThis report identifies challenges in current agricultural production and argues for the incorporation of biodiverse agricultural practices to best realize sustainable development goals. Open access copy available |
Dipterocarp Forest Ecosystems: Towards Sustainable ManagementBackgroundThis book describes the difficult problem of sustainably managing the valuable resources of Dipterocarp forests in Southeast Asia. It highlights the social, economic, and forest management challenges associated with Dipterocarp governance and attempts to reconcile the often disparate roles of forest scientists and local community managers. Available with subscription or purchase |
Forest transitions: An introductionBackgroundThe authors present an introduction to the idea of "forest transitions", which is theory coined by Alexander Mather to explain the changes that forest landscapes undergo as societies industrialize and urbanize. This special issue seeks to extend and deepend the theory. Open access copy available |
Strategies for Landscape-Scale Restoration in the TropicsAboutThis publication summarizes the proceedings from the 2012 Conference of the International Society of Tropical Foresters, Yale Student Chapter, which took place on January 26-28,2012 at Yale University in New Haven, CT. Open access copy available |
Payments for Environmental Services: Some Nuts and BoltsBackgroundThis paper reviews current literature and considers observations from Latin America and Asia to describe Payment for Environmental Services (PES) strategies. Research Goals & MethodsThis paper aims to help demystify PES for non-economists, starting with a simple and coherent definition of the term. Open access copy available |
Du suivi à l’évaluation: à la recherche d’indicateurs opérationnels en écologie de la restauration (From monitoring to evaluation: in search of operational indicators in restoration ecology)The authors shed light on issues related to monitoring and evaluation of wetland restoration projects. They note that monitoring and evaluation oftentimes lack enough support to be effective. One suggestion the authors put forth is the notion that monitoring/evaluation should be a discipline in its own right if we are to have successful restoration projects in the future.
Open access copy available |
Paying for RestorationBackgroundThe authors examine the payments for ecosystem services and review strategies for funding ecological restoration. They do so by conducting a literature review that is focused on two main questions: "how should ecological and economic considerations be balanced in determining expenditures on restoration projects? how is society going to pay for the substantial costs involved?" Available with subscription or purchase |
Restauration écologique: contexte, contraintes et indicateurs de suivi (Ecological restoration: context, constraints and indicators for monitoring)The authors provide a review of the literature on ecological restoration. Most imprtantly, the authors focus on the importance of indicators in ecological restoration projects.
Open access copy available |
Foresters' beliefs about farmers: a priority for social science research in social forestryBackgroundThe author states that social science research is largely lacking throughout forestry, not due to its inadequacy but a failure to select relevant topics to be explore through social science research. The paper attempts to show that conducting social science research about foresters' belief is valid and necessary. Open access copy available |