Latin America and Caribbean
Strengthening the national restoration strategyBackgroundIn response to the launch of the Bonn Challenge, El Salvador committed to restoring one million hectares. The country's Ministry of Natural Resources and IUCN applied Restoration Opportunity Assessment Methodology (ROAM) to El Salvador in order to determine and analyze restoration options based on biophysical, social and economic criteria. The paper summarizes the main results generated in the ROAM application. Open access copy available |
Impacts of payments for environmental services on local development in northern Costa Rica: A fuzzy multi-criteria analysisBackgroundThis paper evaluates the impacts of reforestation projects conducted through Costa Rica's Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) program, which pays landowners for different forest uses. The researchers developed an evaluaton framework that was first based on a set of prinicipals (economic, social, institutional, biological) that were in-term subdivided into different categories. These evaluation criteria were evaluated and weighted through the help of local experts, then used to guide a series of landowner interviews. Open access copy available |
Strategies and innovations for capacity building on ecological restorationBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Agricultural LandscapesBackgroundThis paper summarizes the talks of 2013 symposium held in Bogota, Colombia titled Ecological Restoration and Sustainable Agricultural Landscapes. The talks center around the pressing issue of balancing agricultural demands and the need to conserve biodiversity. They discuss current initiatives throughout Latin America that seek to both conserve and restore productive landscapes. Five talks in total are summarized touching on subjects ranging from agroforestry to silvopastoral systems to capacity building. Open access copy available |
Shade-grown coffee in Puerto Rico: Opportunities to preserve biodiversity while reinvigorating a struggling agricultural commodityBackgroundCoffee has been a traditional crop in Puerto Rico since the mid-1700s. As the global market became more competitive in the 20th century, the Puerto Rican government provided subsidies and policies to protect the sector as well as promoted the transition to shade grown coffee for higher yields in the 1980s. The researchers surveyed 100 farms and 5 agronomists to determine attitudes about this transition. Open access copy available |
Designing pest-suppressive multistrata perennial crop systems: shade-grown coffee in Central AmericaBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Development of the soil macrofauna community under silvopastoral and agrosilvicultural systems in AmazoniaBackgroundThe Brazilian Amazon has experienced extensive land conversion from forests to cattle pasture, many of which now lay abandoned. Agro-forestry serves as one potential solution to this problem and this study examines the re-establishment of a diversified soil macrofauna in order to inform this approach. Available with subscription or purchase |
The Contribution of Traditional Agroforestry to Climate Change Adaptation in the Ecuadorian Amazon: The Chakra SystemBackgroundThis article explores the amazonian-indigenous "chakra" agroforestry system, and its utility as a forest management practice that sequesters carbon, increases food security, grows valuable timber, and acts as a habitat connectivity. The size of these cultivated areas range from 0.4 - 4ha, and include species such as anioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz), banana (Musa paradisiaca L.), peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth), fine-flavored cacao (Theobroma cacaoL.) and robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner), and a variety of medicinals. Open access copy available |
Tree species selection for a mine tailigns bioremediation project in PeruBackgroundThis 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 |
Using artificial canopy gaps to restore Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona vittata) habitat in tropical timber plantationsBackgroundThis study tests whether or not man-made canopy gaps can restore native tree diversity as food sources for the endagered Puerto Rican Parrot (Amazona vittata). The site is located within a non-native blue mahoe (Hibiscus elatus) plantation in the Río Abajo forest in central Puerto Rico, where the researchers planted native species in assisted natural regeneration. The gaps were created in 20m x 20m plots by girdling and applying herbicide on non-native trees and by clearing leaf litter and vegetation, creating space for planted and naturally established advance regeneration seedlings. Available with subscription or purchase |
