Latin America and Caribbean
Combining ecological, social and technical criteria to select species for forest restorationBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Imitating Natural Ecosystems through Successional Agroforestry for the Regeneration of Degraded Lands - A Case Study of Smallholder Agriculture in Northeastern BrazilBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
The Campesino-to-Campesino agroecology movement of ANAP in Cuba: social process methodology in the construction of sustainable peasant agriculture and food sovereigntyBackgroundThis article focuses on agroecology as a farming practice based upon principles rooted in the biology of a place and its organic matter. Agroecology has been promoted by community organizations and NGOs and is scaling up to national peasant organizations and social movements. This study looks at Cuba as a case study for La Via Campesina, a global peasant movement, and how agroecology has spread in Cuba from campesino-a-campesino, or peasant-to-peasant. Available with subscription or purchase |
Trade-offs in nature tourism: contrasting parcel-level decisions with landscape conservation planningBackgroundThis article discusses the trade-offs linked to nature tourism in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Nature tourism has been used for promoting conservation in Costa Rica since the 1970s when it was adopted into developmental policy. Tourism is now the largest industry in Costa Rica; but is nature tourism an effective way to preserve ecosystem services and promote economic benefits? The study area includes Monteverde (an ecotourism town near the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve), San Luis (a coffee and dairy farming community), and Guacimal (economy based on cattle ranching and dairy). Open access copy available |
Bridging the great divide: State, civil society, and ‘participatory’ conservation mapping in a resource extraction zoneBackgroundThe 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 |
Conserving Tropical Tree Diversity and Forest Structure: The Value of Small Rainforest Patches in Moderately-Managed LandscapesBackgroundDue to deforestation and degradation in rainforests, there has been an increase in small forest patches yet there is limited understanding of this structures contribution to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The authors of this study attempt to answer this question through studying a a moderately managed landscape in the tropics of Mexic Open access copy available |
Communal management as a strategy for restoring cloud forest landscapes in Andean EcuadorBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
Forest restoration in an indigenous land considering a forest remnant influence (Avaí, São Paulo State, Brazil)BackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
An ecological integrity assessment of a Brazilian Atlantic Forest watershed based on surveys of stream health and local farmers' perceptions: implications for managementBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
Burning biodiversity: Fuelwood harvesting causes forest degradation in human-dominated tropical landscapesBackgroundIn the Northeastern Brazilian Atlantic Forest (BAF), extremely dense populations of poor, rural villages create chronic disturbances within the already heavily fragment Atlantic forest in favor of gathering hardwood fuel supplies. This hardwood is self-gathered without management techniques and burned inefficiently, and is driven by poverty, proximity to forest fragments, human labour availability, and lack of alternative energy sources. One of the most biodiverse, endemic, and endangered regions on the planet, this research seeks to study the impact of rural fuelwood development in the northeastern BAF. Open access copy available |
