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China's sloping land conversion program: Institutional innovation or business as usual?

Background

China’s Sloping Land Conversion Program (SLCP) is the largest land retirement program in the developing world, having the goal of converting 14.67 million hectares of cropland to forests by 2010, primarily targeting high-slope and marginal lands. The program is being implemented in more than 2000 counties across 25 provinces in China and affects tens of millions of rural households using PES models to promote afforestation.

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Readiness for REDD: Financial Governance and Lessons from Indonesia’s Reforestation Fund (RF)

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This article explains how REDD payments can generate significant financial flows into Indonesia, and how efficient and transparent financial governance is necessary. Using the history of the Indonesia's Reforestation Fund, this article offers recommendations for effective REDD financial management.

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Land Ownership and Forest Restoration

Background

Reports have indiciated that the majority of forests worldwide are owned by governments yet are typically managed similar to an open-access regime. Moreover, the use of forests by various stakeholders have led to issues, typically regarding access and ownership. This paper examines the connection between ownership regimes and restoration. 

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Afforestation and Reforestation Projects in South and South-East Asia Under the Clean Development Mechanism: Trends and Development Opportunities

background

The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was created as part of the 2007 Kyoto Protocol to assist countries in achieving both development and sustainability. Afforestation and reforestation (AR) projects are a part of the CDM protocal, but can be challenging to implement and measure.

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Between Cash and Usufruct Rights: In Search of an Appropriate Policy Instrument for Sustained Local People's Participation

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This study examines a reforestation program that was launched in the Philippines funded by the Asian Development Bank in 1988. Contract restoration and incentive mechanisms were introduced to include the participation of civic and local community groups in reforestation. 

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Monitoring Forest Degradation in Tropical Regions by Remote Sensing: Some Methodological Issues

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This review examines different remote sensing techniques to monitor vegetation cover at a regional scale. The objective was to discuss implications related to monitoring of open forest degradation.

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Nurse Plant Theory and its Application in Ecological Restoration in Lower Subtropics of China

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This study examines the mechanisms of the nurse tree effect and ecological factors that influence tree nursing and its relationship to ecological restoration.

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Lowering Emissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF)

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The Lowering Emmissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF) program was USAID regiona initiative that ran for five years, from 2011 to 2016. This final report summarizes the challenges the LEAF program faced and the results it achieved.

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Consequences of broadscale timber plantations for biodiversity in cleared forest landscapes of tropical and subtropical Australia

Background

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Évaluation des Directives OIBT pour la restauration, l’aménagement et la réhabilitation des forêts tropicales (Evaluation of ITTO Guidelines for the restoration, management and rehabilitation of tropical forests)

This report provides case studies on the restoration of degraded and secondary forests in Ghana, Indonesia, and Mexico. The authors summarized common needs as they relate to each case, such as the needs for efficient governance, financial viability, monitoring and evaluation programs, and integrative management. Finally, they provided recommendations to the International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO, or OIBT in French) for priorities and future areas of interest.

 

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Towards Productive Landscapes

Background

Increasingly, practitioners, scientists, and policymakers are recognizing the need to puruse integrated landscape level initiatives to address restoration issues. Given this, this report draws on 29 papers by practitioners all over the world that highlight both the successes and challenges of landscape approaches in order to inform the future of these practices.

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What does it take? The role of incentives in forest plantation development in Asia and the Pacific

Background

The Asia-Pacific region has a significant amount of diverse forest cover. While many countries have experience deforestation, the remaining forests are still valued for their ecosystem services and timber products. To protect these two benefits, severa government have promoted forest plantations as a forest management strategy. This reports  assess the impact of incentives on forest plantation development.

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Vulnerability and Impacts of Climate Change on the Forestry Sector

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The Effect of Deforestation on Water Quality: A Case Study in Cienda Micro Watershed, Leyte, Philippines

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Forests and water are important resources that provide both socioeconomic and ecological benefits. They also are connected, meaning that deforestation has a negative impact on the quality of water flowing through a watershed. This paper seeks to present the detailed effects and relationship between deforestation and water quality.

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Restoring forest landscapes: Forest landscape restoration aims to re-establish ecological integrity and enhance human well-being in degraded forest landscapes

Background

Tropical forests are highly fragmented. 42% of forest – including secondary forest – exists in large tracts, with the majority of forest in fragmented patches near roads and settlements. Although the science and conservation communities largely approach forests for either conservation or production, this approach omits the vital role forests play in the livelihoods of millions of people who live in close proximity.

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Financial Governance and Indonesia’s Reforestation Fund during the Soeharto and Post-Soeharto Periods, 1989–2009: A Political Economic Analysis of Lessons for REDD+

Background

In this occassional paper, CIFOR notes how Indonesia is in an unique position to utilize the REDD+ initiative to increase revenue and reduce loss of forest cover, overall contributing to the reduction in global carbon emmssions. In order to offer lessons for the future, this paper examines the financial management and government practices of the country's Reforestation Fund over the past two decades.

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Restauration des paysages forestiers: Exemples concrets dans 5 écorégions (Forest Landscapre Restoration: Concrete examples from 5 ecoregions)

This publication gives an overview of five ecosystems in which WWF is currently working on forest landscape restoration projects. The cases are in China, Bulgaria, Brazil, Malaysia, and New Caledonia.

 

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Satellite Data-Based Phenological Evaluation of the Nationwide Reforestation of South Korea

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South Korea's reforestation efforts since the 1950s have been evaluated for changes in biomass, area, and growing stock, but little has been done to study the phenology changes (seasonal changes) and photosynthetic activity, which will help in the preparation of new forest management in light of climate change.

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Monitoring and Evaluating Forest Restoration Success

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China’s Conversion of Cropland to Forest Program for Household Delivery of Ecosystem Services: How Important is a Local Implementation Regime to Survival Rate Outcomes?

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In response to catastrophic droughts in the lat 1990s, China launched one of the largest afforestation-based Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) progrms. Much research around this program has focused on the impact on rural welfare. This study, on the other hand, examines the tree survival rates during the “Grain for Green” Program based on socio-economic data of the single households.

Open access copy available