Case Studies
China's sloping land conversion program: Institutional innovation or business as usual?BackgroundChina’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. Open access copy available |
Using ecosystem valuation to protect the Atlantic Rainforest: the case of the Oasis ProjectBackgroundThe article explores the Oasis Project, which is a payment for ecosystem services program that aims to protect the Atlantic Forest in Brazil. The program was established in 1990 in response to the destruction of the forest. The Oasis Project aims to provide drinking water to approximately 17 million in the Sao Paulo metropolitan region by financially compensating landowners engaged in maintaining forest cover in their proprieties. Available with subscription or purchase |
Reforestation and FarmersBackgroundThis chapter provides an overview of reforestation programs involving smallholder farmers, highlighting factors that influence the attractiveness of reforestation to different types of farmers. Available with subscription or purchase |
The Role of Nurse Trees in Mitigating Fire Effects on Tropical Dry Forest Restoration: A Case StudyBackgroundThe authors of this study initially studied differential growth rates in a reforestation project of native tree species with nurse trees(Leucaena leucocephala) and without nurse trees when the area had two fire events. However, authors took advantage of the unplanned experiment to study the effects of fire in reforestation. Available with subscription or purchase |
Lessons Learnt from WWF’s Worldwide Field Initiatives Aiming at Restoring Forest LandscapesbackgroundThis document provides a series of case studies about forest landscape restoration projects from across the WWF network. The authors provide overall lessons as well as country-specific lessons. The authors summarize lessons learned across programs for the different stages of restoration programs. Open access copy available |
Reforesting the Sahel: Farmer Managed Natural RegenerationBackgroundThis study describes the development of a simple income generating and self-promoting reforestation system called Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) developed in Maradi, Niger. FMNR is an agroforestry system based on the natural regeneration and management of tree systems from underground stumps. Open access copy available |
Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration: The Niger ExperienceBACKGROUNDThis paper reviews the farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR) program introduced in the Maradi region of Niger around 1983 to restore degraded parts of the lands. FMNR was started in response to past failures of restoration projects that were modeled for temperate climates and in societies and cultures different from those in West Africa. This prompted the use of more conventional traditional methods of regeneration from re-sprouts of felled trees without running expensive nurseries. Open access copy available |
More than Just Trees: Assessing Reforestation Success in Tropical Developing CountriesbackgroundOpen access copy available |
Contextual Analysis of Agroforestry Adoption in the Buffer Zone of Podocarpus National Park, EcuadorBackgroundPromoting sustainable agriculture and community development has been an important strategy both to alleviate resource pressures on Ecuador’s Podocarpus National Park (PNP) and surrounding forested areas in its buffer zone, and to aid local communities. However, many contextual factors drive neighboring rural and agricultural communities to put pressure on PNP and the surrounding landscape. Available with subscription or purchase |
Tropical Forest Restoration within Galapagos National Park: Application of a State-transition ModelBackgroundFew restoration models address ecological and management issues across the vegetation mosaic of a landscape. Because of a lack of scientific knowledge and funds, restoration practitioners focus instead on site-specific prescriptions and reactive rather than proactive approaches to restoration; this approach often dooms restoration projects to failure. This synthesis article tests a state-transition model as a decision-making tool to identify and achieve short- and long-term restoration goals. Open access copy available |
