Deforestation and Degradation
The political ecology playbook for ecosystem restoration: Principles for effective, equitable, and transformative landscapesBackgroundGlobally, land degradation and forest loss continue despite an increasing number of projects working towards ecological restoration. The authors of this paper argue that one of the reasons that restoration projects have been unable to achieve their goals and ensure ecological resilience is that they ignore the underlying issues of political inequity and injustice that drive ecological degradation. Open access copy available |
Carbon-focused conservation may fail to protect the most biodiverse tropical forestsIntroductionThe authors examine the relationship between carbon and biodiversity at the landscape-level across four gradients of disturbances and offer insight on optimizing carbon conservation projects with biodiversity conservation. Open access copy available |
Carbon-focused conservation may fail to protect the most biodiverse tropical forestsIntroductionThe authors examine the relationship between carbon and biodiversity at the landscape-level across four gradients of disturbances and offer insight on optimizing carbon conservation projects with biodiversity conservation. Open access copy available |
Potential for low-cost carbon removal through tropical reforestationbackgroundThe UNFCCC COP21 (UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference of the Parties) created the Paris Agreement in 2015, which pledges to “limit global warming to well below 2, preferably 1.5 °C.” For this to happen, we must both reduce how much carbon dioxide (CO2) that is released and find ways to capture CO2 that is already in the atmosphere. This study explores two ways this might happen using Nature-based Solutions: tree planting in the form of reforestation and afforestation, and the prevention of deforestation. Open access copy available |
The tragedy of the commonsBackgroundWritten in the late 1960s, this paper suggests that over population is a major challenge for continued human well-being, and especially for the management of commons. It uses examples of over-grazing in common lands and pollution management to argue that individuals are likely to look out for their own interest and continue to use common resources or pollute them acting as though they were available infinitely. While this tendency does not have negative consequences when the population is low, it can make resource management more challenging as the population increases. Open access copy available |
The Evolution of International Policy on REDD+BACKGROUNDThe article traces the background and history of REDD+ starting from gaps identified in the Clean Development Mechanism of the Kyoto Protocol (i.e. the lack of projects to reduce emissions due to deforestation in developing countries), to the early beginning of RED or reduced emissions from deforestation, and finally to its evolution as embedded in the Paris Agreement of 2015 as REDD+ (Article 5). Available with subscription or purchase |
Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+): game changer or just another quick fix?BACKGROUNDThe article provides an extensive review of Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in terms of its promise of multiple co-benefits as well as the various challenges it faces in its implementation. It features the Norway-Indonesia REDD+ as the most recent case study and examines whether it holds true to its name as a breakthrough mechanism in reducing Greenhouse Gas (GHG) build-up in the atmosphere primarily due to the unabated carbon emissions and tropical deforestation. Available with subscription or purchase |
Multiple successional pathways in human-modified tropical landscapes: new insights from forest succession, forest fragmentation and landscape ecology researchIntroductionWith the rise of deforestation, secondary forests and human-modified tropical landscapes (HMTL) have become an important source of ecosystem services yet there is limited knowledge concerning the successional process of these ecosystems. Goals & MethodsThe goal of this study is to identify the main drivers of successional pathways In HTML and secondary forests at multiple scales. The authors draw on tropical forest succesion, forest fragmentation, and landscape ecology research to achieve this. Available with subscription or purchase |
Nucleation in tropical ecological restorationbackgroundDue to centuraries of human development, there is a need to restore degraded areas and reconcile productive uses of land with conservation goals. One means of ecological restoration is facilitation, which aims to accrue positive interactions between species. Nucleation has been shown as a effective stategy for facilitation. Open access copy available |
Módulo 2: Selección y establecimiento de estrategias y prácticas de restauraciónEspañolAntecedentesOpen access copy available |
