Deforestation and Degradation

The Cultural Context of Forest Degradation in Adjacent Purépechan Communities, Michoacán, Mexico

Background

This study aims to understand the relationship between cultural and ecological drivers contributing to change in forest land use patterns by comparing two adjacent indigenous communities in the volcanic plateau region of Michoacán, Mexico. The study suggests that both cultural and ecological processes must be studied together to best understand the cultural causes of forest change and accurately assess ecological consequences.

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Effects of Fragmentation of the Atlantic Forest on Mammal Communities in South-Eastern Brazil

Background

The author presents a detailed analysis of the community of large and medium-sized mammals present in six remnants of the low Atlantic forest in Brazil. The six remnants had varying sizes: small (200 ha), medium (2,000 ha) and large (20,000 ha). The study seeks to (1) identify the mammal species richness and the relative abundance of individuals surviving in each reserve, and (2) analyze changes in the structure of the mammal community contrasting the relative abundances of orders and dietary categories between reserves of differing sizes.

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The Recovery of the Lower Montane Cloud Forest in the Mucujún Watershed, Mérida, Venezuela

Background

Given the recovery of degraded forests in some landscapes throughout the tropics, the authors analyze land use change and land cover change in a mountain region of the andes of venezuela during a period of 50 years.

Research Goals & Methods

The study relies on aerial photographs taken between 1952 and 2009 of a peri-urban watershed. 

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Análisis de cambios de paisaje: Tournavista – Campo Verde y su área de influencia pérdida y fragmentación de bosques: 1963 – 2000 (Landscape change analysis: Tournavista – Campo Verde and its area of influence, forest fragmentation and loss 1963)

Español

​El estudio analiza los efectos causados por la colonización en Tournavista, Peru, a partir de 1963 y estima los impactos y degradación provocados usando métodos de teledetección.

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Taungya in the Philippines

background

This book chapter provides a description of the ecological effects of deforestation in the Philippines and a history of the failed social forestry programs that began in the 1970s.

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Restauração florestal: do diagnóstico de degradação ao uso de indicadores ecológicos para o monitoramento das ações (Forest restoration: from the diagnostics of degradation to the use of ecological indicators in the monitoring of actions)

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Reforestation project using native species in Maringa-Lopori-Wamba region (Democratic Republic of Congo): establishment of the Bonobo Peace Forest.CDM-AR-PDD

Background

Bonobos are endemic to the forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo and are at a high risk of extinction. Specifically, the UN has drawn attention to the speed at which infrustructure growth is infringing on bonobo habitat. Thus, it developed a program to halt these trends and conserve the bonobos. 

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Manual de recuperação de matas ciliares para produtores rurais (Manual of riparian forests recovery for rural producers)

This technical manual targets farmers and “all those that perceive that the life of people is connected to the life of the forests, the animals, the earth and the rivers”. The guide contemplates many themes related to recovery of degraded areas,  such as: the importance of riparian forests and other types of natural vegetation, technical aspects of the development and implementation of forest restoration activities, and useful tips for the implantation and maintenance of planted riparian areas.

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Seeing the fruit for the trees in Borneo

Background

Lowland dipterocarp tropical rainforests reproduce during infrequent community-wide events known as ‘general flowering.’ These unpredictable cycles, thought to be influenced by El Niño cycles, are the primary reproductive driver across this forest type. During a time of rapid deforestation across the highly diverse, but highly sensitive, dipterocarp-dominated landscape of Borneo, capitalizing on general flowering is critical for seed collection for restoration efforts and for species preservation.

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Trade-offs between tree cover, carbon storage and floristic biodiversity in reforesting landscapes

background

The multiple benefits of reforestation projects for carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and other ecosystem services are taken as a given. Yet not all forests are equal. Plantation-type reforestation projects typically undertaken for carbon sequestration are known for low species richness and inadequate provision of other ecosystem services. This study explores the relationships between an increase in tree cover area and changes in forest carbon storage and the potential of a landscape to provide habitat for native floristic biodiversity.

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