Economic issues

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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Crise cacaoyère et stratégies des producteurs de la sous-préfecture de Meadji au Sud-Ouest ivoirien (Cacao Crisis and Strategies for Producers in the Southwestern Sous-Préfecture of Meadji)

background

This masters thesis describes the economic crisis of cacao in the 1970s and how farmers have responded to these changes. 

Conclusions & Takeaways

The author argues that cacao farming strategies that take into account social relationships prove most efficient and argues for diversification of revenue sources as a type of safety net for producers in the face of future economic crises. 

 

Open access copy available

Crise de l’économie de plantation et modification du paysage agraire dans l’ancienne boucle du cacao: l’exemple de Daoukro (Economic Crisis of Plantation and Landscape Modification in the Former Cocoa Belt: The Example of Daoukro)

background

This article explores the history of agrarian transition in the Ivory Coast's former cacao belt. 

Conclusions & Takeaways

The shift away from cacao production to commodities like rubber, rice, cashews and oil palm results in changes in labor conditions and social relations. 

 

Open access copy available

Régénération naturelle assistée des forêts villageoises et promotion d’activités génératrices de revenus au profit des populations rurales au Burkina Faso

The authors describe the mission of the nongovernmental organization NewTree, which seeks to support rural populations in their fight against desertification and poverty. They discuss assisted natural regeneration in Burkina Faso in particular, as a means of generating sustainable revenue and state that the program has successfully preserved 225 hectares of land while generating income for rural communities.

 

Open access copy available

Évaluation des impacts socio-économiques: cas d’unité forestière d’aménagement de la compagnie forestière Leroy-Gabon (Socio-economic Impact Assessment: The Case of the Leroy-Gabon Forest Management Unit)

Background

This article provides a socioeconomic impact assessment of forest operations by the Leory-Gabon forest company.

Research Goals & Methods

Data were collected in villages and forest-exploitation camps between 2001 and 2002. The study relied on group survey data and selected research villages that experienced direct effects of forestry that were located in the UFA1 forestry zone.

Open access copy available

Drug Policy as Conservation Policy: Narco-Deforestation

Background

Central America exploded into prominence as a drug trafficking corridor in the last decade. The authors document that an unprecedented flow of cocaine into Central America “coincided with a period of extensive forest loss”. The authors discuss the evidence that supports the idea that "trafficking of drugs (principally cocaine) has become a crucial—and overlooked—accelerant of forest loss” in Central America.

Open access copy available

Gmelina Boom, Farmers Doom: Tree growers risks, coping strategies and options

Background

The widespread smallholder tree plantations of Gmelina arborea established in the South Philippines in the 1980s led to price boom and bust cycles rather than the expected economic returns for growers. This study evaluates grower responses to the timber price bubbles of the 1990s and recommends policy responses.

Open access copy available

Carbon sequestration versus bioenergy: A case study from South India exploring the relative land-use efficiency of two options for climate change mitigation

background

This study explores avenues to meet increased rural electricity demand with carbon emissions mitigation. The study compares the option of energy derived from gasification of biomass from forest plantations to energy derived from fossil fuels, with forest plantations used as a carbon sink.The case study uses power demand, land requirements, and management approaches for Hosahalli village, Karnataka, pop. 218.

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Cost-Effectiveness of Dryland Forest Restoration Evaluated by Spatial Analysis of Ecosystem Services

background

This study evaluates the cost-effectiveness of dryland forest restoration through a comparative analysis of four study areas in Latin America.

Research Goals & Methods

The authors model multiple ecosystem services to estimate costs and benefits of restoring dryland forests under a range of economic valuation conditions.

Open access copy available

Economic Analysis of Sengon (Paraserianthes falcataria) Community Forest Plantation, a Fast Growing Species in East Java, Indonesia

background

This article examines Paraserianthes falcataria (Sengon) mixed community forest plantations in East Java, Indonesia. The Indonesian government launched a timber / reforestation program in 1990 but only 20% of projected timber supply has come from these plantations, and total reforested area is far below targets. Before 1997, forest resources were held by concession companies, and local access rights were denied. Under reforms however, government decentralization gave local governments more authority to manage their resources, and extensive deforestation (and low levels of reforestation) has followed.

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