Funding
Leaders in Action: Success Stories from the TropicsBackgroundThe Environmental Leadership and Training Initiative (ELTI) seeks to seeks to train and support people to restore and conserve tropical forest landscapes. Since 2006, the organizations has engaged with thousands of people both through their in-person and online training platforms and through follow-up support and mentorship. This paper highlights select inspirational stories from ELTI alum. These stories come from the Neotropics, including Panama, Colombia, and Brazil, and Asia, including Indonesia, Singapore, and the Phillipines. Open access copy available |
Towards a Synthesized Critique of Neoliberal Biodiversity ConservationBackgroundThis paper seeks to review critiques concerning neoliberal biodiversity conservation. The author sees two reasons for this review. First off, the majority of focus has been on neoliberal natures and neoliberal environment instead of neoliberal conservation. Second, there has been recent papers that explore the latter but the lessons are disconnected. Thus, this review seeks to analyze and provide connections among an emerging field. Open access copy available |
Business models for sustainable investments in the context of tropical forest restorationBackgroundThis paper outlines the context and approaches of effective business models for sustainable investments in Tropical Forests. Triple bottom line business opportunities are defined and identified through a review of literature and analysis of three case studies (InIkea, FCFR Project, and Sustain Project). The conceptual frameworks surrounding sustainable business models are examined. Challenges and opportunities into the future are also explored. Open access copy available |
Strengthening the national restoration strategyBackgroundIn response to the launch of the Bonn Challenge, El Salvador committed to restoring one million hectares. The country's Ministry of Natural Resources and IUCN applied Restoration Opportunity Assessment Methodology (ROAM) to El Salvador in order to determine and analyze restoration options based on biophysical, social and economic criteria. The paper summarizes the main results generated in the ROAM application. Open access copy available |
Impacts of payments for environmental services on local development in northern Costa Rica: A fuzzy multi-criteria analysisBackgroundThis paper evaluates the impacts of reforestation projects conducted through Costa Rica's Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) program, which pays landowners for different forest uses. The researchers developed an evaluaton framework that was first based on a set of prinicipals (economic, social, institutional, biological) that were in-term subdivided into different categories. These evaluation criteria were evaluated and weighted through the help of local experts, then used to guide a series of landowner interviews. Open access copy available |
Strategies and innovations for capacity building on ecological restorationBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Rainforestation Case Study: The Cienda-San Vicente Farmers Association ExperienceBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Impact of Forest Management on Species Richness: Global Meta-Analysis and Economic Trade-offsBackgroundThis study is a meta-analysis of data from forests managed for timber harvest to assess the conservation value of these forests. From processing data from 287 published studies they rank the following forest management systems from best to worst in terms of conservation value: selection and retention systems, reduced impact logging, conventional selective logging, clear-cutting, agroforestry, timber plantations, fuelwood plantations. They also conducted analysis of net present value in these same systems and found unsurprisingly that the ranking for net present value was different. Open access copy available |
Abreha Weatsbeha Community Ethiopia: Equator Initiative Case Studies. Sustainable Development Solutions for people, nature and resilient communitiesBackgroundThis report from UNDP is intended to "the the full story ofhow (innovative sustainable developments solutions) evolve,the breadth of their impacts (and) how they change over time" through the case study of Abreha we Atsbeha in Ethiopia. Out of 800 contestants, the community in Abreha we Atsbeha was awarded the Equator Prize in along with US$20,000 in 2012 in recognition of their tremendous work on the restoration of degraded land and subsequent increases in food security, nutrition, and local livelihoods. Open access copy available |
Shade-grown coffee in Puerto Rico: Opportunities to preserve biodiversity while reinvigorating a struggling agricultural commodityBackgroundCoffee has been a traditional crop in Puerto Rico since the mid-1700s. As the global market became more competitive in the 20th century, the Puerto Rican government provided subsidies and policies to protect the sector as well as promoted the transition to shade grown coffee for higher yields in the 1980s. The researchers surveyed 100 farms and 5 agronomists to determine attitudes about this transition. Open access copy available |
