Funding
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 |
Infuence of tree cover on diversity, carbon sequestration and productivity of cocoa systems in the Ecuadorian AmazonBackgroundIn this study, Jadan et al. objective was to evaluate the relationship between richness and floristic diversity, carbon storage, ecosystem services, agricultural productivity, and forest use potential under three land use systems in the Ecuadorian Amazon: cocoa-based agroforestry, cocoa monoculture and primary forest. In this region, one of the most important cultivation systems is the “Chakra”, a traditional organic farming production system, mainly practiced by indigenous peoples, that consists in the cultivation of staple crops in combination with commercial valuable species such as cocoa, obtaining multiple benefits. Open access copy available |
Financial Analysis of Agroforestry PracticesBackgroundThe analysis of economic of agroforestry is more complicated than annual crops because it involves trees and crops and because there is usually a period between establishment and when impact can be measured. This chapter analyses the financial returns of farmers in three practices: fodder shrubs (Calliandra calothyrsus) in Kenya were established to increase mil production; rotational woodlots in Tanzania were implemented to provide firewood (Acacia crassicarpa) and improved fallows (Sesbania sesban) were established in Zambia to increase fertility. Open access copy available |
Lattice-work corridors for climate change: a conceptual framework for biodiversity conservation and social-ecological resilience in a tropical elevational gradientBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Agro-Successional Restoration as a Strategy to Facilitate Tropical Forest RecoveryBackgroundAbandoned agricultural lands have been increasingly around the world, forcing a recent drive to restore and reforest these lands. Yet, in the tropics there is often limited funding to meet the needs of restoration and the activities conflict with the uses of natural resources that contribute to human livelihoods. This paper outlines agro-successional restoration as a solution to these issues. Open access copy available |
Mangrove rehabilitation: a review focusing on ecological and institutional issuesBackgroundThis article addresses the pressures and threats and the impetus for rehabilitation in mangroves around the world. It also examines rehabilitation techniques from the institutional and biophysical planning systems, including an overview of the rehabilitation process. Finally, it includes a discussion on what the authors consider a major issue for rehabilitation: failure and success in different projects and integrated approaches Open access copy available |
Case Study: Community Based Ecological Mangrove Rehabilitation (CBEMR) in IndonesiaBackgroundMangrove plantings in Indonesia have typically failed for a number of reasons including inappropriate site selection, inappropriate species selection, and/or conflict over land tenure. The authors discussed ecological mangrove rehabilitation (EMR) and its use in Indonesia, which required a more socio-cultural-political apprach as compared with EMR in the United States. Open access copy available |
Prioritizing sites for ecological restoration based on ecosystem servicesBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Trade-offs in nature tourism: contrasting parcel-level decisions with landscape conservation planningBackgroundThis article discusses the trade-offs linked to nature tourism in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Nature tourism has been used for promoting conservation in Costa Rica since the 1970s when it was adopted into developmental policy. Tourism is now the largest industry in Costa Rica; but is nature tourism an effective way to preserve ecosystem services and promote economic benefits? The study area includes Monteverde (an ecotourism town near the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve), San Luis (a coffee and dairy farming community), and Guacimal (economy based on cattle ranching and dairy). Open access copy available |