Land Use Practices

Greening peace in Colombia

Background

Written in 2017, this article reviews the connection between Colombia's recent peace agreement after 50 years of conflict and the country's immense biodiversity. Given the social peace, the forests of Colombia are now more prone for development, specifically the increase of both official and unofficial road and infrustructures, which could have a detrimental affect on wildlife and ecosystem services. This article seeks to outline the challenges and opportunities that Colombia faces to integrate forest biodiversity conservation into economic development.

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Socioecological transition in the Cauca river valley, Colombia (1943–2010): towards an energy–landscape integrated analysis

Background 

Globally, agroecosytems are facing signficant challenges due to socio-ecological trends in which they are pressured to intensify in order to meat growing economic demands while also attempting to avoid the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services typically associated with agricultural intensification. This study uses the Cauca river valley in Colombia as a case-study in order to investigate the land use change and the ways human disturbance in agroecosystems are associated with landscape processes. 

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Partnering with cattle ranchers for forest landscape restoration

Background

In order to address land degradation due to agricultural expansion and intensification throughout Latin America, silvopastoral systems are being promoted as a forest landscape restoration (FLR) approach. Yet, the success of these strategies rely on ranchers voluntary participation and full adoption at a regional scale. The author recognizes a knowledge gap in regards to why ranchers are driven to adopt silvopastoral systems and thus seeks to understand this issue through the examination of a cast study in Colombia. 

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A local perspective on drivers and measures to slow deforestation in the Andean-Amazonian foothills of Colombia

Background

The Andean-Amazonian foothills in Colombia are highly valuable economically, ecologically, and socially, yet they continue to be under extreme threat of deforestation. This study aims to identify drivers and trends of this deforestation, using a unique methodological approach, seeking to compliment past monitoring studies with on-the-ground information. 

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Pastures and Cash Crops: Biomass Flows in the Socio-Metabolic Transition of Twentieth-Century Colombian Agriculture

Background

The authors acknowledge that the appropriation of biomass worldwide has significantly increased over the twentieth century, primarily due to the expansion of industrial agriculture. These trends have caused detrimental issues, including soil erosion, a decline in biodiversity, damage to human health, and deforestation. Using Colombia as a case-study, this article presents a long-term estimation of biomass flows. 

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Tree Planting in Indonesia: Trends, Impacts and Directions

Background

The report summarizes findings from a consultancy with CIFOR from September 1997 to February 1998.

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The Monte Pascoal‐Pau Brasil ecological corridor carbon, community and biodiversity initiative: another carbon offset failure

Background

In 2013, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) programs had recently been introduced to governments and conservation groups around the world. Yet, as they were being implemented at increasing rates, traditional forest use practices were vilified while large-scale drives of deforestation were left unaddressed. This was common particularly in Brazil. 

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National Potential and Priority Maps for Tree-Based Landscape Restoration in Ethiopia

background

This technical report was created by Ethiopia's Ministry of Environment, Forest, and Climate Change (MEFCC) and the World Resources Institute (WRI) as a first step in Ethiopia's large-scale forest restoration efforts aimed to improve livelihoods and address climate change. 

Open access copy available

The Potential for Species Conservation in Tropical Secondary Forests

Background

The importance of tropical secondary forests for conserving biodiversity increases with the degradation of old-growth forests, yet little is known about the role that these forests play in promoting biodiversity. Geospatial and temporal factors influence the role of secondary forests in species conservation, and this synthesis of case studies evaluates the significance of these factors on regional and landscape scales.

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La gestion des aires proteges dans les paysages du PFBC: un etat des lieux

The authors discuss history and threats to protected area systems in the Congo Basin. They outline a new approach to protected area management in the Congo Basin region.

 

Open access copy available
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