Local Livelihoods
Agro-Successional Restoration as a Strategy to Facilitate Tropical Forest RecoverybackgroundTropical forest restoration to address resource degradation and climate change is a growing trend in tropical regions. However, a lack of funding and provision for human livelihoods often hinders forest restoration projects. Traditional agroforestry systems are often seen as a way to connect farmers to forest restoration, and the article outlines existing agroforestry models. Open access copy available |
In Equal Measure: A User Guide to Gender Analysis in AgroforestrybackgroundThis guide provides tools for practioners working with rural communities in tropical countries. It describes how gender roles and responsibiities play a significant role in adoption and development of agroforestry systems. Open access copy available |
Mapping Priority Areas for Forest Landscape Restoration and Improvement of Rural Community Livelihoods in Guatemala's San Marcos HighlandsbackgroundThis study maps priority areas for forest landscape restoration in three watershades of south-western Guatemala. This rural region has received attention from local government and international socio-economic development projects. Research Goals & MethodsThis study used GIS and Multi-criteria decision analysis to generate maps. These tools enabled the integration of a wide variety of complex information to evaluate different contexts and dynamics of the landscape. Open access copy available |
The Political, Social, and Ecological Transformation of a LandscapeBackgroundIn 1951 the Chinese Government issued the Decision on Cultivating Rubber Trees, which resulted in the establishment of large-scale rubber plantations in the tropical regions of China, including Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan. These rubber plantations, worked by relocated Han Chinese, were a manifestation of state power on the landscape. Open access copy available |
Does Tree Planting Change Minds? Assessing the Use of Community Participation in Reforestation to Address Illegal Logging in West KalimantanbackgroundGunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan, Indonesia has experienced illegal logging and fires that led to degradation and conversion of forests to grasslands in a state of arrested succession. A local NGO named Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) began a restoration effort to restore degraded forest areas and provide jobs to local community members that might otherwise participate in illegal logging. Open access copy available |
Lowering Emissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF)BackgroundThe Lowering Emmissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF) program was USAID regiona initiative that ran for five years, from 2011 to 2016. This final report summarizes the challenges the LEAF program faced and the results it achieved. Open access copy available |
Climate Resilient Participatory Afforestation and Reforestation ProjectBACKGROUNDThe project takes place in one of the most densely-populated agrarian countries in the world, Bangladesh, which has also been facing the problem of high rates of deforestation. In the last three decades, Bangladesh’s forest cover has declined by 2.1 percent per year. On the other hand, the country is highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as storms, floods and drought. The lower part of Bangladesh adjoining the Bay of Bengal is particularly prone to frequent tropical cyclones, storm surges and salinity intrusion. Climate change models suggest that the intensity of super cyclonic events will further increase over the coming decades. Open access copy available |
Community-based Mangrove Reforestation and Management in Da Loc, VietnamBackgroundIn 2005, the Da Loc commune in Vietnam was hit by Typhoon Damrey, causing major flooding and the destruction of agricultural lands. The dikes that upheld through the storm were surrounded by mangroves, thus a program was devised to increase adaptation and mitigation strategies to strong storms through mangrove reforestation. Open access copy available |
ERECON, Ministry of Environment Cambodia, UNU: Kampong Cham province, Mondol Kiri province, and Battam Bang province, CambodiaBackgroundDeforestation has been a signficant issue in Cambodia since the 1970s due to agricultural expansion and unstable political eras. This has caused severe flooding or drought downstream, environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity. Relatively recently, there has been an increasingly call to promote restoration and conservation of environment and sustainable use and management of natural resources. Open access copy available |
Restoration of degraded forest land in Thailand: the case of Khao KhoBackgroundIn the 1960s, the Khao Kho district in Thailand experienced extremely deforestation and destruction due to both armed conflict and an influx of migration to the area. In 1990, the UNDP began the project "Reforestation of Denuded Forest Lands in Khao Kho" in order to reverse these trends. Open access copy available |
