Policies

Explaining Success on the Commons: Community Forest Governance in the Indian Himalaya

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This study describes how a range of causal influences shape forest conditions in diverse ecological and institutional settings in the Indian Himalaya.

Open access copy available

The Political Economy of Reforestation and Forest Restoration in Asia-Pacific: Critical Issues for REDD+

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This study examines the political and economic factors that have commonly shaped reforestation and forest restoration initiatives in the greater Asia-Pacific region.

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Contextual Analysis of Agroforestry Adoption in the Buffer Zone of Podocarpus National Park, Ecuador

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Promoting sustainable agriculture and community development has been an important strategy both to alleviate resource pressures on Ecuador’s Podocarpus National Park (PNP) and surrounding forested areas in its buffer zone, and to aid local communities. However, many contextual factors drive neighboring rural and agricultural communities to put pressure on PNP and the surrounding landscape.

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Landscape Rehabilitation of Degraded Tropical Forest Ecosystems: Case Study of the CIFOR/Japan Project in Indonesia and Peru

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The CIFOR/Japan project on tropical forest restoration involves three principal components: 1) evaluation of logging impacts on forest systems, 2) development of methods for the restoration of logged and degraded forests, and 3) development of silvicultural practices for degraded forests.

Open access copy available

What Role Should Government Regulation Play in Ecological Restoration? Ongoing Debate in São Paulo State, Brazil

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This article addresses the degree of detail that should be present in legislation dealing with reforestation and restoration, and if there is a relationship between technical content/scope of regulation and success of projects. The relationship between law and reforestation is also discussed. In São Paulo state, legislation establishes precise reforestation requirements, such as the use of a minimum of 80 species of native trees and the presence of specific proportions of functional groups. This is the only existing legislation known by the authors with this degree of technical detail.

Open access copy available

A Case Study Assessment of Agroforestry: The Panama Canal Watershed

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This article provides a qualitative assessment of three agroforestry sites in the Panama Canal watershed based on management objectives, project life span, incentives, technology, economic feasibility, community involvement, and extension. It seeks to guide sustainable forest management options for the Panamanian government.

 

conclusions & takeaways

Environmental managers should view agroforestry as a production system and consider this in its social and biophysical context. 

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Payments for Environmental Services in Latin America as a Tool for Restoration and Rural Development

Background

Two Payments for Environmental Services (PES) projects are assessed in this article: 1) a bundled PES system in forestry projects in Costa Rica, and 2) the Regional Integrated Silvopastoral Approaches to Ecosystem Management Project in Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Colombia. The first project based PED on the provision of four different environmental services (carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, watershed protection, and aesthetic improvements and/or maintenance of the landscape) within the same plot of land. The second project implemented PES proportional to carbon sequestration and biodiversity outputs by participants.

Open access copy available

Farm Forestry: An Alternative to Government-Driven Reforestation in the Philippines

Background

This study reviews literature and various case studies about growing trees at the farm level by rural farmers. In the Philippines, millions of dollars have gone to employ people to plant trees as part of reforestation programs while only about 10% of those planted areas are successful. The authors assert that paying people to plant trees is unsustainable and often hindered by the lack of prompt release of funding.

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Rehabilitation of Degraded Forest Ecosystems in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Vietnam: An Overview

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This document describes reforestation policies and actions in the four countries of the lower Mekong river: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Open access copy available

Paying for Environmental Services: An Analysis of Participation in Costa Rica's PSA Program

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This study evaluates demographic and other factors that played a role in the participation of households in Costa Rica's Payment for Environmental Services program.

Research Goals & Methods

The authors rely on economic analysis of technology adoption and farm and forestry program participation to assign variables and draw conclusions.

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