Policies

The Political, Social, and Ecological Transformation of a Landscape

Background

In 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

In Equal Measure: A User Guide to Gender Analysis in Agroforestry

background

This 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 Highlands

background

This 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 & Methods

This 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

Drug Policy as Conservation Policy: Narco-Deforestation

Background

Central America exploded into prominence as a drug trafficking corridor in the last decade. The authors document that an unprecedented flow of cocaine into Central America “coincided with a period of extensive forest loss”. The authors discuss the evidence that supports the idea that "trafficking of drugs (principally cocaine) has become a crucial—and overlooked—accelerant of forest loss” in Central America.

Open access copy available

What Drives the Success of Reforestation Projects in Tropical Developing Countries? The Case of the Philippines

Background

This study evaluates the drivers and indicators related to reforestation success in the Philippines. The study included surveying 43 reforestation projects on Leyte.

Research Goals & Methods

The authors capture success drivers in three general categories: socio-economic, institutional / policy / management and reforestation characteristics.

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Intensive Silvopastoral Systems: Improving Sustainability and Efficiency in Cattle Ranching Landscapes

Background

The article summarizes productivity benefits from implementation of intensive silvo-pastoral systems (ISPS) in Colombia, Mexico and Brazil, including benefits for the well-being of cattle, heightened biodiversity, and decreased area needed for production (allowing for greater quantities of forest area). The authors also summarize challenges inhibting greater adoption of intensive silvo-pastoral systems, and potential policy solutions for overcoming these challenges.

Open access copy available

Lowering Emissions in Asia's Forests (LEAF)

Background

The 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

Nature Conservation Foundation, GEF: Southern Western Ghats, India

Background

This project, funded by the GEF small grants program, utilized restoration and conservation efforts in order to improve the degraded rainforests of western Ghats, India. The project occurred over a four-year span from 2004 to 2008.

Open access copy available

Ecosystem Restoration of Riparian Forests in Sao Paulo Project

Background

Since the 1970s, the Sao Paulo region of Brazil has experienced extensive expansion of the agro-industry, reducing native vegetation coverage, increasing strain on natural resources, and contributing to land degredation. The Ecosystem Restoration of Riparian Forests in Sao Paulo Project was created in 2005 and ran until 2011 to correct these trends.

Open access copy available

Cooperative Republic of Guyana National Forest Plan 2018

Background

The National Forest Plan 2018 was developed in conjunction with the Guyana National Forest Policy Statement with technical and stakeholder input. The Forest Plan describes the implementation steps for the Forest Policy, which will be carried out by the Guyana Forest Committee. 

Open access copy available
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