Resilience
The eco-evolutionary history of Madagascar presents unique challenges to tropical forest restorationBackgroundMadagascar forests contain high biodiversity and species endemism, while also being heavily threatened by deforestation. Restoration of these forests may be unique to many other restoration projects due to the unique evolutionary history of the island. Goals and MethodsThe authors conduct a literature review of publications to determine if forest restoration in Madagascar is more challenging. With compiled literature from 1990 to 2022, the authors consequently describe unique challenges to Madagascar forest restoration in order to facilitate higher quality restoration projects. Available with subscription or purchase |
Identifying hotspots for ecosystem restoration across heterogeneous tropical savannah-dominated regionsBackgroundIn the U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, ecological restoration projects are a valuable tool for meeting global sustainability climate goals. Tropical regions are at the center of attention for their high biodiversity, carbon sink, and benefits to culture and human livelihood. Tropical dry savannahs are understudied even though they cover a large portion of tropical regions. Savannah dominated landscapes are valuable for their high plant diversity and vegetation type variation and high species turnover. Benefits to restoring these ecosystem types are also understudied. Open access copy available |
National parks and conservation concessions: a comparison between mammal populations in two types of tropical protected areas in Ucayali, PeruBackgroundPeru holds the second largest portion of the Amazon rainforest and is threatened by illegal logging and crop cultivation, as well as mining and other activities. Protected areas are one method of forest conservation, which can exist as conservation concessions. These areas of land granted for protection and rehabilitation area vital to maintaining the health and distribution of the forest. Biodiversity is understudied in many of these regions, especially about terrestrial mammals. Open access copy available |
Overcoming biotic homogenization in ecological restorationBackgroundRegional, or gamma, diversity is often lower in restored landscapes compared to reference landscapes due to the selection of few desirable species for planting. Lowered diversity in restored landscapes is leading to overall biotic homogenization which puts ecosystems and humans in a more vulnerable position for adapting to environmental changes. Available with subscription or purchase |
Restoration of plant species and genetic diversity depends on landscape‐scale dispersalIntroductionThe article cites the importance of restoration efforts that leads to resilient, self-sustaining ecosystems in order to combat immense global change. Though biological and species diversity are key to this venture, they are rarely considered a factor. Thus, this review article highlights the connection between seed dispersal and species richness and diversity to landscape restoration. Available with subscription or purchase |
INTEGRATING GREEN AND GRAY: Creating Next Generation InfrastructureBACKGROUNDAs a joint undertaking of the World Bank and World Resources Institute, this report highlights how the next generation infrastructure can integrate natural systems (green infrastructure) with traditional, built projects (gray infrastructure). By advocating the “putting nature to work” thinking, the report provides a guide to developing countries on how to incorporate natural capital to projects in order to increase the quality of the services and reduce the total costs. It also features case studies of successful projects on how natural systems contribute to infrastructure services ranging from water purification and storage to flood management. Open access copy available |
Nature-Based Transformative Adaptation: a practical handbookBACKGROUNDThis handbook, designed for project managers and policy makers, focuses on transformative adaptation. It can act as a guide during policy decision-making processes and in designing adaptation initiatives and plans. The handbook provides concrete examples of nature-based transformative approaches done on the ground. With the current shifts in social and ecological conditions brought about by Climate Change, this handbook considers transformative adaptation as the most suitable solution. Open access copy available |
Building Community Capacity in Fragile Environments: Case Study of the Mara Serengeti EcosystemBACKGROUNDPeople living in arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) bear the brunt of climate change impacts. As traditional pastoralists, the main challenge for the people of the Mara Serengeti Ecosystem is to cope with an increasingly frequent and recurrent drought pushing them further to competition for resources and livestock loss from starvation. Thus, there is a need to create opportunities in building up community capacity and resilience in these fragile environments. Available with subscription or purchase |
Building Pastoral and Agro-Pastoral Community Resilience Against Drought in the Context of the Paris Agreement: The Case of Isiolo County, KenyaBACKGROUNDUnder the Paris Agreement, countries that are party to the negotiations are obliged to meet its National Determined Contributions (NDC). Kenya, a member state of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or UNFCCC, has made strides in the climate change arena, keeping up with its NDCs and establishing climate change legislation and policy measures. This chapter provides insights on how resilience building amidst the climate-change induced droughts is possible through multi-stakeholder collaboration between pastoral and agro-pastoral communities, county and the national government. Available with subscription or purchase |
Geographic overlaps between priority areas for forest carbon-storage efforts and those for delivering peacebuilding programs: implications for policy designBackgroundForest-based emmission reductions, such as REDD+, have increasingly been promoted yet the conversation around these initiatives rarely consider opportunities outside the environmental sector. This paper examines one of these opportunities: the interaction between carbon-storage and peacebuilding. Using Colombia as a case-study, the authors investigate the ways in which forest carbon-storage and peacebuilding influence conservation and conflict. Open access copy available |
