Social Aspects
Legitimacy in REDD+ governance in IndonesiaBackgroundThis study looks at the perception of non-state actors of Indonesia's REDD+ program, coming from domestic and international NGOs, private sector, and academics. These actors assess the legitimacy of REDD+ programs based on input legitimacy, coming from a balanced representation of stakeholders in project discourse, and output legitimacy, proxied by positive project outcomes. Open access copy available |
Local ecological knowledge of trees on farms, constraints and opportunities for further integratino in Tigray Region, northern Ethiopia: A Case Study of smallholder farmers in Abreha Wa Atsbeha and Adi GudomBackgroundThe paper compared two Ethiopian sites with differing levels of on-farm tree adoption: Abreha we Atsbeha (high adoption) and Adi Gudom (low adoption). The author used a knowledge-based systems approach involving participatory rural appraisal, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews. In both sites, farmers planted trees on their holdings for income generation, user rights, and direct benefits, and they planted trees on communal lands to comply with government policies, improve soil fertility and water harvesting, improve land for redistribution, and improve aesthetics. Open access copy available |
The Campesino-to-Campesino agroecology movement of ANAP in Cuba: social process methodology in the construction of sustainable peasant agriculture and food sovereigntyBackgroundThis article focuses on agroecology as a farming practice based upon principles rooted in the biology of a place and its organic matter. Agroecology has been promoted by community organizations and NGOs and is scaling up to national peasant organizations and social movements. This study looks at Cuba as a case study for La Via Campesina, a global peasant movement, and how agroecology has spread in Cuba from campesino-a-campesino, or peasant-to-peasant. Available with subscription or purchase |
Trade-offs in nature tourism: contrasting parcel-level decisions with landscape conservation planningBackgroundThis article discusses the trade-offs linked to nature tourism in Monteverde, Costa Rica. Nature tourism has been used for promoting conservation in Costa Rica since the 1970s when it was adopted into developmental policy. Tourism is now the largest industry in Costa Rica; but is nature tourism an effective way to preserve ecosystem services and promote economic benefits? The study area includes Monteverde (an ecotourism town near the Monteverde Cloud Forest Preserve), San Luis (a coffee and dairy farming community), and Guacimal (economy based on cattle ranching and dairy). Open access copy available |
Bridging the great divide: State, civil society, and ‘participatory’ conservation mapping in a resource extraction zoneBackgroundThe author evaluates the outcomes of a participatory and inclusive mapping technique in a mineral extraction zone—the Cordillera Huayhuash—in the Andes of Central Peru. Knowing that land titling is often a source of mistrust and conflict between communities and the government, this technique offers a way to build counter-narratives to the unused territory story often told by state resource management agencies in charge of granting concessions to outside interests. Available with subscription or purchase |
300,000 Hectares Restored in Shinyanga, Tanzania — but what did it really take to achieve this restoration?BackgroundOpen access copy available |
Violence, Decentralization, and Resource Access in IndonesiaBackgroundThis paper examines the social and political factors that dictate who has access and control over natural resources, arguing that non-deliberate decentralization of resource management can create situations that encourage conflict. Available with subscription or purchase |
Factors influencing community participation in mangroves restoration: A contingent valuation analysisBackgroundThis paper analyzes the willingness of a household to participate and pay for the benefits of a mangrove restoration program in the West Coast of India. In the second half of the twentieth century, this region has been threatened by shrimp cultivation, industrial development and hydroelectric projects, which overall made mangroves recede substantially. Available with subscription or purchase |
Does tree planting change minds? Assessing the use of community participation in reforestation to address illegal logging in West KalimantanBackgroundIn this study, Pohnan et al. evaluated the social impacts of the local NGO Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) restoration program that took place in Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan, Indonesia, an area that host numerous endangered species and that has been degraded by illegal logging for the past several decades. Open access copy available |
Assessing social values of ecosystem services in the Phewa Lake Watershed, NepalBackgroundOver 40 years, Community-Based Forestry has actively been practiced in Nepal, which aims to integrate human societies, social values and biophysical systems. Using the Phewa watershed as a case-study, this paper evaluates the social values for ecosystem services and their importance to different stakeholders. This approach seeks to assess quantitatively how diferent users value the different ecosystem services perceived from a specific ecosystem. Authors carried on interviews and group sessions to assess according to a numeric scale different ecosystem services. Available with subscription or purchase |
