Social Aspects
The Prospects for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in Vietnam: A Look at Three Payment SchemesBackgroundAvailable with subscription or purchase |
Automating violence? The anti-politics of ‘smart technology’ in biodiversity conservationBackgroundBiodiversity conservation initiatives, such as the UN's post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (30x30), increasingly use smart technologies. Despite recognizing Indigenous and local rights for successful conservation, these initiatives often neglect customary rights and uses. Smart technologies, like AI, camera traps, and drones, enable new surveillance methods. State, private, and corporate actors, including big tech and BINGOs, actively adopt these tools to enhance data access and form smart governance networks. Open access copy available |
Experimental Science for the ‘Bananapocalypse’: Counter Politics in the PlantationoceneBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Recalibrating burdens of blame: Anti-swidden politics and green governance in the Philippine UplandsBackgroundOpen access copy available |
Not Seeing the Forest for the Trees: The Oversight of Defaunation in REDD+ and Global Forest GovernanceBackgroundREDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) aims to mitigate climate change by preserving forest carbon stocks. Although REDD+ focuses mainly on reducing deforestation, it largely ignores defaunation—the loss of forest wildlife caused by unsustainable hunting. Many tropical forests suffer from "empty forest syndrome," where hunting removes large frugivores and seed dispersers, disrupting seed dispersal and carbon sequestration. This study highlights how REDD+ policies overlook the ecological role of forest fauna and argues that neglecting defaunation threatens the long-term success of forest conservation. Open access copy available |
Institutional Design of Forest Landscape Restoration in Central Togo: Informing Policy-making through Q Methodology AnalysisBACKGROUND:Open access copy available |
The Realities of Community Based Natural Resource Management and Biodiversity Conservation in Sub-Saharan AfricaBACKGROUND:Open access copy available |
Climate Risk ManagementBACKGROUND:Worldwide efforts are underway to devise and apply strategies to manage these risks effectively. Key challenges in climate risk management include the integration of necessary scientific disciplines, articulating stakeholder values and objectives, and quantifying pivotal uncertainties and trade-offs, all of which are vital for crafting effective management strategies. The paper addresses the intensification of global climate risks driven by accelerating climate change. The authors review these challenges based on existing literature to identify potential avenues to overcome them. Open access copy available |
Livelihoods, Forests, and Conservation in Developing Countries: An OverviewBACKGROUND:Poverty is a huge challenge, with 2.8 billion of the world’s 6 billion people living on less than $2 a day. The paper highlights the alarming extent of poverty in developing countries and addresses the rapid deforestation, which compromises ecological integrity and exacerbates social inequities. The authors focus on exploring whether poverty alleviation and forest conservation can be aligned as complementary rather than conflicting objectives. Available with subscription or purchase |
Forest concessions in the Maya Biosphere Reserve, Guatemala: A decade laterBACKGROUND:Over the past few decades, there has been a significant shift in conservation strategies from traditional command-and-control approaches to more inclusive, community-focused philosophies. This transition was driven by the recognition of the failures of strict protectionism, which often led to diminished ecological and institutional resilience. Simultaneously, the recognition of rural communities as both impacted by and impactful within natural systems has grown, advocating for incentive-based, participatory strategies to address human-environment conflicts effectively. Available with subscription or purchase |
