Social Aspects

Patterns of local wood use and cutting of Philippine mangrove forests

Background

Harvesting for wood in mangroves is a common practice yet there has been limited studies. This paper takes a unique approach through integrating ecological and ethnographic methods in order to study local wood use and cutting of mangrove forests in two areas of the Philippines. 

Goals & Methods

The author conducted a series of 202 household interviews to determine how villagers used mangrove resources in North and South Bais Bay and Bindoy,  Negros Oriental, and on Banacon Island, Bohol.

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The Contribution of Traditional Agroforestry to Climate Change Adaptation in the Ecuadorian Amazon: The Chakra System

Background

This article explores the amazonian-indigenous "chakra" agroforestry system, and its utility as a forest management practice that sequesters carbon, increases food security, grows valuable timber, and acts as a habitat connectivity. The size of these cultivated areas range from 0.4 - 4ha, and include species such as anioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz), banana (Musa paradisiaca L.), peach palm (Bactris gasipaes Kunth), fine-flavored cacao (Theobroma cacaoL.) and robusta coffee (Coffea canephora Pierre ex A. Froehner), and a variety of medicinals.

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Riparian restortion for protecting water quality in tropic agricultural watersheds

Background

In the Sarapui River watershed in southeastern Brazil, the water quality system was measured for six subwatersheds in the region.  In addition to measuring the subwatersheds, the entire watershed system was also measured and compared to a simulation model that included riparian zones throughout the river watershed.

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Mangrove rehabilitation: a review focusing on ecological and institutional issues

Background

This article addresses the pressures and threats and the impetus for rehabilitation in mangroves around the world. It also examines rehabilitation techniques from the institutional and biophysical planning systems, including an overview of the rehabilitation process. Finally, it includes a discussion on what the authors consider a major issue for rehabilitation: failure and success in different projects and integrated approaches

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Case Study: Community Based Ecological Mangrove Rehabilitation (CBEMR) in Indonesia

Background

Mangrove plantings in Indonesia have typically failed for a number of reasons including inappropriate site selection, inappropriate species selection, and/or conflict over land tenure. The authors discussed ecological mangrove rehabilitation (EMR) and its use in Indonesia, which required a more socio-cultural-political apprach as compared with EMR in the United States.

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When is a forest a forest? Forest concepts and definitions in the era of forest and landscape restoration

Background

This article highlights the importance of creating forest definitions--what is meant by forest, what is meant by forest loss, what is meant by forest restoration--in order to create a conceptual, institutional, legal and operational basis for forest policies and interventions.

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Gender Inequality in Malidino Biodiversity Community-based Reserve, Senegal: Political Parties and the 'Village Approach'

Background

This research examines some of the less visible, and ongoing social dynamics in a World Bank-funded conservation site in central Senegal. The goal of the World Bank project was to create a decentralized and community-based participatory forest management program that would re-structure the political economy of the charcoal industry, give more rights and autonomy to the local community, emphasize improved gender equity, and provide technical assistance to NGOs and community-based organizations.

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Legitimacy in REDD+ governance in Indonesia

Background

This 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.

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The Campesino-to-Campesino agroecology movement of ANAP in Cuba: social process methodology in the construction of sustainable peasant agriculture and food sovereignty

Background

This 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.

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Trade-offs in nature tourism: contrasting parcel-level decisions with landscape conservation planning

Background

This 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).

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