Habitat fragmentation is one of the main threats to biodiversity in Africa. In this article, we highlight the importance of conserving the Guinean forests of West Africa, which are rich in biodiversity and endemism but threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation. The size of forest patches is critical, with larger fragments containing more species than smaller ones. The protection of intact, dense forest patches is vital for any conservation strategy in West Africa, but improving the management of forests that are already used for logging and hunting is also essential. Community forests (CFs) can play a crucial role in conservation, especially if there is a substantial network that can promote ecological connectivity. However, biomonitoring in CFs remains a challenge due to inadequate resources. By developing standardised, easy-to-apply and inexpensive methods for biomonitoring, communities can be involved in biomonitoring instead of relying solely on scientists and expensive equipment. We present a monitoring framework here where we suggest local communities should become the main agents for biomonitoring in their own forests; we highlight a five-step scheme. The importance of the various CFs in terms of conservation should be made through a combination of accurate, standardised face-to-face interviews with selected persons in the target communities and biomonitoring be based on the RAPELD scheme. The latter will be implemented after specifically training local ‘wise’ persons. We are proposing a kind of ‘citizen science’ scheme, applied to enhance the ability of local communities to monitor their own biodiversity.
Tag: community forestry
Safeguards at a glance: Are voluntary standards supporting community land, resource and carbon rights?
Key messages
- REDD+ initiatives have been readied and implemented in landscapes where community land and resource tenure and carbon rights are either unrecognized, unclear or unenforced; this barrier to equitable REDD+ must be addressed by all safeguards standards and guidelines.
- Despite mention of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) in UNFCCC decisions regarding REDD+, including the Cancun safeguards, initiatives have not placed importance on the wide scope of rights it recognizes; if respect for UNDRIP were more central – with specific requirements and indicators to monitor progress – standards could catalyse a rights-responsive transformation in climate actions.
- Reviewed standards failed to link rights over land and resources and rights to carbon, and tended to recognize the former but not the latter; these omissions require reconsideration.
- Free, prior and informed consent (FPIC) was a common requirement of standards, especially in cases of displacement, but most failed to include specific guidelines; this means what happens in the name of FPIC is highly varied.
- The power relations inherent in land and resource tenure and carbon rights in the Global South cannot be easily transformed, but standards can go further in addressing inequalities by providing specific guidelines to ‘do better’ through rights-responsive design and implementation.
How can REDD+ do better for community rights? An examination of Peru’s interpretation of Indigenous rights in the Cancun safeguards
Key Messages
- The Cancun safeguards are one of the main mechanisms to prevent potentially harmful impacts from REDD+ and to promote additional social and environmental benefits; however, safeguards lack specific implementation guidelines, rely on self-reporting, and are interpreted by countries according to their laws and policy priorities.
- Two of the Cancun safeguards directly relate to Indigenous Peoples (IPs) and local communities (LCs): (c) respecting their knowledge and rights, and (d) obtaining their effective participation in REDD+ design and implementation.
- Peru, a REDD+ “early mover”, has one of the largest relative Indigenous populations globally; a review of its national interpretation of the Cancun safeguards and legal frameworks for Indigenous rights provides lessons on how REDD+ may support the recognition and respect of community rights more widely.
- Although Peru’s legal frameworks are supportive of Indigenous rights, doing better will require further work on tenure rights for communal land and resources.
- REDD+ is an opportunity to expand respect for community rights in Peru; to do so, regulations must be issued to address community carbon rights, equitable distribution of REDD+ benefits, and a transparent monitoring system for safeguards.
Lessons on Community-Based Fire Prevention and Peatland Restoration
Ideas, narratives and arguments on preventing natural disasters and restoring ecosystems focus on raising awareness and fostering participation from all parties. Conventional research helps in understanding socioecological systems and their interactions, but governments, communities and donors want research that makes a difference. There is an urgent need for tangible change. Research conducted with full participation and an action-oriented approach is the solution. Participatory Action Research (PAR) is designed to bring real change on the ground. PAR is transdisciplinary in nature; it integrates approaches from various disciplines and draws on both local and global wisdom. This book aims to provide an understanding of the concepts, philosophical foundations and steps involved in implementing PAR, and is complemented by examples of fire prevention and community-based peatland restoration efforts implemented in Riau Province, Indonesia. We hope it can serve as a valuable resource for researchers, private sector operators, communities, NGOs, governments and practitioners involved in natural disaster prevention and ecosystem restoration.
Community capacity for social enterprise development: Empirical evidence from community forest enterprises (CFEs) in Cameroon
With increasing forest devolution globally, community forest enterprises (CFEs) are emerging as potential options for local development based on forest resources. CFEs trade to meet their economic, social, and environmental goals; however, empirical studies have highlighted capacity deficiencies as key drawbacks to their development. Knowledge of what these capacity gaps are is low. This paper uses a systematic framework to explore capacity and deficiencies in capacity and the relation between the two in CFEs in Cameroon. Using the contextualized organizational capacity theory in combination with asset-based community development theory, data was gathered from 31 CFEs based on focus group discussions. Principal component analysis and descriptive statistics were used to evaluate community capacity at individual, organizational (CFE), and network levels. Pearson correlation tests were used to explore the relationships between different domains of community capacity. The results indicate that community members and development practitioners agree that communities are weak in creating partnerships, networking, and resource mobilization. The participatory community evaluation highlights major capacity gaps in infrastructure, skills and knowledge of members, and sense of community. This confirms that capacity gaps were larger at the individual and social network level, where, except for a sense of community and resource mobilization, organizational capacity scored higher. Although the capacities of individual members of CFEs are generally low, these capacities correlate strongly with organizational capacity; thus, the potential of the CFEs to meet objectives depends a lot on the capacities of individual members and networking capacity, indicating that these should be prioritized in development efforts, which should be a process involving multiple stakeholders, with policy support and participation by the entire community.
Harnessing the socio-ecological benefits of agroforestry diversification in social forestry with functional and phylogenetic tools
Following severe forest loss in recent decades, Southeast Asian countries are increasingly employing social forestry as a means to ensure the sustainable development of their forest-dwelling communities. Given the potential of agroforestry to provide multiple ecosystem services, habitat for the maintenance of biodiversity, and the economic and social development of communities that cultivate them, many civil society organizations and NGOs involved are turning to agroforestry to achieve the goals of social forestry. However, implementing agroforesty per se may not be sufficient if agroforestry systems are not adequately diversified to meet management goals and limited tools exist that facilitate appropriate species selection in diversification. Here we review the potential of diversified agroforestry for social forestry and similar schemes, critically evaluating its advantages and challenges, before detailing two methodological tools, one based on functional traits and the other phylogeny, that may aid in generating recommendations for the effective diversification of agroforestry. Diversified agroforestry was found to have great potential as a sustainable, multifunctional land-use that is predominantly held back by the availability of resources, technical aid and tailored market access. Appropriate species selection may be a bottle-neck that can be alleviated by the tools presented. The first tool enables comparable species (in this case woody species) to be delineated into functionally distinct groups from functional trait data, which is illustrated using data from agroforests in Central Kalimantan, Borneo. The second produces co-cultivation recommendations based on phylogenetic distances between species. The functional groups identified and the recommendations based on phylogenetic distance both correspond to product types and specific uses within agroforestry, further incentivizing on-farm income diversification due to additional environmental benefits. When applied appropriately, the tools presented would allow for the cultivation of complementary species that may lead to improved habitat and ecosystem service provision without compromising yields. When coupled with appropriate market mechanisms, cultivating diversified agroforests may ensure the sustainable use of land under social forestry in Southeast Asia. Additionally, the two tools presented here have applicability in silviculture, restoration and other agroecosystems worldwide.
Can Agroforestry Contribute to Food and Livelihood Security for Indonesia’s Smallholders in the Climate Change Era?
In Indonesia, smallholders have historically practiced agroforestry, which warrants examination in terms of food and livelihood security within sustainable community forest frameworks. Based on a literature review, we analyzed these two forms of security related to smallholder agroforestry practices. Findings indicate diverse agroforestry systems, with 88% focusing on non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and 12% on timber. While 42% prioritize direct food supply, 58% emphasize income generation through product sales. However, agroforestry that does not produce food for direct consumption by smallholders generates revenue for purchasing food necessities. Agroforestry supports both food needs (46–61%) and income (51–54%) for smallholders, surpassing traditional agriculture (13%). Semi-commercial agroforestry (57%) is a predominant livelihood prospect. The remaining 27% are purely subsistence, and 15% are purely commercial. However, the commercialization of agroforestry that focuses only on high-value commodities results in a negative impact on biodiversity. There is a concomitant decrease in environmental services for climate change mitigation and adaptation. Biodiversity remains crucial for climate resilience, health care, and food security in rural communities. Semi-commercial agroforestry is a midpoint for achieving multifunctional agriculture (biodiversity, soil and water conservation, food security, and income) in the climate change era. The research directly related to food security and ecosystem services quantification remains limited, necessitating further investigation. Policy support and incentives are essential for smallholders practicing complex agroforestry for climate adaptation and mitigation.
Asia-Pacific roadmap for primary forest conservation
Primary forests and natural landscapes in Asia and the Pacific are under increasing pressure and threats driven by population growth, migration and conflict, globalization and economic growth, urbanization, mining and infrastructure development, agriculture and planted forest expansion, forest fires and invasive species. Many of these threats are increasingly exacerbated by climate change. To address these threats, FAO and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), lead center of the CGIAR research programme on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), have developed a roadmap for the conservation of primary forests in Asia and the Pacific, building upon state-of-the-art knowledge and extensive consultation of key regional stakeholders. This publication uses a remote-sensing methodology to accurately and consistently identify and delineate the remaining ‘intact forests’ and ‘contiguous intact forests’ in the Asia-Pacific region over large areas, over long periods of time, and at reasonable costs. It illustrates the huge diversity of forest formations in Asia and the Pacific and calls for a better understanding of the dynamic at stake in forest ecosystems and surrounding landscapes at finer scale. It proposes a set of recommendations, inviting policymakers and other relevant stakeholders to adopt an integrated landscape perspective and to combine different mechanisms and tools at different scales, including protected areas and other area-based conservation measures, to support effective primary forest conservation.
Old World and New World collision: Historic land grabs and the contemporary recovery of Indigenous land management practices in the western USA
This introduction to the chapters on community forestry in North America summarises the often-traumatic post-Columbian interactions between Native Americans and waves of immigrants mainly from Europe. The Indigenous land management, mostly by controlled ground fire set in small patches, enables annual harvests of multiple goods and services from the forest. This ‘light touch’ management is sensitive to local ecologies and reduces the risk of catastrophic fires, which have been exacerbated by a century of government attempts to stop all forest fires.