Makueni County is one of the 47 counties in Kenya. It borders Machakos County to the North, Kitui County to the East, Kajiado County to the West and Taita Taveta County to the South. It is also one of the 29 Arid and Semi-arid lands (ASALs) of counties in Kenya. The forest cover in Makueni County is 5.38 % while the tree cover is 12.47% according to the National Forest Resources Assessment (NFRA) Report 2021. The county has a population of 987,653 with an annual growth rate of 5.1% and poverty rate of 34.8%. Forests and landscapes in Makueni are under immense pressure both from natural and anthropogenic factors resulting in slightly more than 13% of the total county area being degraded (NFRA, 2021). There is illegal and unsustainable logging for charcoal production, wood fuel and timber that has contributed largely to loss of forest ecosystem goods and services. Whereas Kenya committed herself to the Bonn Challenge and AFR100 in 2016 to restore 5.1 million hectares of deforested and degraded lands in order to address the associated challenges identified in the Country, there are no joint or coordinated efforts in carrying out restoration in the County by different actors.
Tag: deforestation
Reduction of deforestation by agroforestry in high carbon stock forests of Southeast Asia
Agroforestry is widely practiced for its socio-economic and ecological benefits, but its effectiveness in reducing deforestation at the landscape scale remains uncertain. This study applied causal inference methods to analyze agroforestry’s impact across 38 subnational regions in Southeast Asia, including areas with high carbon stock forests and deforestation hotspots. The findings indicate local variability but an overall net reduction in deforestation of 250,319 hectares per year, translating to 58.8 ± 15.5 megatonnes of CO₂ equivalent annually (P < 0.05). These results highlight agroforestry’s role as a natural climate solution, particularly in the biodiverse forests of Southeast Asia, which store significant amounts of carbon. This study underscores the nuanced relationship between agroforestry and deforestation reduction, offering valuable insights for conservation and climate mitigation strategies.
How do we achieve REDD co-benefits and avoid doing harm?
Information networks and power: confronting the “wicked problem” of REDD+ in Indonesia
Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) is a priority issue for forest and climate policy in Indonesia, and REDD+ policy-making activity has been characterized by considerable public consultation. Despite this engagement, discussions on REDD+ in Indonesia are reported to have remained top-down, a disconcerting pattern when adaptive governance and transformational change require cross-scale and cross-sectoral communication. Explicitly modeling the patterns of information exchange related to REDD+ can clarify these claims and help identify potential barriers to the transformational change needed to implement REDD+. We used data obtained through semistructured and structured interviews held in 2011 with representatives from a broad range of organizations (N = 64), formally or informally involved in the national REDD+ policy processes in Indonesia, to study REDD-related information exchange. Adopting a social network analysis approach, we found that (1) organizations perceived as most influential in REDD+ policy formulation, often, but not exclusively, those with institutional authority over particular aspects of REDD+, tend not to seek information from other actors and (2) organizations exchange information primarily within three clusters of similar organizations, with weak connections between clusters. This evidence suggests weak information exchange between the national government, national civil society, and transnational actors. We contend that the emergence of brokers able to connect these different clusters will be crucial for effective and inclusive REDD+ governance in Indonesia.
Sustainable alternatives to slash and burn agriculture and the reclamation of degraded lands in the humid tropics
This paper describes the rationale and proposed activities of the Slash and Burn Programme which can be considered a direct response to agenda 21’s recommendations and thus an interval part of the Global Forest Policy. It draws heavily from the programme working documents and project briefs developed by a steering group. Slash and burn agriculture (shifting cultivation) accounts for about 50 to 75% of the 14 million hectares of moist tropical forests currently converted every year. Tropical deforestation is responsible for 25% of current global warming, for most of the decimation of plant and animal genetic diversity, and threatens the stability of many watersheds. Rates of deforestation have doubled over the last two decades they are likey to continue increasing and to contribute a relatively larger proportion of global warming. Shifting cultivation is aconsequence of complex socioeconomic factors that drive poor farmers and migrants into the forest margins.
Beyond imperfect maps: Evidence for EUDR-compliant agroforestry
- Not all good intentions lead to effective and fair policy designs, as their implementation creates new problems. The European Union Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) may be an example. In targeting ‘deforestation-free’ trade, it forces a complex social–ecological reality into an oversimplified forest–non-forest representation. The forest definition used refers to tree cover but excludes farmer-managed agroforestry (AF).
- Not all tree cover indicates forest, as forest-like forms of agriculture (AF) exist, for example producing much of the worlds’ cacao, coffee and rubber. The EUDR design trusts maps and relies on detailed spatial data to verify the deforestation-free claims needed for access to EU markets. Tree cover is observable in remote sensing; the intended exclusion of AF is not.
- No map is perfect but for global forest maps prepared for EUDR use there is 18% chance a forest pixel is considered non-forest in other data, all supposedly based on the same forest definition and cut-off date. Map errors imply two types of risk: non-compliant imports to the EU (that ‘fraud prevention’ tries to avoid) or unjustified exclusion (collateral damage).
- Globally, the EUDR maps claim 12% more forest in 2020 than national data compiled by FAO suggests; in specific countries, the gap is wider. The probability that an AF garden producing coffee cocoa or rubber is (erroneously) mapped as forest is two-thirds for a study in Indonesia. Elsewhere similar problems have been noted.
- Data sources beyond direct earth observation will be needed to legally establish pre-2021 agroforestry as a source of EUDR-compliant commodity trade. We present a typology for such evidence. Evidence can be based on direct observations on the ground or remotely, based on what people say and on accounts of what they did.
Roads as drivers of change: Trajectories across the Tri-National Frontier in MAP, the Southwestern Amazon
Regional studies of land cover change are often limited by available data and in terms of comparability across regions, by the transferability of methods. This research addresses the role of roads and infrastructure improvements across a tri-national frontier region with similar climatic and biophysical conditions but very different trajectories of forest clearing. The standardization of methodologies and the extensive spatial and temporal framework of the analysis are exciting as they allow us to monitor a dynamic region with global significance as it enters an era of increased road connectivity and massive potential forest loss. Our study region is the MAP frontier, which covers Madre de Dios in Peru, Acre in Brazil, and Pando in Bolivia. This tri-national frontier is being integrated into the global economy via the paving of the Inter-Oceanic Highway which links the region to ports in the Atlantic and Pacific, constituting a major infrastructure change within just the last decade. Notably, there are differences in the extent of road paving among the three sides of the tri-national frontier, with paving complete in Acre, underway in Madre de Dios, and incipient in Pando. Through a multi-temporal analysis of land cover in the MAP region from 1986 to 2005, we found that rates of deforestation differ across the MAP frontier, with higher rates in Acre, followed by Madre de Dios and the lowest rates in Pando, although the dominant land cover across the region is still stable forest cover (89% overall). For all dates in the study period, deforestation rates drop with distance from major roads although the distance before this drop off appears to relate to development, with Acre influencing forests up to around 45 km out, Madre de Dios to about 18 km out and less of a discernable effect or distance value in Pando. As development occurs, the converted forest areas saturate close to roads, resulting in increasing rates of deforestation at further distances and patch consolidation of clearings over time. We can use this trend as a basis for future change predictions, with Acre providing a guide to likely future development for Madre de Dios, and in time potentially for Pando. Given the correspondence of road paving to deforestation, our findings imply that as road paving increases connectivity, flows of people and goods will accelerate across this landscape, increasing the likelihood of dramatic future changes on all sides of the tri-national frontier
The Scramble for Land Rights: Reducing Inequity between Communities and Companies
Increasing global demand for natural resources is intensifying competition for land across the developing world, pushing companies onto territories that many Indigenous Peoples and rural communities have sustainably managed for generations. These communities, who collectively hold at least half the world’s land but legally own just 10 percent of land globally, are now racing to protect their land rights.
A comprehensive global review of how communities and companies formalize land rights, this report examines discrepancies in time and costs required to obtain formal land rights as well as the land size and rights ultimately granted to each in 15 countries across Africa, Asia and Latin America. It uncovers significant differences in the barriers that both groups face – disparities that give companies a clear advantage. Communities sacrifice years or even decades navigating unwieldy, expensive government processes that may force them to give up significant portions of their ancestral lands, while wealthy companies with strong political connections quickly secure rights to the same land.
The report sheds light on this uneven playing field between companies and communities, and recommends a more transparent path forward. It calls on countries to simplify overly complex procedures and amend steps that impose difficult, undue burdens on communities, while uniformly enforcing corporate land acquisition policies. Around the world, better conflict resolution mechanisms are needed to address competing third-party claims, and governments must also protect communities’ right to free, prior and informed consent.
REDD models and baselines
The article reviews some of the critical issues for including Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD) into a new global climate agreement. Four different REDD models (regimes) are discussed based on two dimensions: scale (national vs. project) and funding (market vs. funds). One of the most troublesome issues concerns setting national baselines (= emission quotas). Research provides few defi nite answers on how to do this, yet it has huge implications for the possible payments to developing countries. The paper argues that the expectations about the magnitude of such transfers are unrealistically high, and may reduce the prospect for reaching an agreement and increase the chances for ‘hot air’ from the South.
Estimating opportunity costs of avoided deforestation (REDD): Application of a flexible stepwise approach to the Indonesian pulp sector
Developing countries are expected to contribute to climate change mitigation efforts by reducing deforestation, with financial compensations for associated economic losses. These losses are due to foregone revenues and limited economic development, all of these labeled “opportunity costs”. Their accurate estimation is strategic for at least two reasons: to determine fair compensations, and to prioritize low cost strategies to reduce emissions. However, numerous interpretations of the opportunity cost concept coexist in the literature and in influential reports (e.g. Stern review), with differing estimated values for similar cases. This paper presents a framework to better identify relevant values to the calculations: profits / total national economic value, conservation site / downstream industries. When applied to the pulp sector in Indonesia, the framework yields contrasted opportunity costs. This contrast is due to several factors, including the heterogeneity of the pulp industry, or the availability of non-forested lands to displace activities. These values range from zero to one thousand dollars per hectare per year. To use such a framework would help gain credibility and achieve fairness in negotiations between host countries and other stakeholders, in particular those who fund activities to reduce deforestation