Degradation of tropical forest is considered as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity conservation. Such losses are mainly due to agricultural expansion and overharvesting of economically important trees. To enhance scientific understanding, this paper investigates the relationship between tree diversity and productivity in 58 mixed species plantations in protected tropical areas as a case study. We measured overall diversity using species richness and productivity using stand basal area and mean annual increment of stand basal area. Our research shows a negative relationship between tree diversity and productivity. These findings suggest that mixed species plantations should not be implemented if the main purpose is to consider the productivity of forest stands.
Tag: degradation
CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD+ (GCS)
CIFOR’s Global Comparative Study on REDD+: Factsheets on research findings and goals
Deforestation and forest degradation account for around 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. Reducing these emissions through the conservation and restoration of forests is therefore critical for efforts to mitigate climate change. REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus enhancing forest carbon stocks) was introduced as a fresh, new approach to forest protection: it set out to create a system whereby forest users would receive financial incentives to conserve, restore and sustainably manage forest resources. REDD+ has evolved considerably since it was introduced, in response to how it is understood in different contexts and by different actors, the absence of a new international agreement on climate change, and the numerous technical, political and economic challenges that have arisen in its design and implementation. Many countries are getting involved in REDD+, even while international negotiations are ongoing. Governments are developing national REDD+ strategies and setting up institutions to coordinate activities and manage funding. At subnational levels (i.e., in provinces, districts and villages), organizations are running pilot or demonstration projects. In 2009, CIFOR and its partners launched the Global Comparative Study on REDD+, which looks at national and subnational REDD+ activities in 13 countries. The aim is to identify the challenges and enabling conditions for achieving REDD+ policies and projects whose outcomes are effective, efficient and equitable. The results are being used to guide policy makers, governments and project proponents in designing and implementing REDD+. Phase I of the Global Comparative Study on REDD+ ran from 2009 to 2013. The research generated a wealth of outputs, including peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, conference papers, guidelines, policy briefs, working papers and manuals. The main findings are synthesized in the book Analysing REDD+: Challenges and Choices. Phase II of the Global Comparative Study on REDD+ got underway in 2013. It builds on the findings from the first phase and comprises four research modules: REDD+ Policies, REDD+ Subnational Initiatives, Measuring Carbon Emissions, Mitigation-Adaptation Synergies, and Multilevel Governance, Carbon Management and Land-Use Decisions. A fifth module is focusing on knowledge sharing, a key component of the Global Comparative Study on REDD+.
L’Etude comparative mondiale du CIFOR sur la REDD+ (GCS-Global Comparative Study)
Mangroves of the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic
The “Mangroves of the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic” (TSA) is a regional ecosystem subgroup (level 4 unit of the IUCN Global Ecosystem Typology). It includes the marine ecoregions of Eastern Brazil, Northeastern Brazil, including the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago and Rocas Atoll. The TSA mangroves had a mapped extent of 1719.7 km2 in 2020, representing 1.2% of the global mangrove area. The flora is characterized by four true mangrove species: Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia schaueriana, A. germinans and Laguncularia racemosa. They provide essential biological functions such as supplying food resources to nearby settlements, including fish, crabs, mussels, and prawns, as well as timber and coastal defence. Furthermore, these environments promote ecological interactions with adjacent coral reefs. The climate ranges from humid to semi-arid along the Brazilian coast, which influences the diversity of geological environments and forest structures in the mangrove ecosystem. Despite their ecological and socio-economic importance, mangroves are at risk from conversion to aquaculture, salt panning, coastal infrastructure development, and oil pollution. Mangroves have also been significantly impacted by two recent major disasters: the 2015 collapse of the Mariana dam, which released a vast quantity of iron mining waste, and an extensive oil spill along the Brazilian northeast coast in 2019. As of today, the TSA mangrove ecosystem area has undergone a net loss of -3.7% since 1996. If this trend continues an overall change of -6.7% is projected over the next 50 years. Furthermore, under a high sea level rise scenario (IPCC RCP8.5) ≈10.5% of the TSA mangrove area would be submerged by 2060. Moreover, 2.2% of the province’s mangrove ecosystem is undergoing degradation, with the potential to increase to 6.6% within a 50-year period, based on a vegetation index decay analysis. Overall, the Tropical Southwestern Atlantic mangrove ecosystem is assessed as Least Concern (LC).
Soil Organic Carbon and Nitrogen in Agroforestry Systems in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Review
Land uses, ecosystem services, and governance mechanisms for integrated landscape management in Na Nhan Commune, Dien Bien Province, Northwest Viet Nam
Incorporating local knowledge for scaling adaptive land restoration options in Ethiopia
Community forestry and REDD+ in Cameroon: what future?
The Cameroonian Readiness Preparation Proposal recognizes community forests (CFs) as one strategy for implementing REDD+ (reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries). However, there has been little analysis of the extent to which CFs can help achieve REDD+ objectives in Cameroon. We explore options for REDD+ within CFs, as well as challenges and possible ways forward. Cocoa agroforestry in deforested or highly degraded CFs is currently the most competitive option for implementing REDD+ while delivering ecological, economic, and social cobenefits. Reduced-impact logging and conservation or natural regeneration are technically sound options for emissions reductions within CFs, but are unlikely to compete with other more profitable activities at the current low carbon market prices of approximately USD $5/tonne of carbon. However, these options could potentially compete under a social cost of carbon estimated at $43/tonne of carbon. The current CF architecture presents a set of factors that could favor REDD+ implementation, including: good legal and institutional frameworks and practices compatible with REDD+ safeguards, experience and knowledge in related payments for ecosystem services and performance-based finance pilots, and social capital in a community of practice. The CF architecture also features potentially inhibiting factors such as poor governance (notably, elite capture and corruption), unclear carbon rights, and financing challenges. We identify a set of enabling actions for delivery of REDD+ within CFs in Cameroon, which include: clarifying carbon rights; establishing a benefit-sharing mechanism from the national to the local level with clear rules for rewarding emission reductions in CFs; and building monitoring, reporting, and verification infrastructure for REDD+ within CFs. More importantly, adopting an integrated approach in which CFs serve multiple objectives, including ecosystem-based adaptation, REDD+, and the original community forestry objectives could enable drawing from both adaptation and mitigation finance, technical support, and provide long-term sustainable development benefits.
The potential of agroforestry to enhance Land Degradation Neutrality
Since the adoption of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) embodies targets set by countries to conserve, sustainably manage and restore land designated within their land use planning agenda. LDN has been identified as an important pathway for securing sustainable global development, with targets implemented at local, national and regional scales, to propel comprehensive national, institutional and corporate strategies that embrace complementary activities. These can include the adoption of sustainable land management and holistic land-use planning, the rehabilitation of degraded land for production, as well as the restoration of natural and semi-natural ecosystems that provide valuable functions and benefits.