Owing to high rates of land and forest degradation, there is consensus that forest landscape restoration is a global priority with the Bonn Challenge and the New York Declaration on Forests committing to restore about 350 Million hectares by 2030, globally. However, there is a need for incentives that motivate these restoration efforts and disincentives aimed at restricting activities that result in further land degradation. We provide insights and understanding of the incentives and disincentives measures applied within the forest restoration systems through a case study in the Shinyanga region of Tanzania. Incentives that have promoted forest landscape restoration in Shinyanga include; conservation benefits, education and information, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+), well-defined property rights & increasing land prices and awards while disincentives include; penalties, quotas and permits. Intrinsic incentives that are derived from self-desire within an individual such as conservation benefits and education & information were more preferred within Shinyanga region compared to extrinsic incentives which relied more on external factors such as REDD+ and awards. Nonetheless, a combination of both incentives and disincentives has led to the success of restoration in Shinyanga; positive incentives worked better for privately owned lands while regulatory disincentives worked better for communally owned restoration lands. High levels of social equity and trust have enabled the functioning of these incentives while a robust governance structure at the local level has been instrumental in enforcing the disincentives. There is need for government and all stakeholders to maintain and enhance the gains from restoration, especially empowering communities further, for these incentives to work.
Tag: degradation
Linking restoration and sustainable wood fuel initiatives in Sahelian Cameroon
Cameroon’s commitment to the AFR100 initiative to restore 12 million hectares of degraded land puts emphasis on the country’s three dry northern regions. One quarter of this commitment is supposed to take place in the Far North Region. The highest degradation of this region has clear impacts on livelihoods; in addition, the dependence of local communities, internally displaced people and refugees on unsustainable wood fuel collection contributes to further degradation.
Land restoration requires a shift from quantity to quality: Lessons from Tigray, Ethiopia
Land degradation is not new in Ethiopia, and many dryland restoration efforts aim to improve local livelihoods and landscapes while building resilience in the face of climate change. Tree planting is one of the most common restoration techniques to improve livelihoods and keep the environment healthy. However, evaluations of previous efforts (Tigray Bureau of Planning and Finance 2018; Tafere et al. 2019) showed that relative to these gigantic initiatives, restoration through plantations was not very successful. Exclosures also did not yield the expected benefits and services. This article shares lessons and experiences from Tigray Region and elaborates the emerging shift from quantity to quality in restoring degraded lands.
Valorizing plastic waste by insect consumption
Insects first began evolving hundreds of millions of years ago, and aided by gut microbes, they have been consuming hydrocarbon polymers ever since. Few man-made plastic polymers are chemically novel, so it is reasonable that insect/microbe systems can be found or developed to degrade them rapidly. However, remediation of global plastic waste problems should involve more than just conversion into CO2. Some industry-scale microbial enzymatic degradation of plastic polymers may yield valuable monomers, but the plastic waste starting material must be of uniform chemistry and clean. This adds cost to the process. Many insect species can be utilized for animal feed as well as human food. Some of these insects have the capability to degrade plastic polymers. However, valorizing plastic wastes by producing edible insects or useful frass has largely been overlooked. Here we assemble the current knowledge of plastic degradation rates by insects. In addition, we also show the first instance of insect degradation of polyurethane and the first identification and isolation of insect gut fungi as directly aiding insect degradation.
Raising the profile of woodfuels in the forest landscape restoration agenda
Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is being promoted as a means of tackling global challenges including land degradation, climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. However, as the FLR agenda gains momentum, it is critical that FLR initiatives pay sufficient attention in promoting the sustainable management of woodfuels, so far overlooked. In many regions, woodfuels (firewood and charcoal) are the main energy source for households and play a pivotal role in local economies; yet they are also associated with environmental degradation and adverse health outcomes. Here we examine the reasons why it is important to raise the profile of woodfuels within the FLR agenda and highlight the enabling conditions needed to promote sustainable management of woodfuels. In landscapes where woodfuel use is prevalent, FLR initiatives should consider enhancing wood fuel supply by growing trees, promoting fuel‐efficient cookstoves and kilns, and shifting pressure from natural forests and woodlands to planted trees. We argue that if wood fuel issues are considered in the design, implementation and monitoring of FLR initiatives and are supported by appropriate policies, resources and technical capacity, this will greatly enhance the sustainability and success of FLR initiatives.
REDD+: Online Workshop Series
Key messages
- Deforestation and forest degradation are complex problems with many connected social, economic and environmental challenges. Reversing deforestation can only be addressed through sustainable land-use management and improved social cohesion.
- REDD+ provides incentives to developing countries to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
- Improved efforts are needed to boost confidence in carbon markets as potential sources of finance in Indonesia.
- Multi-level governance and private sector involvement are crucial to success in DRC.
- Vietnam aims to expand REDD+ to mangrove and wetland environmental services.
- Peru reduces deforestation and now includes peatlands in its REDD+ focus.
- Brazil needs a high-level commitment to REDD+ and a major reduction in deforestation in order to meet its climate goals.
Land-use change and greenhouse gas emissions in the tropics: Forest degradation on peat soils
Forest conversion and degradation are important contributors to worldwide anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In the tropics, this contribution is disproportionally large and reducing forest conversion and degradation can substantially reduce GHG emissions. If such GHG reduction efforts are driven by some kind of performance-based payment scheme (e.g. REDD+, The Green Climate Fund), an exact quantification of emissions is crucial in order to prevent over- or underestimation of such reduction efforts. However, for the tropics default IPCC Tier 1 emissions factors are generally based on few studies and on short-term measurements, sometimes from other climatic zones and/or different continents. Another source of low accuracy in GHG emission estimates occurs when emission factors for specific tropical land uses are missing and those emissions are not included in national GHG emission budgets. In this thesis I focus on both of these problems by increasing the mechanistic understanding of the effects of forest conversions on GHG emissions in the tropics, and to contribute to the derivation of robust emission factors for land-use change in the tropics.
Spatial distribution of degradation and deforestation of palm swamp peatlands and associated carbon emissions in the Peruvian Amazon
The vast peat deposits in the Peruvian Amazon are crucial to the global climate. Palm swamp, the most extensive regional peatland ecosystem faces different threats, including deforestation and degradation due to felling of the dominant palm Mauritia flexuosa for fruit harvesting. While these activities convert this natural C sink into a source, the distribution of degradation and deforestation in this ecosystem and related C emissions remain unstudied. We used remote sensing data from Landsat, ALOS-PALSAR, and NASA’s GEDI spaceborne LiDAR-derived products to map palm swamp degradation and deforestation within a 28 Mha area of the lowland Peruvian Amazon in 1990–2007 and 2007–2018. We combined this information with a regional peat map, C stock density data and peat emission factors to determine (1) peatland C stocks of peat-forming ecosystems (palm swamp, herbaceous swamp, pole forest), and (2) areas of palm swamp peatland degradation and deforestation and associated C emissions. In the 6.9 ± 0.1 Mha of predicted peat-forming ecosystems within the larger 28 Mha study area, 73% overlaid peat (5.1 ± 0.9 Mha) and stored 3.88 ± 0.12 Pg C. Degradation and deforestation in palm swamp peatlands totaled 535,423 ± 8,419 ha over 1990–2018, with a pronounced dominance for degradation (85%). The degradation rate increased 15% from 15,400 ha y−1 (1990–2007) to 17,650 ha y−1 (2007–2018) and the deforestation rate more than doubled from 1,900 ha y−1 to 4,200 ha y−1. Over 1990–2018, emissions from degradation amounted to 26.3 ± 3.5 Tg C and emissions from deforestation were 12.9 ± 0.5 Tg C. The 2007–2018 emission rate from both biomass and peat loss of 1.9 Tg C yr−1 is four times the average biomass loss rate due to gross deforestation in 2010–2019 reported for the hydromorphic Peruvian Amazon. The magnitude of emissions calls for the country to account for deforestation and degradation of peatlands in national reporting.
Analysing the narrative and promises of ‘avoided deforestation’ implementation in Central Africa
Projects aimed at reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+) have expanded in Central Africa following carbon certification standards, which were intended to demonstrate the feasibility of payments and rewards earned depending on a measured quantity of avoided deforestation. We used storytelling as a communication concept to analyse the narratives of five main certification standards that accompanied the implementation of REDD+ projects in Central Africa. Our analysis focuses on two storylines: the measurement of avoided deforestation, and payments or rewards. The examination of official documents disseminated by certification standards and the results from a survey of REDD+ stakeholders highlighted a gap between these promises and reality. Our findings show that carbon standards have diffused an idyllic view of REDD+, simplifying methods of measuring avoided deforestation and promising payments, co-benefits and sustainable development. Unkept promises result in disappointment and declining enthusiasm on the part of those involved in REDD+ projects at an early stage.
Changes in selected soil properties across a chronosequence of exclosures in the central dry lowlands of ethiopia
In Ethiopia, rehabilitation of the natural resource-base in degraded lands through area exclosures has become a necessary intervention, albeit empirical studies on the impact of these exclosures are limited. This study was conducted to investigate changes in selected soil properties along exclosures’ age and slope positions in Kewet district, central dry lowlands of Ethiopia. Soil samples were collected from three slope positions of three purposively selected exclosures of 5, 15 and 20 years old and one adjacent open grazing land from 0-10 cm soil depth for analysis of pertinent soil properties. The effect of exclosure age on bulk density, contents of sand, clay, organic carbon, total nitrogen, available phosphorus, CEC, and exchangeable Mg+ and K+ was significant (P<0.05). All exclosures had low bulk density (1.14-1.16 g cm-3) as compared to the grazing land. Higher available water content (173 mm m-1) was recorded in the old exclosure. Soil organic carbon ranged from 2.58% (young exclosure) to 3.37% (middle age exclosure). Soil total nitrogen increased from 0.24-0.34%, while available phosphorus increased from 27-34%, from young to the old exclosure respectively. However, the influence of exclosures’ age on other soil properties was not significant. The young exclosure had the highest CEC (57 cmolc kg-1), whereas the grazing land had the highest total nitrogen and exchangeable Ca2+. From this result, it can be concluded that area exclosures, if managed properly, can improve some of the dynamic soil properties of open degraded grazing lands in the dry lowlands of Ethiopia.