Tag: forest degradation
Forest Landscape Restoration in the Caucasus and Central Asia
Estimating sustainable biomass harvesting level for charcoal production to promote degraded woodlands recovery: A case study from Mutomo District, Kenya
Afforestation and Reforestation of Walnut Forestsin Southern Kyrgyzstan: An Economic Perspective
Shifting discourse, shifting power: how is climate change mitigation and justice negotiated in Indonesia?
Assessment of Solid Woodfuel Situation in Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso
Increasing woodfuel consumption is believed to be one of the key drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Unlike in much of the developing world where biomass use has already peaked or will peak in the coming years, consumption in SSA is projected to remain at high levels or even rise in the next decades (World Bank 2011), with the number of people relying on wood-based biomass to grow from 575 to 918 million between 2004 and 2030 (US IEA 2006, 2010, as cited in World Bank 2011). In West Africa, despite of countless initiatives undertaken in recent decades to tackle this issue, woodfuel demand is also expected to continue its growth in the near future. For example, an increment of 34% between 2000 and 2020 has been projected for the region, with a growth in consumption from 175 to 235 million cubic meters (Broadhead et al. 2001, as cited in Ouedraogo 2006). West Africa’s high poverty levels and rapid population growth are some of the driving factors for this increase, which is also modulated by changing demographics (e.g. increasing migration to urban areas) and the fluctuation in oil prices. Technological innovations with regard to renewable energies and in particular bioenergy play also key roles, given the low efficiency of traditional methods for firewood and charcoal (below 30% according to UNDP 2012). Cross-cutting issues such as gender roles in woodfuel collection and sale, health problems, cultural implications of traditional biomass use, or impacts on poverty and livelihoods appear also as vital in understanding the wood energy dynamics in the region.
Abatement costs of emissions from forest degradation: 8 propositions
Community forest management is a proven and cost-effective instrument to reduce emissions from degradation, particularly in typical dry forest areas. z Carbon crediting tied to CFM could bring sustainable alternative livelihoods to poor, marginalised communities z This may require different methodologies and accounting systems from those applicable to deforestation.
Impacts of hunting on tropical forests in Southeast Asia
Although deforestation and forest degradation have long been considered the most significant threats to tropical biodiversity, across Southeast Asia (Northeast India, Indochina, Sundaland, Philippines) substantial areas of natural habitat have few wild animals (>1 kg), bar a few hunting-tolerant species. To document hunting impacts on vertebrate populations regionally, we conducted an extensive literature review, including papers in local journals and reports of governmental and nongovernmental agencies. Evidence from multiple sites indicated animal populations declined precipitously across the region since approximately 1980, and many species are now extirpated from substantial portions of their former ranges. Hunting is by far the greatest immediate threat to the survival of most of the region’s endangered vertebrates. Causes of recent overhunting include improved access to forests and markets, improved hunting technology, and escalating demand for wild meat, wildlife-derived medicinal products, and wild animals as pets. Although hunters often take common species, such as pigs or rats, for their own consumption, they take rarer species opportunistically and sell surplus meat and commercially valuable products. There is also widespread targeted hunting of high-value species. Consequently, as currently practiced, hunting cannot be considered sustainable anywhere in the region, and in most places enforcement of protected-area and protected-species legislation is weak. The international community’s focus on cross-border trade fails to address overexploitation of wildlife because hunting and the sale of wild meat is largely a local issue and most of the harvest is consumed in villages, rural towns, and nearby cities. In addition to improved enforcement, efforts to engage hunters and manage wildlife populations through sustainable hunting practices are urgently needed. Unless there is a step change in efforts to reduce wildlife exploitation to sustainable levels, the region will likely lose most of its iconic species, and many others besides, within the next few years. © 2016, Society for Conservation Biology..
Landuse/cover change in Ho Ho Sub-watershed, north-central Viet Nam
Landuse analysis and local knowledge can explain the intensity and drivers of landuse changes in a rural landscape. In the Huong Khe watershed north-central Viet Nam, during recent decades (1990-2014), this analysis identified a massive transformation of natural forests into farm-based plantations of rubber and acacia. Population growth also forced large areas of forest land to be allocated to local people for their livelihoods, and induced an increase in cultivated lands, such as shifting cultivation in uplands, and settlements. The Ho Ho sub-watershed is part of the Huong Khe watershed and a similar trend was observed there with the remarkable expansion of acacia forest plantations to supply the pulp industry. The conversion from logged over forest into acacia plantation occurred both in the upstream and downstream communes of the sub-watershed. Claims by local people for land to feed the growing population, over logging and the forest plantation expansion program were responsible for forest degradation and conversion. The local people foresaw that expansion of the acacia forest plantations would continue in the future driven by high economic as well as presumably environmental benefits such as landslide prevention and micro-climate regulation, along with a steady increase in the total population.
Bridging the gap I: policies for reducing emissions from agriculture
Bridging the emissions gap requires a substantial increase in ambition and action, as the previous chapters of this report have illustrated. In 2012, the UNEP Emissions Gap Report (UNEP, 2012) reviewed a number of policies in three sectors – building, transport and forestry – that are proving successful in substantially reducing emissions. In this report we review best-practice policies in agriculture, an often-overlooked emissions-producing sector. The sum of the policies from these different sectors, if replicated and scaled up, shows great potential for narrowing the emissions gapMoreover, in many cases, these policies can help fulfil important national development objectives beyond climate goals as they can, depending on the policy, boost agricultural productivity, save costs of heating homes, promote ecotourism, reduce traffic congestion, abate air pollution and associated adverse health effects, or a combination of these.