“Harnessing Synergies between Agriculture and Forest Restoration’
“Harnessing Synergies between Agriculture and Forest Restoration’
Communities work together to restore forests – an example from Nepal
By Lila Nath Sharma, PhD
Blog from IUFRO Member Organization ForestAction Nepal
Jalthal forest is a 6,000 ha forested land in the densely populated region in the lowland of Southeastern Nepal. It is a remnant moist tropical forest with diverse ecosystems and habitats comprising swamps, rivers, ponds, hillocks and plain areas. It is an important biodiversity hotspot with several threatened floras and faunas including the Asiatic elephant and pangolin. The forest has unique assemblages of tropical and subtropical plant species found in the sub Himalayan tract. Floristic elements from different bio-geographical regions – Sino Himalayan, East Asian and Indian, for example – makes the forest diverse and unique.
The forest is an important source of environmental services including fresh water and multitudes of forest products for people living around the forest. It is currently managed by 22 Community Forest User Groups (CFUGs) and is an important livelihood source for over 80,000 people. In spite of high ecological and social significance, the Jalthal forest is subjected to multiple pressures. These include invasive species, human-wildlife conflict (particularly human-elephant), wildlife poaching, illegal felling of trees and timber focused forest management.
Read more…Traditional Knowledge – A Pathway for Sustainable Forest Management
Moderator: Youn Yeo-Chang
Monday, 24 October 2016, 13:30-15:30 (Room 302B)
Find abstracts on the Congress website http://www.iufro-ao2016.org/en/index.asp?hid= under Congress Program!
In this session, Traditional Forest Knowledge practices were suggested as a collective pathway for sustainable forestry development. However, there are national and international concerns regarding the loss of these traditions and the consequently negative effects for local livelihoods and natural resources protection. China’s economic development, social transformation and governmental intervention have had significant influence in local forest management decisions and culture, moving from the loss of almost all natural forest by 1980, to promoting community-based traditional knowledge building capacity for landscape management by 2010. Read more…
Congress Spotlight #19 – ‘Citizen science’: A way to fight invasive species?
‘Citizen science’: A way to fight invasive species?
Invasive species are a threat to forest ecosystems around the world.
No surprise there.
Thousands of invasive flora and fauna have been transported – sometimes by accident, sometimes by design – to different continents and countries. Very often their impact is detrimental to their new region.
But, usually when one thinks of the negative impacts of invasive species, top of mind would be the effect on the economy – for instance, phytophthora dieback, an Asian import, affects the economically important jarrah tree in Australia. Or perhaps one would think of environmental damage, such as the destructive swath cut through the forests of Tierra del Fuego by imported North American beaver, to give just two illustrations of unwanted economic/environmental results.
Can REDD+ Achieve Conservation, Livelihoods and Climate Change Mitigation Goals?
By John Parrotta (Deputy Coordinator, IUFRO Division 8) and Lawal Marafa (Chair of the Conference Organizing Committee)
Dealing with uncertainties
REDD+ (reducing greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, and enhancing forest carbon stocks in developing countries) is an evolving mechanism for climate change mitigation under continued debate within and outside of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). While it has the potential to realize its primary climate change mitigation objective, there is considerable uncertainty regarding its actual or potential impacts on biodiversity, forests and the livelihoods of people in the tropical and sub-tropical forested landscapes where REDD+ implementation is envisaged.
A changing forest sector: Globalization triggers bio-economy and the search for new business opportunities
Scientists, practitioners and decision-makers from around the world meet in Vancouver, Canada from 27 to 30 August 2013 to discuss the implications of globalization on forests and their management.
PDF of Press Release for download
(Vancouver/Vienna, 27 August 2013) Globalization is changing forests and the forest sector. Increases in international trade and investments have altered the global business environment for forestry. The growing world population moving towards nine billion by 2050, economic growth, rising resources demand and increasing environmental concerns are other drivers fostering transformation in forestry and the management of forests. New players enter the global market, and the bio-economy –– the production of ‘green’ products from renewable resources –– is gaining weight. From 27 to 30 August 2013, more than 100 representatives from research, industry and government will discuss how global trends influence forest resources, and how new opportunities for forest entrepreneurs and a more resource efficient society can be harnessed. The Conference has been organized by the University of British Columbia (UBC), Faculty of Forestry, on behalf of the Task Force “Resources for the Future” of the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (IUFRO).
IUFROLAT III Session Highlights: What REDD+ Looks Like on the Ground
What REDD+ looks like on the ground: evidence from the Amazon and beyond
Moderator: Niels Elers Koch, IUFRO President
Thursday, 13 June 2013, 08:00 – 10:00 (Santa Rosa 2)
Agricultural expansion has been identified as a key driver of deforestation in developing countries. The IPCC estimated that carbon dioxide emissions, as a consequence of deforestation, amounted to 20% of all anthropogenically induced carbon dioxide emissions in the 1990s. Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+), has been proclaimed an environmental policy instrument that could potentially provide mitigative benefits for net carbon emissions and biodiversity degradation.
In the session entitled “What REDD+ looks like on the ground: evidence from the Amazon and beyond”, leading scientists addressed the relationship between biodiversity, carbon, forests and people, as well as experiences with the operationalization of REDD+ in Latin America.
The Global Forest Expert Panel (GFEP), which is coordinated by IUFRO, presented a global assessment report on REDD+, which consolidates the research of more than 50 leading scientists. The report constitutes a comprehensive analysis of the synergies and trade-offs between biodiversity, forest management and REDD+.
The assessment report proposes that biodiversity is paramount, as a prerequisite for providing ecosystem services. In the face of disturbance regimes such as climate change, ecosystem resilience, a product of biodiversity, ensures ecosystem service provision.
Moreover, a successful REDD+ implementation, that achieves mitigative net carbon emissions and ensures biodiversity provision, requires, in conjuncture with the implementation, the pursuit of social objectives by securing tenure rights and local engagement. Only when tenure and property rights are clearly defined can a REDD+ implementation be effective.
The session also included presentations on a global comparative study entitled “What REDD+ looks like on the ground: Carried out by CIFOR”. The study, which is t largest project ever undertaken by CIFOR, aims to provide scientific insights on how to ensure that REDD+ measures meet the three “E’s”; Effectiveness, Efficiency, Equity. As the first phase of the study has been completed, the findings of four cases were presented during the session. For more detailed information please visit the CIFOR webpage.
The Global Forest Expert Panel report can be downloaded at www.iufro.org/science/gfep
Presentations in this session:
Understanding relationships between biodiversity, carbon, forests and people: the key to achieving REDD+ objectives (John Parrotta, US Forest Service, USA)
What REDD+ looks like on the ground (Amy Duchelle)
Smallholder typology at a REDD+ project site in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon. (Marina Cromberg, CIFOR, Brazil)
Analyzing payments for environmental services as a way to improve social, economic and environmental resilience in rural settlements in northwestern Mato, Grosso, Brazil. (Raissa Guerra, University of Florida, Brazil)
Conservation transfers, livelihoods and land use: the case of Bolsa Floresta, Amazonas, Brazil (Amy Duchelle and Kim Bakkegaard)
Livelihoods, land use, land cover change and the implications for REDD+ in Brazil nut concessions in the Peruvian Amazon. (Valerie Garrish, CIFOR)
IUFROLAT III Session Highlights: International Forest Governance
International forest governance and its influence on the convergence of forest policy in Latin America
For more information on the IUFRO Task Force on International Forest Governance, visit: http://www.iufro.org/science/task-forces/intl-forest-governance/
Globally, great strides have been made in the last 20 years as to what constitutes responsible forest governance. Yet, frustrations exist at the scale and pace of change. In Latin America, there continues to be a notable gap between ‘rules on paper’ and ‘rules in use’ in most countries, and governance tends to remain firmly based in ‘command-and-control’ approaches established decades ago.
In the session entitled “International Forest Governance and its influence on the convergence of forest policy in Latin America”, leading scholars in this field discussed what political science can do to improve international forest governance in the region through a mix of existing and emerging environmental policy instruments.
Reported cases of “carbon cowboys” deriving indigenous communities from intended benefits from REDD+ have created mistrust and infighting and have raised questions about the usefulness of market-based approaches to environmental problems such as climate change. Yet, the political scientists concluded that – if well designed – market-based instruments such as forest certification or payments for environmental services can help deliver effective policy outcomes. Costa Rica can be cited as a positive example on how new forms and modes of governance have successfully been incorporate into forest policy.
The session also discussed the newly emerging discourse on “rights of nature” in which nature is treated as a ‘subject’ rather than an ‘object’ in environmental legislation. While the notion of collective property rights reflected in this new approach can be seen as a more ethical approach to natural resources, it may however also be motivated by more mundane considerations, such as the intention to bargain for increased financial support from the international community.
Overall, the examples presented in the session indicated the need to incorporate new forms and modes of governance into forest and environmental policy in Latin America. If well-designed, instruments such as legality verification can help form large coalitions of actors and can trigger a “ratchet up” towards better forestry standards in the region.
Presentations in this session:
Policies for promoting sustainable forest management: Convergence of domestic policies and instrument mixes across Latin America (Kathleen McGinley, International Institute of Tropical Forestry, USA)
Carbon cowboys: case studies from Peru (Wil De Jong, Kyoto University Japan)
International forest governance and the rights of nature discourse in South America (David Humphries, UK)
Adaptation of tropical forest management in climate change (Rod Keenan, University of Melbourne, Australia)
Agroforestal systems as an alternative to coca crops in the Chapare region of Bolivia (Eduardo Lopez Rosse, UMSS, Department of Natural Resources, Bolivia)
Factors driving botanical tree diversity in agroforestry systems in Central America (Jenny Ordonez)
IUFROLAT 2013 Opening Address
On Wednesday, 12 June 2013, the Third IUFRO Latin American Congress was officially opened at 9:00 a.m. The master of ceremonies, Gabriel Robles, welcomed over 600 participants to the festively decorated Chirripó Room in the Crowne Plaza Hotel, the venue of the Congress.
In his opening address, Fernando Carrera, CATIE, Chair of the Congress Organizing Committee of IUFROLAT 2013, provided perspective into the changes he has noticed in the development of IUFRO over the past 30 years. He noted that now more than ever, the public is addressing environmental issues, whereas in the past the public was not talking about this. He highlighted how forestry is playing a leading role in the discussion.
He stated IUFROLAT received over 800 scientific abstracts for the Congress and over 200 of these are being presented during the Congress, highlighting the role of this important event to address the issues and challenges in Latin American forests and the role of forestry in this area.
IUFRO President, Niels Elers Koch next took centre stage, and provided a warm welcome to participants and dignitaries. He spoke about how IUFRO has changed his life and improved his scientific capacity since he attended his first event when he was 25 in Oslo, Norway. He brought three messages to share with the crowd:
- Enjoy the Congress and benefit the best you can.
- Get to know your IUFRO network. There is a lot of knowledge that we can share. Forests are central to the Latin American landscape and there is room to grow the IUFRO network in the region.
- Participate in the IUFRO 2014 World Congress, held between Oct. 5th -11th in Salt Lake City, Utah, that will bring together over 3000 forest scientists, stakeholders and policy makers from the world over.
Koch closed by announcing that the IUFRO Board has decided on a recommendation for the International Council of IUFRO to vote for Brazil as the host country for the 2019 World Congress. Having the Congress for the first time in Latin America, in Curitiba, Brazil will be a great opportunity for IUFRO to strengthen ties with forest research organizations in Latin America.
Next, José Joaquín Campos, Director of the Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center (CATIE), organizer and host of the conference, announced that this Congress has brought over 600 participants from Latin America, and other parts of the world to Costa Rica and highlighted the opportunity it presents to discuss and debate what has worked, is working and has not worked in the forests here and around the world. He underlined the strong ties that have existed between IUFRO and CATIE since its establishment 40 years ago in 1973 and stressed the importance of IUFRO in the future of Latin American forest research.The 40th anniversary of CATIE will also be duly celebrated in the course of the Congress. Campos thanked all who have been involved in the organization of IUFROLAT 2013.
Representing the Government of Costa Rica, Ana Lorena Guevara, Vice-Minister of MINAE, the Ministry of the Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, welcomed all the participants and expressed the delight of the country to host this event. She noted that environmental protection is high on the agenda in Costa Rica and they are working in great effort to maintain and implement policies to ensure that Costa Rica will be a low emission and carbon neutral country by 2021 and that this will in great part be achieved through the forest sector. She proudly stated that forests now cover 52% of Costa Rica and they balance this with sustainable development and preservation. She highlighted Costa Rica’s leading role in environment services and hopes that others can learn from their example. She concluded saying she hopes the results and resolutions of IUFROLAT can be utilized to craft policies that will continue to see the Costa Rican environment, people and economy thrive as one.