Improving the efficiency of conservation policies with the use of surrogates derived from remotely sensed and ancillary data

Conservation policies are emerging in many places around the world, many of which involve payment for ecosystem services (PES) schemes. PES schemes provide economic incentives for forgoing land uses that reduce the provision of ecosystem services. The efficiency of such schemes depends not only on the ecosystem services provided by an area but also on the willingness of local people to forgo their land use activities. Targeting land for enrollment in PES schemes on the basis of the potential provision of ecosystem services and on the willingness to forgo certain economic activities, may therefore improve the efficiency of these schemes. The objective of this study was to develop a targeting approach, based on three surrogates derived from remotely sensed and ancillary data, for identifying land to be enrolled in one of the largest PES schemes in the world: China's Grain-to-Green Program (GTGP). The GTGP encourages farmers to return steep hillside cropland to forest by providing cash, grain and tree seedlings. The three surrogates used in the targeting approach were slope index, cropland probability, and GTGP enrollment probability. Combining these surrogates through Bernoulli trials allows targeting areas under cropland, with low opportunity costs for farmers and with potentially high soil erosion and landslide susceptibility. Results of applying the targeting approach in a case study area (Baoxing County, Sichuan Province, China) show that around half of the land currently enrolled is placed in areas with gentle slopes and tend to be located distant from forest areas. This reduces the potential benefits obtained from the GTGP. Targeting land using the proposed approach may double the benefits obtained from the program under the same budget, thus improving its efficiency. The approach may be applied to the entire GTGP implementation area in China and with proper modifications it may also be applicable to similar PES programs around the world.     

The Prospects for Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) in Vietnam: A Look at Three Payment Schemes

Global conservation discourses and practices increasingly rely on market-based solutions to fulfill the dual objective of forest conservation and economic development. Although varied, these interventions are premised on the assumption that natural resources are most effectively managed and preserved while benefiting livelihoods if the market-incentives of a liberalised economy are correctly in place. By examining three nationally supported payment for ecosystem service (PES) schemes in Vietnam we show how insecure land tenure, high transaction costs and high opportunity costs can undermine the long-term benefits of PES programmes for local households and, hence, potentially threaten their livelihood viability. In many cases, the income from PES programmes does not reach the poor because of political and economic constraints. Local elite capture of PES benefits through the monopolization of access to forestland and existing state forestry management are identified as key problems. We argue that as PES schemes create a market for ecosystem services, such markets must be understood not simply as bald economic exchanges between ‘rational actors’ but rather as exchanges embedded in particular socio-political and historical contexts to support the sustainable use of forest resources and local livelihoods in Vietnam.     

生态系统服务付费的诊断框架及案例剖析

生态系统服务付费目前已成为生态系统服务研究的热点之一。参考Ostrom的社会-生态系统诊断框架,提取并总结影响生态系统服务付费执行效率的变量,建立了适合区域特点的项目绩效评估体系,并以哥斯达黎加(PSA)项目和中国退耕还林工程为例,探讨了该评估体系在生态系统服务付费效率诊断中的适用性。研究表明,依据该评估体系,未来中国在实施生态系统服务付费项目时应注意以下问题:建立生态系统服务付费的市场机制、实施多样化的付费方式;付费标准应考虑区域特征和供给方特征;建立生态系统服务付费项目的第三方监督和绩效评估机制;加强对生态系统服务的监测。     

The challenges of community-based conservation in developing countries—A case study from Lake Alaotra,Madagascar

Nature conservation in tropical developing countries is particularly challenging as the human population is highly dependent on natural resources. Several approaches, such as small-scale, community-based conservation projects aiming to generate benefits for the community, have been applied to alleviate poverty and at the same time promote conservation. In Madagascar such projects are considered a promising alternative as large-scale conservation often fails. However, few evaluations to date have analyzed both ecological and socioeconomic aspects. Our study focuses on the ecological and socioeconomic aspects of a small-scale, community-based conservation project, called “Park Bandro”, at Lake Alaotra, Madagascar. At first glance, the area seems to conserve its natural flora and fauna. However, closer examination shows that the park suffers from isolation, disconnectivity and illegal activities, while its management suffers from an unequal distribution of benefits and a lack of recognition at community level. We use our results to discuss where challenges arise and to draw recommendations which will be relevant beyond Lake Alaotra. We show that institutional settings can foster the detachment of local management associations from the community and facilitate elite capture. Existing conflicts of interests and a lack of transparency in administration hinders long-term success. The managerial framework needs to be revised and adapted to foster capacity building, providing a basis for negotiation with the community and the integration of different social groups.     

Community-based natural resource use and management of Bigodi Wetland Sanctuary,Uganda, for livelihood benefits

Conservation and sustainable management of wetlands requires participation of local stakeholders, including communities. The Bigodi Wetland is unusual because it is situated in a common property landscape but the local community has been running a successful community-based natural resource management programme (CBNRM) for the wetland for over a decade. Whilst external visitors to the wetland provide ecotourism revenues we sought to quantify community benefits through the use of wetland goods such as firewood, plant fibres, and the like, and costs associated with wild animals damaging farming activities. We interviewed 68 households living close to the wetland and valued their cash and non-cash incomes from farming and collection of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) and water. The majority of households collected a wide variety of plant and fish resources and water from the wetland for household use and livestock. Overall, 53% of total household cash and non-cash income was from collected products, mostly the wetland, 28% from arable agriculture, 12% from livestock and 7% from employment and cash transfers. Female-headed households had lower incomes than male-headed ones, and with a greater reliance on NTFPs. Annual losses due to wildlife damage were estimated at 4.2% of total gross income. Most respondents felt that the wetland was important for their livelihoods, with more than 80% identifying health, education, craft materials and firewood as key benefits. Ninety-five percent felt that the wetland was in a good condition and that most residents observed the agreed CBNRM rules regarding use of the wetland. This study confirms the success of the locally run CBNRM processes underlying the significant role that the wetland plays in local livelihoods.     

Inadequate community engagement hamstrings sustainable wildlife resource management in Zambia

We propose improvements for addressing the inadequate sustainable use of wildlife resources in the community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) programme in game management areas (GMAs) using case study data from Mumbwa and Lupande GMAs in Zambia. Firstly, we assess the sustainability of wildlife resources in these GMAs using design principles for enduring common pool institutions. Secondly, we propose the steps required to address the lack of sustainability of wildlife resources in the CBNRM programme in the two GMAs by building on indicators suggested by Ostrom's principles. The resource use patterns in the two GMAs were assessed according to their socio-economic and institutional factors. Comparisons were made between the two GMAs in relation to Ostrom's design principles. Accordingly, the combination of socio-economic and institutional factors restrains the sustainable use of wildlife resources in the two GMAs. Unless the Zambian government provides local communities with meaningful decision-making powers and benefits for the utilisation and management of wildlife, this resource is likely to disappear outside national parks.     

Co‐benefits of biodiversity and carbon sequestration from regenerating secondary forests in the Philippine uplands: implications for forest landscape restoration

Shifting cultivation is a widespread practice in tropical forested areas that policy makers often regard as the major cause of forest degradation. Secondary fallow forests regrowing after shifting cultivation are generally not viewed as suitable for biodiversity conservation and carbon retention. Drawing upon our research in the Philippines and other relevant case studies, we compared the biodiversity and carbon sequestration in recovering secondary forests after shifting cultivation to other land uses that commonly follow shifting cultivation. Regenerating secondary forests had higher biodiversity than fast growing timber plantations and other restoration options available in the area. Some old plantations, however, provided carbon benefits comparable the old growth forest, although their biodiversity was less than that of the regenerating forests. Our study demonstrates that secondary forests regrowing after shifting cultivation have a high potential for biodiversity and carbon sequestration co‐benefits, representing an effective strategy for forest management and restoration in countries where they are common and where the forest is an integral part of rural people's livelihoods. We discuss the issues and potential mechanisms through which such dynamic land use can be incorporated into development projects that are currently financing the sustainable management, conservation, and restoration of tropical forests.     

Optimizing carbon storage and biodiversity protection in tropical agricultural landscapes

With the rapidly expanding ecological footprint of agriculture, the design of farmed landscapes will play an increasingly important role for both carbon storage and biodiversity protection. Carbon and biodiversity can be enhanced by integrating natural habitats into agricultural lands, but a key question is whether benefits are maximized by including many small features throughout the landscape (‘land‐sharing’ agriculture) or a few large contiguous blocks alongside intensive farmland (‘land‐sparing’ agriculture). In this study, we are the first to integrate carbon storage alongside multi‐taxa biodiversity assessments to compare land‐sparing and land‐sharing frameworks. We do so by sampling carbon stocks and biodiversity (birds and dung beetles) in landscapes containing agriculture and forest within the Colombian Chocó‐Andes, a zone of high global conservation priority. We show that woodland fragments embedded within a matrix of cattle pasture hold less carbon per unit area than contiguous primary or advanced secondary forests (>15 years). Farmland sites also support less diverse bird and dung beetle communities than contiguous forests, even when farmland retains high levels of woodland habitat cover. Landscape simulations based on these data suggest that land‐sparing strategies would be more beneficial for both carbon storage and biodiversity than land‐sharing strategies across a range of production levels. Biodiversity benefits of land‐sparing are predicted to be similar whether spared lands protect primary or advanced secondary forests, owing to the close similarity of bird and dung beetle communities between the two forest classes. Land‐sparing schemes that encourage the protection and regeneration of natural forest blocks thus provide a synergy between carbon and biodiversity conservation, and represent a promising strategy for reducing the negative impacts of agriculture on tropical ecosystems. However, further studies examining a wider range of ecosystem services will be necessary to fully understand the links between land‐allocation strategies and long‐term ecosystem service provision.     

The community resource management area mechanism: a strategy to manage African forest resources for REDD+

Climate change poses a significant threat to Africa, and deforestation rates have increased in recent years. Mitigation initiatives such as REDD+ are widely considered as potentially efficient ways to generate emission reductions (or removals), conserve or sustainably manage forests, and bring benefits to communities, but effective implementation models are lacking. This paper presents the case of Ghana''s Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) mechanism, an innovative natural resource governance and landscape-level planning tool that authorizes communities to manage their natural resources for economic and livelihood benefits. This paper argues that while the CREMA was originally developed to facilitate community-based wildlife management and habitat protection, it offers a promising community-based structure and process for managing African forest resources for REDD+. At a theoretical level, it conforms to the ecological, socio-cultural and economic factors that drive resource-users’ decision process and practices. And from a practical mitigation standpoint, the CREMA has the potential to help solve many of the key challenges for REDD+ in Africa, including definition of boundaries, smallholder aggregation, free prior and informed consent, ensuring permanence, preventing leakage, clarifying land tenure and carbon rights, as well as enabling equitable benefit-sharing arrangements. Ultimately, CREMA''s potential as a forest management and climate change mitigation strategy that generates livelihood benefits for smallholder farmers and forest users will depend upon the willingness of African governments to support the mechanism and give it full legislative backing, and the motivation of communities to adopt the CREMA and integrate democratic decision-making and planning with their traditional values and natural resource management systems.     

“How Could I Live Here and Not Be a Member?”: Economic Versus Social Drivers of Participation in Namibian Conservation Programs

Economic goals form a critical component of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) programs, but many studies question whether these initiatives actually deliver economic benefits to local communities. This presents a puzzle regarding why rural residents remain in CBNRM programs, and raises the possibility that non-economic incentives also influence participation. We address this question in a study of two Namibian communal conservancies, analyzing survey and interview data collected between 2009 and 2011. We find that economic incentives explain participation in one conservancy, whereas social motivations take precedence in the other. Our findings indicate that strong attachment to place and preferences for social cohesion can motivate people to comply with CBNRM even when economic incentives fail to materialize.     

天保工程转移支付的森林生态效益及其影响机制

天保工程政策对天然林资源保护恢复工作具有重要意义,但是如何发挥天保工程转移支付对森林生态效益的作用机制目前还没有确切答案。本研究基于2011—2017年《中国林业统计年鉴》的面板数据,以森林管护面积和森林抚育面积作为衡量森林生态效益的指标,采用空间滞后模型和中介效应模型分析重点国有林区天保工程转移支付资金对森林生态效益的影响机制。结果表明: 二期天保工程中重点国有林区的森林资源生态效益状况逐年变好,并且各森林工业分局的森林资源生态效益存在显著的空间溢出效应;天保工程转移支付资金对重点国有林区的森林资源生态效益具有显著的促进作用,其中人力资本水平的提升和一线管护站的建设存在部分中介效应。因此,建议中央加大对天保工程转移支付资金的投入,并且林业管理部门应在提升人力资本水平与建设一线管护站两方面提高资金使用比例。     

森林经营与管理下的温室气体排放、碳泄漏和净固碳量研究进展

森林在减缓全球气候变化和大气CO₂浓度升高上具有重要作用.森林经营与管理下的新造林和森林保护具有显著的固碳功能,其中,新造林和森林保护的固碳速率分别为0.04～7.52、0.33～5.20 t C·hm^-2·a^-1.同时,营造林过程中物资的生产和运输导致边界内产生温室气体排放;营造林导致的活动转移、市场效应和生态环境变化导致边界外产生碳泄漏.本文综述了国内外森林经营与管理活动边界内温室气体排放源的界定、计量方法、温室气体排放量与排放速率;边界外碳泄漏的类型、计量方法与碳泄漏量;净固碳量以及温室气体排放和碳泄漏对固碳的抵消强度.边界内温室气体排放对固碳的抵消强度为0.01%～19.3%,进一步考虑碳泄漏时可增至95%.若仅考虑森林经营与管理在边界内直接产生的温室气体排放与可测量的活动转移碳泄漏,森林经营与管理具有较好的净固碳效益,且相比于农田固碳措施在温室气体净减排方面具有更好的应用前景.随着我国各项重大生态工程新一期的开展和对工程固碳效益的关注,为增加重大生态工程对温室气体的净减排量,有必要在工程开展前进行合理规划、在工程开展过程中加强控制和监测以减少工程实施导致的边界内温室气体排放和边界外碳泄漏.     

Cyclone Winston and Community-Based Marine Conservation in Fiji

ABSTRACT

The establishment and use of community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) groups is now the established route towards conservation in large parts of the Pacific, especially in Fiji. One of the main strengths of CBNRM that is often mentioned is its adaptability to different contexts and to changing objectives among stakeholders, an aspect thoroughly tested by events such as ‘natural’ disasters. This paper is based on 10 months of fieldwork in Kubulau district in Fiji before, during and after Cyclone Winston. It provides an ethnographic account of how this ‘natural’ disaster affected a community and the local CBNRM group. It looks at how this event was experienced and managed by the group, and how the group’s involvement in disaster assistance shifted its role both within and outside of the community, as well as changing its future agenda during the months that followed. We can see in the aftermath of disaster a shift within the group away from the original primary focus on conservation and towards development. The paper provides an account of how the disaster seemingly strengthened the group and the ‘community’ in terms of organisation, knowledge and motivation, but also how it challenged previous norms and exposed weaknesses that are arguably inherent within CBNRM itself.     

Indigenous Cultural and Natural Resources Management and Mobility in Arnhem Land,Northern Australia

Many programmes formally engage Australian Indigenous people in land and sea management to provide environmental services. There are also many Indigenous people who ‘look after country’ without rewards or payment because of cultural obligations. We investigated how Indigenous peoples’ mobility in and around two communities (Maningrida and Ngukurr) is affected by their formal or informal engagement in cultural and natural resource management (CNRM). Understanding factors that influence peoples’ mobility is important if essential services are to be provided to communities efficiently. We found that those providing formal CNRM were significantly less likely to stay away from settlements than those ‘looking after their country’ without payment or reward. Paying Indigenous people to engage with markets for CNRM through carbon farming or payments for environmental services (PES) schemes may alter traditional activities and reduce mobility, particularly movements away from communities that extend the time spent overnight on country. This could have both environmental and social consequences that could be managed through greater opportunities for people to engage in formal CNRM while living away from communities and greater recognition of the centrality of culture to all Indigenous CNRM, formal or otherwise.     

Changing Landscapes for Forest Commons: Linking Land Tenure with Forest Cover Change Following Mexico’s 1992 Agrarian Counter-Reforms

Mexico’s 1992 agrarian counter-reforms opened up the country’s vast network of common property regimes, known as ejidos, to the possibility of privatization. This study investigates the relationship between dynamic common property regimes and deforestation in the wake of policy reform among eight ejidos in southeastern Mexico. Using institutional analyses, land use/land cover change (LULCC) analyses and a Forest Dependency Index, we examine how land tenure arrangements relate to land use and forest cover change patterns. We demonstrate that informally privatized ejidos had larger individual landholdings, more land in use, and higher rates of deforestation. Commonly-held ejidos exhibited lower deforestation rates and, in some cases, forests provided economic benefits via community forest management. However, forest dependency did not correlate with low deforestation rates, suggesting alternative pathways for conservation.     

The politics of valuation and payment for regenerative medicine products in the UK

The field of regenerative medicine (RM) faces many challenges, including funding. Framing the analysis in terms of institutional politics, valuation studies and “technologies of knowledge”, the paper highlights growing debates about payment for RM in the UK, setting this alongside escalating policy debates about “value”. We draw on interviews and publicly available material to identify the interacting and conflicting positions of institutional stakeholders. It is concluded that while there is some common ground between institutional stakeholders such as industry and health system gatekeepers, there is significant conflict about reward systems, technology assessment methodologies and payment scenarios; a range of mostly conditional payment schemes and non-mainstream routes are being experimented with. We argue that current developments highlight a fundamental conflict between a concern for the societal value of medical technologies in a resource-limited system and a concern for engineering new reward and payment models to accommodate RM innovations.     

山水林田湖草生态保护修复试点工程布局及技术策略

习近平总书记提出的山水林田湖草生命共同体理念对我国新时代生态保护修复工作具有重要的指导意义,开展山水林田湖草整体保护、系统修复、综合治理是解决我国生态环境问题的重要途径,也是推进生态文明建设的必然要求。2016以来,财政部、原国土资源部、原环境保护部在全国24个省（自治区、直辖市）共安排25个山水林田湖草生态保护修复工程试点,对现有试点工程布局和技术策略进行全面剖析,能够为全面推进生态保护修复工作提供依据。在介绍山水林田湖草生态保护修复工程概念和主要任务的基础上,揭示试点工程布局特征,总结生态保护修复技术策略,同时探讨试点目前已经取得的效益、工程实施所存在的问题,并提出相关的建议。研究表明,25个试点大多分布于我国生态安全战略格局骨架区域,并且基本都属于国家重点生态功能区,对维护国家生态安全、提升区域生态功能具有重要意义;总结25个试点实施措施可以发现,工程技术策略主要包含了重要生态系统保护修复、生物多样性保护、流域水环境保护治理、污染与退化土地修复治理、矿山生态修复、土地综合整治等内容。试点工程的实施,开始取得生态、社会和经济等多重效益,但也存在工程宏观布局不尽完善、生态系统理念没能贯彻、自然恢复策略有待实施、监测评价管理缺乏科学、区域全面发展尚需提升等问题。未来应从完善国家宏观生态战略格局保障体系、加强区域生态系统状况和恢复力调查评价、优化工程项目实施规模和时序、研究和实践自然恢复标准与技术、开展长期跟踪监测与进行适应性管理等方面构建山水林田湖草生态保护修复工程技术和制度体系。     

Beyond hectares: four principles to guide reforestation in the context of tropical forest and landscape restoration

New climate change agreements emerging from the 21st Conference of the Parties and ambitious international commitments to implement forest and landscape restoration (FLR) are generating unprecedented political awareness and financial mobilization to restore forests at large scales on deforested or degraded land. Restoration interventions aim to increase functionality and resilience of landscapes, conserve biodiversity, store carbon, and mitigate effects of global climate change. We propose four principles to guide tree planting schemes focused on carbon storage and commercial forestry in the tropics in the context of FLR. These principles support activities and land uses that increase tree cover in human‐modified landscapes, while also achieving positive socioecological outcomes at local scales, in an appropriate contextualization: (1) restoration interventions should enhance and diversify local livelihoods; (2) afforestation should not replace native tropical grasslands or savanna ecosystems; (3) reforestation approaches should promote landscape heterogeneity and biological diversity; and (4) residual carbon stocks should be quantitatively and qualitatively distinguished from newly established carbon stocks. The emerging global restoration movement and its growing international support provide strong momentum for increasing tree and forest cover in mosaic landscapes. The proposed principles help to establish a platform for FLR implementation and monitoring based on a broad set of socioenvironmental benefits including, but not solely restricted, to carbon mitigation and wood production.     

土地利用变化对土壤有机碳贮量的影响

通过对比分析六盘山林区典型天然次生林(杂灌林、山杨和辽东栎林)与农田、草地及农田、草地与人工林(13、18和25年生华北落叶松)邻近样地土壤有机碳含量和密度及其在土壤剖面上分布的差异,研究了天然次生林变成农田或草地及农田或草地造林后对土壤有机碳贮量的影响,结果表明,土壤有机碳含量方面,农田和草地比天然次生林分别低54％和27％,差异主要在0～50cm土层;农田和草地比人工林分别低42％和26％,差异主要在0～40cm土层,土壤有机碳密度方面,农田和草地比天然次生林分别低35％和14％,差异主要在0～50cm土层;农田比人工林低23％,草地比人工林高4％,差异主要在0～30cm土层．天然次生林和人工林土壤有机碳含量和密度随土层加深而递减的幅度比农田或草地大．这些差异主要由土地利用变化引起的土壤有机碳输入与输出及根系分布的变化所致．结果说明六盘山林区天然次生林破坏变成草地或农田后土壤有机碳含量和密度(主要是0～50cm土层)将下降,而农田中造林后土壤有机碳含量和密度(主要是0～30cm土层)又将增加,草地上造林后土壤有机碳含量增加而密度变化不大。另外,土壤有机碳含量和密度在土壤剖面上的分布也将随土地利用变化而发生改变。     

六盘山林区几种土地利用方式对土壤有机碳矿化影响的比较

 应用土壤培养法,比较分析了六盘山林区天然次生林（杂灌林、山杨（Populus davidanda）和辽东栎（Quercus liaotungensis）林）、农田、草地和人工林（13 a、18 a和25 a华北落叶松（Larix principis-rupprechtii））土壤在30℃和60%田间饱和含水量条件下培养180 d有机碳矿化速率的差异（以180 d累计释放的CO2-C计）。结果显示：农田和草地土壤碳矿化释放的CO2-C含量（180 d释放的gCO2-C·kg-1干土）分别比天然次生林低65%和23%,差异主要在0～40土层;人工林比农田和草地分别高155%和 17%,差异主要在0～70 cm土层。农田土壤碳矿化释放的CO2-C分配比例（即180 d释放CO2-C/土壤 C）比天然次生林平均低12%,草地比天然次生林平均高18%,差异主要在0～40 cm土层;人工林比农田平均高29%,草地比人工林平均高9%,差异主要在0～50 cm土层。不同土地利用方式土壤碳矿化释放的CO2-C含量的差异比其分配比例的差异大。土壤碳矿化释放的CO2-C含量和分配比例总体上都随土层加深而递减。分配比例随土层加深而递减的幅度方面,不同土地利用方式间的差异不大;含量随土层加深而递减的幅度方面,天然次生林和人工林比农田和草地中大;随土层递减的幅度方面,土壤碳矿化释放的CO2-C含量比其分配比例大。这主要由不同土地利用方式土壤碳输入和稳定性等差异所致。结果说明土壤碳矿化速率随天然次生林变成农田或草地而下降,随在农田或草地上造林而增加, 矿化速率变化幅度比分配比例的变化幅度大。另外,土地利用变化也使不同土层土壤碳矿化速率和分配比例差异改变,其中速率改变的幅度比分配比例改变的幅度大。