Participatory forest management in Africa: lessons not learned

A workshop held in Tanzania in early 2002 brought practitioners of Participatory Forest Management (PFM) from 25 African countries together with donors and other interested organizations. One objective was to search for ways forward to improve and streamline implementing PFM. It was agreed that forest legislation permitting PFM is currently widespread and that many countries are somewhere on the path of implementation. It was also agreed that more needs to be done to further the definition and sharing of benefits from PFM forests in order for the practice to be successful and sustainable. The alarming rate of deforestation in many countries has not been sufficiently monitored or addressed by PFM.

Lessons not yet learned from at least 30 years of experience include how to write satisfactory management plans and conduct inventories that would help define PFM benefits and monitoring aspects. This paper suggests ways to improve on these aspects of PFM planning. It also proposes a greater emphasis on inclusion of pitsawyer organization as a key component in sustaining forests for a longer time.     

加拿大森林可持续管理标准和指标评介

介绍了加拿大森林可持续管理标准和指标的产生过程 ,详细介绍了该标准和指标的特点和其中的 6个标准、若干个要素、指标等 ,结合我国的实际分析了该标准和指标对我国可持续森林管理的启示和借鉴作用。     

Exploring co-investments in sustainable land management in the Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, not only farmers but also the public and private sector partners are still hesitant to invest in sustainable land management (SLM). This study focuses on the Central Rift Valley and explores the potential for co-investments in SLM, where public and private sector partners support farmers with material, capital, knowledge, etc. A survey revealed current bottlenecks for co-investments and requirements needed to collaboratively invest in SLM. It covered 165 public sector partners (micro-, meso- and macro-level institutions) and 42 private sector partners (banks, exporters and local traders). Results for the public sector show a gap between macro- and micro-/meso-level actors concerning co-investments in SLM. Macro-level institutions do not acknowledge the bottlenecks identified by micro- and meso-level institutions (e.g. lack of accountability, top-down approaches and lack of good leadership). Similarly, opinions on requirements for co-investments in SLM differ considerably, showing that bridging the institutional micro–macro gap is crucial to co-investments. Most factors are related to the wider governance context and to different perceptions among micro- and macro-level actors as to the critical pre-conditions to co-investment in SLM. Improving governance at all institutional levels, capacity building and enhancing a common understanding on barriers to SLM is required. Results for the private sector reveal that economic bottlenecks limit possibilities to co-invest in SLM, and that enabling policies in the public sphere are required to trigger private investments. Hence, the potential for co-investments in SLM is available in Ethiopia at micro- and meso-level and within the private sector, but profound commitment and fundamental policy changes at the macro-level are required to exploit this potential.     

菜田养分资源综合管理与可持续发展

过量施肥通常导致集约化菜田土壤质量劣化、养分利用效率低及环境风险增加。合理的养分资源管理需要考虑蔬菜的养分吸收规律、土壤养分的迁移和转化及环境养分供应的特点。由于土壤氮素具有较强的移动性,氮素养分资源管理可通过根层氮素实时监控来实现;而磷和钾养分水平在土壤中相对比较稳定,可采取衡量监控技术决定养分的需要量。菜田有机肥的投入总量及其氮磷养分的释放特点也是养分资源管理中的重要内容。有机肥施用于新菜田应考虑“以氮定量”的原则,而施用于土壤有效磷过量累积的老菜田,应采取“以磷定量”原则,来控制有机肥中的磷素投入;根据不同有机肥的氮磷释放特点的差异,可搭配施用不同比例和类型有机肥,以满足作物主要生育期的养分需求,减少环境污染的风险。     

福州城市森林建设现状与可持续发展探讨

“让森林走进城市、让城市拥抱森林”已成为保护城市生态环境、提升城市形象和竞争力,推动经济可持续健康发展的全新理念．分析福州城市森林建设的优势与不足,提出以创建国家森林城市为目标、发展城市森林的建议．参9．     

Community participation in the management of forest reserves in the Northern Region of Ghana

The 1994 forest and wildlife policy of Ghana provides the basis for community participation in forest management through participatory forest management. Even though forest reserves in the Northern Region are said to be managed collaboratively, fringe communities are supposedly involved only in maintenance activities of the reserve boundaries and seedling planting in plantation programmes. The forest reserves are said to be threatened by illegal activities from the fringe communities. This study therefore examined the nature of community participation in the management of forest reserves.

It is a mixed method research in which structured interview schedule, in-depth interview and focus group discussion guides were used for data collection. Respondents comprised community members, forestry staff and NGOs. Communities’ participation was found to be passive and tokenistic and limited to boundary cleaning and providing labour on plantations. There is no formal collaboration between communities and Forest Services Division. Prospects to communities’ participation lie in the continuous flow of benefits and their active involvement in management decisions. Active involvement of communities in all decision-making processes, capacity building of communities and forestry staff, incentive schemes and awareness creation are recommended for promoting community participation in managing forest reserves in Northern Region.     

Modelling carbon and nitrogen dynamics in forest ecosystems of Central Russia under different climate change scenarios and forest management regimes

The individual-based stand-level model EFIMOD was used for large-scale simulations using standard data on forest inventories as model inputs. The model was verified for the case-study of field observations, and possible sources of uncertainties were analysed. The approach developed kept the ability for fine-tuning to account for spatial discontinuity in the simulated area. Several forest management regimes were simulated as well as forest wildfires and climate changes. The greatest carbon and nitrogen accumulations were observed for the regime without cuttings. It was shown that cuttings and wildfires strongly influence the processes of carbon and nitrogen accumulations in both soil and forest vegetation. Modelling also showed that the increase in annual average temperatures resulted in the partial relocation of carbon and nitrogen stocks from soil to plant biomass. However, forest management, particularly harvesting, has a greater effect on the dynamics of forest ecosystems than the prescribed climate change.     

Changing forest conservation and management paradigms: traditional ecological knowledge systems and sustainable forestry: Perspectives from Chile and India

This paper first explores the shift now occurring in the science that provides the theoretical basis for forest conservation and management. The paper then presents the concepts of traditional ecological knowledge and traditional management systems and practise to provide background for two case studies that examine traditional knowledge and forest management practices of tribal communities in the Sariska region (Rajasthan, India) and of the indigenous Mapuche Pewenhce communities in the Andean mountains of southern Patagonia in Chile, underlining the special relationship these tribal and indigenous communities maintain with the forest and their usefulness in community-based native forest conservation. These examples of traditional ecological knowledge and traditional management systems suggest that it is important to focus on managing ecological processes, instead of products, and to use integrated ecosystem management. Recommendations to move forest management paradigms beyond the current view of ‘timber’ or ‘reserves’ and toward one of truly integrated use that adapt conservation approaches to local cultural representations of the environment are made.     

Effects of logging on roadless space in intact forest landscapes of the Congo Basin

Forest degradation in the tropics is often associated with roads built for selective logging. The protection of intact forest landscapes (IFL) that are not accessible by roads is high on the biodiversity conservation agenda and a challenge for logging concessions certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). A frequently advocated conservation objective is to maximize the retention of roadless space, a concept that is based on distance to the nearest road from any point. We developed a novel use of the empty‐space function – a general statistical tool based on stochastic geometry and random sets theory – to calculate roadless space in a part of the Congo Basin where road networks have been expanding rapidly. We compared the temporal development of roadless space in certified and uncertified logging concessions inside and outside areas declared IFL in 2000. Inside IFLs, road‐network expansion led to a decrease in roadless space by more than half from 1999 to 2007. After 2007, loss leveled out in most areas to close to 0 due to an equilibrium between newly built roads and abandoned roads that became revegetated. However, concessions in IFL certified by FSC since around 2007 continuously lost roadless space and reached a level comparable to all other concessions. Only national parks remained mostly roadless. We recommend that forest‐management policies make the preservation of large connected forest areas a top priority by effectively monitoring – and limiting – the occupation of space by roads that are permanently accessible.     

Decision making in dune management: theory and practice

Effective decision making depends upon the availability of quality information. Procedures involved in assessing dune vulnerability and protection require monitoring of sporadic processes and information must be collected from many discipline sources. In particular, a significant challenge to strategic management is recognition of subtle discontinuities which could undermine the long term stability of the dune system. These changes may be irregular and/or non linear requiring managers to be aware of existing parameters, patterns and emerging discontinuities. A range of components within the system should be measured on a systematic, temporal and spatial basis. An environmentalchecklist is a useful management technique which systematises information, so that strategic objectives can be made operational and achievable. Problems can be identified and solved with this methodology particularly if it is incorporated into aW problem solving model. The checklist procedure proposed in this paper has been developed and tested in field conditions for a range of north-west and south-European dune systems. Whereas a universalchecklist applicable to all systems is utopian in aim, intra and extra-regional comparisons can be undertaken with only minor modifications of some components. Parameters covering site and dune morphology, beach condition; surface character of the seaward 200 m of the dunes; pressure of use and recent protection measures are the basis for calculating vulnerability and protection indices. The balance between these indices can be determined, analysed and form the foundation for future informed management decisions.     

Environmental and energy-related challenges to sustainable tourism in the United States and China

This article examines the relationship between tourism, energy, and environment. This article approaches tourism as a complex adaptive system composed of consumers, transportation providers, travel intermediaries, and destinations composed of multiple tourism-related companies and other stakeholder groups. Environmental and energy-related challenges of components to the system are examined as well as various units – the system as a whole, enterprises and individuals – within the system. A total of 92 peer-reviewed articles were studied that address ‘energy’ and ‘tourism’ published between 1974 and 2011. Also addressed are the impacts of social and cultural differences between the United States and China concerning responses to environmental and energy-related challenges. This article concludes with recommendations for addressing the challenges associated with such challenges, including building system capacity, technology development and adoption, support of individual behavior change, increasing understanding of the trade-offs and interactions within the system, and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches to these challenges within the tourism system.     

Non-timber forest products and village livelihoods in Rajasthan,India: adaptation in a changing environment

This paper presents the results of research conducted between 2009 and 2014 in the village of Khanda Sharol in the state of Rajasthan, India. Our research objective was to determine how the livelihoods of village residents have been affected by the intensification of forest use, and the resulting loss of domestic access to traditionally used forest resources. Results indicate that changes in forest cover have resulted in a loss of livelihood options for village residents. Yet rather than being victimized by environmental change processes, this paper shows how villagers have responded by partnering with public and private actors to develop a community protected forest area that is now helping villagers to meet their livelihood needs. These findings suggest that sustainable livelihoods in rural regions of India require committed and scaled approaches involving local, public, and private actors.     

Nitrogen and Phosphorus Cycling in Shrimp Ponds and the Measures for Sustainable Management

Six ponds of age 3 were selected 45 km north from Suzhou in the Tailake region, and research conducted on nitrogen and phosphorus cycling in P. vannanmei(Penaeus vannanme) ponds and M. nipponense(Macrobrachium nipponense) hatchery ponds under normal management. Two treatments each had three replications. The results confirmed that feed was the major path of nitrogen and phosphorus input, each accounted for 61.24%(193.81 kg ha^–1) and 81.08%(45.20 kg ha^–1) of the total nitrogen and phosphorus input for P. vannanme ponds; the values for M. nipponense ponds were 43.93%(86.31 kg ha^–1) and 57.67%(14.61 kg ha^–1), respectively. Water pumped into ponds contributed on average 83.57 kg ha^–1 nitrogen and 8.48 kg ha^–1 phosphorus for P. vannanmei ponds, and 87.48 kg ha^–1 nitrogen and 7.00 kg ha^–1 phosphorus for M. nipponense hatchery ponds. Shrimp harvest recovered 102.81 kg ha^–1 nitrogen (32.94% of the total nitrogen input) and 7.94 kg ha^–1phosphorus (14.23% of the total phosphorus input) for P. vannanme ponds; and 43.94 kg ha^–1 nitrogen and 4.46 kg ha^–1phosphorus for M. nipponense hatchery ponds. The sum of nitrogen losses through volatilization, denitrification and sedimentation was 173.62 and 122.39 kg ha^–1, 54.86% and 62.29% of the total nitrogen input for P. vannanme ponds and M. nipponense hatchery ponds, respectively. Sediment accumulated 41.46 and 14.63 kg ha^–1 phosphorus, 74.37% and 64.85% of the total phosphorus input for P. vannanm ponds and M. nipponense hatchery ponds. Draining and seeping caused 40.06 kg ha^–1 nitrogen (12.66% of total nitrogen input) and 6.36 kg ha^–1 phosphorus (11.40% of total phosphorus input) loss to the surrounding water from P. vannanme ponds in 114 days; 30.14 kg ha^–1nitrogen (15.34% of the total input) and 4.45 kg ha^–1 phosphorus (17.57% of the total input) to channel water from M. nipponense hatchery ponds in 87 days, respectively. Countermeasures for sustainable pond management include improving feeds and feeding, sediment treatments, machine aerating, chemicals with no pollution, and integrated fish-shrimp cultivation. Management of water resources for pond and methods to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus loading into surrounding water from drainage are elucidated.     

The progress and challenges in sustainable forestry development in China

Forestry development in China has undergone a series of reforms over the past six decades. This article examines temporal changes in forest resources and policies, the current status of forestry, and future challenges toward sustainable forest management in China. Excessive logging in the 1950s to 1980s badly damaged the nation’s forests, but the adoption of enlightened forest policies in the late 1990s has led to increases in China’s total forest area and growing stock. Forest degradation was ecologically and economically costly, and rehabilitation processes have become increasingly more expensive. The low quality and young age of forest resources, loss of natural forests, and more difficulties in afforestation and reforestation pose severe challenges for China’s sustainable forestry. It is critically important for China to enhance forest productivity through intensive management, strengthen enforcement, and educational programs for protecting and restoring natural forests, narrow the gap between domestic timber supply and rapidly expanding consumption, improve coordinating networks for management, finance, and technology transfer, and accelerate efforts to clarify and stabilize tenure arrangements for non-state forests. China’s experience and lessons in forestry may be helpful for other developing countries that are seeking to achieve the goal of sustainable forest management.     

环境保护中的退耕还林(草)工程与可持续发展

环境保护是我国的一项基本国策,退耕还林(草)是保护环境的有效措施．加强环境教育,完善环境法制,加强现代科技管理,发展生态经济,通过退耕还林(草)工程贯彻可持续发展战略,最终达到环境与经济、社会“共赢”的目的。     

Antipoaching standards in onshore hydrocarbon concessions drawn from a Central African case study

Unsustainable hunting outside protected areas is threatening tropical biodiversity worldwide and requires conservationists to engage increasingly in antipoaching activities. Following the example of ecocertified logging companies, we argue that other extractive industries managing large concessions should engage in antipoaching activities as part of their environmental management plans. Onshore hydrocarbon concessions should also adopt antipoaching protocols as a standard because they represent a biodiversity threat comparable to logging. We examined the spatiotemporal patterns of small‐ and large‐mammal poaching in an onshore oil concession in Gabon, Central Africa, with a Bayesian occupancy model based on signs of poaching collected from 2010 to 2015 on antipoaching patrols. Patrol locations were initially determined based on local intelligence and past patrol successes (adaptive management) and subsequently with a systematic sampling of the concession. We generated maps of poaching probability in the concession and determined the temporal trends of this threat over 5 years. The spatiotemporal patterns of large‐ and small‐mammal poaching differed throughout the concession, and likely these groups will need different management strategies. By elucidating the relationship between site‐specific sampling effort and detection probability, the Bayesian method allowed us to set goals for future antipoaching patrols. Our results indicate that a combination of systematic sampling and adaptive management data is necessary to infer spatiotemporal patterns with the statistical method we used. On the basis of our case study, we recommend hydrocarbon companies interested in implementing efficient antipoaching activities in their onshore concessions to lay the foundation of long‐needed industry standards by: adequately measuring antipoaching effort; mixing adaptive management and balanced sampling; setting goals for antipoaching effort; pairing patrols with large‐mammal monitoring; supporting antipoaching patrols across the landscape; restricting access to their concessions; performing random searches for bushmeat and mammal products at points of entry; controlling urban and agricultural expansion; supporting bushmeat alternatives; and supporting land‐use planning.     

Comprehensive urban planning and management at multiple scales based on ecological principles: a case study in Beijing,China

SUMMARY

Rapid urbanisation and serious environmental problems have led people worldwide to realise the significance of urban planning and management towards a sustainable environment. Beijing was used as a case study to develop a framework and strategies for sustainable development using ecological principles. At the regional level, Beijing-Tianjin agglomeration and Hebei Province are considered together. At the Beijing administrative level, some important measures are put forward for revision of the Beijing Urban Master Plan. At the Beijing plain level, the future spatial structure of Beijing city and the relationship between settlements, green space and transportation are considered, and three basic development patterns are proposed. At the inner district level, the ecological corridor system is suggested, based on ecosystem services. At the selected area level, a comprehensive strategy and key measures for conservation and renewal of old Beijing city core are provided. Once strategies for Beijing urban development are implemented step-by-step, a vision for future development can be achieved. This paper provides considerations for improvement of urban planning and management in China and other countries.     

Land‐use history as a guide for forest conservation and management

Conservation efforts to protect forested landscapes are challenged by climate projections that suggest substantial restructuring of vegetation and disturbance regimes in the future. In this regard, paleoecological records that describe ecosystem responses to past variations in climate, fire, and human activity offer critical information for assessing present landscape conditions and future landscape vulnerability. We illustrate this point drawing on 8 sites in the northwestern United States, New Zealand, Patagonia, and central and southern Europe that have undergone different levels of climate and land‐use change. These sites fall along a gradient of landscape conditions that range from nearly pristine (i.e., vegetation and disturbance shaped primarily by past climate and biophysical constraints) to highly altered (i.e., landscapes that have been intensely modified by past human activity). Position on this gradient has implications for understanding the role of natural and anthropogenic disturbance in shaping ecosystem dynamics and assessments of present biodiversity, including recognizing missing or overrepresented species. Dramatic vegetation reorganization occurred at all study sites as a result of postglacial climate variations. In nearly pristine landscapes, such as those in Yellowstone National Park, climate has remained the primary driver of ecosystem change up to the present day. In Europe, natural vegetation–climate–fire linkages were broken 6000–8000 years ago with the onset of Neolithic farming, and in New Zealand, natural linkages were first lost about 700 years ago with arrival of the Maori people. In the U.S. Northwest and Patagonia, the greatest landscape alteration occurred in the last 150 years with Euro‐American settlement. Paleoecology is sometimes the best and only tool for evaluating the degree of landscape alteration and the extent to which landscapes retain natural components. Information on landscape‐level history thus helps assess current ecological change, clarify management objectives, and define conservation strategies that seek to protect both natural and cultural elements.     

Transvalued Species in an African Forest

Abstract: We combined ethnographic investigations with repeated ecological transect surveys in the Dzanga‐Sangha Dense Forest Reserve (RDS), Central African Republic, to elucidate consequences of intensifying mixed use of forests. We devised a framework for transvaluation of wildlife species, which means the valuing of species on the basis of their ecological, economic, and symbolic roles in human lives. We measured responses to hunting, tourism, and conservation of two transvalued species in RDS: elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) and gorillas (Gorilla gorilla). Our methods included collecting data on encounter rates and habitat use on line transects. We recorded cross‐cultural variation in ideas about and interactions with these species during participant observation of hunting and tourism encounters and ethnographic interviews with hunters, conservation staff, researchers, and tourists. Ecologically, gorillas used human‐modified landscapes successfully, and elephants were more vulnerable than gorillas to hunting. Economically, tourism and encounters with elephants and gorillas generated revenues and other benefits for local participants. Symbolically, transvaluation of species seemed to undergird competing institutions of forest management that could prove unsustainable. Nevertheless, transvaluation may also offer alternatives to existing social hierarchies, thereby integrating local and transnational support for conservation measures. The study of transvaluation requires attention to transnational flows of ideas and resources because they influence transspecies interactions. Cross‐disciplinary in nature, transvalution of species addresses the political and economic challenges to conservation because it recognizes the varied human communities that shape the survival of wildlife in a given site. Transvaluation of species could foster more socially inclusive management and monitoring approaches attuned to competing economic demands, specific species behaviors, and human practices at local scales.