Tropical Forest Conservation Research Articles

Self‐Determination or Environmental Determinism for Indigenous Peoples in Tropical Forest Conservation

Advocates of people-free parks argue that human occupation of tropical forests inevitably results in a loss of biodiversity, notably through the elimination of top predators and the consequent disruption of ecosystems. Schwartzman et al. (this issue) do a good job countering this simplistic view, both by questioning its empirical basis and by arguing that protected areas need human occupants to defend them. In an increasingly globalized and liberalized world, conservationists cannot rely on beleaguered state bureaucracies to defend isolated, protected areas of high biodiversity (Colchester 1998 b ). Strictly protected areas need to be implanted within much larger managed landscapes occupied by human beings who also care about the environment and the well-being of future generations. The actual relations between local communities and their natural environments are, of course, extremely diverse and vary not just between societies and over time but also between different localities. Indigenous peoples, as a polythetic and self-ascribed class of human societies, may be more respectful of their local environments than most societies, owing to their close ties with their ancestral lands, their common property management regimes, and their sense of holding lands in trust for future generations (Ostrom 1990; Kempf 1993; Western & Wright 1994; Kothari et al. 1996; Stevens 1997). Conservationists, whatever their misgivings about the abilities of indigenous peoples to manage their environments sustainably, have to start their interventions with the reality that exists on the ground (West & Brechin 1991). It is now recognized that as many as 85% of the world’s protected areas are inhabited by indigenous peoples (Alcorn 2000), and most remaining areas of tropical forests with high biodiversity are also owned or claimed by them (Weber et al. 2000). It makes more sense for conservationists to work with these peoples than to cast them into the role of environmental villains and expel them from their homelands. To choose the latter course is a sure route to social conflict and political instability (Colchester 1994; Ghimire & Pimbert 1997). There are other compelling reasons that conservationists should collaborate with indigenous peoples, not least because to do otherwise would be to violate international law. Indigenous peoples’ rights, inter alia , to the use, ownership, management, and control of their traditional lands and territories are recognized in International Labour Organisation Convention 169 (International Labour Organisation 1989). Their right to self-determination has been acknowledged by the United Nations Subcommittee on the Elimination of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities and the United Nations Human Rights Committee (Kambel & MacKay 1999). The Convention on Biological Diversity, signed into being in 1992 and now ratified by 171 countries, likewise emphasizes the need to protect customary use of biological resources. In 1994 the World Conservation Union (1994) revised its system of protected-area categories to allow others, including indigenous peoples and not just state agencies, to own and manage protected areas. The existing and emerging rights of indigenous peoples in international law have been endorsed by mainstream conservation organisations such as the WorldWide Fund for Nature (International) (1996) and the World Conservation Union (1997 a , 1997 b ). Recently, the World Commission on Protected Areas et al. (1999) published guidelines for recognizing indigenous rights in protected areas.

Arguing Tropical Forest Conservation: People versus Parks

As Terborgh (this issue) points out, the controversy that is the topic of this exchange is not parks. We all agree that nature reserves with minimal human influence are an important component of any conservation strategy in any country. Rather, the point of controversy is how best to achieve a much broader, more comprehensive conservation of nature in a region such as Amazonia, where four-fifths of the forest are still standing. In this setting, it is counterproductive to insist that the only nature worth preserving is pristine, with no human influence, as Terborgh (this issue) and Redford & Sanderson (this issue) seem to be saying. To pursue this narrow interpretation of nature conservation is to ignore the scale and timing of human threats to this forest. By the end of the 1997-1998 El Ninio episode, for example, 1.5 million km2 of Amazon forest-a third of the forest remaining in Amazonia-was desiccated to the point of flammability. Most of the forest didn't catch fire because it is far from the agricultural frontier. With the paving of >4000 km of highway into the core region of Amazonia, large-scale forest burning will follow, as will 100,000-180,000 km2 of additional deforestation (Instituto de Pesquisa Ambiental na Amazonia and Instituto Socioambiental 2000; Nepstad et al. 2000). This scale of threat to Amazonia and other large tropical forest formations must frame our approach to conservation. Even if, for the sake of ar-

Harnessing carbon markets for tropical forest conservation: towards a more realistic assessment

The proposed Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol paves the way for financial and technological transfers to support forestry projects that sequester carbon or protect carbon stocks. From its inception, the concept has been highly controversial. It has been enthusiastically supported by those who believe that conservation of tropical forests will be difficult unless forest owners and managers are compensated for the environmental services of their forests. Others believe that financial transfers supporting ‘carbon farming’ would ignore social concerns and the full range of goods and services of forests. This paper examines the implications of CDM for forest conservation and sustainable use, by drawing on recent literature and the results of a policy dialogue with CDM stakeholders. We conclude that initial estimates of the contribution tropical forestry could make to both climate change mitigation and to forest conservation need to be scaled down. CDM payments for tropical forestry are likely to be received in a far more limited area than initially expected. The cost-effectiveness of forestry projects relative to projects in the energy sector may have been overestimated. In particular few estimates have adequately accounted for the likelihood that the duration of CDM forestry projects is unlikely to be as long as the residency time of carbon in the atmosphere. Also political realities and investor priorities may not have been sufficiently understood. CDM funding for forestry may also decline in future as economically viable clean technologies are increasingly developed in the energy sector. Tropical forests are likely to be an intermediate climate change mitigation strategy for buying time, until more permanent options become available. The most important justification for including forests in CDM may lie in the contribution CDM could potentially make to forest conservation and sustainable use. An analysis of the implications of CDM for forests reveals the importance of involving forest stakeholders more closely in the CDM debate. To prevent perverse outcomes and reduce the risk of ‘leakage’ of emission reduction to areas outside project boundaries, CDM projects may need to be limited to niches which meet certain political and institutional preconditions and where sufficient understanding of local decision-making and the broader context is available. CDM may be more effective if used to remove non-economic impediments to forestry activities that are economically viable and meet local needs. Lessons from the forestry sector in relation to plantations, natural forest management, forest conser- vation and non-timber forest products are discussed to illustrate the dangers of misusing CDM and also to give examples of how CDM could be harnessed for better use of forests. CDM should be seen as one more tool for enhancing the effectiveness of more conventional ways of promoting forest conservation and sustainable use.

Macroeconomic Income Adjustment and Tropical Forest Conservation: A General Equilibrium Analysis of Malaysia

This article examines the loss in “metered” aggregate income that could occur if Malaysia surrendered the lumber value of its tropical forest resources to nonlumber uses. We estimate these losses under a variety of assumptions about what “business as usual” and “conservation” might entail. We also consider the sensitivity of income losses to variations in our model's parameter values and to some of its maintained hypothesis. In a context where lumber's initial contribution to aggregate income is around 2 percent, we estimate that a switch from lumber to nonlumber uses of tropical forests could cost up to 4 percent of baseline income. Of broader significance is the implication that the associated dynamic general equilibrium multipliers are consistently greater than unity, and often close to two in value. These large income multipliers are observed despite an assumed recovery of income through the reallocation of mobile factors initially employed in lumber activities, and an increase in returns to capital. In this study, a terms of trade deterioration, prompted by the loss of lumber foreign exchange revenue, accounts for about one-half of the total income losses we observe. For economies that rely to a greater extent than Malaysia on lumber foreign exchange revenue, these terms of trade-induced losses could be more important still. From a policy perspective, our results provide a benchmark against which the contingent valuations and other imputations of the monetary value of nonlumber use values of tropical forests may be gauged.

Organizing for Sustainable Development: Conservation Organizations and the Struggle to Protect Tropical Rain Forests in Esmeraldas, Ecuador

Abstract Specialists in tropical rain forest conservation have recently begun to suggest that forests facing imminent destruction in deforestation ‘hot spots’ can not be saved, and that conservation organizations would use their resources more effectively if they focused on preserving ‘cold spots’, remote places with intact rain forests. The advocates of the cold spot strategy contend that sustainable development efforts in deforestation ‘hot spots’ are ineffective. A case study of sustainable development in a rapidly deforesting region of coastal Ecuador questions this contention. Sustainable development in this region takes two organizational forms, one focused on the adoption of sustainable forestry techniques in a small set of villages and the other centered around the creation of a civic arena for discussing and resolving regional sustainable development issues. This two-pronged effort has achieved some success and may provide a model for sustainable development in places experiencing rapid tropical ...

Between Danger and Opportunity : Indonesia and Forests in an Era of Economic Crisis and Political Change

Policies aiming to improve the conservation and management of tropical forests are often based on the assumption of political and economic stability. Yet some of the most important changes in conditions affecting tropical forests can occur when the political and economic climate changes in an abrupt, unpredicted, and largely uncontrolled manner. This fact is illustrated through preliminary, largely media based documentation of changes underway in Indonesia. It is unclear, as yet, whether the effects of the sudden transformations on the forest sector in this country will be largely positive or negative.

Summit of Central African Heads of State on the Conservation and Sustainable Management of Tropical Forests: the Yaounde Declaration

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Carbon Sequestration and Conservation of Tropical Forests Under Uncertainty

Concern for global warming has focused attention on the role of tropical forests in the reduction of ambient CO2 levels and mitigation of climate change. Deforestation is a major land use change in the tropics, with forest resources undergoing degradation through the influence of logging and conversion to other uses. Land use change is a product of varied local and regional resource use policies. Management of forest resources is one such major temporal factor, influencing resource stability and the carbon pool. Under a given management policy, both the long period of forest growth, and the slow turnover and decay of the carbon pool, enhance the relevance of stand level management policies as cost‐effective mechanisms mitigating climate change. Apart from regional level uncertainties like the nature of land use and the estimation of carbon storage in vegetation and soil, the carbon flux of tropical forests is greatly influenced by uncertainty in regenerative capacity of forests and in harvest and management policies. A case study from India is used to develop a transition matrix model of natural forest management, and to explore the economic implications of maintaining and expanding existing carbon sinks. The study further explores the significance of investments in additional carbon sinks in plantation forests, given continued uncertainty in natural forest management.

Tropical forest conservation: an economic assessment of the alternatives in Latin America

Introduction: Responding to the Challenge of Habitat Destruction in Latin America 1. Deforestation in the American Tropics: The Regional and Global Stakes 2. The Causes of Excessive Habitat Destruction 3. Putting an End to Ecosystem Depletion 4. Harvesting of Non-Timber Products 5. Environmentally Sound Timber Production 6. Genetic Prospecting 7. Nature-Based Tourism 8. Another Approach to Habitat Conservation: Agricultural Intensification 9. Paying for Habitat Conservation and Investing in Human and Social Capital

Plant biodiversity and conservation of tropical semi-evergreen forest in the Shervarayan hills of Eastern Ghats, India

Species diversity, density, population structure and dispersion patterns of all trees and lianas (≥30cm gbh) were inventoried in a tropical semi-evergreen forest in the Shervarayan hills of Eastern Ghats, south India. Such data are necessary for ecosystem conservation of the under-studied Eastern Ghats, as extensive forests here have already been converted to coffee and orange plantations and the landscape changed due to aluminium ore mining and quarrying. Four 1-ha plots were established in Sanyasimalai (SM) reserve forest of the Shervarayan hills, one plot (SM1) located close to mining and quarrying area, two other contiguous plots (SM2 and SM3) located in selective felling area and the fourth (SM4) in a relatively undisturbed forest. These are 1 to 4km apart in the same semi-evergreen forest tract. In the four study plots a total of 3260 stems (mean density 815ha−1) covering 80 species in 71 genera and 44 plant families were recorded. Species richness was greatest in the undisturbed plot SM4 (50), while lowest (33) in the selectively felled site SM2. The forest stand (SM4) was also denser (986 stemsha−1) and more voluminous (basal area 44.3m2ha−1 as compared with the site mean of 35m2ha−1) than the other plots. Four trees, Chionanthus paniculata, Syzygium cumini, Canthium dicoccum and Ligustrum perrottetii dominated the stand, collectively contributing to >50% of the total density. Species richness and stand density decreased with increasing tree girths. The forest stand contained a growing population, but there was considerable variation in basal area distribution between the plots. Trends in species population structure varied, particularly for selective-felled species. Most species exhibited clumped dispersion of individuals both at 0.25ha and 1-ha scales. Variation in plant diversity and abundance are related to site attributes and human impacts.

Diversity and Conservation of Understory Birds in the Tilarán Mountains, Costa Rica

-Using data from 10,726 captures of birds in mist nets, we document the high alpha and beta diversity of the understory avifauna in the Tilaran mountains of north-central Costa Rica. We grouped the capture data from 20 sampling sites into five Holdridge life zones that represent a gradient in elevation and seasonality of precipitation. Despite the limited size of the study area (200 kM2) and the relatively small differences in elevation (700 to 1,700 m), major differences were found among each of the five life zones. We recorded a total of 235 species, with species richness increasing downslope on both the Pacific and Caribbean sides of the range. Rarefaction curves showed that the elevational zone of 650 to 750 m on the Caribbean side (Wet Premontane Transition Forest) was the most diverse per unit of mistnetting effort and that the Lower Montane Rain Forest on the continental divide (1,500 to 1,700 m) was the least diverse. Adjacent life zones had similarity indices ranging from 0.30 to 0.47; beta diversity for the region was 0.45. These measures are indicative of a high species turnover among our samples as delimited by Holdridge's life zone system, suggesting a concordance between the life zone system and the distribution of the region's diverse understory avifauna. Elevational migrants made up similar proportions of the avifauna in all five zones, whereas the diversity of long-distance migrants was inversely related to elevation. The distribution of species of conservation concern did not track the pattern of overall diversity. Our results provide several lessons for land managers and present a strong case for the need to preserve large areas with elevational diversity in mountainous regions of the tropics. Received 22 September 1997, accepted 2 April 1998. ALTHOUGH ORNITHOLOGISTS have long been aware of the rapid turnover of bird species across elevational gradients in the Neotropics, quantitative studies of fine-scale distributional patterns are available for very few geographic regions (Terborgh and Weske 1975). Such studies allow us to examine the faunistic composition of communities in different elevational habitats, turnover in species composition among habitats (or beta diversity, sensu Whittaker 1972), and to evaluate the conservation status and determine area requirements for conserving montane biodiversity. The ongoing and projected crisis status of tropical forest conservation demands that we gather this information as rapidly as possible (Diamond 1985, Stotz et al. 1996). 4Present address: Latin America and Caribbean Division, The Nature Conservancy, 1815 North Lynn Street, Arlington, Virginia 22209, USA. E-mail: byoung@tnc.org 5Present address: Monteverde Conservation League, Apartado 10581-1000, San Jose, Costa Rica. We compiled data from a series of mist-netting projects to produce estimates of bird diversity in the Monteverde reserve complex, a composite of private reserves in the Tilaran mountains of north-central Costa Rica. The reserve complex has a rich history of ornithological investigation over the last 25 years, but few studies have addressed the distribution of species across an elevational gradient (Young and McDonald 1998). Previous distributional studies of birds have focused on individual species or restricted guilds (Feinsinger 1977; Tramer 1979; Tramer and Kemp 1980, 1982; Stiles and Smith 1980). Treatments of the entire Monteverde avifauna are currently restricted to observation check-lists (Stiles 1983, Fogden 1993). Our goal was to use a compilation of capture data to describe and characterize the diversity and distribution of the understory avifauna between 700 and 1,700 m on both slopes and the crest of the Tilaran range. We analyzed the distributions of the entire understory avifauna and a subset that included only threatened spe-

Logging and Tropical Forest Conservation

The international community has experimented with a range of strategies to conserve biodiversity and curb tropical deforestation. But new logging investments in primary tropical forests, including those made in the name of sustainability, are likely to do more harm than good. Conservationists should instead focus on more investments in protected areas and creative ways to prevent the spread of logging in these rapidly-declining ecosystems.

New wine in an old skin: The reality of tropical moist forest conservation in Nigeria

This paper examines the most recent initiative in TMF conservation in the form of the Cross River National Park (CRNP) project. Against the background of general problems of environmental and resource conservation in Nigeria, and in specific terms, the poor record of previous TMF management and conservation, it is argued that the CRNP is a new wine in an old skin, and may not be making any meaningful difference in checking the extent and rates of TMF loss in Nigeria. Two fundamental challenges critical to the sustainability of the CRNP are discussed, namely, sustaining local community support and engendering institutional co-operation. The paper concludes that to succeed, new TMF conservation initiatives in Sub-Saharan Africa need to be built on a proper understanding and analysis of the wider context of environmental and resource conservation policy and the track record of their implementation.

Extraction of non-timber forest products from tropical rain forests. Does diversity come at a price?

Tropical rain forests are rich in plant and animal species. The sustainable extraction of non-timber forest products has been advocated as a strategy to best conserve this diversity. However, the development and implementation of such exploitation systems, which aim to reconcile conservation and economic development, are still hampered by the lack of information on the biological sustainability of these systems, the impact of these exploitation systems on the biological diversity and the insufficient knowledge of the role of forest products in the household economy of forest dependent people and hence their prospects for economic development. Whether the exploitation of non-timber forest products from tropical rain forests is sustainable or not is still open to question, but data presently available on the biological, social and economic aspects of these extraction systems point at an interesting question: does diversity come at a price? Namely, low density of conspecifics, and thus products, and hence low productivity for those involved in the collection of forest resources. The paper will further discuss whether domestication of forest species provides an alternative for some of these species. Species are part of a complex ecosystem and their functioning is partly depended on the presence of other species in the system. The attributes of the species which have to be taken into account in order to make domestication of forest species successful are considered. Finally, the paper returns to the question of how to reconcile conservation and use of tropical rain forests. It will present a case for domesticating the forest instead of the species or, in other words, changing the forest composition without changing its structure and functioning, and maintaining acceptable levels of biodiversity.

A new park in the Bolivian Gran Chaco – an advance in tropical dry forest conservation and community-based management

The Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Area was established in September 1995. At 3.44 million hectares it is one of South America's largest protected areas. The tropical dry forest of the Chaco, which this reserve protects, is Bolivia's most threatened major lowland habitat type. With the creation of this reserve the protected-area coverage of the Gran Chaco increased to 4.7 per cent. With at least 69 species of mammals (the Chiroptera have not yet been surveyed), it is one of the richest Neotropical sites for this taxonomic group. The Kaa-Iya park is being administered by the Izoceño-Guaraní Indian organization, the Capitanía del Alto y Bajo Izozog, and puts community-based conservation into practice. Threats to the park include encroachment by colonists, ranchers and farmers; the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline; and hunting.

A new park in the Bolivian Gran Chaco – an advance in tropical dry forest conservation and community-based management

The Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Area was established in September 1995. At 3.44 million hectares it is one of South America's largest protected areas. The tropical dry forest of the Chaco, which this reserve protects, is Bolivia's most threatened major lowland habitat type. With the creation of this reserve the protected-area coverage of the Gran Chaco increased to 4.7 per cent. With at least 69 species of mammals (the Chiroptera have not yet been surveyed), it is one of the richest Neotropical sites for this taxonomic group. The Kaa-Iya park is being administered by the Izoceño-Guaraní Indian organization, the Capitanía del Alto y Bajo Izozog, and puts community-based conservation into practice. Threats to the park include encroachment by colonists, ranchers and farmers; the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline; and hunting.

Population structure and genetic diversity in four tropical tree species in Costa Rica

Despite intensified interest in conservation of tropical forests, knowledge of the population genetics of tropical forest trees remains limited. We used random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) data to evaluate trends in genetic diversity and differentiation for four tropical tree species, Alchornea latifolia, Dendropanax arboreus, Inga thibaudiana and Protium glabrum. These species occur at contrasting population densities along an elevational gradient and we use RAPD and ecological data to examine natural levels of genetic diversity of each species, trends in genetic variability with population density and structure, genetic differentiation along the elevation gradient, and the relationship between genetic diversity and such factors as seed dispersal and pollination syndrome. At the distances we examined (plot distances ranging from 0.8 to 8.6 km) there was very little genetic structuring at any distance along the gradient. All four species exhibited levels of variation expected for spatial distribution, mating system and pollinator syndrome; greater than 96% of the genetic variation occurred within plots for Inga thibaudiana, Protium glabrum and Dendropanax arboreus. Alchornea latifolia only occurred in a single plot. The results of this study contribute to a growing database of genetic diversity data that can be utilized to make predictions about the effect of disturbance and subsequent reductions in population size on genetic variation and structure in tropical tree species.

Underpricing and Overexploitation of Tropical Forests

Abstract Forest pricing policies for tropical timber and forest concessions can play an important role in the management, conservation, and preservation of tropical forests. The paper draws on regional studies of forest revenue systems and forest concession arrangements, country case studies, and studies in individual countries of West and Central Africa and South East Asia (Grut, Gray, and Egli, 1991; Gray and Hadi, 1989; Gray and Hadi, 1990; and Gray, 1983). Forest pricing and concession management policies, problems, and experiences in individual countries are examined, common problems and experiences highlighted, and alternatives identified. From these, the elements of a forest pricing and concession management system which supports sustainable management, efficient utilization, and forest renewal are developed.

Technological advance and the conservation of resources

SUMMARY This paper reviews the nature of technological changes in forestry and the forest industries and their impacts on forest conservation and deforestation. While noting that technological changes have made available substantially more forest products to consumers, with higher quality and/or at lower prices than would otherwise have been possible, not all impacts have been positive. The authors take a long-term perspective of how changes in technologies, markets and transportation are likely to affect the management and conservation of tropical forests. The paper defines a research challenge to direct and harness science and innovation towards increasing the productivity of forests and reducing the environmental costs associated with forest industries and products.

International transfers, price uncertainty and tropical deforestation

ABSTRACTInternational transfers to developing countries are sometimes advocated on the ground that they contribute to tropical forest conservation. Here we demonstrate that the effectiveness (and attractiveness) of this instrument is reduced if the restrictive assumption of deterministic prices is relaxed. With stochastic prices, the steady-state forest stock in the absence of transfers is greater, implying that the marginal benefit of additional hectares conserved is less. In addition, the ‘wealth effect’ of transfers counteracts the ‘freeing-up effect’, which implies that per unit of subsidy fewer hectares of tropical forest are protected. Both effects reduce the attractiveness of transfers as a policy instrument for Western governments to combat tropical deforestation.