Forest Livelihoods Research Articles

Trends in forest livelihoods research – Taking stock in 2024

Forests are increasingly prominent in global policy discussions. Conservation, sustainable management, and restoration of forests are widely understood as necessary to reach climate and biodiversity goals. This attention to forests is vital. However, it risks overshadowing or, worse, undermining the livelihoods and well-being of the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who live in or near forests, especially Indigenous Peoples and marginalized groups. New international commitments to plant trees and halt and reverse deforestation and degradation are intensifying demands on forests and other lands. What are the implications of these shifts for the rights, livelihoods, and wellbeing of those living in forest and tree-based landscapes? What new thinking and evidence exists to help advance knowledge and policy on this topic? And what do current dynamics suggest for future research? The articles in this Special Issue on “Trends in Forest Livelihoods Research” respond to these questions. This introduction contextualizes current research at the forest-livelihoods nexus and provides an overview of the 18 articles compiled in this volume. We identify three key themes and two cross-cutting social sustainability concerns that emerge from this collected work. We conclude by highlighting implications for forest-related policy that better supports local livelihoods and broader sustainable development goals, and by identifying pressing research needs.

Current trends in forestry research of Latin-America: an editorial overview of the Special Issue

Mendoza city (Argentina) hosted the VIII Latin American Forestry Congress (CONFLAT) and the V Forestry Congress of Argentina (CFA) in 2023, where relevant issues were addressed, such as climate change, degradation, reforestation, management and forest industry, monitoring, environmental services, social issues, and governance, among others. The objective of this Special Issue was to present the main advances in Forestry Science for Latin-America in the context of changing governance and forest livelihoods for people. The fifteen articles emphasize the interdisciplinary nature of the forest management and conservation, and that multiple variables must be considered to achieve sustainability. The articles come from studies across Southern South-America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay), and the collaboration of researchers of other countries (México, Canada, and Spain). Articles include research in tropical, Mediterranean and temperate Sub-Antarctic forests. Together, these articles provide a snapshot of new forestry research carried out locally and internationally to bring about beneficial ecological and environmental outcomes in a world facing the challenges of sustainable management and conservation amongst the threats and uncertainty of climate change and environmental degradation responsible for extensive loss of biodiversity and environmental services. We believe that this Special Issue will encourage more inter-disciplinary research focusing on management and conservation of forests.

Changing Livelihoods, Development, and Cultural Practices: Reshaping Forests Among the Tau Taa Vana People

The Tau Taa Vana people live in the Bulang Highlands, Tojo Una-Una, in Central Sulawesi Province. The region's development has shaped the marginalization of forest-dwelling and forest-adjacent communities. From the 1980s to the 1990s, illegal logging networks served as the power holders, backed by Indonesia’s authoritarian regime of that time. Illegal logging destroyed a large part of the Tau Taa Vana's sacred forest (pengale kapali). As part of the massive logging agenda, the government launched many legal programs that further isolated the Tau Taa Vana people from their land. The first program was transmigration in 1995-1998, which converted sacred forests into plantation areas and worker camps. Meanwhile, the Tau Taa Vana people were forced to relocate from their forest livelihoods (pengale lipu). In 2014, development shifted towards government-supported gold and nickel extraction identified in the Tau Taa Vana people's traditional regions. The government's planned material extraction of the region has forced the Tau Taa Vana people to adapt traditional environmental management systems. In the past, the forest had three main functions, as the source of food, medicine, and livelihoods. Nowadays, those functions are reduced drastically and the sacred forest with the Kaju Marangka'a region as the center has lost its cultural importance. Tau Taa Vana people today use the remaining forests as the center of their resistance movements and consider it as their last bastion for cultural preservation. In this regard, the role of traditional healers (tau valia) has become even more critical amidst the lack of traditional elders.

Community forest governance and synergies among carbon, biodiversity and livelihoods

Forest landscape restoration has emerged as a key strategy to sequester atmospheric carbon and conserve biodiversity while providing livelihood co-benefits for indigenous peoples and local communities. Using a dataset of 314 forest commons in human-dominated landscapes in 15 tropical countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, we examine the relationships among carbon sequestered in above-ground woody biomass, tree species richness and forest livelihoods. We find five distinct clusters of forest commons, with co-benefits and trade-offs on multiple dimensions. The presence of a formal community management association and local participation in rule-making are consistent predictors of multiple positive outcomes. These findings, drawn from a range of contexts globally, suggest that empowered local forest governance may support multiple objectives of forest restoration. Our analysis advances understanding of institutional aspects of restoration while underscoring the importance of analysing the interconnections among multiple forest benefits to inform effective interventions for multifunctional tropical forests.

Intergenerational perceptions of the collective action challenges facing Mexican community forests

Rural commons globally are facing environmental, demographic, and economic changes that challenge their sustainability. In addition, political and regulatory burdens can complicate the running of communal enterprises that provide income and livelihoods for community members, young and old. When these challenges combine with the cultural changes driven by globalization, youth in rural areas– especially those without access to land–may look outside of their communities for opportunities. The labor shortages and detachment from place that follow can undermine local capacities to manage communal lands for natural resource-based livelihoods. Researchers and NGOs that have studied and supported community-based resource management, including community forest enterprises (CFEs), argue that building community capacities and improving access to markets are necessary for forest commons to be sustainable. Yet, the role of young people in all of this remains understudied, including how their perceptions and motivations vis a vis forest livelihoods and work compare to those of older members who enjoy tenure rights and associated benefits. To help address this knowledge gap, we conducted semi-structured interviews with youth/young adults and older rights-holders in communities in different regions of Mexico with their own forestry enterprise, along with a small number of non-community members working in or supporting the country’s community forestry sector. We found that youth held a degree of attachment to traditional rural life, but perceived limited economic opportunities locally, low and unstable incomes, and few retirement benefits associated with forest work. This, along with the physical strain of land-based livelihoods, a lack of access to credit, processing delays for harvesting permits, and outdated logging equipment, contributed to diminished interest in the forestry sector and enhanced motivations to out-migrate. To cope with internal labor shortages, communities seek labor from afar, offering short-term contractual wages, and lease land and rights to outsiders. Such actions occur outside of federal commons law, suggesting that the regulatory context in Mexico is out of step with the emergent realities and needs of contemporary forest communities.

Property size and forest cover were key determinants of forest restoration in Southern Bahia in the Atlantic Forest of Brazil

Forest restoration has gained traction as a solution to mitigate climate change, contribute to biodiversity conservation, and support forest livelihoods. Yet there is limited evidence on the spatial locations where restoration is most likely to occur. In landscapes that primarily contain private properties, assessing the likelihood of restoration can be informed by understanding the enabling and limiting factors that have influenced property-level restoration in the past. In this paper, we tested the relationships between restoration, property size, and forest cover, for 8451 properties between 1985 and 2019 in Southern Bahia, Atlantic Forest, Brazil. We found that spatial property-level variables were strongly associated with restoration. First, we found that property size was positively correlated with the amount of restoration per property. Medium-sized properties (between 40 and 127 ha) accounted for the most restoration in aggregate. Second, we found that properties with less forest cover were associated with higher amounts of restoration. In addition, for properties larger than 20 ha, those with intermediate amounts of forest cover had high amounts of restoration. Third, we found that restoration was a spatial process that occurred in hotspots rather than randomly across the study landscape, indicating that restoration often occurred near to other restored properties. Understanding these relationships may assist restoration planners in making more informed estimates of the conditions that might enable future restoration. Given that restoration is a complex process that may require different approaches in different socio-environmental contexts, decision-makers may consider identifying and prioritizing properties of different sizes and with different amounts of forest cover depending on their specific priorities, landscape-level conditions, and restoration context. Our spatial analysis techniques assist in improving broader understanding of possible ways in which land use policy could prioritize for restoration at the property level and could later be applied to other socio-environmental tropical forest systems.

Centralized governance for food safety of non-timber forest products: Wild-simulated ginseng in the Republic of Korea

Global interest in non-timber forest products is increasing, owing to their contribution to the diversification of forest livelihoods. Wild-simulated ginseng (WSG) is a non-timber forest product that has received attention for promoting the livelihood of mountain villages and providing healthy foods in the Republic of Korea. The country's government policy for specializing the WSG with high commercial value was established and conducted according to the National Forest Plans. This study examined the policy changes for facilitating the WSG industry in the Republic of Korea for understanding innovation and governance of non-timber forest product industry, applying a policy arrangement approach with four dimensions; discourses, rules of the game, actors, and actors' resources or power. The results indicate that these four interconnected dimensions contributed to establishing and implementing policies for facilitating the WSG industry. The policy arrangement approach confirms two features in WSG industry policies; the transition of discourse of non-timber forest products from quantity-oriented to quality-oriented focusing on food safety and centralized governance mode. The innovative policy approach, focusing on food safety and governance mode, contributes to facilitating and revitalizing the non-timber forest product industry in the food market.

SURVIVAL AMIDST COVID-19 PANDEMIC: CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE FOREST TO THE LIVES OF THE FILIPINO

COVID 19 has brought significant damages to the lives of the people due to extremely long lockdowns and unemployment. Thus, leaving no choice to the residents but to depend their survival on what is available in the environment. This study was conducted to assess the contribution of the forests to the lives of the locals in Aurora through a survey on 161 respondents. Data were analyzed through descriptive statistics like frequency, mean, rank, and percentage. Results showed that 100% of the respondents depends on the forests for their food which includes fruits and vegetables in the wild and in their farms situated in the along and in the forest. Meanwhile, 116 individuals (72%) obtained livelihood from the forest in times of the pandemic in the form of labor, farming, selling of forest goods, charcoal making, and furniture making. Generally, the individual income obtained from forest livelihood ranged from Php500.00 to Php25,000.00 and an overall mean individual monthly income of Php4,084.19. Each type of livelihood activities provided a mean monthly income ranging from Php 4350 to Php 9021 per person. However, the respondents faced challenges such as loss of products due to theft, competition among those with the same livelihood due to limited number of consumers, and struggles concerning the health of the workers especially the elders, disabled, and other high-risk individuals to COVID-19. The government must consider providing needs (financial, technical, knowledge) to the locals in obtaining products and services from the forest for a sustainable utilization of the resources.

Forest Dwellers’ Dependence on Forest Resources in Semi-Arid Environments

Forests remain an important resource in Iran, as most of the livelihood activities of local communities, especially in the semi-arid environment of the Zagros forests, are dependent on forest resources. The aim of this study was to identify the type and extent of forest dependency. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used to collect data from 170 households in Central Zagros. Results show that using firewood for fuel and non-fuel uses, harvesting edible and medicinal plants, agriculture and horticulture, and livestock grazing were the main forest livelihood activities undertaken by the households in the study area. On average, each household harvested 18.08 cubic meters of oak per year for water heating (bathing), baking bread, heating, cooking, heating milk and buttermilk, agricultural tools, house building, warehouses and shelters, fencing, branches for livestock, charcoal and harvesting firewood for sale. Of rural households, 72% used edible plants, and 86% used medicinal plants. Age, job, residence status, number of livestock, crop farming and household size were found to be correlated with forest dependency. Findings from this study contribute broadly to an integrated understanding of the bio-human dimensions of forest ecosystems, with specific reference to the study area.

Community forestry in Cameroon: opportunity or constraint for REDD+?

PurposeThis study aims to identify opportunities and constraints of community forestry in the context of forest decentralization in Cameroon and what can be capitalized on for sound REDD+ design and implementation.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative approach to data collection was used through content analysis of 1994 forestry law, reports and publications related to decentralized forest management, community forestry and REDD+ in Cameroon. Principles that govern community forest and REDD+ were highlighted and opportunities and constraints of community forestry for REDD+ projects were discussed.FindingsCommunity forestry was developed principally to protect forests in order to support the subsistence and income-generating extractive activities of forest-dependent communities. Community forestry governance arrangements were not designed with the objective of achieving verifiable emissions reductions or carbon stock values. Hence, existing community forestry institutions may not address all the specific demands of REDD+ programs. However, existing community institutions and practices can be strengthened or modified to align better with climate change mitigation goals and to achieve REDD+ objectives in community forestry sites. On the other hand, REDD+ was developed principally to mitigate climate change by reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation principally within developing countries where the livelihoods of forest-dependent people are a central component of all forest management policies. However, despite fundamental differences between community forestry and REDD+, there is substantial synergy between their objectives, and the dual forest conservation and livelihood development focus of both programs means that policies that strengthen and support existing community forestry institutions and sites will advance REDD+ objectives. As such, REDD+ will likely to be more successful if it builds on lessons learned from community forestry.Originality/valueThis paper demonstrates how REDD+ is more likely to succeed if it builds on the lessons learned from community forestry over the past 20-plus years in Cameroon. It also discusses how REDD+ can benefit from community forestry and how some of the many challenges related to community forestry can be directly addressed by the REDD+ mechanism. Further, this paper also argues how the congruence between community forestry and REDD+ can effectively facilitate the direct use of community forestry as a tool to achieve REDD+ goals.

劳动力转移和森林管护水平对森林碳密度的影响——基于福建253个村的实证研究

PDF HTML阅读 XML下载 导出引用 引用提醒 劳动力转移和森林管护水平对森林碳密度的影响——基于福建253个村的实证研究 DOI: 10.5846/stxb202110172926 作者: 作者单位: 作者简介: 通讯作者: 中图分类号: 基金项目: 中央高校建设世界一流大学（学科）和特色发展引导专项（中国人民大学2022年） Effects of labor transfer and forest management on forest carbon density based on an empirical study of 253 villages in Fujian Province Author: Affiliation: Fund Project: 摘要 | 图/表 | 访问统计 | 参考文献 | 相似文献 | 引证文献 | 资源附件 | 文章评论 摘要:森林生态系统具有重要的固碳功能，有效的森林管理是提升碳密度的重要方式。随着农村劳动力转移，森林管护水平也随之变化，进而可能影响森林碳密度。为了厘清劳动力转移和森林管护水平对森林碳密度的作用机理，以提升森林碳密度。利用福建5县（区）253个村1999年与2009年的林业二类调查数据和入村调研数据，采用转换因子连续函数法评价了森林碳密度，再运用层次回归模型分析了劳动转移对森林碳密度的影响，并检验了森林管护水平对二者的中介作用。结果表明：（1）10年间森林碳密度普遍提升，但区域差异明显；空间上森林碳密度呈由南向北递增，提升率呈由南向北递减。（2）劳动力转移对森林碳密度有显著促进作用，而森林管护水平对森林碳密度有显著削弱作用，并对劳动力转移与森林碳密度之间的关系具有显著中介效应。（3）劳动力特征、采伐方式及森林自然禀赋等因素，主要通过生计依赖、生境状况和生物量对森林碳密度产生显著影响。据此提出：适当减少对森林的人为干扰，丰富林农生计来源，转变林业经营目标，科学采伐成熟和过熟林，保护天然起源林，丰富人工林树种等政策建议。 Abstract:Forest ecosystem has the function of carbon sequestration, and effective management is essential to increase its carbon density. However, as rural labor transferred, the level of forest management changed accordingly, which in turn affected the carbon density of forest ecosystem. It is necessary to clarify such influencing mechanism so as to maintain the high carbon density. Thus, based on the official forestry survey data and questionnaire survey data of 253 villages in five counties (districts) of Fujian Province from 1999 to 2009, this paper evaluated the forest carbon density by adopting the conversion factor continuous function method. Then hierarchical regression model was developed to analyze the effect of labor transfer on forest carbon density, and to verify the mediating effect of forest management. The results showed that:(1) The forest carbon density in the sample area generally showed an upward trend in the past 10 years, but presented significant regional differences in space. The forest carbon density increased from south to north, while the lifting rate decreased from south to north. (2) Forest carbon density is significantly promoted by the labor transfer and weakened by forest management, where forest management exerted a significant mediating effect on the relationship between labor transfer and forest carbon density. That is, the labor transfer can ultimately promote the increase of forest carbon density through weakening the level of forest management and reducing the human disturbance. (3) Factors including labor characteristics, harvesting methods and natural forest endowments have significant impacts on forest carbon density. Specifically, the higher the average age of the labor force engaged in forestry production in the village, the higher the forest carbon density. It is related to the reduced dependence on forest livelihoods as the workforce ages. The proportion of harvesting has a significant positive effect on the increase of forest carbon density, due to the benefits from appropriate harvesting to the stock volume and the regeneration of understory vegetation. Natural forest origin positively affects the carbon density, attributed to its abundance in tree species and better function of carbon sequestration. Single tree species negatively impact the forest carbon density, which conversely proves that richer forest tree species contribute to overall carbon density increase. To this end, suggestions are proposed as follows:appropriately reducing the artificial interference to forest ecosystem, enriching livelihood sources of foresters, transforming the objectives of forestry management, scientifically harvesting the mature and overripe forests, protecting natural origin forests, and enriching plantation tree species. 参考文献 相似文献 引证文献

English

Pterocarpus erinaceus Poir, a spontaneous species from Guinean savannahs of West Africa, functions as socio-economic and cultural livelihood in rural areas of Benin. This study improved the knowledge of people about the uses of P. erinaceus organs connected to the sociolinguistic diversity in Benin, intending to enhance the pathways of conservation and sustainable management of the species. A total of 506 respondents from nine big sociolinguistic groups were interviewed using a survey questionnaire. To show the diversity of the organs/parts used as well as the categories of uses, principal component analyzes were performed to matrices including the relative frequencies of citation grouping the socio-demographic factors and the categories of uses, together under the packages FactoMineR and factoextra. The results revealed the use of all P. erinaceus organs in various forms of use for various purposes and make it an important species of livelihood for the local people. Sixty-four diseases, symptoms, or pathologies are cured by using P. erinaceus organs. These various uses of P. erinaceus varied among the sociolinguistic groups. The results of the study suggest the need to define conservation strategies for the natural stands of P. erinaceus to ensure sustainable management of the species.   Key words: Forest livelihoods, traditional uses, ethnomedicinal knowledge, conservation, principal component analysis, West Africa.

What is the contribution of forest-related income to rural livelihood strategies in the Philippines' remaining forested landscapes?

Forest products have become scarce for local communities in the Philippines. After decades of severe deforestation, a net gain in forest area has only been observed in recent years for the first time. This paper seeks to broaden the understanding of forest livelihood relationships at the turning point of a forest transition trajectory. Based on 993 household surveys from 10 distinct research sites, we use Hierarchical Cluster Analysis to identify six distinct livelihood strategies (LS): remittances-based, livestock-based, crop farming-based, business-oriented, natural resource-based, and wage-based strategies. The highest number of households belongs to the wage-based cluster, which also shows the highest total income. Forest-related incomes only account for small shares of total income for the vast majority of households, although most households collect limited quantities of forest products for domestic use. Nevertheless, one cluster, which includes 12.4% of the sample, generates the largest shares of their income from extractive activities like harvesting forest products and fishing. The households relying most strongly on natural resources in our study sites are also the ones with the lowest total income. Our finding implies that future reforestation policies have to put a special focus on incorporating livelihood benefits for local communities. This should go beyond short-term payments for activities such as tree planting and enable the rural households to derive long-term impacts for human well-being and poverty alleviation. Because most of the forest products reported by our surveyed households were collected for domestic use, they did not contribute much to total household income. This indicates a potential for improving rural income, if forest-product value chains at the smallholder level are improved by future policy interventions.

Forest livelihoods and a “green recovery” from the COVID-19 pandemic: Insights and emerging research priorities from India

For those concerned with the future of forests, the COVID-19 pandemic has simultaneously offered cause for great concern, and renewed hope. On one hand, the pandemic is occurring at a time when forests are already under unprecedented pressures from climate change, amplifying concerns about unsustainable forest extraction in the name of economic recovery. On the other hand, however, the crisis has helped to gather momentum around the notion of a “green recovery,” including setting aside additional land for forest conservation. Drawing insights from past and ongoing research in India, we highlight an issue that exemplifies the tension between these two poles: the role of forests as social safety nets for rural communities in developing countries. It is well established that forests can provide critical resources for rural livelihoods, especially in times of crisis, and preliminary reports suggest that these resources have become even more important in the context of India's COVID lockdowns, and mass return migration from urban to rural areas. As the second wave of the pandemic continues to unfold in India, we highlight some key research priorities, including: 1) understanding how and to what extent forest-dependent communities and industries are changing their use of wood- and non-wood resources in the context of return migration and economic stress; 2) tracking shifts in forest cover, structure, and composition that may result from increased extractive pressures; 3) assessing the role of institutions, whether local, national, or international, in mediating these outcomes. Drawing on these observations, we suggest some key principles for integrating forest-based livelihoods into “green recovery,” founded on principles that articulate forests as complex and integrated social-ecological systems, prioritize equity, and build on past learnings of community-based forest management.

Indigenous forest livelihoods and bauxite mining: A case-study from northern Australia

Bauxite mining operations are increasingly sited on Indigenous-owned land, particularly in tropical areas, including northern Australia. The environmental impacts of bauxite mining are significant. Native vegetation, including commercially valuable forests, is cleared and typically windrowed and burnt. For many Indigenous Australians, mining of their land creates much concern about biocultural, community health and livelihood impacts from the loss of access to traditional lands and resources, and the ability to ‘care for country’. Improved pre-mining utilisation of forest resources and effective mine rehabilitation can mitigate some of these impacts and it is important to Indigenous communities that they are engaged in these processes. But Indigenous peoples' expectations are rarely considered or adequately addressed in site clearing activities or mine completion criteria, and there is limited guidance on how their expected outcomes can be monitored and evaluated for mine closure and relinquishment. This paper reports on a case-study of the Western Cape York Peninsula bauxite mining region in northern Australia. The paper reviews mine rehabilitation in the case-study region, including related Indigenous forest livelihoods initiatives, presents local Indigenous peoples' expectations for pre- and post-mining forest and landscape management as an integrated mining-community forestry ‘vision’, and discusses implications for mine completion criteria, mine closure and relinquishment. The findings highlight the need for Indigenous peoples' full and transparent free, prior and informed consent participation in all aspects of mine closure planning, and for further research to trial the development and assessment of mine completion criteria linked to local biocultural landscape restoration and Indigenous livelihoods. The findings can inform mining policymakers, regulators and industry professionals on the design, implementation and monitoring of mine completion criteria and associated pre- and post-mining management that will improve environmental outcomes and socio-cultural benefits for Indigenous communities impacted by mining.

Global Trends in Research on Wild-Simulated Ginseng: Quo Vadis?

To the best of our knowledge, no study has systematically reviewed and analyzed the research trends of wild-simulated ginseng (WSG) used for food or medicinal purposes in many countries. WSG, a non-timber forest product, has been traditionally produced using agroforestry practices, and it has been consumed in various ways for a long time. WSG has a great demand in the market due to its medicinal effects, particularly in improving forest livelihoods and human health. Due to the significance of WSG, we conducted this research to explore the global research trends on WSG using systematic review methodology and keyword analysis. We used two international academic databases, the Web of Science and SCOPUS, to extract 115 peer-reviewed articles published from 1982 to 2020. The research subjects, target countries, and keywords were analyzed. Our results indicate four categories of WSG research subjects, namely growth conditions, components, effects on humans/animals, and the environment of WSG, and the case studies were mainly from the Republic of Korea, China, and the USA. Through topic modelling, research keywords were classified into five groups, namely medicinal effects, metabolite analysis, genetic diversity, cultivation conditions, and bioactive compounds. We observed that the research focus on WSG changed from the biological properties and cultivation conditions of WSG to the precise identification and characterization of bioactive metabolites of WSG. This change indicates an increased academic interest in the value-added utilization of WSG.

Assessing Kambui Hills North Forest Reserve Community’s Participation in Forest Reserve Management and Sustainability in Kenema District, Eastern Sierra Leone

This paper explores Kambui Hills North Forest Reserve (KHNFR) community’s participation in forest management and sustainability in Kenema District as a case study. Crucial issues examined were the forest reserve management strategies used by forest communities, participation of stakeholders in forest sustainability and livelihood activities of forest communities in the KHNFR. For sampling technique, six (6) forest communities were randomly sampled. From the sampled communities, forty two (42) respondents were sampled from the study communities. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the field and focus group discussion guide. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Findings revealed that there was a Core Forest Management Plan operated by the communities and stakeholders but the District Forest Office (DFO) does not follow its prescriptions strictly. It also indicated that the involvement of forest communities in the management of KHNFR was very small and low income generating livelihood activities. It was therefore recommended that forest communities in the KHNFR should be provided with alternative livelihood sources so as to empower them play the role of co-managers of the forest reserve.

Equifinality in the Smallholder Slot: Cash Crop Development in the Brazilian Amazon and Indonesian Borneo

This article presents a comparative ethnography of the smallholder agroforestry projects of an international environmental organization. Migrant ranchers in Brazil sell cattle from private properties in a heavily-deforested landscape. Indigenous farmers in Indonesia rely on subsistence food production on customary lands in a heavily-forested landscape. Despite these differences, the projects identify both migrant ranchers and indigenous farmers as “smallholders” and prescribe cash crop agroforestry as the solution to both their predicaments. In the face of expanding ranches and plantations, this cash crop solution accepts the destruction of forest ecosystems and livelihoods as inevitable, funneling smallholders into market agroforestry in agro-industrial landscapes. This article strengthens the case for comparative ethnography and challenges discursive conflations and political-economic biases of prevailing sustainable development policies.

Forest-linked livelihoods in a globalized world.

Forests have re-taken centre stage in global conversations about sustainability, climate and biodiversity. Here, we use a horizon scanning approach to identify five large-scale trends that are likely to have substantial medium- and long-term effects on forests and forest livelihoods: forest megadisturbances; changing rural demographics; the rise of the middle-class in low- and middle-income countries; increased availability, access and use of digital technologies; and large-scale infrastructure development. These trends represent human and environmental processes that are exceptionally large in geographical extent and magnitude, and difficult to reverse. They are creating new agricultural and urban frontiers, changing existing rural landscapes and practices, opening spaces for novel conservation priorities and facilitating an unprecedented development of monitoring and evaluation platforms that can be used by local communities, civil society organizations, governments and international donors. Understanding these larger-scale dynamics is key to support not only the critical role of forests in meeting livelihood aspirations locally, but also a range of other sustainability challenges more globally. We argue that a better understanding of these trends and the identification of levers for change requires that the research community not only continue to build on case studies that have dominated research efforts so far, but place a greater emphasis on causality and causal mechanisms, and generate a deeper understanding of how local, national and international geographical scales interact.

Livelihood security of rural households in Northern Ghana: do forests matter?

The study was conducted to analyze and ascertain the relevance of forest to the livelihood security of rural households in Northern Ghana. Primary data were collected from 240 sampled rural households from forest fringe communities in the West Gonja District and non-forest fringe communities in the Central Gonja District. Household livelihood security was measured using six security indices. The study results revealed that forest matters significantly in terms of livelihood security, with the forest livelihood zone recording higher livelihood security than the non-forest livelihood zone. The study established using Welch’s t-test a statistically and significantly higher livelihood security in the forest zone than in the non-forest zone. It is recommended that household livelihood diversification, geographical location and sustainable forest resource management are critical for policies that are aimed at alleviating rural poverty and guaranteeing rural livelihood securities.