Problem Of Deforestation Research Articles

Forest biodiversity in Kordofan Region, Sudan: Effects of climate change, pests, disease and human activity

This study was conducted to assess forest biodiversity in the Sudanese Kordofan Region, identify threats, and suggest alleviation measures. The study revealed that Kordofan region encompasses diverse forestry species (more than 183 trees and shrub species) both indigenous and exotic. These species play a vital role in the economy of the region. They provide almost all the energy needs in terms of firewood and charcoal, timber for construction and building materials, foreign exchange from the sale of gum arabic and other gums and they serve as sources of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) for rural people. Furthermore, they are the key components for the sustainability of the traditional smallholder agricultural systems. Many biotic and abiotic factors threaten forestry biodiversity in Kordofan Region. The most important ones include: drought; soil related factors; fire; grazing; expansion of cultivation (traditional and mechanized); illicit woodcutting for timber and other domestic purposes; lack of awareness of deforestation problems; inadequate aforestation activities; inadequate forestry extension and; road construction. Genetic erosion has occurred in many parts of the natural Kordofan forest ranges. Measures and activities to restore, maintain, and enhance forest biodiversity in the region are suggested. High priority should be given to studies on changes of vegetation composition and extent of genetic erosion. Further effort should start by planning for the conservation of the priority species and the endangered ones and then implementation of conservation plans.

Environmental Journalism in Brazil’s Elusive Hotspots: The Legacy of Euclydes Da Cunha

Environmental journalism has recently made a comeback in Brazil after almost half a century of irrelevance, while the push for quick and wasteful economic development has overshadowed any competing political priorities. Its return to newspapers front pages and television prime time is confronting Brazilians with a reality they have long tried to ignore: the enormity of the deforestation problem in the Amazon region and of the depletion of crucial rivers throughout the country. No wonder environmental journalism was first greeted with suspicion when triggered by the 1992 Rio Conference on Environment and Development, as a foreign source of bad news undermining the local perception of Brazil as a bountiful and inexhaustible tropical paradise. A true national debate about conserving Brazil’s natural resources is still lacking. As this article shows, environmental journalists need to look back to the rich tradition of environmental journalism in Brazil decades ago, exemplified by no one better than Euclydes da Cunha in his masterpiece Os Sertões published in 1897.

The System Dynamics of Forest Cover in the Developing World: Researcher Versus Community Perspectives

Efforts to increase forest cover in the developing world will only succeed if the root causes of deforestation are addressed. Researchers designing reforestation initiatives tend to emphasize macro-level drivers of deforestation, about which they have extensive data and knowledge. On the other hand, local people have contextually based knowledge of forest cover dynamics in their region—about which external researchers may be largely ignorant. This type of perception gap between researchers and community members has led to many failed or insufficiently implemented projects. An emerging tool—group model-building with system dynamics—shows promise in its ability to integrate different perspectives on a complex problem such as forest cover loss. In this study, I use system dynamics modeling methodology to compare causal loop diagrams of forest cover dynamics on Negros Island, Philippines generated by researchers working for the World Wildlife Fund with causal loop diagrams generated by community members in upland Negros. The diagrams were significantly different, with very few variables in common, but both illuminate critical aspects of the deforestation problem on the island. I conclude that reforestation initiatives in the Philippines would benefit from incorporating all relevant information into a single, coherent model.

Biomass fuel burning and its implications: Deforestation and greenhouse gases emissions in Pakistan

Pakistan is facing problem of deforestation. Pakistan lost 14.7% of its forest habitat between 1990 and 2005 interval. This paper assesses the present forest wood consumption rate by 6000 brick kilns established in the country and its implications in terms of deforestation and emission of greenhouse gases. Information regarding consumption of forest wood by the brick kilns was collected during a manual survey of 180 brick kiln units conducted in eighteen provincial divisions of country. Considering annual emission contributions of three primary GHGs i.e., CO 2, CH 4 and N 2O, due to burning of forest wood in brick kiln units in Pakistan and using IPCC recommended GWP indices, the combined CO 2-equivalent has been estimated to be 533019 t y −1.

Deforestation: constructing problems and solutions on Sierra Leone's Freetown Peninsula

This article examines the issue of deforestation on Sierra Leone's Freetown Peninsula, specifically analysing the gap that exists between the rhetoric surrounding the problem of deforestation and the subsequent policies and projects that are implemented to address it. It is argued in this paper that this gap can be better understood by examining how different actors involved in policy and projects interact over the issue of deforestation. Such an examination reveals how these actors produce discourses of blame towards poorer, politically weaker groups, which ultimately results in deforestation 'solutions' that intervene into their lives. These prescriptions of blame and subsequent solutions for deforestation are negotiated through a combination of local realities, which includes the occurrence of deforestation, and global influences such as development discourses and interventions. The analysis here reflects a political ecology framework that also draws from post-structuralist insights and reveals how underlying discourses, actions and actors across a broad political, social and economic spectrum ultimately play a role in influencing the causes, perceptions and solutions relating to deforestation.Keywords: Deforestation, Political Ecology, Freetown, Discourses, Development, Sierra Leone, Africa

Political ecology: a synthesis and search for relevance to today’s ecosystems conservation and development

AbstractAfrica is facing problems of deforestation, desertification, loss of soil fertility, loss of wildlife habitats and biodiversity, and the deterioration of aquatic ecosystems and lack of accessible, good quality water. Governments have formulated policies, enacted legislation and established various institutions addressing these issues. African countries are yet to arrest the environmental problems they are facing, due to, among others, the ineffectual theoretical analysis of the problem of ecosystems degradation. This study argues for the adoption of the political ecological framework in the analysis of sociopolitical sources, conditions and ramifications of ecosystems change and also highlights the explanatory power of this conceptual framework as far as the explanation of the problem of ecosystems degradation is concerned, and shows how it can enable us deal with the multi‐layered causality rather than the symptoms of the problem of ecosystems change.

Depletion of forest resources in Sudan: Intervention options for optimal control

Agricultural expansion and over-cutting of trees for fuelwood are important causes of deforestation in arid and semi-arid countries such as Sudan. The consequence is increased desertification and high erosion and loss of soil nutrients leading to declining agricultural productivity. However, the social costs of the deforestation externality are not taken into account in present forest management and land use planning in Sudan leading to under-pricing and over-exploitation of the country's forest resources. This study evaluated the suitability of approaches commonly used by most forest resource management agencies for prediction of the state and control of harvesting of forest resources against alternative empirical simulation models using relevant information about economic behaviour of trading agents in the fuelwood market. Results showed the clear superiority of models integrating market behaviour over current approaches in the ability to better simulate real trends of wood consumption and hence depletion rates. The study also adopted an optimal control model to derive socially optimal forest harvesting regimes. The results showed that current rates of forest resource rent recovery and reforestation efforts are very far from optimal. Results also suggest that, in addition to optimal pricing and higher reforestation efforts, promotion and availability of fuel substitutes and investment in wood energy conversion efficiencies have a strong potential for curbing the problem of deforestation in Sudan.

Agricultural Explosion in Brazil: Exploring the Impacts of the Brazilian Agricultural Development over the Amazon

Agriculture has always been an important economic activity in Brazil and is now among the most dynamic sectors in the Brazilian economy. However, a lot of controversy has risen over the impact of such phenomenon on the Brazilian Amazon. This paper offers a critical overview of the literature on the expansion of the Brazilian agricultural frontier, demonstrating its impact on the degradation of the Amazon forest based on secondary data and institutional document sources. An overview of the historical development of the Brazilian Amazon basin is conducted by looking in a critical way at some implications of such a phenomenon. Rather then commenting on an empirical study, the objective of this paper is to present a theoretical analysis of the models of development adopted for the Amazon region in Brazil, showing the relative importance of different variables and factors to the depletion of that ecosystem. It is argued that although the figures show net benefit to the Brazilian economy, the prosperity which is advocated to be brought by the agricultural explosion favors mostly established elites and vested international interests, which have contributed to the degradation of the Amazon forest for a long time. It is suggested that the focus on Brazilian agricultural growth as the main driver of deforestation of the Amazon has omitted the historical links to the deforestation problem and the related role of effective international cooperation.

CREATION CARE: RELIGION AND ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION

American faith communities across the political spectrum are increasingly aware of the need for greater environmental stewardship. This is often expressed as a duty of “creation care” that stems from God's directive to humanity in the Genesis narrative. Five environmental priorities characterize recent efforts: the problems of climate change, toxic chemicals, species extinction, deforestation, and marine degradation. The overall trend appears to be toward greater religious support for serious environmental leadership by the U.S. government, but the next administration should be aware of distinctive patterns of religious engagement and differences between religious groups.

Modeling farm households for estimating the efficiency of policy instruments on sustainable land use in Haiti

Degradation of natural resources in Haiti has been a growing concern to foresters, environmentalists, and local populations. Various approaches based on “participatory”, “fines and taxes” and “command and control” regulations, have been unsuccessfully implemented to persuade farm households to adopt conservation measures. Negative impacts on the welfare of farmers limit the efficiency of these approaches for forest conservation. This paper investigates alternative solutions to the problem of deforestation of Haiti using linear programming (LP) models. More specifically, this study evaluates the role of various policy instruments on large-income farm households and low-income farm households’ welfare and forest conservation in Haiti. Data from 243 farmers inside the Forêt of the Forêt des Pins Reserve are used in the empirical analysis. Results suggest that agricultural subsidies tied to environmental conservation would promote a more sustainable resource use in Forêt des Pins Reserve.

Addressing global responsibility for conservation through cross-cultural collaboration: Kodama Forest, a forest of tree spirits

A commitment to conservation of a place is based on the sense of place expressed by its “conceptual community”, including those who are not its residents in the geographical sense, but who nonetheless identify with it for various reasons. With the global nature of environmental issues being clearly recognized, such communities form a “terrain of consciousness” (Berg and Dasmann 1978), extending responsibility for conservation across cultures, time and space. Although the social mobility and diversity brought about by today’s technology often work against the development of a sense of place, they also allow the formation of such conceptual communities, who can highlight local distinctiveness while at the same time positioning local issues in a global context, so generating a sense of global responsibility. In the case of Tasmania, Australia, recent international interest in its ecologically and culturally significant places, such as Recherche Bay and the Styx Valley, has intensified the focus on forest issues, building on Tasmania’s already well-recognized history of environmentalism. It is important that these issues be recognized in Japan in particular, where a rising awareness about climate change and mass consumerism has alerted the public to the problem of deforestation; however the fact that Tasmania is one of the major sources of woodchips for paper production is not widely known. Awareness by the consumer, it is argued, is a foundation for forming a sense of global responsibility and it is necessary to form a conceptual community of those committed to the same issue. Cross-cultural collaboration is therefore necessary, and creativity can be an effective facilitating agent for this. This paper illustrates this point, through the example of the Kodama Forest, a forest of tree spirits, in North East Tasmania, that arose from such a collaboration between a group of Japanese students and a local community group. The collaboration also facilitated meaningful learning opportunities for the students, who chose to study in Tasmania because of its natural environment. The forest now provides a cultural heritage that also defines the evolution of this conceptual community through on-going collaboration. The importance of human connection at all levels, local, regional and global, in promoting environmental sustainability is addressed through the example of this forest.

The appropriateness of CGE modelling in analysing the problem of deforestation

PurposeThe paper reviews recent developments in utilising computable general equilibrium (CGE) models to analyse forestry policies. The paper highlights the application of CGE modelling to deforestation and forestry issues.Design/methodology/approachThe analysis is carried out by comparing different CGE models available in the literature, which have analysed the economic consequences of deforestation and changes in forestry policies.FindingsThe use of CGE models in analysing forestry issues is still in its early stages. There is room for innovation and improvement in the various models used.Practical implicationsThe paper emphasises the relevance of general equilibrium analysis in the evaluation of both micro‐ and macro‐economic policies on forestry. It encourages researchers to use general equilibrium analysis in their study of environmental problems.Originality/valueThe paper highlights the contribution and possible benefits of utilising CGE models in analysing environmental problems such as deforestation, especially in the context of environment‐economics trade‐off.

Deforestation, Forest Transitions, and Institutions for Sustainability in Southeastern Mexico, 1900-2000

Abstract Research on tropical forest cover change processes identifies myriad driving forces and demonstrates how change dynamics are non-linear and complex. Despite appreciation in the academic literature for the historical patterns and processes of deforestation, however, a simplistic, linear 'deforestation narrative' persists in the popular imagination. Concern arises when this narrative influences environmental policy and effective response to the tropical deforestation problem. Our main goals here are twofold: (1) to contribute to a nuanced history of forest change in southeastern Mexico; and (2) to explore the role of institutional development in reducing deforestation rates. Drawing on forest transition theory, we analyse the twentieth century forest histories of the eastern Yucatan Peninsula, the southern Yucatan Peninsula, and the Lacandon Rainforest. A deforestation narrative rightly dominates characterisations of the 1960-85 period in southeastern Mexico, but it falls short of accurately representing the complex processes of deforestation, forest recovery, and the development of sustainability-oriented grassroots institutions in the 1985-2003 period.

THE COST OF IGNORING RULES: FOREST CONSERVATION AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD OUTCOMES IN MADAGASCAR

ABSTRACT In this article. I argue that the lack of attention paid to the rules affecting how resource users exploit and manage the forests on which their livelihood depends has hindered the promulgation of sound policies aimed at securing rural populations' livelihood and biodiversity conservation. Looking at how state and community rules are implemented at the community level in each of the four scenarios of a “win—lose” matrix. I suggest that to be successful conservation strategies, must integrate and use local communities' institutional capital as starling points. To appreciate the complexity of the deforestation problem, the institutional elements that merge with demographic and economic factors must be examined. This claim is relevant to the Madagascar cases examined in this analysis and, in all likelihood, to other parts of the world where issues of environmental and socio-economic degradation need to be addressed.

Deforestation in afforestation priority zone in Sudano-Sahelian Nigeria

Deforestation is a serious problem in Sudano-Sahelian Nigeria though afforestation is needed and appears to be a priority of government. Afforestation programme has failed primarily because of government’s (in)actions that appear to pitch government policies against its practices, differences between what the grassroots want and what governmental bodies with responsibility for afforestation can provide, financial constraints that have hamstrung field operations and operators. Also, people do not believe that government is serious about afforestation. The causes of deforestation include lack of effective alternative energy options for majority of people, high profit margins in the fuelwood economy and recent energy policies of government. The tyranny of the energy market discourages use of environmental knowledge in household energy policy decisions. Many households using alternative energy prior to the present condition of enduring energy scarcity have reverted to the use of fuelwood causing reversed energy transition and increased rates of deforestation. Solutions to the deforestation problem must be anchored in programmes that improve socioeconomic security of the poor, enable them to procure alternative (non-biomass) energy and lighten pressure on forest resources dependence for energy. Framing of macro-economic policies should give consideration to their implications for the poor and the natural environment.

Log export restrictions and trade policies in the Philippines: bane or blessing to sustainable forest management?

Since the 1990s, the Philippines has begun to adopt the tenets of sustainable forest management (SFM) with respect to the use and management of its forests. Consequently, government policies affecting the forestry sector have been evolving, to reflect the new forest management paradigm. Although the country's forest policies have been mostly economic-oriented, such policies are now directed at multiple goals including social and environmental goals, either through deliberate considerations or on an ad hoc basis. Most of the policies affecting the forestry sector have been implemented since the 1970s. Such policies include the partial ban on log exports as well as trade policies directed at the exportation of logs and lumber and the importation of pulp. In the 1970s, the forestry sector was notably 1 of the top 10 sectors with respect to export earnings, mainly from the exportation of raw logs. For a country concerned with addressing poverty and deforestation problems, these socio-economic contributions seemed invaluable. However, the negative effects of logging on the forest resource overshadowed the economic benefits derived from such activities. The forest resource base was greatly reduced; consequently, the government implemented a log export ban policy aimed at mitigating deforestation problems. This export ban was also directed at improving the efficiency and competitiveness of the wood processing industry. With the global adoption of SFM and the mounting pressure from lending institutions for policy reforms as instruments of growth and development, the issue is revisited to examine whether these Philippine government policies promote or discourage such multiple goals. This article discusses the repercussions of the log export ban and trade policies on the Philippine government's multiple targets for the economy and for the environment. Using an aggregation of the global trade analysis project model, a computable general equilibrium model, the impacts of these resources and trade policies are analysed.

Gujars in the Pakistani Hindu Kushhimalayas: Conflicts and Dilemmas about Lifestyles and Forest Use

Introduction For the past several decades forests in the entire Hindu Kush-Himalaya belt are under severe threat of overexploitation. The natural coniferous forests of the Hilkot watershed in the Pakistani Hindu Kush-Himalayas are no exception, and the impact of this threat can be felt in various ways. A complex relationship exists, here as elsewhere, between the forest and the user communities--notably their economies. The ever-increasing population of mountain communities, particularly those who are directly dependent on the forests, along with their growing needs for timber, firewood and fodder, have led to immense pressure on forests (Asghar 1984: 22-23). The user communities in Hilkot consist of various ethnic groups, most of which are hierarchically structured--structures which tend to hinder in finding solutions to the problems of deforestation. One of these communities is that of the Gujars, and this paper deals briefly with the conflicts that arise in the context of their use of the forest. The Gujars in the Mansehra District are often attributed a significant portion of blame for the destruction of the forests in this area. As cattle breeders and herders, their way of life is intimately connected to, and relevant for, the measures that must be taken towards forest conservation. Being poor and of a low social status, they are heavily dependent on the forests (Asghar 1984: 25), and since they also comprise a large percentage of the population, the community as a whole has a major impact on the forests. Thus, several questions need to be asked: which particular uses of the forest are associated with the Gujar way of life? to what extent are they dependent on these? and in which way do these conflict with other uses of these forests? Unfortunately, no studies have been carried out to date among the Gujars in this area. This report thus aims at providing some basic information about their economy, with special emphasis on the role of the forest in their lifestyle. The Distribution of the Gujars In Hilkot, as in the entire District of Mansehra, Gujars represent the largest ethnic group. Though little is known with any certainty about their origins, they have been said to be the original inhabitants of this area (Watson 1907: 62-24). It has also been suggested that they settled mainly in the Punjab at the beginning of sixth century (Ibbetson and Maclagan 1892: 112-13), and the similarities between their language, Gujri, and Punjabi indicate that their roots are in Punjab. Some place names in Punjab, such as Gujrat and Gujranwala, also appear to support this statement. In the seventh century, the Gujar probably began to settle in the mountain valleys in the northwest of the Indian subcontinent (Ibbetson and Maclagan 1982: 33-37). Today their mountain settlements extend from the Central Indian Himalayas (the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh) in the east to the Hindukush in the west. Gujar Economic Systems and Way of Life The Gujars largely practise seasonal and vertical nomadism, which has, however, evolved over time into several, partly overlapping, ways of life (Mohammad 1989: 126-27). Each of these overlapping sub-systems depends largely on cattle raising. Vertical nomadism is practised by most of the Gujars in this area. It is characterised by the mobility of the entire household, which spends the winter season in the foothills with their sheep, goats and buffalo herds and moves early in summer to the extensive alpine pastures between the Himalayas and the Hindukush. As opposed to such vertical nomadism, those Gujars who live in the valley bottom and own some land there, or work as tenants, practise a kind of transhumance. After sowing maize on their land, they leave their houses early in summer and shift to their banda--individual farms on the higher slopes that receive the monsoon rains (Fautz 1963: 123-29). Here they again sow some maize and herd their livestock in the forest. …

Institutional Constraints and Deforestation: An Application to Mexico

Following North (1990), this article hypothesizes that effective rural institutions may impose additional costs on tropical deforestation through agricultural conversion. This allows a formal agricultural household analysis of institutional constraints on deforestation and therefore a method of empirically testing whether there is any significant difference in the actual level of forest land conversion under institutional constraints compared to the level of conversion under pure open access. A dynamic panel analysis for agricultural planted area in Mexico at state level and over the 1960–85 period confirms that institutional constraints on land clearing affected deforestation during the pre‐NAFTA era.

Burning for zebu: The complexity of deforestation issues in western Madagascar

This study takes a human-geographical approach to examine the crucial problem of deforestation in Madagascar. Current land-use practices on the west coast threaten the survival of the dry primary forest, which exists in a delicate ecological balance under a climate bordering on aridity. A shifting-agriculture system, encouraged by government policy aimed at expanding crop cultivation, is the major factor contributing to the reduction of forested land. The forest is set on fire and the burns used to cultivate maize. After three years, yields drop dramatically, and people search for new areas of forest to clear. The practice is likely to lead to the complete disappearance of the western forests if nothing is done to change the current situation. The main practitioners are migrant Tandroy from the south of Madagascar. They migrate for reasons related to widespread local poverty and cultural practices linked to their reverence for cattle. They destroy the forests less for immediate survival than in order to gain possession of as many zebu as possible, which for them is the only way to acquire social status. Because Androy, their home region, is too poor to permit such acquisitions, migration to and deforestation of the western forest becomes an attractive alternative. The sale of maize to private exporters at a high price provides profits that can be used to buy cattle. This cultivation contributes little to food production in Madagascar, and the Tandroy , motivated by cultural considerations, stand at the base of a chain of exploitation that ends overseas. Agricultural and conservation policies in Madagascar currently do not address cultural and economic complexities such as these.

An estimate of forest cover extent and change in Jamaica using Landsat MSS data

Landsat Multispectral Scanner (MSS) data were used to derive an island-wide estimate of forest extent and change for Jamaica for the period 1987-1992. The study demonstrates how Landsat MSS data provide an invaluable resource for monitoring tropical forest change when, as in this study, a simple classification of forest versus non-forest is made. Using a broad definition of forest cover and a hybrid unsupervised/supervised classification, the study derived an average per annum island-wide deforestation rate of 3.9% for this period. This estimate was then compared to existing estimates for the island and its reasonabless argued for in view of the latter's limitations and the study's own accuracy assessment. By providing a broad snapshot of the rate of forest loss on the island, it is hoped that this study's country-wide estimate will highlight the severity of the deforestation problem to scientists and policy-makers, and will provide the basis for more detailed forest classification studies of the island.