Deforestation Reduction Research Articles

Molecular and morphological phylogenetic analysis and taxonomic revision of the genus Orleanesia (Laeliinae, Epidendroideae, Orchidaceae)

In order to evaluate the monophyly of the genus Orleanesia (Orchidaceae) and to assess its position within Laeliinae, a phylogenetic analysis was performed using molecular (nuclear ITS and plastid matK DNA sequences) and morphological data. A taxonomic revision of Orleanesia was also performed, with a description of the genus and its species using fresh living plants and 115 exsiccates from 31 herbaria. All phylogenetic analyses were highly congruent, and thus the sequence data from all three data sets were combined. The resulting phylogeny corroborated the monophyly of Orleanesia, with two strongly supported clades, and confirmed Caularthron as its sister group. Character analysis was not very informative due to a high degree of homoplasy. Two lectotypifications and three new synonyms were proposed for the genus, thereby reducing the number of accepted species to six. Although none of the species of Orleanesia are considered endangered, it is clear that some populations are threatened with deforestation and habitat reduction.

Getting greener by going black: the effect of blacklisting municipalities on Amazon deforestation

AbstractIn 2008, the Brazilian government blacklisted municipalities in the Amazon to better target efforts to repress deforestation. Not only were law enforcement and monitoring activities intensified, but also economic sanctions and political pressures were imposed on those municipalities. We use a differences-in differences approach to compare deforestation reduction in blacklisted municipalities and non-blacklisted municipalities. We find that: (i) the blacklisting has significantly reduced deforestation; and (ii) this effect was primarily driven by the monitoring and law enforcement channel – there is no effect on agricultural production or credit concessions.

Competing or Complementary Strategies? Protecting Indigenous Rights and Paying to Conserve Forests

In 2007, the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) endorsed the Bali Action Plan to pay for reductions in tropical deforestation. While many saw these initiatives as complementary, others considered the Bali Action Plan a threat to indigenous peoples’ rights. This paper reviews the history of efforts to protect indigenous rights and to pay for conserving forests and analyzes how they might be competing or complementary strategies. It then presents country experiences that show indigenous peoples have achieved tangible political benefits in many countries and internationally by using their leverage over and participation in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation Plus (REDD+) negotiations. Nevertheless, these experiences also show that insisting on preconditions for REDD+ national performance payments may have inadvertently harmed indigenous peoples by contributing to delays in implementation. Today, the movements for indigenous rights and for slowing deforestation are inextricably entwined. Whereas critics fear implementation of REDD+ will harm indigenous peoples, it is the failure of REDD+ programs to influence national action to slow deforestation which represents the greater risk. In this way, the two movements face a common challenge to refocus attention on the national policies and actions that must change to protect both indigenous rights and tropical forests.

A cost-benefit analysis of livelihood, environmental and health benefits of a large scale water filter and cookstove distribution in Rwanda

Public health interventions targeting contaminated drinking water and indoor air pollution may help to reduce two of the leading causes of death among children under 5 in Rwanda - diarrhea and pneumonia. These interventions also have the potential to provide economic benefits, including reduction in expenditures on fuelwood and time spent on fuelwood collection, environmental benefits through reductions in deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, and additional economic benefits attributable to health impacts. We evaluate one such large scale intervention, the Tubeho Neza program in Western Rwanda using a cost-benefit analysis. This paper estimates monetized program benefits related to fuelwood savings, time savings, environmental and health benefits, which are then compared to the overall program cost, over a 5 year project year period. The total program cost is estimated at over $11.91 million, and total benefits at the means valued at over $66.67 million, for an estimated mean cost-benefit ratio of over 5.6. A sensitivity analysis of the major factors indicated a cost-benefit ratio range of approximately 1–16. The primary benefit identified is the environmental impact of woodfuel savings attributable to the improved cookstoves. This study estimates 118,000 tonnes of annual woodfuel savings in the Western Province may be attributable to the program in year 1, decreasing to 65,000 tonnes in year 5. These estimates suggest that this program may help to compensate for the government of Rwanda's projected regional woodfuel deficit of 106,000 tonnes per year by 2020. Overall, this study suggests that the Tubeho Neza program provides benefits in excess of the program costs.

Proximities and the role of relational networks in innovation: The case of the dairy industry in two villages of the “green municipality” of Paragominas in the Eastern Amazon

AbstractIn this paper, we seek to identify the dynamics of change and innovation at work in the agricultural sector of the Brazilian Amazon region, which operate in a context of environmental and technical pressure. We search for understanding how different innovative practices are implemented and how hybrid practices can develop through relationships between local actors who belong to different worlds. Our study focuses more specifically on dairy production in the Paragominas municipality, whose “green municipality” programme has led to an intensification of agricultural production and a significant reduction in deforestation, and where different forms of agriculture coexist. The dynamics of interaction are explored through an analysis of social networks, in which we examine, from empirical data, the structure of networks that facilitate interactions. Through an analysis of proximity relationships, we perform a detailed study of the spatial and non‐spatial determinants of these interactions. The paper first presents the study sites and analysis methods, then we provide a description of our results concerning innovation models, stakeholder networks and proximity relations.

PEMANASAN GLOBAL, SKEMA GLOBAL DAN IMPLIKASINYA BAGI INDONESIA

Indonesia has been the focus of much international attention over recent years due to its increasingly prominent role in creating greenhouse gas emissions. It has emerged the third highest carbon dioxide emitting country in the world after the United States and China. During the meeting of the 13th Conference of the Parties (COP-13) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Bali in 2007, Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing countries (REDD) emerged as a prominent component of any future efforts to mitigate climate change. REDD aims to stabilise the atmospheric concentration of CO2 at as low a level as possible through a system of financial reward for halting or slowing rates of deforestation. But in the reality, what is happen now is only about emission trading. Another concern with linking REDD to markets relates to the issue of national sovereignty over natural resources. Both at the national and community levels we may see a loss of autonomy over natural resources as third parties gain increasing influence over natural resource decisions. There is significant inconsistency between stated government aims regarding forest protection and official government policy. While the government publicly declares its intentions to effectively tackle climate change and reduce forest destruction, it just the last 12 months it has established a number of damaging regulations which seek to do just the opposite. And Finally, in February 2009, the Agriculture Ministry issued a decree allowing businesses to convert millions of hectares of peatlands into oil palm plantations. Opening up these peatland areas risks releasing huge amounts of CO2 into the atmosphere. The decree has been conditionally approved by the Environment Minister and is expected to go into force later this year. The decision is strangely at odds with the Agriculture Ministry’s previous position - in 2007 it released a letter asking governors to stop the conversion peatlands into oil palm plantations. This stark contradiction has led to claims that the government is attempting to satisfy powerful business interests in the lead up to the general election later this year.The Indonesian government’s commitment to real and meaningful reductions in deforestation must be seriously questioned when such glaring inconsistencies abound.

Neighborhood effects in the Brazilian Amazônia: Protected areas and deforestation

This article investigates whether protected areas are efficient instruments against deforestation in the Brazilian Amazônia. A Dynamic Spatial Durbin Model taking into account both the location bias and the spatial spillover effects between municipalities allows to assess the impact of the different types of protected areas (integral protected areas, sustainable protected areas and indigenous lands) on deforestation. We show that deforestation decisions are strategic complements. The econometric results differ according to the type of protected area. It is shown that: i) integral protected areas and indigenous lands allow for reducing deforestation; ii) sustainable use areas do not help to reduce deforestation; and iii) the spillover effects generated by integral protected areas and indigenous lands lead a reduction in deforestation in their vicinity. A 10% increase in the surface area of integral protected areas (indigenous lands) allows an estimated 9.32 sq. km (10.08 sq. km) of avoided deforestation.

Intensification in agriculture-forest frontiers: Land use responses to development and conservation policies in Brazil

Abstract Deforestation associated with agricultural expansion, particularly that of extensive cattle ranching, remains a pressing challenge for sustainable development and climate mitigation efforts in South America. In response to these challenges, national and local governments, as well as private and non-governmental actors, have developed new forest conservation governance mechanisms. In addition to reducing deforestation for agricultural expansion, it is hoped that these policies may lead to the intensification of existing agricultural regions, thereby contributing to global food availability and continued rural development. The objective of this study is to understand the timing and spatial patterns of crop and pasture intensification in agriculture-forest frontiers in the context of changing conservation policies and rural development. We focus on Mato Grosso, the largest soy and cattle producing state in Brazil, which spans the Cerrado and Amazon biomes and has experienced among the highest levels of deforestation for agricultural expansion globally. Using econometric analysis of remotely sensed and agricultural survey data, we find that cropland and pasture intensification are both linked to increasing forest conservation restrictions and broader supply chain development. However, the effect of conservation restrictions on intensification is lower in regions where there is more forest remaining. While crop and pasture area dynamics are often coupled in agriculture-forest frontiers, crop intensification does not appear to have contributed to pasture intensification through animal feed production. Intensification of crop and pasture areas was associated with temporary, immediate reductions in local deforestation, but crop intensification was associated with increased deforestation over longer time periods. These results suggest that targeted investments in supply chain infrastructure in the Amazon frontier could promote intensification and relieve pressure to clear forests, but must be coupled with substantial, long-term negative incentives for deforestation, including more effective public forest governance and private zero-deforestation commitments.

Effects of Brazil's Political Crisis on the Science Needed for Biodiversity Conservation

The effects of Brazil´s political crisis on biodiversity conservation are likely to be global. Brazil is not only the World´s most biodiverse nation, it is responsible for the greater part of the Amazon forest, which regulates the climate and provides rain to much of southern South America. Brazil was a World leader in satellite monitoring of land-use change, in-situ biodiversity monitoring, reduction in tropical-forest deforestation, protection of indigenous lands, and a model for other developing nations. Coordinated public responses will be necessary to prevent special-interest groups from using the political crisis to weaken environmental legislation and law enforcement.

Property-level direct and indirect deforestation for soybean production in the Amazon region of Mato Grosso, Brazil

Brazil’s Soy Moratorium solidified the world’s largest traders’ commitment to stop soybean purchases from production areas deforested after July 2006. The aim was to remove deforestation from the soybean supply-chain and halt one of the main drivers of forest loss in the Amazon biome. In this study, we investigated changes in deforestation at the property-level for the period 2004 to 2014. The objective was to examine direct and indirect deforestation, defined as on-property displacement and cross-parcel displacement deforestation for soybean expansion in the Amazon region of Mato Grosso, the leading soy-producing state of the Brazilian Amazon. We used publicly available property and land use data to quantify deforestation associated with cropland expansion. Similar to previous studies, we found that direct deforestation for soybean expansion declined following the implementation of the Soy Moratorium. Moreover, our analysis suggest that indirect deforestation occurred already before the implementation of the Soy Moratorium, and decreased following the first period of analyses. However, slight increases of indirect deforestation in the more recent periods, combined with decreasing direct deforestations rendered indirect deforestation to be responsible for more than half of the deforestation associated with soybean expansion. While we acknowledge the overall reduction of deforestation for soybean, our results suggest, given the increasing trends of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon since 2013, to address indirect deforestation within the Soy Moratorium. This may be achieved by zero-property-deforestation commitments and by strengthening the integration between supply-chain actors, the soybean and beef purchasing companies and the federal policies aiming to control deforestation.

Impacts of Carbon Pricing on Brazilian Industry: Domestic Vulnerability and International Trade Exposure

After COP 21, with the adoption of the Paris Agreement in December 2015, the outlook for carbon pricing policies has been widened. While the agreement does not directly establish a global carbon pricing, the provisions accounted for in Article 6 have the potential to increase international cooperation in favor of greenhouse gas (GHG) mitigation through market mechanisms. The Brazilian Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) considers the use of such mechanisms, though the configuration of the Brazilian climate policy does not specify the economic instruments for carbon pricing. When examining the recent evolution of GHG emissions in Brazil, the already achieved reduction in deforestation sheds light on the need to address GHG mitigation in other sectors, such as industry. Therefore, this paper analyzes the impacts of carbon pricing on the Brazilian industry in terms of sectorial value added (VA), emissions intensity, international trade exposure, and the risk of carbon leakage. Results indicate that, considering a price of carbon of US$10/tCO2, the cost of reducing emissions from 35% to 45% (same range of the Brazilian NDC) could represent an impact of 0.3% to 3.7% on sectorial VA. However, results for emissions intensity and international trade reveal medium to high carbon leakage risks for all analyzed industrial sectors.

Measuring from Space the Efficiency of Local Forest Management: The Successful Case of the Indigenous Community of Cherán, Mexico

Remote sensing-based forest cover change maps are usually elaborated for national level baseline information towards environmental conservation schemes. Community forest management is acknowledged as a key component of sustainable use of natural resources. In this research, we provide a means of technological appropriation for the community of Cherán, state of Michoacán, Mexico, to complement their local forest management initiative since 2012, after severe illegal logging occurred all along the previous decade. Participatory mapping, collaborative online cartography and global forest cover products were shared with the Community Council of the Commons. The environmental effect of the governance change occurred in 2012 was assessed using the Global Forest Cover Change (GFCC) product from 2000 to 2016. We find a significant reduction of deforestation in Cherán, due to local empowerment, which contrasts with overall trend in the region. We discuss the potential benefits of an alliance between communities and the academy through the construction of decentralized spatial data infrastructures in Mexico.

Deforestation as an indicator of environmental degradation: Analysis of five European countries

This study explores the validity of the Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis for deforestation in France, Germany, Greece, Portugal and Turkey. The autoregressive distributed lag bounds testing approach was applied on time-series data over the period 1974–2013. Deforestation is considered an indicator of environmental degradation for its relevance as a global environmental concern, being agriculture expansion one of its main causes. Nonetheless, Europe has achieved an expansion of its forest region through policies that have promoted the use of technology in the agricultural sector. The results of long-run coefficients suggest an inverted U-shaped relationship between deforestation and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita in France, Germany, Portugal and Turkey, which supports the EKC hypothesis. Based on the empirical results, we conclude that an increment in agricultural exports does not contribute to an increment in deforestation. Recommendations regarding public policies derive from the analysis of the Granger causality test. For example, deforestation reduction and investment on deforestation reduction will not hurt economic growth in all countries except Greece.

Oil palm land conversion in Pará, Brazil, from 2006–2014: evaluating the 2010 Brazilian Sustainable Palm Oil Production Program

Global models of biophysical suitability for oil palm consistently rank Brazil as having the greatest potential for expansion, with estimates as high as 238 Mha of suitable lands. In 2010, Brazil launched the Sustainable Palm Oil Production Program (SPOPP) to incentivize oil palm development without deforestation on as much as 30 Mha. Here we examine oil palm expansion before and after the SPOPP’s launch. In Pará, the major oil palm producing state in Brazil, we analyze the extent and change in oil palm cultivation from 2006−2014 using satellite imagery, ground-truthed verification, site-based interviews, and rural environmental (land) registration data. Between 2006−2014, oil palm area (≥9 ha) expanded >200% to ~219 000 ha. Of the ~148 000 ha of oil palm developed, ~91% converted pasturelands while ~8% replaced natural vegetation, including intact and secondary forests. Although >80% of all oil palm parcels rest <0.5 km from intact forests, direct conversion of intact forests declined from ~4% pre-SPOPP (2006−2010) to <1% post-SPOPP (2010−2014).Despite low and declining deforestation rates associated with oil palm expansion in Pará, our results also show a low area of oil palm development overall compared with reported land suitability. To explore potential contributing factors, we conducted semi-structured interviews with researchers, company representatives, and government officials involved in the sector to characterize the perceived factors influencing oil palm development and the role of agro-ecological suitability mapping among them. Interviews indicated that: (1) individual effects of suitability mapping efforts to encourage oil palm expansion on cleared areas, i.e. without deforestation, cannot be disentangled from pre-existing public and private deforestation reduction initiatives; and, (2) socio-economic constraints, e.g. high relative production costs and limited familiarity with this crop, appear to partially explain the major discrepancy between estimated potential suitable areas with realized oil palm development.

Drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in Vietnam: An exploratory analysis at the national level

Climate change is a pressing global issue and it negatively affects many developing countries, including Vietnam. To help Vietnam effectively respond to this pressing challenge, the country has recently introduced a major program for reducing carbon emissions arising from deforestation and forest degradation, fostering conservation, managing forests sustainably, and enhancing forest carbon stocks (REDD+). Current policies in Vietnam provide a sound platform for the development of REDD+, and REDD+ can potentially greatly contribute to the reduction of deforestation and forest degradation. However, these policies and the REDD+ program are hindered by limited understanding of the extent of deforestation and forest degradation and their underlying causes. This study employed geographic information system (GIS) tools, a structural regression model (structural model), and a regression tree method to quantify the extent as well as the approximate causes of deforestation and forest degradation in Vietnam. Results show that around 1.77 and 0.65 million ha of forests were lost and degraded, respectively, between 2000 and 2010. Deforestation and forest degradation were most notable in the north central, northeast, central highland, and northwest areas of the nation. There were several underlying indicators of deforestation and forest degradation including initial forest cover, per capita income, agricultural production, governance, population growth, food, and poverty. Our results illustrate several important policy implications for forest restoration and the REDD+ program in Vietnam: Vietnam should focus most strongly on reducing poverty, preserving existing forests, improving provincial-level governance, and controlling population growth.

The role of supply-chain initiatives in reducing deforestation

A major reduction in global deforestation is needed to mitigate climate change and biodiversity loss. Recent private sector commitments aim to eliminate deforestation from a company’s operations or supply chain, but they fall short on several fronts. Company pledges vary in the degree to which they include time-bound interventions with clear definitions and criteria to achieve verifiable outcomes. Zero-deforestation policies by companies may be insufficient to achieve broader impact on their own due to leakage, lack of transparency and traceability, selective adoption and smallholder marginalization. Public–private policy mixes are needed to increase the effectiveness of supply-chain initiatives that aim to reduce deforestation. We review current supply-chain initiatives, their effectiveness, and the challenges they face, and go on to identify knowledge gaps for complementary public–private policies.

Optimal Contracts for Discouraging Deforestation with Risk Averse Agents

There is an emerging consensus that carbon emissions must be limited. An attractive approach to promoting carbon reductions is to encourage reductions in deforestation. But any such strategy must confront a basic problem: agents that might be induced to reduce their actions which would reduce forests have private information about their opportunity costs. This concern seems particularly likely to apply in situations where there are significant related risks, as agents seem highly likely to differ in their tolerance for risk. In this paper, I investigate a contracting scheme designed to mitigate the asymmetric information problem where agents are heterogeneous in their tolerance for risk. Mechanisms that recognize the potential insurance value associated with the acquisition of sequestration services, and that pay attention to landholders’ private information about risk tolerance, offer a sensible way to approach the problem. These contracts are generally a cheaper approach to maintenance of forests than a simple, constant per-unit subsidy.

Amazon Deforestation in Brazil: What Has Not Happened and How the Global Media Covered It

There has been no further change in the deforestation rate in the Brazilian Amazon since our 2013 article in Tropical Conservation Science on the dramatic reduction in deforestation in the late 2000s. This lack of change was actually a remarkable occurrence because deforestation remained stable during a period of major economic recession and great political turbulence at the national level. Coverage of Brazilian Amazon deforestation in the global media during this period was misleading, emphasizing short-term increases in deforestation and erroneously presenting them as “balancing” the earlier dramatic reduction. However, the steady level of deforestation during this period does represent a political failure in which national political leaders did not achieve—or even try to achieve—the eminently feasible goal of zero deforestation.

Priorização de municípios para prevenção, monitoramento e controle de desmatamento na Amazônia: uma contribuição à avaliação do Plano de Ação para a Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia Legal (PPCDAm)

Após mais de uma década de redução do desmatamento na Amazônia – relacionada a um conjunto de esforços públicos e da sociedade, destacando-se o Plano de Ação para Prevenção e Controle do Desmatamento na Amazônia Legal (PPCDAm) – esta trajetória passa a apresentar sinais de crescimento. Assim, é importante avaliar os resultados das políticas públicas responsáveis pela redução do desmatamento, permitindo focalizar e adaptar aquelas que lograram êxito. Umas das políticas relevantes no âmbito do PPCDAm, que trouxe implicações para a gestão ambiental compartilhada, é a priorização de municípios para focalização de ações relativas à prevenção, monitoramento e controle de desmatamento no Bioma Amazônia, instituída pelo Decreto Nº 6.321/2007. O presente trabalho, de caráter interdisciplinar, busca avaliar os resultados desta política. Foi realizada pesquisa de caráter qualitativo e quantitativo abrangendo (i) pesquisa bibliográfica em documentos oficiais e literatura disponível e (ii) análise do desmatamento municipal. Verificou-se que a política teve resultados mais significativos na redução do desmatamento nos seus primeiros anos, tendo influenciado a criação de políticas de regularização ambiental e de incentivo à governança ambiental local. Entretanto, com o passar dos anos, a política deixa de apresentar eficácia. Este desempenho parece relacionar-se com a redução das ações executadas e com a demora na atualização da lista de municípios priorizados. O atual contexto demanda um esforço de reformulação da política. A atualização da lista em 2017 traz perspectivas positivas, podendo denotar um esforço de se retomar a execução da política, com a revisão dos seus incentivos e aumento de sua efetividade.

Effect of oil palm sustainability certification on deforestation and fire in Indonesia

Many major corporations and countries have made commitments to purchase or produce only "sustainable" palm oil, a commodity responsible for substantial tropical forest loss. Sustainability certification is the tool most used to fulfill these procurement policies, and around 20% of global palm oil production was certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) in 2017. However, the effect of certification on deforestation in oil palm plantations remains unclear. Here, we use a comprehensive dataset of RSPO-certified and noncertified oil palm plantations (∼188,000 km2) in Indonesia, the leading producer of palm oil, as well as annual remotely sensed metrics of tree cover loss and fire occurrence, to evaluate the impact of certification on deforestation and fire from 2001 to 2015. While forest loss and fire continued after RSPO certification, certified palm oil was associated with reduced deforestation. Certification lowered deforestation by 33% from a counterfactual of 9.8 to 6.6% y-1 Nevertheless, most plantations contained little residual forest when they received certification. As a result, by 2015, certified areas held less than 1% of forests remaining within Indonesian oil palm plantations. Moreover, certification had no causal impact on forest loss in peatlands or active fire detection rates. Broader adoption of certification in forested regions, strict requirements to avoid all peat, and routine monitoring of clearly defined forest cover loss in certified and RSPO member-held plantations appear necessary if the RSPO is to yield conservation and climate benefits from reductions in tropical deforestation.