Zero Deforestation Research Articles

Zero Deforestation Agreement Assessment at Farm Level in Colombia Using ALOS PALSAR

Due to the fast deforestation rates in the tropics, multiple international efforts have been launched to reduce deforestation and develop consistent methodologies to assess forest extension and change. Since 2010 Colombia implemented the Mainstream Sustainable Cattle Ranching project with the participation of small farmers in a payment for environmental services (PES) scheme where zero deforestation agreements are signed. To assess the fulfillment of such agreements at farm level, ALOS-1 and ALOS-2 PALSAR fine beam dual imagery for years 2010 and 2016 was processed with ad-hoc routines to estimate stable forest, deforestation, and stable nonforest extension for 2615 participant farms in five heterogeneous regions of Colombia. Landsat VNIR imagery was integrated in the processing chain to reduce classification uncertainties due to radar limitations. Farms associated with Meta Foothills regions showed zero deforestation during the period analyzed (2010–2016), while other regions showed low deforestation rates with the exception of the Cesar River Valley (75 ha). Results, suggests that topography and dry weather conditions have an effect on radar-based mapping accuracy, i.e., deforestation and forest classes showed lower user accuracy values on mountainous and dry regions revealing overestimations in these environments. Nevertheless, overall ALOS Phased Array L-band SAR (PALSAR) data provided overall accurate, relevant, and consistent information for forest change analysis for local zero deforestation agreements assessment. Improvements to preprocessing routines and integration of high dense radar time series should be further investigated to reduce classification errors from complex topography conditions.

Applying a systems approach to assess carbon emission reductions from climate change mitigation in Mexico’s forest sector

The Paris Agreement of the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change calls for a balance of anthropogenic greenhouse emissions and removals in the latter part of this century. Mexico indicated in its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution and its Climate Change Mid-Century Strategy that the land sector will contribute to meeting GHG emission reduction goals. Since 2012, the Mexican government through its National Forestry Commission, with international financial and technical support, has been developing carbon dynamics models to explore climate change mitigation options in the forest sector. Following a systems approach, here we assess the biophysical mitigation potential of forest ecosystems, harvested wood products and their substitution benefits (i.e. the change in emissions resulting from substitution of wood for more emissions-intensive products and fossil fuels), for policy alternatives considered by the Mexican government, such as a net zero deforestation rate and sustainable forest management. We used available analytical frameworks (Carbon Budget Model of the Canadian Forest Sector and a harvested wood products model), parameterized with local input data in two contrasting Mexican states. Using information from the National Forest Monitoring System (e.g. forest inventories, remote sensing, disturbance data), we demonstrate that activities aimed at reaching a net-zero deforestation rate can yield significant CO2e mitigation benefits by 2030 and 2050 relative to a baseline scenario (‘business as usual’), but if combined with increasing forest harvest to produce long-lived products and substitute more energy-intensive materials, emissions reductions could also provide other co-benefits (e.g. jobs, illegal logging reduction). We concluded that the relative impact of mitigation activities is locally dependent, suggesting that mitigation strategies should be designed and implemented at sub-national scales. We were also encouraged about the ability of the modeling framework to effectively use Mexico’s data, and showed the need to include multiple sectors and types of collaborators (scientific and policy-maker communities) to design more comprehensive portfolios for climate change mitigation.

Forest conservation effects of Brazil's zero deforestation cattle agreements undermined by leakage

Abstract Supply chain interventions, which include certification schemes and zero-deforestation commitments that aim to produce environmentally and socially beneficial outcomes, are increasingly common, but evidence of their efficacy is scarce. We quantified avoided deforestation from Brazil's zero-deforestation cattle agreements by exploiting variation in the policy's rollout and the acquisition of slaughterhouses by the agreements’ signatories from 2007 to 2015 in the Amazonian states of Mato Grosso and Para. We found no average impact of the agreements on forest cover in the regions surrounding signatory slaughterhouses by the end of 2014. Our results show avoided deforestation of about 6% from the agreements on properties that enrolled early in the rural environmental land registry. However, forest loss increased commensurately on those properties that registered later, thus washing out the positive conservation effects from the early registrants. Our results also highlight that slaughterhouses bought plants in regions with higher deforestation both before and after the agreement, suggesting that companies are not avoiding these important hotspots. We conclude that the agreements have led to some avoided deforestation on registered properties, whose boundaries are transparent and publicly accessible, but that more robust reductions in deforestation will require additional action. The agreements could be made more effective by expanding monitoring to include all properties in the supply chain, as well as ensuring that all slaughterhouses monitor.

Towards zero deforestation and forest restoration in the Amazon region of Maranhão state, Brazil

The Amazon forest in the state of Maranhão ensures ecosystem services that directly and indirectly affect the life quality of its population and economy, via hydrologic and climatic regulation, among other benefits. Currently, only 25% of the original forest cover (24.7 thousand km2) remains while illegal deforestation persists in a violent process that provokes visible social, economic and environmental harm. Simultaneously, Maranhão has seen record levels of burning, faces a water shortage and fights against the worst social and economic indicators in the country. Conversely, secondary vegetation covers 19.9 thousand km2 (27% of deforested area) and is completely unprotected. Contrary to the international commitments assumed by Brazil to combat deforestation and restore forests, some of the political representatives of Maranhão have sought legal mechanisms to further diminish forest cover in public and private areas. To promote the conservation and restoration of Maranhão Amazon Forest, a multi-institutional network of researchers was established in 2015. This viewpoint paper aims to draw attention to this endangered region of the Brazilian Amazon and give science-oriented recommendations to policy makers in order to avoid more setbacks. We argue that Maranhão state must urgently establish a policy of Zero Deforestation, protect secondary forests and comply with the national forest restoration policy, thus ensuring long-term economic sustainability.

Dispatches

Dispatches

What Does Zero Deforestation Mean?

Ambiguous definitions and metrics create risks for forest conservation and accountability.

Asia Pulp & Paper Aims for Higher Standards of Sustainability with a Zero Deforestation Policy

Asia Pulp & Paper Aims for Higher Standards of Sustainability with a Zero Deforestation Policy

Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) in Apuí, Southern Amazonas: Challenges and Caveats Related to Land Tenure and Governance in the Brazilian Amazon

Climate change mitigation mechanisms related to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) may provide significant opportunities for re-arranging political networks and overcome forest governance problems, of which land tenure is the main constraint for REDD and reforestation projects in the Amazon. We present a case study of a pilot REDD project associated with reforestation and payment for environmental services in Apuí, southern Amazonas. The study emphasizes the role of local governance through an agreement aimed at re-orienting land use activities and forest management. We also present the technical, methodological, and cost-benefit studies behind the proposed framework. For instance, we found that cattle raising profitability in Apuí offers an opportunity for implementing such a pilot project. The framework proposed by the project engage stakeholders and bind together interests of governmental, non-governmental, and local civilian institutions in an agreement mechanism of mutual commitments. We highlight the related challenges and caveats, and the steps identified to overcome these hurdles. This proposal is based on a “Zero Deforestation Pact Agreement” that substitutes “command and control” mechanisms by using positive incentives. It serves as an innovative model for combating deforestation and promoting forest restoration in the Amazon by rewarding rural producers to keep forests standing.