Author: FTA COMMUNICATIONS TEAM


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  • Gender aspects in action- and outcome-based payments for ecosystem services — A tree planting field trial in Kenya

Gender aspects in action- and outcome-based payments for ecosystem services — A tree planting field trial in Kenya

05 March, 2019

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Payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes have been increasingly implemented in developing countries where gender-related inequalities are generally prevalent. A randomized field trial in Kenya revealed the impacts of participants’ gender in conservation auctions and in environmental performance of action- and outcome-based PES schemes and provided evidence for associations between the gender effects and traditional gender roles. First, we identified differences between men and women in the utilities of the contract and relative risk aversion as potential drivers of the decrease in bids by women compared to men in the auction for action-based contracts. Second, we observed a gender-specific difference in perceptions of risk in the outcome-based approach when women increased their bids. Third, women achieved lower tree survival than men, despite women providing more effort. In this context, we identified the inequality in reciprocal labor for male and female contract holders as a possible source of the gendered tree survival. This case study showed that targeting women improves gender equity in terms of access to project decision-making, trainings and cash, and can significantly improve the effectiveness of the PES scheme.

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  • Forest biodiversity monitoring: Guide to community-based approaches

Forest biodiversity monitoring: Guide to community-based approaches


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Monitoring of natural resources and their management is a key element for effective decision-making in constantly changing and uncertain situations. Monitoring can reduce risks, increase transparency and accountability, enhance learning, and improve the successful implementation of activities. It helps ensure that changes to management approaches come from learning and reflection instead of hasty reactions or unilateral decisions. Involving local communities in monitoring initiatives makes the process more participatory and contextually relevant, less dependent on external inputs, simpler and usually less expensive. Participatory monitoring initiatives, particularly the ones that are community driven, can increase the sense of ownership towards the management of natural resources and favour the development of adaptive management strategies by facilitating discussion, participation and learning within local communities. This guide is designed to help facilitators develop community-based monitoring initiatives for forest biodiversity by providing a series of steps, recommendations and examples to guide the process. While the guide applies to forest biodiversity, similar approaches can be used to monitor other aspects of natural-resource management. The guide includes tips on using participatory tools for the collection of biodiversity data and insights on how to encourage the participation of local actors across social groups in decision-making processes that affect forest biodiversity resources in their communities and surrounding landscapes.

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  • Nyamplung (Calophyllum inophyllum): Alternative bioenergy crop and powerful ally for land restoration

Nyamplung (Calophyllum inophyllum): Alternative bioenergy crop and powerful ally for land restoration

04 March, 2019

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This infographic looks at biofuels, bioenergy, degraded land and land rehabilitation through the alternative crop nyamplung.

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  • Contrasting land use systems influence soil seed bank composition and density in a rural landscape mosaic in West Africa

Contrasting land use systems influence soil seed bank composition and density in a rural landscape mosaic in West Africa


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Soil seed banks (SSBs) play a key role in the post-disturbance recruitment of many plant species. Seed bank diversity can be influenced by spatial and environmental variability and disturbance heterogeneity across the landscape. Understanding the recovery potential of native vegetation from SSBs is important for restoration and biodiversity conservation. Yet, in savanna-woodland, little is known about how SSBs vary in their germination, composition and density under different land uses, and how SSBs relate to aboveground vegetation (AGV). Using a sampling design based on the Land Degradation Surveillance Framework, we assessed the SSB and AGV in twelve 0.25?ha plots among sixteen in four contrasting land use systems of savanna-woodland in Burkina Faso: bushland, cultivated farmland, fallow and wetland. A total of 720 soil samples were taken from four stratified depths of 0–5?cm, >5–10?cm, >10–15?cm, and >15–20?cm. The SSB composition and richness was determined by the seedling emergence technique. Results showed that the SSB in all land uses was largely dominated by annual grasses with few perennial herbaceous and woody species. Seed density was highest in the fallow soil and highest in the upper soil layers for all land uses. A non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination of the SSB and AGV indicated that the SSBs were a poor reflection of the AGV. Based on these findings, spatial variations in landscape characteristics not only influence seed distribution and viability but also have the potential to influence population persistence. These results imply that successful restoration of fragmented ecosystems requires the addition of seeds and seedlings of target species.

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  • Food security and nutrition through a food systems approach (Vol. 3, Issue 1)

Food security and nutrition through a food systems approach (Vol. 3, Issue 1)


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Food security and nutrition through a food systems approach


The beginning of the year is traditionally a period for good resolutions. In late January, a group of nutritionists and earth scientists formulated some for each of us and for the planet. They advocate for a planetary diet, which would lead to improved individual and public health, and would prevent the depletion of our natural resources.
 
Their recommendations include doubling the current intake of fruits and nuts worldwide, which is certainly a very good idea. Orchards and fruit trees contribute to biodiverse landscapes, while delivering on healthy diets. Nuts are easy to conserve, and could provide value addition to millions of people in remote, rural places while contributing to the nutrition of billions in cities.
 
In the CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA), our approach is to provide options suited to contexts, to improve food systems and diets. This means better understanding the complex environmental, economic and social links between forests, trees, quality of the landscape and the development of local and global food markets.
 
For an introduction to the issue, watch our recent discussion. Nutrition and food systems are a key area that FTA will explore in 2019 and the years to come.

Vincent Gitz, FTA Director

Special feature

Rethinking the food system to tackle triple burden of malnutrition
imagethumb.jpg International scientists are trying to find innovative solutions to tackle what is known as “the triple burden of malnutrition”: lack of food, lack of essential micronutrients, and overweight or obesity.  A recent event in Bogor, Indonesia, organized by FTA and the Environmental Change Institute – University of Oxford, looked at enhancing food system resilience to global change, and what are the roles of forests, trees and agroforestry, as well as perspectives for research. Featuring a keynote from John Ingram, before presentations on the importance of forests, trees and agroforestry for food security and nutrition through a food systems approach from Terry Sunderland, Stepha McMullin and Amy Ickowitz, the discussion suggested that finding solutions requires the widening of perspectives from production-centric notions toward a transformation of food production systems.

News

Book analyzes decade of REDD+ experience
imagethumb.jpgIn its first 10 years, REDD+ has inspired much enthusiasm and hope for a global transition away from practices that threaten tropical forests, toward lasting climate mitigation. Despite unexpected challenges and a funding pot that has lacked the depth to trigger global mobilization, REDD+ is beginning to deliver on its potential – if more slowly than expected. A new book, Transforming REDD+: Lessons and new directions, takes stock of efforts to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and enhance forest carbon stocks at multiple scales.

Momentum builds to expand scale of land restoration

imagethumb.jpgParticipants of a recent workshop in northern Ghana have called for more trees to restore landscapes, aiming to reverse land degradation and improve livelihoods and food security. Leading farmers and extension officers, NGO representatives and researchers identified the many benefits of increasing trees and forests in landscapes, such as the conservation of soil and water and the important economic, medicinal and nutritional value of indigenous species. They also examined the complex constraints that confront those working to improve the management of agricultural, pastoral and forest land.

Financial innovations could pave way for New Deal for Nature
imagethumb.jpgA global framework represents an opportunity for decision-makers to join urgent efforts to transform approaches to use, safeguard, restore and invest in biodiversity. The New Deal for Nature is regarded as a last call to address the underlying challenges of biodiversity and ecosystem loss, representing an opportunity for decision-makers to join urgent efforts to safeguard, restore and invest in biodiversity. Optimizing and preserving agrobiodiversity could translate into more reliable sourcing and stable production systems, while also enhancing the nutrition of agricultural products and sustainability for farmers. 

Is bamboo a sustainable alternative for bioenergy production in Indonesia?
imagethumb.jpgScientists are exploring the potential of bamboo – already known as a source of food, fiber, firewood and construction material – in the critical realm of energy production and restoration of degraded land. Energy demand in Indonesia has increased significantly in recent years, as a result of population growth, urbanization and economic development. The government is also working to increase its energy provision from renewable sources, in line with its commitments to reducing greenhouse gas emissions under the international Paris Agreement on climate change.

Top of the tree: FTA’s year in review
imagethumb.jpg FTA chalked up some notable achievements last year, contributing to sustainable development, food security and addressing climate change. A number of the program’s research findings reverberated throughout the scientific community, impacting discussions at major events and informing work on the ground. Find out which news articles, research publications, presentations and videos were most-viewed throughout the year.

Banner photo by O. Girard/CIFOR. Special feature and news photos, from top, by: J. Nkadaani/CIFOR; M. Edliadi/CIFOR; Y. Gutierrez/CIFOR; World Agroforestry; L. Sebastian/Bioversity International; R. Bachtiar/CIFOR; J. Nkadaani/CIFOR; E. Prianto/CIFOR.

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Recent publications

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Agricultural intensification, dietary diversity, and markets in the global food security narrative

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Spatial Assessment of Degraded Lands for Biofuel Production in Indonesia

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Progress in formalizing “native community” rights in the Peruvian Amazon (2014-2018)

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Transforming REDD+: Lessons and new directions

 

Presentations

Enhancing food system resilience

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Key findings from the HLPE report on Sustainable Forestry for Food Security and Nutrition

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Understanding what works in forest-based climate change mitigation

Video

Enhancing food system resilience

Transforming REDD+ book launch at COP24

Events

Seeds of Change Conference
April 2-4, 2019
Canberra, Australia

Asia-Pacific Forestry Week
June 17-21, 2019
Incheon, Republic of Korea

 

The CGIAR Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (FTA) is the world’s largest research for development program to enhance the role of forests, trees and agroforestry in sustainable development and food security and to address climate change. CIFOR leads FTA in partnership with Bioversity International, CATIE, CIRAD, ICRAF, INBAR and TBI.

FTA thanks all donors who supported this research through their contributions to the CGIAR Trust Fund.
 
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  • Making the grade: Challenges and prospects for sustainable smallholder oil palm in Indonesia

Making the grade: Challenges and prospects for sustainable smallholder oil palm in Indonesia

01 March, 2019

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“Making the Grade” looks at challenges and prospects for sustainable smallholder oil palm in Indonesia.

This video was first published by CIFOR.

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  • Large genetic diversity for fine-flavor traits unveiled in cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) with special attention to the native Chuncho variety in Cusco, Peru

Large genetic diversity for fine-flavor traits unveiled in cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) with special attention to the native Chuncho variety in Cusco, Peru


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The fine-flavor cocoa industry explores mainly six chocolate sensory traits from four traditional cocoa (Theobroma cacao L.) varieties. The importance of cocoa pulp flavors and aromas has been ignored until we recently showed that they migrate into beans and into chocolates. Pulp sensory traits are strongly genotype dependent and correlated to human preference. Growers of the native Chuncho variety from Cusco, Peru, which is the cocoa that the Incas consumed, make pulp juices from preferred trees (genotypes). Evaluations of 226 preferred trees evidenced presence of 64 unique mostly multi-trait sensory profiles. Twenty nine of the 40 flavors and aromas identified mimic those of known fruit and flower or spice species such as mandarin, soursop, custard apple, cranberry, peach, banana, inga, mango, nut, mint, cinnamon, jasmine, rose and lily. Such large sensory diversity and mimicry is unknown in other commercial fleshy fruit species. So far, 14 Chuncho-like pulp sensory traits have been identified among different cocoa varieties elsewhere suggesting that Chuncho is part of the ¿centre of origin¿ for cocoa flavors and aromas. Stable expression of multi-trait Chuncho sensory profiles suggest pleiotropic dominant inheritance, favoring selection for quality traits, which is contrasting with the complex sensory trait determination in other fleshy fruit species. It is inferred that the large sensory diversity of Chuncho cocoa can only be explained by highly specialized sensory trait selection pressure exerted by frugivores, during evolution, and by the indigenous ¿Matsigenkas¿, during domestication. Chuncho beans, still largely employed as a bulk cocoa source, deserve to become fully processed as an extra-fine cocoa variety. The valorization of the numerous T. cacao sensory profiles in chocolates, raw beans and juices should substantially diversify and boost the fineflavor cocoa industry, this time based on the Matsigenka/Inca and not anymore on the Maya cocoa traditions.

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  • Unrelenting games: Multiple negotiations and landscape transformations in the tropical peatlands of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia

Unrelenting games: Multiple negotiations and landscape transformations in the tropical peatlands of Central Kalimantan, Indonesia


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Land use change is often a result of negotiation between different interests. Focusing on negotiation practices helps to provide a nuanced understanding of land use change processes over time. We examine negotiations within a concession model for land development in the southern tropical peatlands of Central Kalimantan province in Indonesia. This region can be described as a resource frontier, where historical landscape transformations from large development projects and oil palm plantations intersect with state models of forest conservation and recent Reducing Emissions from Degradation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) projects. The study drew on actor-network theory (ANT) and combined an ethnographic approach with document analysis for understanding how these landscape transformations and land allocation for large concessions has left a legacy of continuing uncertainty and conflict over land. There is considerable gaming between actors to achieve their desired outcome. Increased competition for land and contested legal arrangements mean that the negotiations are virtually never-ending. Winning at one stage of a negotiation may mean that those who feel they have lost will organise and use the system to challenge the outcomes. These findings show that attempts to implement pre-determined plans or apply global environmental goals at resource frontiers will become entangled in fluid and messy negotiations over land, rather than achieving any desired new status quo.

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  • Gender and formalization of native communities in the Peruvian Amazon

Gender and formalization of native communities in the Peruvian Amazon

27 February, 2019

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  • Indigenous women are affected not only by the tenure security of their collective land but also by their status as women; hence, both national law and community norms are of paramount importance.
  • Peruvian law protects women and promotes equity in general terms, but not specifically in laws regarding land tenure or for native communities.
  • Interviews with government officials responsible for formalizing land in Peru demonstrate less awareness of genderrelated concerns than similar officials in Uganda, Indonesia and Nepal.
  • Household survey results show important gender differences in forest use, forest management and decision-making, and in perceptions on the fairness of rules, tenure security and drivers of insecurity related to titling and formalization processes.
  • Ways forward include capacity building for women to better participate in formalization processes as well as gender awareness for mainstreaming women’s perspectives; gender training and reflection for government, indigenous federations and communities; and greater articulation between government officials and communities, with the support of NGOs and women’s organizations and federations.

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  • Integrating tenure and governance into assessments of forest landscape restoration opportunities

Integrating tenure and governance into assessments of forest landscape restoration opportunities


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  • Many countries have adopted the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) to guide the development of national and subnational restoration strategies.
  • This study analyzes ROAM reports for eight countries to determine the extent to which tenure and related governance considerations were incorporated.
  • Although all of the reports found that lack of rights or weak rights impeded efforts to scale up forest landscape restoration (FLR), none provided robust descriptions of the rights and responsibilities of individuals or communities to trees, forests or land under statutory or customary law.
  • We propose a rights actualization framework as a diagnostic that can provide a solid foundation to identify policy reforms needed to address rights-related barriers to FLR implementation.
  • FLR initiatives informed by a robust tenure rights assessment will enhance the likelihood of achieving their twin goals of improving ecological functionality and human well-being.

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  • Towards a gender-responsive implementation of The Convention on Biological Diversity

Towards a gender-responsive implementation of The Convention on Biological Diversity


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This research paper is prepared by UN-Women, with section contributions from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Bioversity International, the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). It first sets the context by presenting the gender dimensions of biodiversity conservation and the global norms on gender equality and natural resource management. It then outlines the key mandates for the integration of a gender perspective in biodiversity conservation and identifies the main entry points for strengthening gender considerations in decisions of the Parties to the CBD and in the implementation of the Convention, as well as in the future work of Parties and other stake-holders. Gender-responsive practices contributing to biodiversity conservation at the local and country level are then presented to highlight promising examples and lessons. The paper concludes with recommendations for action directed at specific stakeholders. The research paper was prepared by UN Women staff (Christine Brautigam, Verona Collantes, Sylvia Hordosch, Nicole van Huyssteen and Sharon Taylor), and consultant (Hanna Paulose). Section contributions and inputs were provided by Carolyn Hannan (University of Lund), Tanya McGregor (CBD Secretariat), Marle`ne Elias (Bioversity International), and Markus Ihalainen (Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR)).

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  • Communities restoring landscapes: Stories of resilience and success

Communities restoring landscapes: Stories of resilience and success

25 February, 2019

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This collection of 12 stories from women and men in nine countries in different parts of Africa shines a light on the efforts of communities, some of them decades-long, in restoring degraded forests and landscapes. The stories are not generated through any rigorous scientific process, but are nonetheless illustrative of the opportunities communities create as they solve their own problems, and of the many entry points we have for supporting and accelerating community effort. The stories show that leadership, social capital and cooperation, clear property rights/tenure, and supportive governance are important for successful community-based restoration. From the perspectives of communities, “success” is not only about the number of trees planted and standing over a certain terrain: it is also about the ability to secure and enhance livelihoods; to strengthen existing community relationships and to build new ones with other actors; to develop a conservation ethic among younger generations; and, in some cases, to expand the rights of excluded individuals and groups. This collection is about amplifying the voices of local people in global policy debates.

Foreword. Communities restoring landscapes: Stories of resilience and success

Story 1. Holding back the desert: One farmer’s story of restoring degraded land in the Sahel region in Burkina Faso

Story 2. Women gaining ground through reforestation on the Cameroonian coast

Story 3. Building resilience to climate change through community forest restoration in Ghana

Story 4. Thinking in tomorrow: Women leading forest restoration in Mt Kenya and beyond

Story 5. Mikoko Pamoja: Carbon credits and community-based reforestation in Kenya’s mangroves

Story 6. Rights, responsibilities and collaboration: The Ogiek and tree growing in the Mau

Story 7. Restoring Madagascar’s mangroves: Community-led conservation makes for multiple benefits

Story 8. Flood recovery, livelihood protection and mangrove reforestation in the Limpopo River Estuary, Mozambique

Story 9. Regaining their lost paradise: Communities rehabilitating mangrove forests in the drought-affected Saloum Delta, Senegal

Story 10. From the grass roots to the corridors of power: Scaling up efforts for conservation and reforestation in Senegal

Story 11. Taming the rising tide: Keeping the ocean at bay through community reforestation on Kisiwa Panza island, Tanzania

Story 12. Shaking the tree: Challenging gender, tenure and leadership norms through collaborative reforestation in Central Uganda

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  • Historical trajectories and prospective scenarios for collective land tenure reforms in community forest areas in Colombia

Historical trajectories and prospective scenarios for collective land tenure reforms in community forest areas in Colombia


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Collective land tenure in Colombia has been a constitutional right since 1991. It is therefore protected with the highest possible status, as it is defined as a fundamental right of indigenous and Afro-Colombian peoples. This condition has contributed to the creation of legal instruments and public policy arrangements to help traditional communities ensure their livelihoods and protect their territorial autonomy, especially in vast forest areas. However, this recognition is not consistent across traditional peoples in Colombia. This study, based on the method proposed by Bourgeois et al. (2017), applies the participatory prospective analysis (PPA) method to four cases in Colombia: (i) the Supreme Community Council of the Upper San Juan River (ASOCASAN) (Chocó), in the Pacific; (ii) the Arhuaco indigenous resguardo in Sierra Nevada (Cesar); (iii) the Afro-Colombian community councils in Valledupar rural areas (Cesar); and (iv) the indigenous, Afro-Colombian and campesino communities in Montes de María region, in the Caribbean. The main results reflect the different levels of land tenure security in these locations, based on contextual environmental, political, economic and legal factors at both national and regional level. The study provides a set of public policy recommendations to enhance collective land tenure security, from concept development to implementation, with a special focus on the present moment, when the implementation of the Peace Agreement poses new challenges for the protection of forest ecosystems and the recognition of the territorial rights of ethnic groups and campesinos.

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  • Forests in Flux: Exploring Park–People Conflicts in Colombia through a Social Lens

Forests in Flux: Exploring Park–People Conflicts in Colombia through a Social Lens


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Natural resource-related conflicts between local communities and nation states can be extremely destructive. Worldwide, interest is growing in gaining a better understanding of why and how these conflicts originate, particularly in protected areas inhabited by local communities. The literature on local attitudes towards and perceptions of park conservation and park–people conflicts is quite extensive. Studies have examined the socioeconomic and geographical determinants of attitudes to protected areas. However, the role of such determinants in the experience of park–people conflicts has received considerably less attention. Drawing on 601 interviews with people living in or near 15 Colombian national protected areas (NPAs), we examine the socioeconomic and geographical variables that are most influential in people’s experience of conflict related to restricted access to natural resources. We find that the experience of this type of conflict is largely explained by the NPA where a person resides, pursuit of productive activities within the NPA, previous employment in NPA administration, gender and ethnicity. We recommend implementing socially inclusive conservation strategies for conflict prevention and resolution in Colombia’s NPAs, whereby both women and men from different ethnic groups are engaged in design and implementation.

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  • What roles do sub-national governments play in Nationally Determined Contributions? Between rhetoric and practice in REDD+ countries

What roles do sub-national governments play in Nationally Determined Contributions? Between rhetoric and practice in REDD+ countries

18 February, 2019

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  • Research and practice place much emphasis on the transformative role that sub-national governments (SNGs) may play in climate change action.
  • Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) are not blueprints for implementation, but they offer some insight into potential priorities. Currently, the role of SNGs in most is limited: of 60 “REDD+ countries”, only 14 explicitly mention a role for SNGs in mitigation, and only 4 of these give SNGs a decision-making role.
  • This failure to assign more precise roles to SNGs may prove to be short-sighted as climate change is a global problem, but solutions such as REDD+ need to be implemented locally and jurisdictionally, and thus require local input.
  • The factors that will affect the realization of the roles assigned to SNGs in NDCs include: political will toward decentralization; the funds required by Parties to achieve their targets; the capacities of SNGs; and the need to align sub-national with national development priorities.

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