http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Publications List of 10 latest CIFOR Publications http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2862 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2862 In the Andes, demand for water is growing and upland land-use changes are increasing. Water quality, quantity and seasonal flow have thus also become environmental services with potential monetary value. Yet, currently the region’s pioneer PES schemes are not paying for measured environmental services, but for proxy land uses thought to provide the(se) service(s). Hydrological modeling makes explicit the tacit causal relationships and tests underlying assumptions. Ideally, when combined with an economic analysis of land-use alternatives, this could inform decision makers on how much to pay for different interventions in different spatial locations. This paper focuses on two Andean watersheds: Moyobamba (Peru) and Pimampiro (Ecuador). In the first case, amunicipal water company is preparing a payment for environmental services (PES) scheme to reduce upstream sediment loads. In the second, a similar conservation-oriented municipal PES scheme has operated since 2000, but the hydrological linkages have never been tested. Applying the Soil & Water Assessment Tool (SWAT), we identify in both watersheds biophysically critical areas for service delivery, and compare services for current land uses with change scenarios: deforestation, reforestation, live barriers, and agroforestry. We then use the ECOSAUT optimization model to predict net economic benefits for service providers. In Moyobamba, switching to shade-grown coffee would halve sediment yields, and increase significantly farmers’ economic benefits. This requires high up-front investment, but the willingness to pay of water users in Moyobamba town may suffice to cover the upfront costs. In Pimampiro, resumed deforestation would increase sediments by >50% and reduce dry-season flow by 0.5%, thus reinforcing the rationale of the existing PES scheme, focused on conserving native forests and grasslands. Copyright 2009 Elsevier. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Quinton, M. Wunder, S. Estrada, R.D watershed protection natural resources management environmental services payments for environmental services http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2863 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2863 This paper describes the experiences and lessons learned in applying a multi-agent systems (MAS) model to study the dynamics and complex interactions among stakeholders in the management of communitybased forests. The MAS model is developed using the companion modelling (ComMod) approach, which allows for a collaborative development of the model between the stakeholders and researchers. This approach involves the development and application of role-playing games (RPGs) and computer simulation as learning tools and to validate the model. Inferences are drawn from the learning and negotiation processes that the stakeholders and researchers underwent in the collaborative development of the MAS model. These processes ultimately led to the development of a collaborative resource management plan. The approach and the MAS model were applied to a case study involving a community-based forest managed by three villages in the island of Palawan, Philippines. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Campo, P.C. Mendoza, G.A. Guizol, P communities Community-based forest management Multi-agent systems participatory management Modelling role-playing games http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2864 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2864 In this guidebook, we share suggestions for how a team of facilitators and a community forest user group (CFUG) can catalyse and maintain an approach to governance and management that draws on and strengthens the CFUG’s own adaptive and collaborative capacities. This approach fits within the Community Forestry framework and supports CFUGs in addressing two fundamental challenges: equity and the generation of livelihood benefits. In our experience, active and thoughtful facilitation of this approach can help CFUGs make their governance more inclusive, address tensions within the group, create more active groups with greater shared ownership of the community forest, and spark more livelihood generation activities, including for the poor. The transition to such an approach is not an easy or straight path: it involves changing relations and perspectives. Groups and their facilitators may use the suggestions in this book to help guide them as they travel on their journey, but the choices and steps are ultimately their own. Similarly, the specific outcomes of the change will be unique in each context. But this is also a strength: just as every CFUG is unique and everchanging, so its aspirations and its optimal strategies of governance and management will also be unique and ever-changing. We sincerely hope that this guidebook will prove useful to you in your own community forestry journey. Sun, 15 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 McDougall, C. Pandit, B.H. Banjade, M.R. Paudel, K.P. Ojha, H. Maharjan,M. Rana, S. Bhattarai, T. Dangol, S community involvement livelihoods adaptive management http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2861 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2861 Riegelhaupt, E.; Chalico, T.A. Oportunidades y desafíos para la producción de biocombustibles en América Latina: Una perspectiva forestal CIFOR Environmental Services Briefs No. . 8p. CIFOR, Bogor, Indonesia Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:00:00 -0800 Riegelhaupt, E. Chalico, T.A http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2860 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2860 In this paper, I illustrate the dynamics of frontier development in the Redencao area in southern Para, one of the oldest agricultural frontiers in the Brazilian Amazon. This frontier has evolved from a landscape initially dominated by large-scale corporations investing in cattle ranching, to another in which medium-scale cattle ranchers and to less extent smallholders expanded their influence in the local economy. The initial stage was driven by fiscal incentives and subsidies from the government. The latter stage features more developed markets for beef and milk products, and is associated with an expansion of slaughterhouses and dairy processing plants, the modernisation of livestock production, fragmentation of large estates, and competition for land. The latter phase originated with the arrival of new investors in medium-scale cattle ranching, and with expanding pressure from smallholders and landless people looking for land. The process of land occupation and agrarian development has inevitably led to forest conversion mainly to pasture. Finally, environmental policies seeking to halt deforestation have been largely ineffective under these conditions of frontier development. Mon, 9 Nov 2009 10:52:01 -0800 Pacheco, P deforestation cattle ranching agricultural frontier Brazil http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2859 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2859 Palmer, C.; Obidzinski, K. Choosing avoided deforestation baseline in the context of government failure: The case of Indonesia's plantation policy Routledge explorations in environmental economics No. . Routledge, Fri, 6 Nov 2009 03:08:49 -0800 Palmer, C. Obidzinski, K carbon emission governance climatic change policy land use http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2858 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2858 Engel, S.; Wunscher, T.; Wunder, S. Increasing the efficiency of forest conservation: The case of payments for environmental services in Costa Rica Routledge explorations in environmental economics No. . Routledge, Fri, 6 Nov 2009 11:21:29 -0800 Engel, S. Wunscher, T. Wunder, S forest conservation carbon Costa Rica http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2857 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2857 Most of the world’s population that derives their livelihoods or part of their livelihoods from forests are out of the information loop. Exclusion of public users of natural resources from access to scientific research results is not an oversight; it is a systemic problem that has costly ramifications for conservation and development. Results of a survey of 268 researchers from 29 countries indicate that institutional incentives support the linear, top-down communication of results through peer-reviewed journal articles, which often guarantees positive performance measurement. While the largest percentage of respondents (34%) ranked scientists as the most important audience for their work, only 15 percent of respondents considered peer-reviewed journals effective in promoting conservation and/or development. Respondents perceived that local initiatives (27%) and training (16%) were likely to lead to success in conservation and development; but few scientists invest in these activities. Engagement with the media (5%), production of training and educational materials (4%) and popular publications (5%) as outlets for scientific findings was perceived as inconsequential (o14%) in measuring scientific performance. Less than 3 percent of respondents ranked corporate actors as an important audience for their work. To ensure science is shared with those who need it, a shift in incentive structures is needed that rewards actual impact rather than only ‘high-impact’ journals. Widely used approaches and theoretical underpinnings from the social sciences, which underlie popular education and communication for social change, could enhance communication by linking knowledge and action in conservation biology Thu, 29 Oct 2009 03:02:47 -0700 Shanley, P. Lopez, C communication culture distribution knowledge management http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2856 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2856 It is widely accepted that there is a considerable gap between the science of conservation biology and the design and execution of biodiversity conservation projects in the field and science is failing to inform the practice of conservation. There are many reasons why this implementation gap exists. A high proportion of papers published in scientific journals by conservation biologists are seldom read outside of the academic world and there are few incentives for academics to convert their science into practice. In turn, field practitioners rarely document their field experiences and experiments in a manner that can meaningfully inform conservation scientists. Issues related to access to scientific literature, scientific relevance in multidisciplinary environments, donor expectations and a lack of critical analysis at all levels of conservation theory and practice are factors that exacerbate the divide. The contexts in which conservation biologists and field practitioners operate are also often highly dissimilar, and each has differing professional responsibilities and expectations that compromise the ability to learn from each other’s expertise. Building on recent debate in the literature, and using case studies to illustrate the issues that characterize the divide, this paper draws on the authors’ experiences of project management as well as academic research. We identify five key issues related to information exchange: access to scientific literature, levels of scientific literacy, lack of interdisciplinarity, questions of relevance and lack of sharing of conservation-related experiences and suggest new ways of working that could assist in bridging the gap between conservation scientists and field practitioners. Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:53:15 -0700 Sunderland, T.C.H. Sunderland-Groves, J. Shanley, P. Campbell, B.M conservation http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2855 http://www.cifor.cgiar.org/Knowledge/Publications/Detail?pid=2855 Growing trees outside forests can generate rural income and rehabilitate degraded lands. The characteristics of existing smallholder tree growing in the Amazon and how much it contributes to livelihoods, however, remains largely unknown. Field surveys in Brazil, Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador were conducted of smallholder tree growing initiatives. Of the studied initiatives, 61% were smallholder initiated and 39% established in donor driven programs. Smallholder schemes generally showed a higher species diversity (85 species) than initiatives in donor driven schemes (52 species). The performance of smallholder tree growing, in terms of growth, health, commercialisation options and contribution to recuperation of degraded areas is limited. Only in 30% of the cases reviewed could smallholders commercialize tree products. Cultivated non-timber forest products had the highest commercialisation rates. The growing of single trees within farm holdings, and the management of natural stands and homegardens showed the highest production efficiencies while depending on minimal inputs.Timber plantations are the least successful. More successful reforestation in the Amazon requires a more realistic view on the limitations of promoting smallholder tree growing, should emphasize non timber products, and better capture local knowledge and experiences Thu, 29 Oct 2009 02:35:19 -0700 Hoch, L. Pokorny B. de Jong, W small businesses forest plantations agroforestry Amazonia