The Experts below are selected from a list of 53652 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Helen Kopnina - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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commodification of natural resources and Forest ecosystem services examining implications for Forest Protection
Environmental Conservation, 2017Co-Authors: Helen KopninaAbstract:Through the commodification of nature, the framing of the environment as a ‘natural resource’ or ‘ecosystem service’ has become increasingly prominent in international environmental governance. The economic capture approach is promoted by international organizations such as the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) through Reducing Emissions from DeForestation and Forest Degradation (REDD), Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB). This paper will inquire as to how Forest Protection is related to issues of social and ecological justice, exploring whether Forest exploitation based on the top-down managerial model fosters an unequitable distribution of resources. Both top-down and community-based approaches to Forest Protection will be critically examined and a more inclusive ethical framework to Forest Protection will be offered. The findings of this examination indicate the need for a renewed focus on existing examples of good practice in addressing both social and ecological need, as well as the necessity to address the less comfortable problem of where compromise appears less possible. The conclusion argues for the need to consider ecological justice as an important aspect of more socially orientated environmental justice for Forest Protection.
Heather Keith - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Understanding the importance of primary tropical Forest Protection as a mitigation strategy
Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, 2020Co-Authors: Brendan Mackey, Heather Keith, William R. Moomaw, Richard A. Houghton, David Hole, Cyril F. Kormos, Russell A. Mittermeier, Sonia HughAbstract:Given the short time-frame to limit global warming, and the current emissions gap, it is critical to prioritise mitigation actions. To date, scant attention has been paid to the mitigation benefits of primary Forest Protection. We estimated tropical Forest ecosystem carbon stocks and flows. The ecosystem carbon stock of primary tropical Forests is estimated at 141–159 Pg C (billion tonnes of carbon) which is some 49–53% of all tropical Forest carbon, the living biomass component of which alone is 91–103% of the remaining carbon budget to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Furthermore, tropical Forests have ongoing sequestration rates 0.47–1.3 Pg C yr^−1, equivalent to 8–13% of annual global anthropogenic CO_2 (carbon dioxide) emissions. We examined three main Forest-based strategies used in the land sector—halting deForestation, increasing Forest restoration and improving the sustainable management of production Forests. The mitigation benefits of primary Forest Protection are contingent upon how degradation is defined and accounted for, while those from restoration also depend on how restoration is understood and applied. Through proForestation, reduced carbon stocks in secondary Forests can regrow to their natural carbon carrying capacity or primary Forest state. We evaluated published data from studies comparing logged and unlogged Forests. On average, primary Forests store around 35% more carbon. While comparisons are confounded by a range of factors, reported biomass carbon recovery rates were from 40 to 100+ years. There is a substantive portfolio of Forest-based mitigation actions and interventions available to policy and decision-makers, depending on national circumstances, in addition to SFM and plantation focused approaches, that can be grouped into four main strategies: Protection; proForestation, reForestation and restoration; reform of guidelines, accounting rules and default values; landscape conservation planning. Given the emissions gap, mitigation strategies that merely reduce the rate of emissions against historic or projected reference levels are insufficient. Mitigation strategies are needed that explicitly avoid emissions where possible as well as enabling ongoing sequestration.
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contribution of native Forests to climate change mitigation a common approach to carbon accounting that aligns results from environmental economic accounting with rules for emissions reduction
Environmental Science & Policy, 2019Co-Authors: Heather Keith, Michael Vardon, John Stein, David B LindenmayerAbstract:Abstract Comprehensive carbon stock and flow accounts integrated with economic information, under an environmental-economic accounting framework, provide a common approach for an information system to improve policymaking for climate change mitigation, sustainable development and Forest management. The information system includes environmental and economic data, linkages between land use activities, their co-benefits, inputs to the economy and benefits for human well-being. Forest management was used as an example of application of the accounting framework because it has the greatest climate change mitigation potential of all land use activities. A case study developing carbon accounts for a Forest region in south-eastern Australia demonstrated the mitigation benefits of long-term carbon storage and sequestration in native Forests. Using environmental-economic accounts helped identify policy and market instruments required to value ecosystem services of carbon storage and sequestration by applying a potential market price for carbon. We identified benefits of native Forest Protection as a carbon abatement activity, and compared this value to that of current Forest management for timber harvesting that reduces carbon stocks. Both land uses provided similar economic contributions (approximately $12 million yr−1, using a minimal carbon price), but native Forest Protection has additional co-benefits of improving water yield, tourism, recreation and biodiversity conservation. The accounts determine values of land use activities in physical and monetary metrics, and link these to beneficiaries of ecosystem services, so that maximum benefits for public good are identified. Quantifying ecosystem services of carbon storage (protecting stocks) and sequestration (increasing flows) in a native Forest region, by applying a potential market price, broadens the policy options for mitigation activities. Adopting a comprehensive accounting system, and changing some of the definitions and rules under the Paris Agreement and national emissions reduction policies and markets, would allow the mitigation benefit of protecting native Forests to be realised.
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managing temperate Forests for carbon storage impacts of logging versus Forest Protection on carbon stocks
Ecosphere, 2014Co-Authors: Heather Keith, Brendan Mackey, David B Lindenmayer, David Blair, Lauren Carter, Lachlan Mcburney, Sachiko Okada, Tomoko KonishinaganoAbstract:Management of native Forests offers opportunities to store more carbon in the land sector through two main activities. Emissions to the atmosphere can be avoided by ceasing logging. Removals of arbon dioxide from the atmosphere can be increased by allowing Forests to continue growing. However, the relative benefits for carbon storage of managing native Forests for wood production versus Protection are contested. Additionally, the potential for carbon storage is impacted upon by disturbance events, such as wildfire, that alter the amount and longevity of carbon stocks. Using a case study of montane ash Forests in southeastern Australia, we demonstrated that the total biomass carbon stock in logged Forest was 55% of the stock in old growth Forest. Total biomass included above- and belowground, living and dead. Biomass carbon stock was calculated spatially as an average across the landscape, accounting for variation in environmental conditions and Forest age distribution. Reduction in carbon stock in logged Forest was due to 66% of the initial biomass being made into products with short lifetimes (,3 years), and to the lower average age of logged Forest (,50 years compared with 100 years in old growth Forest). Only 4% of the initial carbon stock in the native Forest was converted to sawn timber products with lifetimes of 30-90 years. Carbon stocks are depleted in a harvested Forest system compared with an old growth Forest, even when storage in wood products and landfill are included. We estimated that continued logging under current plans represented a loss of 5.56 Tg C over 5 years in the area logged (824 km2), compared with a potential gain of 5.18-6.05 TgC over 5 years by allowing continued growth across the montane ash Forest region (2326 km2). Avoiding emissions by not logging native Forests and allowing them to continue growing is therefore an important form of carbon sequestration. The mitigation value of Forest management options of Protection versus logging should be assessed in terms of the amount, longevity and resilience of the carbon stored in the Forest, rather than the annual rate of carbon uptake.
Eric F Lambin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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impact of land use zoning for Forest Protection and production on Forest cover changes in bhutan
Applied Geography, 2018Co-Authors: Derek Bruggeman, Patrick Meyfroidt, Eric F LambinAbstract:Abstract Bhutan is characterized by a landscape dominated by Forests. A substantial share of these Forests is dedicated to nature conservation, with an extensive protected area network connected by biological corridors. Forestlands are also partly allocated to timber production, including Forest management units subjected to strict regulations. We assessed the effectiveness of these various land-use zoning units to protect Forest cover. We used a matching procedure to control for covariates and obtain robust estimates of the impact of each type of unit on Forest cover changes during the 2000s. We also investigated subsets of the protected area network to test for effectiveness heterogeneities within this network. Our results showed that protected areas prevented 63% of the Forest loss expected in Forestlands under this Protection status. These units also curtailed Forest gain. Long-established protected areas were more effective at avoiding Forest loss than recent ones, while the levels of stringency and operationality of protected areas had no differentiable impact on Forest loss. We detected more Forest loss in Forests surrounding protected areas compared to more distant Forestlands, showing a leakage effect. Biological corridors had no impact on Forest loss and gain. Forest management units decreased Forest loss by half. After accounting for the selection bias, this study demonstrated the effectiveness of land use zoning for Forest conservation in Bhutan.
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Forest Protection and economic development by offshoring wood extraction bhutan s clean development path
Regional Environmental Change, 2016Co-Authors: Isaline Jadin, Patrick Meyfroidt, Eric F LambinAbstract:With globalization, virtual exchanges of natural resources embodied in traded commodities redistribute geographically land use and its environmental impacts. Benefits of national Forest Protection may be undermined at the global-scale by leakage through international trade. We studied land use displacement associated with national policies to protect Forests in Bhutan. This case study provides a simple situation: a dominant Forest cover almost unaffected by agricultural expansion, a rural economy dominated by the primary sector, centralized Forest conservation policies, and a dominant trading partner. We assessed the net effects at the international level of the Bhutanese Forest Protection policies by accounting for trade in wood products with India. Our results show that these policies have been effective in maintaining a high Forest cover, but have been accompanied by an increasing displacement of Forest use to India. In 1996–2011, the difference between the total volume of wood imported from India and the total volume exported from Bhutan—i.e., the net displacement—corresponds to 27 % of the total volume consumed in Bhutan. In 2011, 68 % of the total Forest area required to produce the wood consumed in Bhutan was located in India. The wood imported by Bhutan was likely originating from tree plantations in the northeastern Indian states. Since Bhutan has few tree plantations and very valuable natural Forests, the net international-level ecological impacts of this land use displacement is arguably positive. Most of the wood imports of Bhutan were wood charcoal for its emerging chemical industries. This case of displacement reflects functional upgrading in the value-chain rather than an externalization of consumption-based environmental costs. Through its government policies, Bhutan has managed to support its economic development while protecting its Forests and leapfrogging the negative impacts on Forests generally associated with the early stages of modernization.
Runsheng Yin - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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has china s natural Forest Protection program protected Forests heilongjiang s experience
Forests, 2016Co-Authors: Miaoying Shi, Runsheng YinAbstract:Since the late 1990s, China has been implementing one of the largest ecological restoration initiatives in not only the country but also the world—the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP). An overarching question is how severe the regional deForestation had become before the NFPP was initiated and whether the Forest condition in the protected area has significantly improved afterwards. The goal of this study was to assess the land use and land cover changes (LULCC) and the interplays between different land uses in northeast China from the late 1970s to 2013. Classification results were validated through accuracy assessments using the rule-based rationality evaluation scheme and the spatially balanced sampling method. It was found that the regional Forestland suffered significant and persistent decline, about 20.4% loss, before 2000 when the NFPP was launched; thereafter, however, the Forestland became gradually stabilized and reForestation became more prevalent. Further examination based on extended conversion matrixes revealed that the largest proportional decline came from wetland, instead of Forestland, due to farmland encroachment.
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measuring the socioeconomic impacts of china s natural Forest Protection program
Environment and Development Economics, 2006Co-Authors: Yueqin Shen, Xianchun Liao, Runsheng YinAbstract:China has been implementing one of the world's largest ecological rehabilitation projects, the Natural Forest Protection Program (NFPP), to improve its fragile and precarious environmental conditions. This paper measures the socioeconomic impacts of the NFPP using input–output (I–O) models. We find that the NFPP will expand the annual output of the Forest sectors by 5.8 billion Yuan and the whole economy by 8.9 billion Yuan by 2010. Employment will increase by 0.84 million in the Forest sectors and by 0.93 million in the whole economy. Associated with the enormous expansion of Forest Protection and management are huge contributions to mitigating water runoff, soil erosion, flooding, and biodiversity loss. The investments and adjustments are thus worthwhile, if the program is properly implemented. The challenges are to transform loggers into tree planters and Forest managers and to ensure that the financial and institutional commitments by the local and national governments will be materialized.
David B Lindenmayer - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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contribution of native Forests to climate change mitigation a common approach to carbon accounting that aligns results from environmental economic accounting with rules for emissions reduction
Environmental Science & Policy, 2019Co-Authors: Heather Keith, Michael Vardon, John Stein, David B LindenmayerAbstract:Abstract Comprehensive carbon stock and flow accounts integrated with economic information, under an environmental-economic accounting framework, provide a common approach for an information system to improve policymaking for climate change mitigation, sustainable development and Forest management. The information system includes environmental and economic data, linkages between land use activities, their co-benefits, inputs to the economy and benefits for human well-being. Forest management was used as an example of application of the accounting framework because it has the greatest climate change mitigation potential of all land use activities. A case study developing carbon accounts for a Forest region in south-eastern Australia demonstrated the mitigation benefits of long-term carbon storage and sequestration in native Forests. Using environmental-economic accounts helped identify policy and market instruments required to value ecosystem services of carbon storage and sequestration by applying a potential market price for carbon. We identified benefits of native Forest Protection as a carbon abatement activity, and compared this value to that of current Forest management for timber harvesting that reduces carbon stocks. Both land uses provided similar economic contributions (approximately $12 million yr−1, using a minimal carbon price), but native Forest Protection has additional co-benefits of improving water yield, tourism, recreation and biodiversity conservation. The accounts determine values of land use activities in physical and monetary metrics, and link these to beneficiaries of ecosystem services, so that maximum benefits for public good are identified. Quantifying ecosystem services of carbon storage (protecting stocks) and sequestration (increasing flows) in a native Forest region, by applying a potential market price, broadens the policy options for mitigation activities. Adopting a comprehensive accounting system, and changing some of the definitions and rules under the Paris Agreement and national emissions reduction policies and markets, would allow the mitigation benefit of protecting native Forests to be realised.
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managing temperate Forests for carbon storage impacts of logging versus Forest Protection on carbon stocks
Ecosphere, 2014Co-Authors: Heather Keith, Brendan Mackey, David B Lindenmayer, David Blair, Lauren Carter, Lachlan Mcburney, Sachiko Okada, Tomoko KonishinaganoAbstract:Management of native Forests offers opportunities to store more carbon in the land sector through two main activities. Emissions to the atmosphere can be avoided by ceasing logging. Removals of arbon dioxide from the atmosphere can be increased by allowing Forests to continue growing. However, the relative benefits for carbon storage of managing native Forests for wood production versus Protection are contested. Additionally, the potential for carbon storage is impacted upon by disturbance events, such as wildfire, that alter the amount and longevity of carbon stocks. Using a case study of montane ash Forests in southeastern Australia, we demonstrated that the total biomass carbon stock in logged Forest was 55% of the stock in old growth Forest. Total biomass included above- and belowground, living and dead. Biomass carbon stock was calculated spatially as an average across the landscape, accounting for variation in environmental conditions and Forest age distribution. Reduction in carbon stock in logged Forest was due to 66% of the initial biomass being made into products with short lifetimes (,3 years), and to the lower average age of logged Forest (,50 years compared with 100 years in old growth Forest). Only 4% of the initial carbon stock in the native Forest was converted to sawn timber products with lifetimes of 30-90 years. Carbon stocks are depleted in a harvested Forest system compared with an old growth Forest, even when storage in wood products and landfill are included. We estimated that continued logging under current plans represented a loss of 5.56 Tg C over 5 years in the area logged (824 km2), compared with a potential gain of 5.18-6.05 TgC over 5 years by allowing continued growth across the montane ash Forest region (2326 km2). Avoiding emissions by not logging native Forests and allowing them to continue growing is therefore an important form of carbon sequestration. The mitigation value of Forest management options of Protection versus logging should be assessed in terms of the amount, longevity and resilience of the carbon stored in the Forest, rather than the annual rate of carbon uptake.