No abstract

Rural landscapes in many parts of Indonesia are rapidly being transformed, due to the expansion of agrocommodity plantations—oil palm in particular. At the same time, communities in those landscapes face declining crop yields and ecosystem degradation as a result of both climate and non-climate factors. We assessed local perceptions on climate stressors, adaptation and vulnerability using focus group discussions in Ketapang, West Kalimantan. We found that the main perceived climatic stressors were extreme and unpredictable seasons, fires, and saltwater intrusion, affecting ecosystem services and agricultural production. Land clearing and forest loss were mentioned as exacerbating non-climatic stressors. Respondents indicated willingness to adapt to these changes by investing in long-term measures, such as tree-planting. To adapt to yield declines, respondents indicated that many farmers shifted from rubber to oil palm. Such adaptation actions benefit households in the short term but may be at odds with long-term adaptation objectives at the landscape level. Finally, we found that perceptions about vulnerability differed between landscapes, and between communities at the landscape level and stakeholders at the district level. This stresses the importance of participatory and inclusive planning and multi-stakeholder processes towards context-based climate action planning to accommodate the differences in contexts and scale, and to reconcile the differences in perceptions.

Combining responsible forest management (RFM) experiences with literature reviews and stakeholder discussions allows an assessment of the potential role of RFM in reduced emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and conservation, sustainable forest management and enhancement of carbon stocks (REDD+). RFM contributes to greater carbon storage and biodiversity in forest biomass in comparison to conventional logging and deforestation. Using an adjusted von Thünen model to explain land user behavior in relation to different variables, considering a general forest transition curve and looking at a potential relation between governance and deforestation rates, the authors conclude that reduction of deforestation and forest degradation can only be achieved by a combined approach of increasing forest rent relative to other land uses and reducing transaction costs for forest management and conservation. More than providing an additional income for a privileged few, REDD+ will need to address the barriers that have been identified in RFM over the past 30 years of investment in forest management and conservation. Most of these are of an institutional nature, but also culture and social organization as well as locally specific development trends play a significant role in increasing the potential for application of RFM and REDD+.

El enfoque ecosistémico (EE) es un concepto relativamente nuevo en América Central, sin embargo muchos de sus principios han sido ya considerados en numerosas iniciativas de desarrollo forestal sostenible (MFS) en la Región. El desarrollo e implementación del EE en MFS en el corto y mediano plazo enfrenta muchos desafíos, como un alto crecimiento de la población, fuertes tasas de deforestación, economías pequeñas y estancadas, factores que se combinan con pobreza rural y debilidad institucional. Esto debiera justificar que se de una mayor atención a los aspectos sociales, económicos e institucionales relacionados con EE en MFS en la Región.

En este trabajo es presentado un análisis preliminar sobre la contribución de las concesiones al apropiado manejo forestal, discutiéndose cómo estas pueden contribuir a generar condiciones más favorables en las tierras de bosques estatales. Se discute cuatro condiciones, relacionadas con tenencia segura de los recursos forestales, control sobre las operaciones forestales, ambiente financiero favorable y acceso a suficiente información. Las concesiones pueden incidir positivamente sobre tenencia, control de operaciones y en menor medida, mejor ambiente financiero. Sin embargo, para el mejoramiento de la disponibilidad de información se ha hecho necesaria asistencia externa.