Biodiversity conservation and livelihoods in human-dominated landscapes: Forest commons in South Asia

Persha, Lauren; Fischer, Harry W.; Chhatre, Ashwini; Agrawal, Arun; Benson, Catherine

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2010.03.003

Cited by 84 publications

(36 citation statements)

References 38 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…When farmers receive cash from the forest, either through conservation programs or from selling forest products, the opportunity cost of clearing the forest increases and the incentives to raise cattle decrease. Benefits from the forest have been an important factor supporting conservation in different regions around the world (Gibson et al 2000, Agrawal 2005, Persha et al 2010. In Calakmul and MBR, people who are involved in commercialization of timber and nontimber forest products have become strong advocates of forest conservation.…”

Section: Distance Cash Benefits and Deforestation-driving Adaptatiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Unintended outcomes of farmers’ adaptation to climate variability: deforestation and conservation in Calakmul and Maya biosphere reserves

Rodriguez-Solorzano¹

2014

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

ABSTRACT. Minimizing the impact of climate change on farmer livelihoods is crucial, but adaptation efforts may have unintended consequences for ecosystems, with potential impacts on farmers' welfare. Unintended outcomes of climate adaptation strategies have been widely discussed, however, empirical exploration has been neglected. Grounded in scholarship on climate adaptation, environmental governance, social-ecological systems, and land-use change, this paper studies whether farmers' climate adaptation contributes to deforestation or forest conservation. The paper draws on interviews with 353 farmers from 46 communities in Calakmul Biosphere Reserve in Mexico and Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala. Farmers in the area of study have implemented adaptation strategies that people around the world have used for centuries, including migration, diversification, savings, and pooling. The findings show that climate adaptation can increase deforestation or support forest conservation depending on the type of adaptation strategy farmers implement. Saving, based on cattle ranching, is a deforestation-driving strategy. The choice of this strategy is influenced by distance to the commercial and administrative center and cash benefits from the forest. Deforestation can have a negative impact on farmers' welfare, as well as harm biodiversity and contribute to increased climate change. Thus, deforestation-driving adaptation strategies may be ineffective. However, diversification, based on off-farm jobs and operating provision shops, is a conservation-driving strategy influenced by distance as well as by family size. Farmers who choose diversification to adapt may contribute to a virtuous circle in which livelihood improvement in the short term leads to enhanced social-ecological resilience in the longer term. The need for farmers to implement adaptation strategies thus represents great risk but also opportunities.

show abstract

Section: Distance Cash Benefits and Deforestation-driving Adaptatiomentioning

confidence: 99%

Unintended outcomes of farmers’ adaptation to climate variability: deforestation and conservation in Calakmul and Maya biosphere reserves

Rodriguez-Solorzano¹

2014

E&S

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…As stated by Perfecto et al (2009), the forest transition theory tends to overlook cultural landscapes, in which the suppression of human activities does not necessarily have positive outcomes for biological diversity. Indeed, it has been shown that in such landscapes, rural livelihoods and biological diversity may be strongly linked (Persha et al 2010). The abandonment of small-scale agriculture has direct consequences on the dynamic of entire habitats and ecosystems created by past and present traditional management techniques (Pretty 2007;Wieser and Lepofsky 2009).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Linking local knowledge, conservation practices and ecosystem diversity: comparing two communities in the Tunari National Park (Bolivia)

Boillat¹,

Mathez-Stiefel²,

Rist³

2013

Ethnobio Conserv

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Combined approaches to conserve both biological and cultural diversity are seen as an alternative to classical nature conservation instruments. The objective of this study was to examine the influence of urbanization coupled with exclusive conservation measures, on land use, local knowledge and biodiversity in two Quechua speaking communities of Bolivia located within the Tunari National Park. We assessed and compared the links between land use, its transformation through conservation practices, local institutions and the worldviews of both communities and the implications they have for biodiversity at the level of ecosystems. Our results show that in both communities, people's worldviews and environmental knowledge are linked with an integral and diversified use of their territory. However, the community most affected by urbanization and protected area regulations has intensified agriculture in a small area and has abandoned the use of large areas. This was accompanied by a loss of local environmental knowledge and a decrease in the diversity of ecosystems. The second community, where the park was not enforced, continues to manage their territory as a material expression of local environmental knowledge, while adopting community-based conservation measures with external support. Our findings highlight a case in which urbanization coupled with exclusive conservation approaches affects the components of both cultural and biological diversity. Actions that aim to enhance biocultural diversity in this context should therefore address the impact of factors identified as responsible for change in integrated social-ecological systems.

show abstract

“…Ostrom et al 1999;Ostrom 2009). Such systems can be very successful in maintaining both high biodiversity and sustainability in resource use (Berkes 1999;Persha et al 2010).…”

Section: Land Use Rights and Community-based Resource Use Among The Smentioning

confidence: 99%

Opportunities and Challenges to Capturing the Multiple Potential Benefits of REDD+ in a Traditional Transnational Savanna-Woodland Region in West Africa

Olsson

Ouattara

2013

AMBIO

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The REDD? scheme of the United Nations intends to offer developing countries financial incentives to reduce the rates of deforestation and forest degradation for reducing global CO 2 emissions. This is combined with building carbon stocks in existing wooded ecosystems and fostering other soil, biodiversity and water conservation objectives. Successful application of REDD? to the Xylophone Triangle of West Africa faces substantial challenges and risks to both meeting REDD? objectives and to the local people's rights and livelihoods. The transnationality of the culturally coherent area requires collaboration of three national governments. The opportunities, however, are great to capitalize on the region's biodiversity, the well-developed traditional ecological knowledge and the use of local medicinal plants as an integral part of the agro-ecosystem. Possibilities open to, not only sequester carbon, but also to increase the resilience of the ecosystem and of independent rural livelihoods in the face of climate change and globalization.

show abstract

Biodiversity conservation and livelihoods in human-dominated landscapes: Forest commons in South Asia

Cited by 84 publications

References 38 publications

Unintended outcomes of farmers’ adaptation to climate variability: deforestation and conservation in Calakmul and Maya biosphere reserves

Unintended outcomes of farmers’ adaptation to climate variability: deforestation and conservation in Calakmul and Maya biosphere reserves

Linking local knowledge, conservation practices and ecosystem diversity: comparing two communities in the Tunari National Park (Bolivia)

Opportunities and Challenges to Capturing the Multiple Potential Benefits of REDD+ in a Traditional Transnational Savanna-Woodland Region in West Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Biodiversity conservation and livelihoods in human-dominated landscapes: Forest commons in South Asia

Cited by 84 publications

References 38 publications

Unintended outcomes of farmers&#8217; adaptation to climate variability: deforestation and conservation in Calakmul and Maya biosphere reserves

Unintended outcomes of farmers&#8217; adaptation to climate variability: deforestation and conservation in Calakmul and Maya biosphere reserves

Linking local knowledge, conservation practices and ecosystem diversity: comparing two communities in the Tunari National Park (Bolivia)

Opportunities and Challenges to Capturing the Multiple Potential Benefits of REDD+ in a Traditional Transnational Savanna-Woodland Region in West Africa

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Unintended outcomes of farmers’ adaptation to climate variability: deforestation and conservation in Calakmul and Maya biosphere reserves

Unintended outcomes of farmers’ adaptation to climate variability: deforestation and conservation in Calakmul and Maya biosphere reserves