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Global palm oil demand for energy, food, and chemical uses has led to a rapid expansion of tree plantations in Southeast Asia, Central Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. This oil tree is the world’s most productive, highly profitable and traded vegetable oil crop, and the demand is expected to increase further in the near future. Nevertheless, oil palm expansion involves risks and nexus challenges. This work supports the idea that disruptive farming intensification, instead of land expansion, could scale up productivity, reducing the anthropogenic pressure on tropical forests and biodiversity losses. Findings from recent studies suggest that there is considerable scope for further yield improvements per hectare of palm oil with sustainable agronomic practices and farming intensification. Smallholder producers, agribusiness investors, civil society actors, NGOs, governments, researchers, and industry should make coordinated efforts with regulatory and support schemes and landscape design to increase yield and productivity with sustainable management practices and to achieve zero deforestation by protecting ecosystems.

Several studies have identified deforestation as a major cause of environmental degradation, but little is known about the asymmetric effect of the environmental cost of forest rents. To fill this gap, our study uses the nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) model and asymmetric causality test to examine the environmental implication of forest rents in the Guinean Forest-Savanna Mosaic of Nigeria over the period 1990:Q1 to 2016:Q4. The empirical results show that forest rents increase CO2 emissions when the shock to forest rents is positive and decreases CO2 emissions when the shock to forest rents is negative. The results further show evidence of asymmetric effects of crop production, fossil fuel energy consumption, and economic growth on CO2 emissions. Moreover, the effects of both positive and negative shocks in economic growth are elastic, suggesting that CO2 emissions respond in a larger magnitude to a 1% positive or negative shock in economic growth. While the positive shock to crop production and economic growth stimulates CO2 emissions, their negative shocks dampen CO2 emissions. In addition, the positive (negative) shocks to fossil energy consumption exert upward (downward) pressure on CO2 emissions. Furthermore, the asymmetric causality test divulges that a positive change in forest rents causes a negative change in CO2 emissions and a negative change in forest rents causes a positive change in CO2 emissions. Based on these findings, the study recommends the need for policymakers to formulate sound policies to protect the forests and transit toward clean energy consumption to minimize energy-related CO2 emissions in the country.

Statistical and dynamical modeling techniques are used to downscale global climate model (GCM) outputs to practical resolutions for local- or regional-scale applications. Current techniques do not incorporate the effects of land-use and land-cover changes, although research has shown that such changes can substantially affect climate locally. Here, we explore a new downscaling technique that uses tile-level GCM outputs provided under phase 6 of the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6). The method, land-cover tile downscaling (LTD), spatially locates the tile-level GCM outputs by mapping them to corresponding classes in high-resolution land-cover maps. Furthermore, it applies an elevation-based correction to account for the effect of topography on the local climate. LTD is applied to near-surface temperature outputs from the Community Earth System Model, version 2 (CESM2) and U.K. Earth System Model, version 1 (UKESM1), and surface temperature output from CESM2 and evaluated against observations. In comparison with grid-averaged control data, LTD outputs show an overall bias reduction that is not spatially consistent. Moreover, LTD performs better on air temperature data than on surface temperature and better on areas dominated by primary/secondary land and crops than on urban land. This could arise from simplifications in methods, like land-cover reclassification and simplified lapse rate estimates. However, the difference in response between the two variables and land-cover types implies that biases also stem from model structural features involved in estimating their tile-level outputs. This is supported by the differences between grid average data provided by the models and the same data reconstructed from tile-level outputs. Therefore, a thorough evaluation and quality control of tile-level outputs is recommended.

In the contemporary generation, rapid urbanization, industrialization, and declining woodland lead to global weather modifications. The massive scale of deforestation for firewood, constructions, paper products, textile, and plenty of different packages are steadily enforcing a critical poor impact on the surroundings. Inherently, plant cellulose has restrained utility because of the presence of hemicellulose and lignin. Consequently, studies in the discipline of microbial cellulose display many benefits over plant cellulose. It possesses numerous crucial and unique properties compared to plant cellulose, including high purity, better absorptivity, excellent polymerization, crystallization, in-situ mold potential, biodegradability, biocompatibility, and plenty of others. This assessment looks into a potent cellulose producer to develop an economically feasible manner for huge-scale production of microbial cellulose therefore, it may replace some of the requirements where plant cellulose has been currently in use.

The use of remote sensing to determine land-use and land-cover (LULC) dynamics is often applied to assess the levels of natural forest conservation and monitor deforestation worldwide. This study examines the loss of native vegetation in the Campo Maior Complex (CMC), in the Brazilian Caatinga dry tropical forest, from 2016 to 2020, considering the temporal distribution of rainfall and discussing the trends and impacts of forest-degradation vectors. The Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform is used to obtain the rainfall data from the CHIRPS collection and to create the LULC maps. The random forest classifier is used and applied to the Landsat 8 collection. The QGIS open software and its SPC plugin are used to visualize the LULC dynamics. The results show that the months from June to October have the lowest average rainfall, and that 2019 is the year with the highest number of consecutive rainy days below 5 mm. The LULC maps show that deforestation was higher in 2018, representing 20.19%. In 2020, the proportion of deforestation was the lowest (11.95%), while regeneration was the highest (20.33%). Thus, the characterization of the rainfall regime is essential for more accurate results in LULC maps across the seasonally dry tropical forests (SDTF).

Enormous biotic stresses, such as uncontrolled grazing, logging, use of plants for timber and fuelwood, deforestation for cultivation, and road constructions have drastically deteriorated forests in the Kashmir Himalaya. On the basis of the intensity of biotic stress, three differently forest sites, protected, unprotected and roadside forest, were studied. Random vegetation sampling was done to record herbaceous diversity in the Tangmarg Forest Division of Kashmir valley in 2019. Six diversity indices were negatively correlated with increasing levels of anthropogenic disturbance. The values further elucidated by the Renyi diversity profiles, indicated that the protected forest sites had significantly higher diversity as compared to the road side forest sites. Scaling based on an increased order of total number of species in the forest richness and diversity – on top were protected forest sites, followed by unprotected forest sites, while road side forest sites were on the lower end of this spectrum. The Principal component analysis (PCA) showed two distinct groups based on the composition and IVI of the plant species. The results of this study identify diverse biotic stresses and could help in framing the policies for forest management.

International audience; Freshwater ecosystems are among the most endangered ecosystem in the world. Understanding how human activities affect these ecosystems requires disentangling and quantifying the contribution of the factors driving community assembly. While it has been largely studied in temperate freshwaters, tropical ecosystems remain challenging to study due to the high species richness and the lack of knowledge on species distribution. Here, the use of eDNA-based fish inventories combined to a community-level modelling approach allowed depicting of assembly rules and quantifying the relative contribution of geographic, environmental and anthropic factors to fish assembly. We then used the model predictions to map spatial biodiversity and assess the representativity of sites surveyed in French Guiana within the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) and highlighted areas that should host unique freshwater fish assemblages. We demonstrated a mismatch between the taxonomic and functional diversity. Taxonomic assemblages between but also within basins were mainly the results of dispersal limitation resulting from basin isolation and natural river barriers. Contrastingly, functional assemblages were ruled by environmental and anthropic factors. The regional mapping of fish diversity indicated that the sites surveyed within the EU WFD had a better representativity of the regional functional diversity than taxonomic diversity. Importantly, we also showed that the assemblages expected to be the most altered by anthropic factors were the most poorly represented in terms of functional diversity in the surveyed sites. The predictions of unique functional and taxonomic assemblages could, therefore, guide the establishment of new survey sites to increase fish diversity representativity and improve this monitoring program.

Resumo A legislação florestal brasileira, principal instrumento legal sobre proteção e restauração da vegetação natural, sofreu significativas mudanças nas últimas décadas. Tais mudanças afetam diretamente os biomas do país. Nesse contexto, o presente trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar se, com a edição da Lei Estadual nº 18.104, de 18/07/2013, houve alteração na composição da cobertura vegetal na região da Chapada dos Veadeiros - Goiás, no período de 2008 até 2018, que corresponde aos cinco anos anteriores e posteriores à promulgação da referida lei. Foi adotada uma metodologia quantitativa na qual as hipóteses são testadas a partir da coleta de dados, baseando-se em variáveis que possuem medição numérica. Buscou-se fazer uma análise estatística para configurar padrões de modo a comprovar ou refutar a hipótese de que a Lei Florestal afetou as diferentes tipologias vegetais na região da Chapada dos Veadeiros. Foi verificada uma tendência de redução das áreas de formação savânicas e campestre na região estudada e aumentos significativos das áreas cobertas por florestas plantadas, pastagens e agricultura. Não foram observadas diferenças significativas estatisticamente nas áreas com formação florestal. Esses resultados apontam que a edição da Lei nº 18.104/2013 pode ter favorecido alterações nas áreas cobertas por diferentes tipologias vegetais na região da Chapada dos Veadeiros - Goiás, reduzindo áreas de formação savânica e campestre e ampliando áreas cobertas por florestas plantadas, pastagens e agricultura. Abstract Brazilian forestry legislation, the main legal instrument on the protection and restoration of natural vegetation, has undergone significant changes in recent decades. Such changes directly affect the country's biomes. In this context, the present work had as objective verify if, with the edition of the Forest Law of Goiás, nº 18,104/2013, there was a change in the composition of the vegetation cover in the region of Chapada dos Veadeiros - Goiás, in the period from 2008 to 2018, which corresponds five years before and after the enactment of the law. A quantitative methodology was adopted in which the hypothesis are tested based on the data collection, based on variables that have numerical measurement. An attempt was made to perform a statistical analysis to configure standards in order to prove or disprove hypothesis that the Forest Law affected the different plant typologies in the Chapada dos Veadeiros region. There was a tendency to reduce the areas of savanna and grassland formation in the studied region and significant increases in the areas covered by planted forests, pastures and agriculture. There were no statistically significant differences in areas with forest formation. These results indicate that the enactment of Law No 18,104/2013 may have favored changesin the areas covered by different plant types in the cover in the region of Chapada dos Veadeiros - Goiás, reducing areas of savanna and grassland formation and expanding areas covered by planted forests, pastures and agriculture.

Structures previously suggested to be footprints or tracks, but which have been little described, were observed within Quaternary inland dunes of the European Sand Belt. Excavation of these in several localities of the eastern part of the belt in Poland reveal that they are hoofprints of various ungulate mammals, both wild and domestic, as well as footprints of humans, ranging from potentially as early as the fifth to sixth century to the 19th century or later. Trample grounds and horizons with high densities of tracks are associated with other signs of intensifying usage of dune habitats for pasture and farming, including constrained movement of livestock, relatively well-developed paleosols, and evidence of ploughing. The presence of such abundant life traces not only reflects the presence of individual animals and people in an area, but sheds light on the potential processes and feedbacks that the tracemakers were involved in, in terms of maintaining and modifying the habitats themselves, which were dynamic and changeable. Footprints and their associated sedimentological records can be integrated with archaeological and historical data to analyse anthropogenic influence through time on physical landscapes and on the wild biota.

This article analyzes bottom-up institution-building processes in a region considered deforestation and environmental degradation hotspot. Utilizing the constitutionality approach developed by Haller, Acciaioli, and Rist (2016), we examine two recent cases of bottom-up institution-building in the department of Rivadavia, Chaco Salteño, Argentina. We highlight the similarities and differences between both constitutionality processes and identify various weaknesses in the two cases. We argue that constitutionality, understood as a process, has occurred to different (incomplete) degrees in each case. Finally, we show that external catalyzing agents play a decisive role in enabling or hampering the constitutionality process. Our study contributes to the literature on common-pool resource governance by highlighting how collective action can lead to participatory-development processes.

Brazil plays a central role in Western depictions of and narratives on tropical deforestation. In this contribution, we gather a large text corpus from Western media outlets with articles on deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado biomes. The sources include outlets from Europe, the US, Canada and Australia and span a time period from the late 1980s to 2020. Leveraging several text-mining approaches, such as topic modeling and automated narrative network analysis, we disentangle the way that Western media have tried to make sense of deforestation in the Amazon and the Cerrado biomes. We show that the former has received disproportionately more news coverage, specifically in times of international concern over the Brazilian government’s commitment to tackle deforestation. Further, Western media frequently report on the struggles of indigenous populations in the Amazon, often following an essentialist depiction of these communities, while in the case of the Cerrado, traditional populations are hardly mentioned at all. Our findings provide a methodologically innovative and empirically grounded case for the often raised concern over a relative invisibility of the Cerrado biome and its traditional populations, which may help explain observed disparities in governance interventions.

Dada a importância das florestas e o papel das políticas públicas ambientais, utilizando uma metodologia interdisciplinar, este estudo explicou os vários níveis de eficácia da Lei Complementar nº 233/2005, que visa a asseguração da flora e permite a exploração de forma sustentável, implantada no estado de Mato Grosso. Foram selecionados oito municípios, localizados no bioma Amazônia, com indicadores expressivos de desmatamento e exploração ilegal madeireira. A análise considerou as potencialidades em áreas de floresta em pé, das quais sete municípios apresentaram áreas aptas a serem exploradas legalmente, os manejos florestais implantados, as autuações ambientais contra a flora e a quitação destas multas, das quais apenas 4% foram pagas. Para analisar o comportamento do desmatamento em relação às variáveis independentes, utilizou-se um modelo de regressão linear múltipla. A estimativa resultou em uma relação positiva entre os manejos e o desmatamento, demonstrando a sensação de falsa legalidade. Os estabelecimentos madeireiros não apresentaram relação estatística com o desmatamento, diferentemente da variável vínculos empregatícios, que foi positiva. As autuações contra a flora apresentaram relação negativa com o desmatamento, o que se atribui aos déficits relacionados à aplicação de sansões e ao pagamento das multas nos municípios estudados. Dessa forma, compreendeu-se que a lei complementar sozinha não é capaz de atuar de maneira eficiente em relação à proteção da flora e ao fomento das atividades sustentáveis, necessitando-se de um alinhamento entre os agentes, o Estado e os órgãos competentes, evidenciando que os fatores associados ao desmatamento nestes municípios são complexos e não estão relacionados somente ao setor madeireiro. Given the importance of forests and the role of public environmental policies, using an interdisciplinary methodology, this study explained the various levels of effectiveness of Complementary Law No. 233/2005, which aims to ensure the flora and allows sustainable exploitation, implanted in the state of Mato Grosso. Eight municipalities were selected, located in the Amazon biome, with significant indicators of deforestation and illegal logging. The analysis considered the potential in areas of standing forest, from which seven municipalities had areas suitable for legal exploitation, the forest managements implemented, environmental assessments against flora and the discharge of these fines, of which only 4% were paid. . To analyze the behavior of deforestation in relation to the independent variables, a multiple linear regression model was used. The estimation resulted in a positive relationship between management and deforestation, demonstrating the feeling of false legality. Logging establishments did not show a statistical relationship with deforestation, unlike the employment link variable, which was positive. The assessments against flora showed a negative relationship with deforestation, which is attributed to deficits related to the application of sanctions and the payment of fines in the municipalities studied. Thus, it was understood that the complementary law alone is not able to act efficiently in relation to the protection of flora and the promotion of sustainable activities, requiring an alignment between the agents, the State and the competent bodies, evidencing that the factors associated with deforestation in these municipalities are complex and are not related only to the timber sector. Compte tenu de l'importance des forêts et du rôle des politiques publiques environnementales, en utilisant une méthodologie interdisciplinaire, cette étude a expliqué les différents niveaux d'efficacité de la loi complémentaire nº 233/2005, qui vise à garantir la flore et permet une exploitation durable, mise en œuvre dans le État du Mato Grosso. Huit municipalités ont été sélectionnées, situées dans le biome amazonien, avec des indicateurs significatifs de déforestation et d'exploitation forestière illégale. L'analyse a pris en compte le potentiel en zones de forêt sur pied, dont sept communes ont présenté des zones propices à l'exploitation légale, la gestion forestière mise en œuvre, les évaluations environnementales contre la flore et l'acquittement de ces amendes, dont seulement 4% ont été payés. Pour analyser le comportement de la déforestation par rapport aux variables indépendantes, un modèle de régression linéaire multiple a été utilisé. L'estimation a abouti à une relation positive entre la gestion et la déforestation, démontrant un faux sentiment de légalité. Les établissements forestiers ne présentaient pas de relation statistique avec la déforestation, contrairement à la variable relation d'emploi qui était positive. Les bilans contre la flore ont montré une relation négative avec la déforestation, qui est attribuée aux déficits liés à l'application des sanctions et au paiement des amendes dans les communes étudiées. De cette façon, il a été compris que la loi complémentaire seule n'est pas en mesure d'agir efficacement en matière de protection de la flore et de promotion d'activités durables, nécessitant un alignement entre les agents, l'État et les organismes compétents, démontrant que la les facteurs associés à la déforestation dans ces communes sont complexes et ne sont pas uniquement liés à la filière bois.

DR LEO 2023-09, DR LEO - Working paper LEO - 2023-09

Habitat fragmentation and overexploitation of natural resources are the most prevalent and severe threats to biodiversity in tropical forests. Several studies have estimated the efect of these threats on species extinction risk, however the efect resulting from their interaction remains poorly understood. Here, we assess whether and how habitat area, fragmentation, and hunting can synergistically afect the extinction risk of neotropical primates (Platyrrhine). We use a Random Forest model to estimate the Red List extinction risk category of 147 primate species based on their biological traits and the environmental predictors they are exposed to. We fnd that environmental variables are better predictors of extinction risk than biological traits, and that hunting and fragmentation interact creating synergistic feedback that lead to higher extinction risk than when considered in isolation. We also show that the efect of environmental predictors is mediated by biological traits, with large species being sensitive to habitat area and fragmentation, and frugivorous species more threatened by hunting. Our results increase the understanding of potentially interactive efects between diferent threats, habitat area and species traits, supporting the idea that multiple threats can reinforce each other and should be thus addressed simultaneously in conservation agendas., Open access funding provided by Università degli Studi di Roma La Sapienza within the CRUICARE Agreement.

The numerous lake and peat sedimentary archives of Central European Russia are ideal for studying the Lateglacial–Holocene climate and vegetation history of the region. However, robustly dated palaeoenvironmental records have only become available in the last decade and are still few and far between. Together with the continuously growing archaeological record and increasing focus on absolute dating of cultural assemblages, such records, where available, offer an excellent opportunity to study human-environment interactions in the region. For this study we selected one of the most detailed regional pollen records, from a 4.5-m-long sediment section from Zmeinoe Mire (56°16′53″ N, 31°15′36″ E) at Zhizhitskoye Lake (165 m a.s.l.). We performed quantitative pollen-based biome reconstruction and constructed a Bayesian age-depth model to ensure maximum chronological control of the sediment succession. To link the reconstructed vegetation changes to human activities, we gathered and summarized available archaeological data from the study area. Our results show that humid conditions and taiga-like patchy forests (spruce, pine, birch) dominated the study region during the Lateglacial. The Early Holocene (ca. 11,650–8000 cal yr BP) was marked by a warming and drying trend indicated by the spread of cool-temperate summergreen broad-leaved trees and shrubs (elm, lime, hazel) and the retreat of spruce. Warmest conditions, expressed by the maximum contribution of temperate deciduous woody taxa to the pollen assemblages, were recorded during the Middle Holocene (ca. 8000–4000 cal yr BP) when Mesolithic and Neolithic hunter-fisher-gatherer groups flourished in the region. The pollen record suggests that the regional climate became cooler and wetter after 4000 cal yr BP, which may explain the decline of the Neolithic pile dwelling settlement Naumovo at Zhizhitskoye Lake around 3800 cal yr BP. Evidence for human impact on natural forest vegetation becomes visible from 5000 cal yr BP, although it remains at modest levels until the end of the Neolithic (3500–3000 cal yr BP). Decline in arboreal pollen percentages intensified after ca. 2800 cal yr BP, indicating the onset of increased deforestation for pasture, farmland, construction material and fuel by Iron Age populations. This is in line with the foundation of the fortified Iron Age Anashkino settlement north of Zhizhitskoye Lake dated to around 2750 cal yr BP. Forest clearance further increased during the second half of the Iron Age (5th century BCE–5th century CE) and again from ca. 1200 cal yr BP after the onset of the Middle Ages.

Within environmental governance regimes such as the United Nations’ Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), uncertainty surrounding forest carbon offset commensurability is often regarded as a technical failing that can be resolved through additional data collection or new scientific methods. Though efforts to reduce uncertainty through extensive carbon accounting has generated immense datasets, uncertainty surrounding the commensurability of forest carbon offsets remains, emerging from the neoliberal political economic context as much as from scientific data gaps. Drawing on an analysis of a REDD+ project in Indonesia’s peatlands, this article shows that incompatibilities between scientific uncertainty and financial uncertainty emerged through this forest carbon offset project and, more broadly, that incompatible uncertainty acts as a knowledge regime in the context of hegemonic discourses that connect Indonesia’s degraded peatlands to climate change. This article thus argues that in neoliberal land use-based climate change mitigation projects, it is not the inevitable, enduring presence of scientific or market-based uncertainty that stymies project implementation but the incompatibility of these two forms of uncertainty. By exploring how the drive for more data leads to more uncertainty, in turn spurring the pursuit of more data in lieu of other forms of project action, this article contributes to scholarship on the politics of knowing and un-knowing in environmental governance.

In the eastern rainforests of Madagascar, rainfed swidden rice cultivation remains prevalent despite efforts to encourage uptake of irrigated systems to reduce deforestation. We used agricultural surveys with a stratified sample of 171 households to investigate constraints on and productivity of irrigated and rainfed rice perceived by farmers, and actual rice yields. Irrigated rice plots had higher median yields (1.72 t/ha compared to 0.62 t/ha), but farmers perceived the type of rice cultivation they practised themselves as more productive, possibly reflecting differences in the land suitability, farmers experience, and other constraints. While some factors, such as pests and water, were mentioned to limit yields, access to fertiliser was not frequently mentioned by smallholders. Higher food security was related to irrigated rice farming, higher rice yields, and owning more livestock. Conservation initiatives need to target households with and without access to irrigable land to improve food security and reduce deforestation, as exclusively promoting a cessation of swidden agriculture is neglecting its cultural value and the scarcity of irrigable land in the region.

Deep learning methods are known to demand large amounts of labeled samples for training. For remote sensing applications such as change detection, coping with that demand is expensive and time-consuming. This work aims at investigating a noisy-label-based weak supervised method in the context of a deforestation mapping application, characterized by a high class imbalance between the classes of interest, i.e., deforestation and no-deforestation. The study sites correspond to different regions in the Amazon and Brazilian Cerrado biomes. To mitigate the lack of ground-truth labeled training samples, we devised an unsupervised pseudo-labeling scheme based on the Change Vector Analysis technique. The experimental results indicate that the proposed approach can improve the accuracy of deforestation detection applications.

Commercial charcoal production is gradually becoming one of the major sources of sustenance and currently plays a major role in promoting entrepreneurial development in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State. The study was carried out to assess charcoal production and its impact on deforestation and environment in the study area. Data for the study were generated from a structured questionnaire administered to charcoal producers in the study area. Data obtained revealed that majority (83%) were male with 56% within the age class of 21-40, majority (67%) were married and about (51%) attained primary education. Majority of the producers (82%) used traditional earth mound kiln method for charcoal production and about 56% of the producers obtained their raw material from free area. Most preferred tree species for charcoal production was Prosopis africana and accounted for 61%. Loss of biodiversity ranked 1st as regards impact of charcoal production on deforestation and environment in the study area, closely followed by forest degradation and soil degradation respectively. This study will enable forestry policy makers, charcoal producers, and farmers in the study area to be better informed about the implications of charcoal production on deforestation and environment and seek innovative means and ways to combat its menace.

The long-term resilience of Pyrenean forests in the face of historical anthropogenic clearing remains largely unknown. In this paper, a high-resolution (decadal to subdecadal) paleoecological study of mid-elevation Pyrenean forests is presented that encompasses the last two millennia. This long-term record was obtained after sediment coring, dating (varve counting) and pollen analysis of annually laminated (varved) sediments from Lake Montcortès, situated at 1027 m elevation, in the transition between the Mediterranean and montane forest belts. This allowed the definition of three major deforestation/recovery cycles during the Roman, Medieval and Modern times. Each DR cycle is characterized considering three different levels: overall forest trends, forest type and individual taxa. Overall, the studied forests exhibited high resilience, as they recovered almost completely after each deforestation event (bulk resilience). The critical point of no return (tipping point) beyond which forests would have irreversibly disappeared from the region was never reached, even after deforestation magnitudes above 60%. The different forest types identified (conifer, sclerophyll and deciduous) persisted over time, showing similar heterogeneous patterns with minor spatial reorganizations (mosaic resilience). Individually, the main forest taxa underwent minor variations in their relative abundances, always within the same attraction domains (community resilience). The high levels of resilience documented in these Pyrenean forests are attributed to the action of metapopulation and metacommunity processes and mechanisms in a highly dynamic patchy environment. Conservation actions should be focused on the maintenance of these spatial patterns and the associated ecological dynamics., Funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spain), projects CGL 2012-3665 and CGL 2017-85682-R., Introduction Study Area Methods Results Discussion and Conclusions Author Contributions Funding Data Availability Statement Conflicts of Interest References

La baisse inattendue de la déforestation au Brésil en 2022 a mis en lumière la complexité des phénomènes de déboisement et la difficulté de la plupart des observateurs à se repérer au milieu de statistiques et de bases de données spatiales reposant sur des méthodologies différentes et appréciant de manière hétérogène les différents types d’atteintes à l’environnement. Dans ce contexte, cet article s’attache à replacer les chiffres récents dans un contexte plus large tant sur le plan spatial (en étendant le regard à l’ensemble de l’Amazonie, au-delà du Brésil) que sur le plan temporel (en regardant le phénomène sur plusieurs décennies) et sur le plan des approches (en présentant plusieurs sources de données). Pour y parvenir nous présentons dans un premier temps les principales données disponibles sur la déforestation, en distinguant leurs caractéristiques et en rappelant la complexité écologique et géographique sous-jacente à l’Amazonie, qui rend possible des approches différentes, dont les résultats peuvent être divergents en apparence. Dans un second temps, nous décrivons les oscillations de la déforestation depuis une trentaine d’années, en nous intéressant d’abord à l’ensemble du bassin amazonien (ou pan-Amazonie) avant de nous focaliser sur l’Amazonie brésilienne. Dans une troisième partie et afin de proposer un panorama complet sur la question, nous évoquons les causes de la déforestation, les principales politiques des États de la région pour y faire face et les conséquences du déboisement à l’échelle locale, régionale et globale. The unexpected fall of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon in 2022 has shown that deforestation phenomena are complex and that for many observers it is difficult to find their way in statistics and geospatial databases that are produced using different methodologies and distinct definitions of what deforestation is and considering in diverging ways various types of environmental damages. In this context, this paper attempts to replace recent figures in a broader context spatially (considering the whole Amazon region beyond Brazil), temporally (looking at the phenomena since the 1980s) and thematically (presenting several sources of data). To do so, we first present the data that are available to the public about deforestation, distinguishing their (sometimes apparently contradictory) characteristics and underlining the Amazon’s inherent ecological and geographical complexity. In a second part, we describe the history of deforestation since 1985, first at the level of the whole basin (or pan-Amazonia) and then focusing on the Brazilian Amazon. Last, as to complete our panorama of the question of deforestation, we present quickly the causes of deforestation and the principal policies of the governments to face it, as well as the consequences of deforestation at the local, regional and global scales.

Tropical mangroves, one of the most important blue-carbon ecosystems, are among the world’s most threatened ecosystems and are in danger of disappearing within the next century, which may have a significant impact on coastal ecology and biodiversity, and also on the global capacity of climate change mitigation. The Caribbean region is one of the main mangrove hotspots on Earth. This paper is a thorough updated synthesis on the origin, evolutionary turnover, diversification and historical decline of the Caribbean mangroves, in relation to tectonic, climatic, eustatic and anthropogenic shifts. Neotropical mangroves originated in the Caribbean during the Middle Eocene, after the emergence of the first known mangrove-forming tree (Pelliciera). The abrupt cooling and sea-level fall of the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) would have facilitated the replacement of the primeval mangroves by others dominated by Rhizophora. This was a major evolutionary disruption and gave rise to the modern Neotropical mangrove forests, still dominated by Rhizophora, with Pelliciera restricted to a relictual equatorial patch. The other extant mangrove-forming trees (Avicennia, Pelliciera) appeared in the Mio-Pliocene and the main diversification burst occurred in the Plio-Pleistocene, when 80% of extant genera emerged, with no extinctions documented. Pleistocene climatic and eustatic glacial cycles promoted recurrent spatial and compositional reorganizations. Natural drivers were the most influential until the Middle Holocene, when Amerindian cultures settled the whole Caribbean region and began to modify mangrove communities for agriculture and other activities using fire. During the last decades, deforestation has accelerated and the Caribbean mangrove cover has been reduced by >30%. A variety of conservation actions have been undertaken, but paleoecological and evolutionary knowledge remains to be fully incorporated into mangrove preservation. It is hoped that contributions like the present will help raising awareness on the importance of past records for conservation purposes.

Abandonment of agricultural lands promotes the global expansion of secondary forests, which are critical for preserving biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services. Such roles largely depend, however, on two essential successional attributes, trajectory and recovery rate, which are expected to depend on landscape-scale forest cover in nonlinear ways. Using a multi-scale approach and a large vegetation dataset (843 plots, 3511 tree species) from 22 secondary forest chronosequences distributed across the Neotropics, we show that successional trajectories of woody plant species richness, stem density and basal area are less predictable in landscapes (4 km radius) with intermediate (40–60%) forest cover than in landscapes with high (greater than 60%) forest cover. This supports theory suggesting that high spatial and environmental heterogeneity in intermediately deforested landscapes can increase the variation of key ecological factors for forest recovery (e.g. seed dispersal and seedling recruitment), increasing the uncertainty of successional trajectories. Regarding the recovery rate, only species richness is positively related to forest cover in relatively small (1 km radius) landscapes. These findings highlight the importance of using a spatially explicit landscape approach in restoration initiatives and suggest that these initiatives can be more effective in more forested landscapes, especially if implemented across spatial extents of 1–4 km radius.

The data are represented by two tables with information from analysis on Brazilian biomes (Amazon, Atlantic Forest, and Cerrado) to evaluate impacts of the Forest Code.

Global maps of agricultural expansion potential at a 300 m resolution This repository contains data from “Global maps of agricultural expansion potential at a 300 m resolution” study. Abstract: The global expansion of agricultural land is a leading driver of climate change and biodiversity loss. However, the spatial resolution of current global land change models is relatively coarse, which limits environmental impact assessments. To address this issue, we developed global maps representing the potential for conversion into agricultural land at a resolution of 10 arc-seconds (approximately 300 m at the equator). We created the maps using Artificial Neural Network (ANN) models relating locations of recent past conversions (2007-2020) into one of three cropland categories (cropland only, mosaics with >50% crops, and mosaics with 50% crops, and (iii) mosaics with 50% crops, and mosaics with 50% crops, and 40 - mosaics with 50% crops category at the spatial resolution of 10 arc-seconds. - “Agri_potential_mosaic_40.tif” is the global raster map for mosaics with 50% crops, and category 40 is mosaics with

Industrialization and changes in the landscape have disturbed natural geochemical cycles of carbon and other elements significantly for several centuries. Fossil fuel emissions are the main contributor, along with deforestation and cement production. Projection of future trends in atmospheric CO2 and global carbon flows, under human disturbance, requires understanding of the natural exchanges between atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, and geosphere pools. Regulation of the rates of flux in the global carbon cycle occur in enumerable biogeochemical processes, but overall through major feedbacks in the biogeochemical cycle of carbon through weathering, photosynthetic fixation, respiratory metabolism, and the ocean calcium carbonate buffering system. Mathematical computer models have become the means by which the complex, biogeochemical processes of atmosphere, land, and oceans can be represented, quantified, and used to describe the past, present, and future dynamics of the Earth's carbon cycle.

We are pre-registering a series of experiments designed to better understand depolarization in discourse about controversial policies. Like playing mental chess, comprehending real-life political arguments presented in prose can be cognitively demanding. So many people may simplify their representation of the argument and rely on other effort-minimizing heuristics. While efficient, these mental shortcuts may be susceptible to biases such as confirmation or myside bias. If this explanation of biased policy argument evaluation is correct, then certain concrete methods may be able to reduce political polarization. In a preliminary study (Cullen & Sharma, 2018), we found that presenting an argument visually, using color, line, and shape to display its logical structure dramatically reduced biased argument evaluation compared to presenting the exact same argument in identical prose. Further, the argument visualizations reduced the belief that one's political opponents are evil among those who performed poorly on a reflection test (ibid.) Subsequent pilot research found that the depolarizing effects of visualizing arguments may not work as well when participants evaluate arguments which do not (a) support policies that they are inclined to reject and (b) appeal to their own values or “speak their moral language”. To test this hypothesis, we are developing arguments for one party’s policies that appealing to the values of the other party (e.g., a pro-choice argument that appeals to the value of law and order or a pro-life argument that appeals to the interests of marginalized groups). We also developed more conventional arguments for these policies (e.g., a pro-choice argument that appeals to gender equality or a pro-life argument that appeals to traditional family values). We predict that the depolarizing power of visual argument presentation is real, but that it may be more potent for arguments that “speak our moral language.” For example, liberals may think better of a pro-life argument that appeals to liberal values than one that does not. The goal is to test as many of the following effects as funding allows: the effect(s) of presenting arguments for or against particular policies (a) in diagram form (vs. prose) and (b) that appeal to politically conservative (vs. political progressive) values. We predict that debiasing relies on both making the logical structure of the arguments perspicuous (with argument diagrams) and showing how that structure appeals to values that participants share. A secondary goal is to test the interaction of these effects with individual differences in factors like reasoning (e.g., belief bias tasks, reflection tests, etc.). Cullen, S., & Sharma, V. (2018). Short Report on Initial Political Polarization/Argument Visualization Study.

Digital technologies play an increasingly important role in addressing environmental challenges, such as climate change and resource depletion. Yet, the characteristics and implications of digitalized environmental governance are still under-conceptualized. In this perspective, we distinguish three dimensions of governance: (1) seeing and knowing, (2) participation and engagement, and (3) interventions and actions. For each dimension, we provide a critical perspective on the shifts that digital technologies generate in governance. We argue against the assumption that the use of digital technologies automatically results in improved outcomes or in more democratic decision-making. Instead, attention needs to be paid to the wider political and normative context in which digital technologies are proposed, designed, and used as environmental governance tools. We conclude with key questions for academics and policymakers to broaden the debate on responsible design and use of digital technologies in environmental governance.

Deforestation is cutting trees of forests on a huge scale, often resulting in loss of habitat of millions of wild animals. About 30% of earths land is still covered with forests but due to deforestation we are losing them at the rate of about half the size of England per year. In forests, tree cutting activities are illegal but due to shortage of manpower and other resources, governments are not very successful in curbing this menace. One way to stop this is to detect the tree cutting process in an early stage so that timely measures can be taken to stop the same. The simplest method of early detection of tree cutting is to regularly monitor the forest area either manually or using some automatic techniques. As tree cutting generates lot of noise, it can be detected by regularly monitoring the acoustic signals inside the forest. An acoustic signature can provide valuable information about the activities of any intruder inside the forest. This paper proposes an algorithm for automatic detection of tree cutting in forest. The proposed algorithm is based on distance between parameters, along with K-means clustering, GMM and PCA for comparison. The efficiency of proposed algorithm is 92%.

Palaeoecological evidence is compared with the existing archaeological record to understand how changing human activity, over the past two millennia, impacted fire regimes and vegetation dynamics in the Drakensberg Mountains, South Africa. Sediment cores from two wetland sites in the Cathedral Peak area of the northern Drakensberg, KwaZulu-Natal are dated using accelerator mass spectrometry to chronologically support biological proxy data. Fossil pollen analysis is used to detect changes in vegetation composition, and macroscopic charcoal to reconstruct changing fire regimes. Charcoal accumulation rates (CHAR) are used as a proxy for burned biomass, and charcoal width-to-length ratio (W/L) as a proxy for dominant fuel type, whether grassy or woody. Results indicate an increase in CHAR, coincident with the appearance of cereal-type grasses (>40 μm) c. 550 cal BP, suggesting a change in fire regimes associated with the arrival of early agropastoralists. A notable decline in charcoal W/L at this time indicates a shift towards a more grassy fuel type. This is consistent with a seasonal shift in the timing of ignitions from high intensity late season lightning fires to low intensity early season anthropogenic fires. The latter are less damaging to woody vegetation explaining an overall shift to a more grassy fuel type. Large scale ecosystem change is evident in the colonial period, including decreased forest pollen taxa such as Podocarpus, which may be linked to colonial period logging. The increased dominance of Pteridium spores documents the invasion trajectory of bracken fern into montane grasslands in the area, which is attributed to ecosystem disturbance in the form of colonial fire suppression. The subalpine wetland clearly documents woody encroachment of the surrounding open grassland landscape during the agropastoral and subsequent colonial periods. By contrast, at the montane wetland site, these trends appear to be overprinted by local forest dynamics and recent deforestation, likely an elevation effect. Palaeoecological evidence demonstrates how changes in fire regimes and vegetation composition in the northern Drakensberg are closely tied to human activity over the past two millennia.

Mother Nature is full of surprises, hiding several gems beneath its heart in the form of forests, mountains, rivers, etc. One of the treasures that human got as a gift are the forests which value more than anything presents on this earth in terms of its significance. Still, humans are not realizing the full potential of trees and driving deforestation with supersonic speed (see the example of Amazon forests in Brazil). One of such trees which might face extinction soon is Taxus baccata L. Also called Yew, the tree is the toolbox for various kinds of diseases since ancient times. It is important for the common people and the scientific community to understand the importance of the chemical constituents present in it in the form of alkaloids, flavonoids, and essential oils. Here in this review, we will shed the light on the natural products present in Yew and their applications, side effects, and medicinal properties. Afterward, we will discuss the ADME (absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion) of Yew constituents, as most of the part of the tree is toxic for human consumption. This review will give insight into the T. baccata species and will be helpful for the medicinal chemists to design new molecules for various cancers, fungal and microbial infections, and asthma.

The majority of Ethiopia's population, primarily women, is susceptible to smoke inhalation during cooking, and they spend the majority of their time striving to collect firewood. Biomass deforestation for cooking harms the rural household economy and contributes to national and global environmental change, such as pollution and health issues. The effort should aim to integrate the Scheffler concentrator with a thermal storage system via the secondary solar cooking reflector in order to stimulate indoor cooking while avoiding concerns associated by carbon inhalation and deforestation. As a result, the Injera bakery system powered by solar thermal energy is born. There is a primary (Scheffler), secondary (reflective), and thermal storage device incorporated, as well as a cooking (pan) mounts. Solid works software was utilized for Scheffler focus and secondary reflector modeling and simulation. The thermal retention capacity of a storage device is determined using heating and cooling curves generated by software modeling and simulation. The findings gained would aid in the development of any comfortable indoor cooking system specifically for rural areas without a grid connection, and as a result of this study, carbon inhalation and deforestation difficulties would be mitigated. Through automation, the output rate would also increase the amount and efficiency of injera. This analysis focuses on the Injera baker concept for domestic applications.

The Dry Chaco in South America is a semi-arid ecoregion prone to dryland salinization. In this region, we investigated coarse-scale surface soil moisture (), soil temperature, soil salinity and vegetation, using L-band microwave brightness temperature (B) observations and retrievals from the Soil Moisture Ocean Salinity (SMOS) and Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) satellite missions, Catchment Land Surface Model (CLSM) simulations, and in situ measurements within 26 sampled satellite pixels. Across these 26 sampled pixels, the satellite-based outperformed CLSM when evaluated against field data, and forward L-band B simulations derived from in situ and temperature performed better than those derived from CLSM estimates when evaluated against SMOS B observations. The surface salinity for the sampled pixels was on average only 4 mg/g and only locally influenced the B simulations, when including salinity in the dielectric mixing model of the forward radiative transfer model (RTM) simulations. To explore the potential of retrieving salinity together with other RTM parameters to optimize B simulations over the entire Dry Chaco, the RTM was inverted using 10 years of multi-angular SMOS B data and constraints of CLSM and temperature. However, the latter modeled was not sufficiently accurate and factors such as open surface water were missing in the background constraints, so that the salinity retrievals effectively represented a bulk correction of the dielectric constant, rather than salinity per se. However, the retrieval of vegetation, scattering albedo and surface roughness resulted in realistic values.

Tropical and subtropical climates are the dominant growing environments for water hyacinth plants. Aquatic plants that float on the surface of the water. This substance occurs naturally in most of Tamil Nadu's ponds and dams. In comparison to other types of aquatic natural plants, it is one of the worst invasive species. Researchers concentrate on this plant as a waste management concept because of the government's treatment of this material as garbage. Water hyacinth plant absorption studies are presented and investigated in this paper, including both water and chemical tests in relation to applications for commercial and house-hold use. We believe no work has been done with regard to the absorption process of water hyacinth powder, ash, and composites. In this case, the use of plant powders, ash and composites constitute a novel application of natural ecosystem consideration. A currently implemented work sample that actively prevents deforestation as well as introduction of environmentally friendly products can be implemented by replacing wood-based products.

Forests influence climate change by either increasing or decreasing the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases. When unsustainably managed, forests can release more greenhouse gases than they can absorb, intensifying their atmospheric concentration with adverse climate and human health outcomes. Several frameworks and institutional arrangements have been adopted globally to help strengthen political commitment and actions to promote the sustainable management of forests and enhance forests’ contribution to climate change mitigation. Nevertheless, the destruction of tropical forests is accelerating at an alarming rate, making it an uphill battle to stop forest sector carbon emissions, limit the global average temperature rise to well below 2°C, and build a sustainable and climate-resilient future for all. The continuous release of forest-related emissions indicates that humanity has fallen short of meeting global forest and climate-related goals and, hence, reiterates the need to develop and apply additional tools to support international cooperation on mitigating forest carbon emissions. Considering deforestation’s challenge for voluntary frameworks such as the UN Forest Instrument and REDD+, opportunities/actions beyond non-legally binding agreements and principles must be harnessed promptly. Trade-related measures, such as the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan, are relevant in addressing deforestation. Arguably, the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance and Trade Action Plan provides the most appropriate framework for future regional/global forest law reform.

The research area is located in the Eastern Carpathians, Romania. This region is rich in various formations and indicates significant potential for paleo-environmental reconstruction. The present research was carried out on sediment cores collected at lake Bolătău-Feredeu, Feredeului Mountains (Eastern Carpathians, Romania). Preliminary examination of the sediment confirmed the possibility for data analysis with high temporal resolution. The aim of the research was to clarify and supplement the findings of previous research at this site, to explore the relationships between proxy parameters and to elucidate the cause for the changes. Core dating was carried out using 210Pb and radiocarbon isotopes and indicated that sediment cores span the past 500 years. The research uses a wide range of methodologies, including organic geochemistry with calculated n alkane indices (Phw and Pwax). Based on these proxies, the changes of woody and herbaceous coverage in the catchment can be estimated. Moreover, element concentration, weathering indices and particle size distribution assist to detect climate changes in the catchment area. The data and conclusions yielded by the analysis were compared with the regional modelled temperature profile, based on which five periods were separated. In addition to natural and anthropogenic events, the main factor among the natural processes is the change in annual temperature. Based on the obtained data, several parameters were found to be suitable for monitoring past temperature changes.

Vascular epiphytes are one of the most important forest components, contributing to microclimatic maintenance. These plants find ideal conditions for development in the Amazon due to the spatial heterogeneity and high temperature and humidity typical of this biome. In recent years, the Brazilian Amazon has undergone dramatic changes in its landscape, mainly due to the increase in deforestation and fire rates. We present here the floristic composition and analyze the community structure of epiphytic angiosperms of an urban forest fragment in Eastern Amazon. A total of 71 epiphytic individuals were recorded belonging to eight species and four families. Orchidaceae was the most representative family, corroborating the pattern for surveys of epiphytic diversity in the Neotropical region. Epiphytic species were found on 24 individuals of 10 tree species. The epiphytic importance value (IVe) was low for all species, except for Aechmea tocantina and Rhipsalis baccifera. Cactaceae was the family with the highest IVe. Most epiphytes were found in the crown of trees (83.1%). The diversity index of the fragment was H’ = 1.80 and the equity index was J= 0.87, reflecting the absence of highly dominant species. Conservation of urban forest fragments is necessary for the maintenance of epiphytic flora and ecosystem services.

Land-Use/Land-Cover (LULC) change is one of the main factors contributing to ecosystem degradation and to the global climate change. The Markov Chains (MC) model is a widely used technique for the spatio-temporal evaluation of LULC changes, allowing the projection of the landscape variability based on the multidirectional potential of LULC changes. This study assessed the LULC changes in a disturbed temperate forest basin of northern Mexico during the period 1990–2019. In addition, three LULC scenarios, employing the MC model, were projected for 2048. Supervised classification techniques were performed on data from Landsat sensors to generate LULC maps. Results from the Kappa Index showed a precision of 85 and 85.8% for the classifications of 1990 and 2019, respectively. During the evaluated period, degradation and deforestation processes in the basin were the main factors of disturbance, causing the pine-oak forest to show the biggest loss of coverage (190.81 km2). Conversely, open lands showed the biggest increase in its coverage, which indicates anthropogenic activities as the main driver causing changes on the ecosystem. Projections for 2048 indicate processes of degradation and deforestation will continue, expecting increases in coverage for open lands, deciduous forest, and secondary forest. The current and projected conditions of the landscape highlight the importance of the implementation of conservation and restoration strategies, as well as responsible public policies in the study area to mitigate the impacts on these ecosystems.

Summary: Background: Previous studies focusing on urban, industrialised regions have found that excess heat exposure can increase all-cause mortality, heat-related illnesses, and occupational injuries. However, little research has examined how deforestation and climate change can adversely affect work conditions and population health in low latitude, industrialising countries. Methods: For this modelling study we used data at 1 km2 resolution to compare forest cover and temperature conditions in the Berau regency, Indonesia, between 2002 and 2018. We used spatially explicit satellite, climate model, and population data to estimate the effects of global warming, between 2002 and 2018 and after applying 1·0°C, 1·5°C, and 2·0°C of global warming to 2018 temperatures, on all-cause mortality and unsafe work conditions in the Berau regency, Indonesia. Findings: Between 2002 and 2018, 4375 km2 of forested land in Berau was cleared, corresponding to approximately 17% of the entire regency. Deforestation increased mean daily maximum temperatures by 0·95°C (95% CI 0·97–0·92; p

A field study in Chimit Kolla, Gozamen District, Ethiopia was conducted in November, 2020. The study aimed to evaluate the biodiversity loss and major conservation challenges in the area. Direct sighting of the animals in the field and indirect evidences like scats, prey leftover and evidence from native key informants revealed higher wildlife potential of the area. However, intensive agricultural investment, deforestation and habitat degradation, uncontrolled charcoal production and induced fire for agricultural expansion remain the principal biodiversity conservation challenges. Although sustainable agriculture is part of the Sustainable Development Goals, in Chimit area intensive agriculture resulted ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss in an alarming rate. Therefore, the area calls for active conservation intervention measures to harmonize the investment activities with biodiversity conservation priorities. Key words: Agricultural investment, biodiversity loss, charcoal production, conservation challenges, induced fire.

Oaxaca es el estado de México con mayor riqueza de especies de herpetozoarios, pero también es uno de los diez estados con mayor tasa de deforestación del país. Por lo tanto, contar con listas actualizadas de las especies de herpetozoarios que se distribuyen en una región y las amenazas que enfrentan, son la base para establecer buenas políticas de conservación para estas especies. La herpetofauna de Santiago Clavellinas y Zaachila, Oaxaca, ha sido estudiada parcialmente y no existe un inventario actualizado de las especies que se distribuyen en esta región, la cual está ubicada entre las subprovincias fisiográficas de los Valles Centrales de Oaxaca y las Montañas y Valles del Occidente de Oaxaca. El listado de la herpetofauna lo integramos con registros obtenidos durante 15 años de trabajo de campo, y fue complementado con información recuperada de plataformas digitales. En total registramos 70 especies de herpetozoarios, 14 de anfibios y 56 de reptiles. Dieciséis especies representan nuevos registros de distribución para los Valles Centrales y seis lo son para las Montañas y Valles del Occidente. El 61.7% de las especies nativas son endémicas de México, de las cuales el 11.7% son endémicas de Oaxaca. El 39.7% de las especies nativas están clasificadas bajo alguna categoría de riesgo de acuerdo con la NOM-059-SEMARNAT-2010 y la lista roja de la IUCN. El bosque de pino-encino con 46 especies, el bosque de encino con 42 y el pastizal de tierras bajas con 36, fueron los hábitat con mayor riqueza específica. Las principales amenazas identificadas para la herpetofauna fue el incremento de la urbanización en los Valles Centrales, mientras que la deforestación y carencia de programas de gestión forestal sustentable lo fue para las Montañas y Valles del Occidente de Oaxaca.

Area-based protection is the cornerstone of international conservation policy. The contribution of Indigenous Lands (ILs)—areas traditionally owned, managed, used or occupied by Indigenous Peoples—is increasingly viewed as critical in delivering on international goals. A key question is whether deforestation and degradation are reduced on ILs pan-tropically and their effectiveness relative to Protected Areas (PAs). We estimate deforestation and degradation rates from 2010 to 2018 across 3.4 millon km2 (Mkm2) ILs, 2 Mkm2 of PAs and 1.7 Mkm2 of overlapped Protected Indigenous Areas (PIAs) relative to matched counterfactual non-protected areas. Deforestation is reduced in ILs relative to non-protected areas across the tropics, avoiding deforestation comparably to PAs and PIAs except in Africa, where they avoid more. Similarly, degradation is reduced in ILs relative to non-protected areas, broadly performing comparably to PAs and PIAs. Indigenous support is central to forest conservation plans, underscoring the need for conservation to support their rights and recognize their contributions. Tropical forests are threatened worldwide. This study finds Indigenous Lands reduce deforestation and degradation throughout the tropics at rates comparable to protected areas and at higher rates in Africa.

Ongoing environmental changes may reduce the population size and geographic distribution of many ecologically sensitive species. Predicting where populations will (or will not) be likely to resist these changes is crucial for planning their protection. The blond titi monkey (Callicebus barbarabrownae) is listed as Critically Endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature because of its small and declining population due to deforestation and hunting. The species is endemic to the Brazilian Caatinga dry forest, which has undergone extensive deforestation and climate-induced desertification. We address the extinction risk of this species in a spatially explicit context by predicting the geographic distribution of suitable areas that may permit the persistence of potentially viable populations over the next 50 years. We combined species distribution modeling with population viability analysis under more optimistic and pessimistic climate change scenarios and simulated forest loss, assessing how different populations will likely cope with these changes during the coming decades. Future models did not differ between the scenarios, but changes in the climatic suitability of the species’ habitat predicted a reduction of one-third of the currently suitable area. Viable populations in large forest remnants represent only a quarter of all known populations, and they also face a decline in climatic suitability. Smaller populations may be extirpated, regardless of the level of forest recovery. This species’ long-term persistence entails improving habitat quality and the connectivity of the large remnants to neighbor areas. Finally, the integration of spatial and temporal models is feasible and helpful to address threats and aid the conservation of primates.

Understanding the land use land cover dynamics and its drivers is essential to generate evidences for making appropriate interventions to safeguard the environment. The study assesses the impacts of resettlement on the Land use land cover (LULC) change in Nensebo district of Ethiopia using remote sensing and in situe field surveys over a period of 33 years (1986–2019). Four years’ temporal satellite images 1986, 2000, 2011 and 2019 were used to assess the LULCC. Supervised maximum likelihood classification algorithm was used to classify the images. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select the study district, three kebeles and respondents. From a total of 987 households, 285(29%) household heads were selected using simple random sampling. Questionnaire survey, key informant interviews, and focus group discussions were employed to address the drivers. The result showed that there was a rise of farmland from 9.27% in 1986 to 31.55% in 2019 with a rate of 7.30% per annum. Conversely, forest cover was shrinking from 84.40% in 1986 to 57.87% in 2019 with a rate of 0.95% per annum. The study also revealed a significant conversion of shrubland and forest cover to farmland with 58.2% and 29% respectively over the study period. The study revealed that the rapid rate of deforestation and LULCC were attributed to proximate drivers (commercial farmland expansion, resettlement, forest fire, population growth, illegal logging, charcoal and firewood production) and underlying causes (population pressure, poverty, land scarcity, and weak law enforcement). Thus, making appropriate interventions aimed at ensuring sustainability of environments by protecting forests and grasslands and minimizing livelihood dependence on the environmental resources is necessary.

In the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest (AF), amphibians (625 species) face habitat degradation leading to stressful thermal conditions that constrain animal activity (e.g., foraging and reproduction). Data on thermal ecology for these species are still scarce. We tested the hypothesis that environmental occupation affects the thermal tolerance of amphibian species more than their phylogenetic relationships. We evaluated patterns of thermal tolerance of 47 amphibian species by assessing critical thermal maxima and warming tolerances, relating these variables with ecological covariates (e.g., adult macro‐ and microhabitat and site of larval development). We used mean and maximum environmental temperature, ecological covariates, and morphological measurements in the phylogenetic generalized least squares model selection to evaluate which traits better predict thermal tolerance. We did not recover phylogenetic signal under a Brownian model; our results point to a strong association between critical thermal maxima and habitat and development site. Forest species were less tolerant to warm temperatures than open area or generalist species. Species with larvae that develop in lentic environment were more tolerant than those in lotic ones. Thus, species inhabiting forest microclimates are more vulnerable to the synergistic effect of habitat loss and climate change. We use radar charts as a quick evaluation tool for thermal risk diagnoses using aspects of natural history as axes., This study describes a strong association between critical thermal maximums and the habitat and place of development for 47 species of amphibians from the Atlantic Forest. We show that ecological profiles and aspects of natural history (rather than phylogenetic relationship) are the main predictors of thermal sensitivity.

Resumen Introducción: Los bosques y sistemas agroforestales (SAF) suministran bienes y servicios ecosistémicos para la sociedad, tal como la mitigación del cambio climático. Objetivo: Se estimó el potencial de reducción de emisiones y captura de carbono en bosques y SAF con cacao de la subcuenca del río Munguidó, Colombia. Métodos: Se seleccionaron tres sistemas de uso del suelo (bosque primario, bosque secundario y SAF con cacao). Se establecieron 18 parcelas temporales de muestreo, seis por sistema, para medir los árboles (diámetro a la altura del pecho -dap ≥ 10 cm) y arbustos de cacao. Se cuantificó la biomasa aérea con ecuaciones alométricas y una fracción de carbono de 0.5. Se estimó la fijación de carbono en el bosque secundario y el SAF con cacao como la razón entre el carbono almacenado y su edad. La pérdida de carbono del bosque primario se estimó con base en la deforestación para Chocó y dicha subcuenca (0.6 y 0.3 %/año, respectivamente). Se realizó un análisis de varianza y comparación de medias LSD Fisher para determinar las diferencias en el almacenamiento y la fijación de carbono entre los usos. Resultados: El bosque primario almacenó más carbono que el bosque secundario y el SAF con cacao (190.1, 22.3 y 5.3 Mg/ha, respectivamente). La fijación de carbono del bosque secundario y el SAF con cacao no difirieron (2.23 vs 1.33 Mg/ha/año). En 20 años, el bosque primario presentaría una reducción de emisiones de 1.4-2.6 Tg CO2; y el bosque secundario y el SAF con cacao presentarían una captura de 100.8 y 30.7 Gg CO2, respectivamente. Conclusiones: En la subcuenca del río Munguidó es posible establecer proyectos para la reducción de emisiones en bosque primario y captura de carbono en bosques secundarios y SAF con cacao, con lo cual se podría emitir 1.4-2.6 millones de toneladas de CO2. Abstract Introduction: Forests and agroforestry systems (AFS) provide ecosystem goods and services for society, such as climate change mitigation. Objective: The potential for emission reductions and carbon sequestration in forests and cocoa agroforestry systems in the Munguidó river sub-basin in Colombia was estimated. Methods: Three land use systems were selected (primary forest, secondary forest and AFS with cocoa). Eighteen temporary sampling plots were established, six per system, to measure trees (diameter at breast height -dbh ≥ 10 cm) and cocoa shrubs. Aboveground biomass was quantified with allometric equations and a carbon fraction of 0.5. Carbon fixation in secondary forest and AFS with cocoa was estimated as the ratio of carbon stored to its age. Carbon loss from primary forest was estimated based on deforestation for Chocó and that sub-basin (0.6 and 0.3 %/year, respectively). An analysis of variance and LSD Fisher mean comparison was performed to determine differences in carbon storage and carbon sequestration between uses. Results: Primary Forest stored more carbon than secondary forest and AFS with cocoa (190.1, 22.3 and 5.3 Mg/ha, respectively). The carbon fixation of secondary forest and AFS with cocoa did not differ (2.23 vs. 1.33 Mg/ha/year). In 20 years, the primary forest would present an emission reduction of 1.4-2.6 Tg CO2; and the secondary forest and the PFS with cocoa would present a sequestration of 100.8 and 30.7 Gg CO2, respectively. Conclusion: In the Munguidó river sub-basin, it is possible to establish projects for the reduction of emissions in primary forest and carbon sequestration in secondary forests and AFS with cocoa, which could emit 1.4-2.6 million tons of CO2.

Protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon suffer from conflicting activities, such as the production of charcoal from illegal logging. Charcoal anatomy is an important tool that can be useful for forensic charcoal identification and to help the conservation of these areas. To assist in combating deforestation in protected areas, this study describes the charcoal anatomy of 14 tree species that occur in the Tapirapé–Aquiri National Forest, Pará, Brazil, and provides macrographs of transverse surfaces and scanning electron microscope (SEM) images to aid government agencies during surveillance. We adopted a carbonisation method that simulated real conditions. Anatomical features were well preserved in the charcoal. The axial parenchyma and vessel frequency are easily observed in both macrographs and SEM images, so they are important diagnostic features for initial screening of families and for checking the load according to the ‘document of forestry origin’ (DOF) by the surveillance agents. Uncommon and highly diagnostic features for distinguishing genera or even species, such as rays exclusively uniseriate, sheath cells, tile cells and storied structure, were observed only in SEM images. Our findings are suitable to provide a database on charcoal anatomy of native tree species of the Amazon, with practical application in government inspection activities in protected areas in Brazil and other countries with similar issues.

The Moulouya watershed presents high risks of water erosion. The dams built on this river lose each year, by siltation, a volume of water of about 10 M m3 (Lahlou, 1994). This worrying rate shows that water erosion can hinder the socio-economic development of the basin if soil protection and siltation measures are not taken. This study defines the areas most threatened by water erosion to protect them as a priority. Using a GIS and the Universal Earth Loss Equation (USLE), we mapped soil losses. The adopted model determines soil loss from erosivity of rainfall, soil erodibility, inclination and slope length, soil cover, and erosion control practices. The possible origins of the deposits alluviating the dams are related to the products of alteration of the Secondary's carbonate formations and the Tertiary and Quaternary formations. The modalities of the transport of deposits of banks of the network of Moulouya are mainly by a suspension. The specific degradation in the Moulouya watershed is estimated at 214 t/km2/year. Precipitation intensity, steep slopes and deforestation are responsible for these losses.