Margaret B. Holland

Protected areas reduced poverty in Costa Rica and Thailand

As global efforts to protect ecosystems expand, the socioeconomic impact of protected areas on neighboring human communities continues to be a source of intense debate. The debate persists because previous studies do not directly measure socioeconomic outcomes and do not use appropriate comparison groups to account for potential confounders. We illustrate an approach using comprehensive national datasets and quasi-experimental matching methods. We estimate impacts of protected area systems on poverty in Costa Rica and Thailand and find that although communities near protected areas are indeed substantially poorer than national averages, an analysis based on comparison with appropriate controls does not support the hypothesis that these differences can be attributed to protected areas. In contrast, the results indicate that the net impact of ecosystem protection was to alleviate poverty.

What are the impacts of nature conservation interventions on human well-being: a systematic map protocol

BackgroundInternational policy has sought to emphasize and strengthen the link between the conservation of natural ecosystems and human development. Furthermore, international conservation organizations have broadened their objectives beyond nature-based goals to recognize the contribution of conservation interventions in sustaining ecosystem services upon which human populations are dependent. While many indices have been developed to measure various human well-being domains, the strength of evidence to support the effects, both positive and negative, of conservation interventions on human well-being, is still unclear.Methods/DesignThis protocol describes the methodology for examining the research question: What are the impacts of nature conservation interventions on different domains of human well-being in developing countries? Using systematic mapping, this study will scope and identify studies that measure the impacts of nature conservation interventions on human well-being at local to regional scales. The primary objective of this study is to synthesize the state and distribution of the existing evidence base linking conservation and human well-being. In addition, a theory of change approach will be used to identify and characterize the causal linkages between conservation and human well-being, with attention on those studies that examine the role of ecosystem services. Key trends among the resulting studies will be synthesized and the range of studies organized and presented in a graphical matrix illustrating the relationships between types of interventions and types of outcomes. Results of the study are intended to help conservation and development practitioners and the academic community to improve research studies and conservation practices in developing countries in order to achieve both conservation and human well-being outcomes.

Forest conservation incentives and deforestation in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Forest conservation incentives are a popular approach to combatting tropical deforestation. Here we consider a case where direct economic incentives for forest conservation were offered to newly titled smallholders in a buffer zone of a protected area in the northeastern Ecuadorian Amazon. We used quasi-experimental impact evaluation methods to estimate changes in forest cover for 63 smallholders enrolled in Ecuadors Socio Bosque program compared to similar households that did not enroll. Focus group interviews in 15 communities provided insight into why landowners enrolled in the program and how land use is changing. The conservation incentives program reduced average annual deforestation by 0.4–0.5% between 2011 and 2013 for those enrolled, representing as much as a 70% reduction in deforestation attributable to Socio Bosque. Focus group interviews suggested that some landowners chose to ‘invest’ in conservation because the agricultural capacity of their land was limited and economic incentives provided an alternative livelihood strategy. Interviews, however, indicated limits to increasing enrollment rates under current conditions, due to lack of trust and liquidity constraints. Overall, a hybrid public–private governance approach can lead to larger conservation outcomes than restrictions alone.

Mesoamerican Biological Corridor

When the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) was established in 1997, many heralded it as the world’s largest and most ambitious transboundary conservation and development project. Within three years, over US

Mapping adaptive capacity and smallholder agriculture: applying expert knowledge at the landscape scale

280 million in donor financing was directed to MBC projects, which heavily emphasized regional cooperation and integration. Just over a decade later, and with more than US

Community land titles alone will not protect forests

500 million invested, many have judged the MBC a failure. And yet the Central American Commission for Environment and Development has retained MBC as a component in its most recent regional environmental strategy, and portions of the original MBC persist. After tracing the rise and perceived fall of the MBC, this chapter focuses on the impacts of climate change in Central America and Mexico, and then explores how the experience of the MBC can guide regional climate change mitigation and adaptation projects so as to optimize benefits for biodiversity and ecosystem health.

Forests in Limbo: Assessing Costa Rica's Forest and Land Reform Policies

The impacts of climate change exacerbate the myriad challenges faced by smallholder farmers in the Tropics. In many of these same regions, there is a lack of current, consistent, and spatially-explicit data, which severely limits the ability to locate smallholder communities, map their adaptive capacity, and target adaptation measures to these communities. To explore the adaptive capacity of smallholder farmers in three data-poor countries in Central America, we leveraged expert input through in-depth mapping interviews to locate agricultural landscapes, identify smallholder farming systems within them, and characterize different components of farmer adaptive capacity. We also used this input to generate an index of adaptive capacity that allows for comparison across countries and farming systems. Here, we present an overview of the expert method used, followed by an examination of our results, including the intercountry variation in expert knowledge and the characterization of adaptive capacity for both subsistence and smallholder coffee farmers. While this approach does not replace the need to collect regular and consistent data on farming systems (e.g. agricultural census), our study demonstrates a rapid assessment approach for using expert input to fill key data gaps, enable trans-boundary comparisons, and to facilitate the identification of the most vulnerable smallholder communities for adaptation planning in data-poor environments that are typical of tropical regions. One potential benefit from incorporating this approach is that it facilitates the systematic consideration of field-based and regional experience into assessments of adaptive capacity, contributing to the relevance and utility of adaptation plans.

The Hidden Layer of Indigenous Land Tenure: Informal Forest Ownership and Its Implications for Forest Use and Conservation in Panama's Largest Collective Territory

Blackman et al. (1) assess the forest cover impacts of providing indigenous Peruvian communities with formal title to land they have long inhabited. We applaud the authors’ use of high-quality forest change data and rigorous causal methods; both are critical gaps in the land tenure and forest change literature (2). Their findings are encouraging, especially given Peru’s globally important biodiverse forests and the pressing need to secure the rights of indigenous people. Beyond these notable strengths, we caution against generalizing the results of this study for several reasons. First, titling did not cede full land rights. To obtain title, communities in the study were … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: brian.e.robinson{at}mcgill.ca. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

THE ROLE OF PROTECTED AREAS IN CONSERVING BIODIVERSITY AND SUSTAINING LOCAL LIVELIHOODS

ABSTRACT In this article, we consider the stalled implementation of two state policies among recipients of land reform in Costa Rica: the transfer of authority over forests on state agrarian reform lands over to the Ministry of the Environment, and the Rural Development Institute’s requirement to issue land title to the recipients of its land reform projects. To date, neither of these policies is even partially implemented, resulting in both forests and marginalized landholders existing in a state of dual tenure limbo. In this article we draw on document analysis, interviews with policymakers, and interviews with recipients of land reform to determine why these policies have not been implemented. In addition, we assess the potential consequences for forest conservation that this situation has produced by mapping the extent and characteristics of forests that occupy this state of uncertainty.

Does secure land tenure save forests? A meta-analysis of the relationship between land tenure and tropical deforestation

SUMMARY A growing body of evidence points to the effectiveness of indigenous territories in reducing tropical deforestation, and global development goals call for increased legal recognition of indigenous land tenure. Yet indigenous land tenure systems are typically complex and multi-layered, and as such remain poorly understood in terms of the pathways through which embedded layers, rules, and norms influence the use and maintenance of forests. This paper illustrates one example of this multi-layered tenure in the case of indigenous communities in the Comarca Ngäbe-Buglé, a semi-autonomous, shared territory in western Panama. While the comarca holds one formal collective title, research across five communities reveals an informal system of forest ownership that influences how forest resources are managed, and that has implications for longer-term forest conservation efforts. The findings show that indigenous households use and manage a wide range of plant species, but that access to forest resources is uneven, and pressure on existing forests continues to increase, even from within the comarca through population growth. Mature forest surrounding the communities is held in de facto ownership by individuals and families who restrict access to resources, and this informal tenure system appears to be slowing deforestation, at least over the short-term. Many of these forest stewards wish to protect at least part of the forest over the long-term, while several forest parcels are being kept in reserve for the next generation of farmers. This hidden form of forest tenure, embedded within the communally-held lands of the comarca, highlights an important research need for those looking to improve the effectiveness of forest conservation programs in reducing deforestation and improving indigenous livelihoods.