Wayde C. Morse

Consequences of Environmental Service Payments for Forest Retention and Recruitment in a Costa Rican Biological Corridor

Compensation to landowners for forest-derived environmental services has gained international recognition as a mechanism to combat forest loss and fragmentation. This approach is widely promoted, although there is little evidence demonstrating that environmental service payments encourage forest stewardship and conservation. Costa Rica provides a unique case study in which a 1996 Forestry Law initiated environmental service payments and prohibited forest conversion to other land uses. We examined these novel policies to determine their influence on landowner decisions that affect forest change, carbon services, and connectivity in a 2425 km² biological corridor. We used Landsat images to compare land-cover changes before and after 1996, and linked these data to landowner surveys investigating land-use decisions. Carbon stocks and storage in secondary forests were also examined. Forest change observations were corroborated by landowner survey data, indicating that the 1996 Forestry Law and environmental service payments contributed positively to forest retention and recruitment. Socioeconomic conditions also favored forest protection. Rates of natural forest loss declined from -1.43% to -0.10%/yr after 1996. Forest cover and connectivity were maintained through tree plantations and secondary forest recruitment, although forest heterogeneity increased as these forest types sometimes replaced natural forest. Carbon storage in secondary forest approached levels in primary forest after 25-30 yr of succession, although few landowners retained natural regeneration. Secondary forests will persist as minor landscape components without legal or financial incentives. The Costa Rican experience provides evidence that environmental service payments can be effective in retaining natural forest and recruiting tree cover within biological corridors.

A qualitative method for collecting spatial data on important places for recreation, livelihoods, and ecological meanings: Integrating focus groups with public participation geographic information systems

The association between humans and their environments is highly interactive, with humans bound to the landscapes and landscapes subject to the actions of humans. Sense of place is a concept used to describe the relationships that exist, bonds that form, and the meanings that humans ascribe to landscapes. This article builds on previous qualitative research using public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) to develop an alternative and efficient methodology to spatially represent place. The approach integrates participatory mapping procedures within a focus group format. Benefits of this approach include the rich text uncovered in qualitative place studies; the synergy of dialogue, efficiency in sampling, ability to elicit information from a range of groups; and the efficient use of drawn polygons as part of the qualitative PPGIS mapping procedure. This methodology can provide pertinent and spatially explicit findings useful for place based planning and management.

Applying Public Participation Geographic Information Systems to Wildlife Management

Wildlife management increasingly incorporates public participation to be more inclusive and reduce tensions between management and the general public in the decision-making process. There is also a need, however, to include spatial data since most wildlife biological and biophysical data are stored spatially in geographic information systems (GIS). This article presents a method for integrating this information using public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS). We asked stakeholders to identify specific places on a map that they would like to see maintained for the conservation of particular threatened species. This information is useful for identifying public wildlife management preferences and for allowing comparisons between public and expert opinions. We found high levels of public accuracy in identifying suitable habitat for threatened species conservation. We also identified places of potential conflict due to incompatible stakeholder preferences, but found little conflict between public conservation and development preferences.

Improving the Integration of Recreation Management with Management of Other Natural Resources by Applying Concepts of Scale from Ecology

In this article, we examine how issues of scale affect the integration of recreation management with the management of other natural resources on public lands. We present two theories used to address scale issues in ecology and explore how they can improve the two most widely applied recreation-planning frameworks. The theory of patch dynamics and hierarchy theory are applied to the recreation opportunity spectrum (ROS) and the limits of acceptable change (LAC) recreation-planning frameworks. These frameworks have been widely adopted internationally, and improving their ability to integrate with other aspects of natural resource management has significant social and conservation implications. We propose that incorporating ecologic criteria and scale concepts into these recreation-planning frameworks will improve the foundation for integrated land management by resolving issues of incongruent boundaries, mismatched scales, and multiple-scale analysis. Specifically, we argue that whereas the spatially explicit process of the ROS facilitates integrated decision making, its lack of ecologic criteria, broad extent, and large patch size decrease its usefulness for integration at finer scales. The LAC provides explicit considerations for weighing competing values, but measurement of recreation disturbances within an LAC analysis is often done at too fine a grain and at too narrow an extent for integration with other recreation and resource concerns. We suggest that planners should perform analysis at multiple scales when making management decisions that involve trade-offs among competing values. The United States Forest Service is used as an example to discuss how resource-management agencies can improve this integration.

Exploring Saturation of Themes and Spatial Locations in Qualitative Public Participation Geographic Information Systems Research

Use of public participation geographic information systems (PPGIS) studies that collect local knowledge in a spatial format is increasing as a tool in natural resources management. Qualitative PPGIS studies have been conducted as individual interviews, as workshops, and in focus groups. As the number of qualitative PPGIS studies increases, so does the need to understand their quality. Saturation, the point when the researcher determines that the collection of additional data will provide minimal new information as it relates to a particular issue, directly reflects on the validity of the study. While the concept of saturation is well established, it is still inconsistently assessed and reported. Furthermore, how saturation applies to qualitatively collected spatial data has not been addressed. A method is presented to assess spatial saturation of qualitative PPGIS data from 19 focus groups that were conducted to investigate important places for recreation, livelihoods, and the environment in the Florida Panhandle.

Assessing the impacts of international volunteer tourism in host communities: a new approach to organizing and prioritizing indicators

This paper explores the use of indicators to evaluate the impacts of volunteer tourism in host communities, based on an online questionnaire sent to 183 volunteer tourism organizations. Little research exists demonstrating how volunteer tourism programs impact host communities or how impacts can be assessed, but the literature suggests the use of indicators to do so. Social indicator research and systems thinking assert that impact evaluation must be comprehensive and that indicators must consider interconnectivities present in the tourist system; we propose a framework of indicator development that addresses this. Data analysis focuses on volunteer tourist activities and how organizations prioritize indicators to assess diverse impacts of volunteer tourism in host communities. Comparisons are drawn between organizations in Latin America and international organizations (based in the USA, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand) that send volunteers abroad. Differing volunteer activities suggest unique approaches between in-country and international organizations. The usefulness and degree of assessment of diverse indicators of the local impacts of volunteer tourism are quantified, while discrepancies between indicator usefulness and assessment raise questions. Comparisons between international and in-country organizations, large and small organizations, and organizations focusing on long-term vs. short-term trips suggest differing organizational priorities and impacts of volunteer tourism.

Social ecological complex adaptive systems: a framework for research on payments for ecosystem services

The environment is both a setting for and a product of human interactions. Understanding the dynamic nature of human-environment interactions is critical for mitigating the impacts of human induced environmental change and understanding how the environment shapes social systems. Current research has focused on the reduced ability of many natural systems to provide ecosystem services and the subsequent impact on human well-being. Furthermore, there has been a proliferation of cases analyzing the impacts of payment programs designed to enhance ecosystem services. However, analyses that link environmental policies through to their ecological results are not common and methods to do so are not thoroughly developed. To better analyze these interactions, a theory or framework is necessary. This article presents a framework of social ecological complex adaptive systems (SECAS). The framework links structuration theory from social science with the theories of complex adaptive systems from ecology to provide an enhanced understanding of the human drivers and responses to environmental change. The framework is presented as a recursive process where social and ecological systems are both the medium for and product of social action and ecological disturbance. A case study of Costa Rica’s ecosystem service payment program is presented as a demonstration of empirical applicability. This framework is proposed as a method to evaluate payments for ecosystem services, conservation policies, urban ecosystems, and for land use change in general.

Climatic, ecological, and socioeconomic factors associated with West Nile virus incidence in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT: The integrated effects of the many risk factors associated with West Nile virus (WNV) incidence are complex and not well understood. We studied an array of risk factors in and around Atlanta, GA, that have been shown to be linked with WNV in other locations. This array was comprehensive and included climate and meteorological metrics, vegetation characteristics, land use / land cover analyses, and socioeconomic factors. Data on mosquito abundance and WNV mosquito infection rates were obtained for 58 sites and covered 2009–2011, a period following the combined storm water - sewer overflow remediation in that city. Risk factors were compared to mosquito abundance and the WNV vector index (VI) using regression analyses individually and in combination. Lagged climate variables, including soil moisture and temperature, were significantly correlated (positively) with vector index as were forest patch size and percent pine composition of patches (both negatively). Socioeconomic factors that were most highly correlated (positively) with the VI included the proportion of low income households and homes built before 1960 and housing density. The model selected through stepwise regression that related risk factors to the VI included (in the order of decreasing influence) proportion of houses built before 1960, percent of pine in patches, and proportion of low income households.

Indicator development methodology for volunteer tourism in host communities: creating a low-cost, locally applicable, rapid assessment tool

Two prominent critiques of volunteer tourism are that it is a top-down imposed form of development treating host communities as passive recipients of international aid, and that the impacts of volunteer tourism in host communities are not systematically evaluated. To address this we identified a pre-existing participatory methodology for assessing community sustainability (the compass of sustainability) and adapted it as a rapid low-cost indicator tool for volunteer tourism impact evaluation. We created and tested a development methodology that could be applied through local community workshops by local people and sending organizations within each unique host community, and repeated over time. Testing took place in five contrasting communities hosting volunteer tourism in Ecuador and Costa Rica. Each workshop generated and organized numerous indicators of community welfare, categorized into nature, economy, society and personal well-being. Interrelations were identified among the indicators to promote a systemic understanding of community well-being. Indicators were prioritized and strategies for measuring impacts were discussed to encourage the establishment of accomplishable goals. Evaluation of the compass method as a tool for community participation in indicator development is discussed as a potential facilitator for local voices and the construction of “third spaces” in volunteer tourism.

Emerging issues along urban–rural interfaces: an introduction to the special issue

Contemporary urbanization and other types of human-associated land conversion are increasing at an unprecedented rate in many parts of the world (Seto et al. 2010). This process rapidly changes environmental conditions along the edge of the urban–rural interface and leads to a set of complex issues in which the negative economic, societal, and ecological effects of land-use change must be balanced with the positive social and economic benefits (Foley et al. 2005). Over time, it has been recognized that to address the challenges presented by the issues necessitates a multi-disciplinary approach (Nilsson et al. 2003). How we effectively create policies to address these challenges depends on a foundation of knowledge provided by the scientific community. In 2005, the first Emerging Issues Along Urban–Rural Interfaces (URI): Linking Science and Society Conference was held to integrate various disciplines under one umbrella so that researchers and other interested parties could share knowledge about the issues facing other countries and disciplines. The URI Conference was held again in 2007 and 2010, with participation of researchers, practitioners, educators, and policymakers from Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and North and South America. Objectives for this conference series were to (1) facilitate discussion and sharing of perspectives by stakeholders from around the world and (2) foster interdisciplinary linkages that better address the complex ramifications of urbanization. This conference series is timely, coinciding with an increase in global research on this topic. A simple bibliometric analysis of the search words “urban*”, “land-use”, and “change*” in the Web of Science® (WoS; accessed 31 Dec 2012) reflects an increase in the presence of these terms and the breadth of research areas defined by WoS. A search for these terms from the 20-year span between 1974 and 2004, yielded 784 papers from 55 research areas. A search for the same terms from the subsequent 7-year span (2005 to 2012) yielded an additional 2,553 papers from 86 research areas. Urban Ecosyst (2013) 16:1–2 DOI 10.1007/s11252-013-0299-y