Scaling smallholder tree cover restoration across the tropics

Submitted by Hang Yin on

Restoring tree cover in tropical countries has the potential to benefit millions of smallholders through improvements
in income and environmental services. However, despite their dominant landholding shares in many
countries, smallholders’ role in restoration has not been addressed in prior global or pan-tropical restoration
studies. We fill this lacuna by using global spatial data on trees and people, national indicators of enabling
conditions, and micro-level expert information. We find that by 2050, low-cost restoration is feasible within 280,

Forestry

What can we learn about the natural disasters and multidimensional poverty link for artisanal fishery in Chile?

Submitted by Cristóbal Vásquez on
EfD Authors:

This article examines the connection between household poverty and natural disasters in Chile using a multidimensional analysis of poverty. Rather than using household income as a single poverty indicator, we implement a multidimensional poverty index, which measures poverty in four dimensions: work and social security, housing, health and education. This study helps reduce the limited knowledge of the impact of the 2010 earthquake and tsunami on household poverty in Chile, separating those events as different but related shocks.

Fisheries

Biomass Development and Fishers’ Vulnerability in Nigeria: Evidence from a Survey Dataset

Submitted by Nnaemeka Chukwuone on

/Biomass decline is a vital threat for small-scale fisheries, but lack of data affects our ability to understand both biomass development and fishers’ adaptation. This study contributes to the literature on cost-effective, survey-data-based methods in data-poor and development-oriented settings. Based on original survey data from Nigeria, we find that 58% of respondents perceive a decline in fish abundance, in particular top-predator biomass. However, we also find signs of strategic behavior by respondents.

Fisheries

Soil Conservation Practices and Neighborhood Effects – How Sustained are the relationships?

Submitted by Petra Hansson on

Key findings

Soil conservation activities (i.e., mixed cropping) in the south-south and northwest regions of the country in 2015 are influenced by a high prevalence of neighbours’ activities in 2012. Similarly, low prevalence of soil conservation activities in the middle belt of the country is correlated with similarly low activity levels of farmers’ neighbours in the preceding period.

Farmers with high (low) legumes cultivation in 2015 were surrounded by other farmers with similarly high (low) cultivation in 2012.

Agriculture, Biodiversity, Conservation

The role of Indigenous peoples and local communities in effective and equitable conservation

Submitted by Daniel Hernandez on
EfD Authors:

Debate about what proportion of the Earth to protect often overshadows the question of how nature should be conserved and by whom. We present a systematic review and narrative synthesis of 169 publications investigating how different forms of governance influence conservation outcomes, paying particular attention to the role played by Indigenous peoples and local communities. We find a stark contrast between the outcomes produced by externally controlled conservation, and those produced by locally controlled efforts.

Biodiversity, Conservation