Human benefits from ecosystems result from complex interactions between ecological and social processes. People affect ecosystems' capacity to deliver services that contribute to the well-being of humans and their resilience. The delivery of ecosystem services (ES) has often been considered as a linear and direct flow from nature to people without feedbacks or human inputs. We adjusted the widely used ES cascade to highlight how humans mediate each step in the ES delivery. We then applied the proposed framework to empirical field studies in Indonesia. We focused on the role of forested landscapes to increase rural people's resilience to climate hazards such as drought and floods. We found that human actions determine benefits from ES through several mechanisms (ES management, mobilization, allocation-appropriation, and appreciation). These mechanisms are influenced by peoples' decisions along the ES cascade, which depend on specific factors related to rules, assets, values, and spatial context. By facilitating or hindering ES flows, some stakeholders can determine who benefits from ES and influence the well-being of others. A better understanding of the mediating mechanisms, factors, and feedbacks in ES delivery can support the design of sound environmental assessments and sustainable land management practices. (Résumé d'auteur
Climate change is increasingly driving fundamental shifts in ecosystems, land use, and human livelihoods. Because of these rapid shifts, some conventional adaptation strategies may have limited success in reducing the impact of climate change. In some circumstances, there will be a need for considering transformative changes as part of adaptation strategies that can provide long-term benefits and address the root causes of vulnerability. However, to date, there is limited understanding of how societies respond to, or drive, transformative changes in social-ecological systems due to climate change impact. We reviewed 60 empirical case studies of shifts in trajectories of social-ecological systems in tropical and subtropical countries that were driven by climate change to identify how societies responded to these shifts and the extent to which societies used transformative adaptation as part of this response. In the case studies, we identified three types of shifts driven by climate change depending on whether the shift occurred in the ecological, social, or social-ecological system. Climate change shifted the trajectories of social-ecological systems by altering the feedback loops connecting soil, water, or vegetation conditions with people's livelihoods and well-being. In response to these shifts, people adjusted land use policies and practices, but only one-quarter of the reported adaptation actions included transformative adaptation. A more holistic understanding of how climate change modifies interactions in social-ecological systems and leads to shifts in system trajectories could help identify appropriate adaptation responses, including transformative adaptation, that provide long-term and sustainable benefits. Ecology and Society 25(1): 25 https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol25/iss1/art25/ LITERATURE CITED Abel, N., D. H. M. Cumming, and J. M. Anderies. 2006. Collapse and reorganization in social-ecological systems: questions, some ideas, and policy implications. Ecology and Society 11(1):17.
Purpose – As adaptation and mitigation are separated in international and national policies, there is also a division in the financial resources mobilized by the international community to help developing countries deal with climate change. Given that mitigation activities can benefit or hinder adaptation, and vice versa, promoting activities that contribute to both objectives can increase the efficiency of fund allocation and minimize trade-offs, particularly in land-related activities such as agriculture and forestry. The purpose of this study is to analyze how climate funding organizations consider the integration of adaptation and mitigation. Design/methodology/approach – The authors interviewed representatives of climate funds directed toward forestry and agriculture to gain a better understanding of how they perceive the benefits, risks and barriers of an integrated approach; whether they have concrete activities for promoting this approach; and how they foresee the future of adaptation–mitigation integration. Findings – Interviews revealed a diverse range of perceived benefits, risks and barriers at local, national and global scales. Most interviewees focused on the local benefits of this integration (e.g. increasing the resilience of forest carbon projects), whereas others emphasized global risks (e.g. decreasing global funding efficiency because of project complexity). Despite the general interest in projects and policies integrating adaptation and mitigation, few relevant actions have been implemented by organizations engaged in climate change finance. Originality/value – This paper provides new insight into how the representatives of climate funds perceive and act on the integration of adaptation and mitigation in forestry and agriculture. The findings by the authors can inform the development of procedures for climate change finance, such as the Green Climate Fund. While managers of climate funds face barriers in promoting an integrated approach to adaptation and mitigation, they also have the capacity and the ambition to overcome them.
Globally, anthropogenic environmental change is exacerbating the already vulnerable conditions of many people and ecosystems. In order to obtain food, water, raw materials and shelter, rural people modify forests and other ecosystems, affecting the supply of ecosystem services that contribute to livelihoods and well-being. Despite widespread awareness of the nature and extent of multiple impacts of land-use changes, there remains limited understanding of how these impacts affect trade-offs among ecosystem services and their beneficiaries across spatial scales. We assessed how rural communities in two forested landscapes in Indonesia have changed land uses over the last 20 years to adapt their livelihoods that were at risk from multiple hazards. We estimated the impact of these adaptation strategies on the supply of ecosystem services by comparing different benefits provided to people from these land uses (products, water, carbon, and biodiversity), using forest inventories, remote sensing, and interviews. Local people converted forests to rubber plantations, reforested less productive croplands, protected forests on hillsides, and planted trees in gardens. Our results show that land-use decisions were propagated at the landscape scale due to reinforcing loops, whereby local actors perceived that such decisions contributed positively to livelihoods by reducing risks and generating co-benefits. When land-use changes become sufficiently widespread, they affect the supply of multiple ecosystem services, with impacts beyond the local scale. Thus, adaptation implemented at the local-scale may not address development and climate adaptation challenges at regional or national scale (e.g. as part of UN Sustainable Development Goals or actions taken under the UNFCCC Paris Agreement). A better understanding of the context and impacts of local ecosystem-based adaptation is fundamental to the scaling up of land management policies and practices designed to reduce risks and improve well-being for people at different scales.
Impact of Women's Harvest Practices on Pandanus guillaumetii in Madagascar's Lowland Rainforests. Pandanus guillaumetii B.C. Stone is endemic to the east coast rainforests of Madagascar. The plant is an important non-timber forest product (NTFP) for the local population living near these forests, and its leaves are collected by women to be woven into mats. These mats have economic value and are also used for daily activities. At present, little is known about how local harvesting practices impact this plant species. In this study, we describe women's local harvest practices and quantify their impact on the P. guillaumetii population. We carried out plant inventories as well as interviews and participatory observations with local people harvesting P. guillaumetii in two villages with different population densities in the Manompana region. Inventories were conducted at varying distances from the villages in order to better understand the influence of human pressure on the plant population. The results suggest that local communities apply practices that tend to minimize the harvest impact on the plant. Harvesting seems to have no effect on the actual density of P. guillaumetii. However, the availability of plants with leaves of sufficient quality for mat production is influenced by human pressure. Considering the decreasing number of plants suitable for handicraft, we assume that their availability in the long term may not fulfill the needs of the local people.Impact de la récolte de P. guillaumetii par les femmes dans les forèts pluviales de basse altitude de Madagascar. Pandanus guillaumetii B.C. Stone, une espèce endémique de Madagascar, se trouve dans les forêts ombrophiles du versant oriental de l'île. Les femmes des communautés vivant à proximité de ces forêts en utilisent les feuilles pour confectionner des nattes. Il s'agit de produits forestiers non ligneux en usage dans la vie quotidienne et qui ont une valeur économique. Les prélèvements de feuilles contribuent-ils à la raréfaction de l'espèce? A ce jour, peu de recherches ont été réalisées à ce sujet. Dans notre étude, nous décrivons les modes de prélèvement des feuilles de P. guillaumetii et cherchons à quantifier l'impact des prélèvements sur les populations de l'espèce. Nous avons réalisé des inventaires en forêt et effectué des interviews et des observations participatives avec les habitants de deux villages de la région de Manompana. Afin de saisir les effets de la pression humaine, nous avons effectué des inventaires à différentes distances des villages. Il ressort des résultats que les pratiques de prélèvement des feuilles par la population locale tendent à minimiser l'impact de la récolte. Les prélèvements ne paraissent pas avoir d'effet sur la densité de la population de l'espèce. Néanmoins, les plantes fournissant des feuilles convenant à la confection de nattes sont moins abondantes à proximité des villages. Considérant la diminution du nombre d'individus se prêtant à un usage artisanal, nous estimons qu'à long terme, les besoins de la populat...
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