The main objective of this study is to compare forest certification standards of Latin America to analyse how the standards address the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. The secondary objective of the study is to use the analysis to determine which forest areas certified under the different schemes would be used within the calculation of the 2010 biodiversity indicator, 'Area of forest under sustainable management'. The study analyses forest certification standards from FSC, PEFC, SCS, and SmartWood for seven Latin American countries.
Resource Type: ReportsThis briefing provides an update on negotiations under the climate change convention on REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation), and their relevance to forest restoration. It has been prepared as part of the REFORLAN project, European Community Sixth Framework Programme contract number 032132. REFORLAN has carried out research on dry forest restoration in Mexico, Chile and Argentina. Hence this briefing has a particular focus on these countries.
Resource Type: ReportsThis document provides a basis for estimating the probable impacts of different forest cover creation approaches on the ecosystem-derived benefits of biodiversity, water provision, soil conservation and non-timber forest products.
Resource Type: ReportsThis study presents a global analysis of forest cover and forest protection. An updated Global Forest Map (using MODIS2005) provided a current assessment of forest cover within 20 natural forest types. This map was overlaid onto WWF realms and ecoregions to gain additional biogeographic information on forest distribution. Using the 2008 World Database on Protected Areas, percentage forest cover protection was calculated globally, within forest types, realms and ecoregions, and within selected areas of global conservation importance.
Results have policy relevance in terms of the target of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), reconfirmed in 2008, to effectively conserve “at least 10% of each of the world’s forest types”. Regular updates of these analyses would allow progress towards achieving that target to be monitored.
Resource Type: Journal PapersThis paper reviews the potential for multiple benefits that might be attained by reducing emissions from deforestation (RED) through a mechanism developed under the UNFCCC. These benefits are relevant to national commitments under several environmental and sustainable development conventions and instruments, and may not be directly correlated with reduced carbon emissions. The design of the mechanism and its implementation will affect the degree to which these other benefits, such as biodiversity conservation, livelihoods, watershed protection and other ecosystem goods and services, are obtained.
Resource Type: ReportsConsideration of predictions for global climate change and the general scientific principles underlying the interaction between vegetation and climate, and examination of likely scenarios for different forest regions.
Resource Type: ReportsTropical montane cloud forests (TMCFs) are high on the list of the world's most threatened ecosystems. In order to achieve the conservation of remaining areas there is an urgent need for information on the location, extent, protection status, biological importance, socio-economic conditions and current threats on a site by site basis. This report describes a first phase of work on the development of a global database and draft directory of TMCFs. Interim results and conclusions are provided from a global overview of the information gathered to date.
Resource Type: ReportsThe conservation of world forests is an important measure in order to address the ever-worsening consequences of climate change. Tanzania has over 34 million hectares of forests and woodland habitats (more than 30% of the whole country). This report concludes that REDD strategies in Tanzania should be integrated with, and improve upon, current conservation strategies.
Resource Type: ReportsSeveral populations of Fitzroya cupressoides (Mol.) Johnst. (Cupressaceae, common name 'alerce'), a threatened, long-lived conifer endemic to southern Chile and parts of Argentina, have recently been found in Chile's Central Depression, where the species was thought to have been extirpated. The objective of this study was to determine, on eight sites in the Depression, Fitzroya's regeneration behavior in relation to disturbance, its substrate and cover requirements for establishment, and whether regeneration is by seed or vegetative means.
Despite substantial environmental differences between the Central Depression and the portions of the Coastal and Andean Cordilleras where Fitzroya is found, populations in all three regions show striking similarities in their regeneration and stand dynamics. Fitzroya's longevity and at times abundant regeneration provide the biological basis for its persistence in Chile's Central Depression.
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