Landscape plasticity and its erasure

For centuries, people who call themselves Akha had formed village landscapes of rotating shifting cultivation fields amid regenerating trees together with enduring wooded sites, all under the purview of their ancestors. In Mengsong, an Akha settlement on the ridge separating China and Burma, farmers had managed complex, biodiverse and flexible landscapes for 250 years. In 1996–1997, my extended research there identified cultivation patterns that I called landscape plasticity, referring to farming practices that were highly mutable over space and time, often transgressing state-allocated property lines and the international border with Burma. From 1997 to 2011, a combination of exclusionary state forest policies, the racialization of upland minorities, and a state poverty alleviation project brought landscape plasticity and the ancestors to an end. Using concepts from sentient landscapes, resource access, environmentalism, racialization, and capitalist markets, this paper seeks to explain how landscape plasticity and the ancestors were erased. At the same time, I explore the puzzle of why Akha farmers saw these contingent outcomes as positive

Forest Policies and Adaptation to Climate Change in Maine: Stakeholder Perceptions and Recommendations

Socioeconomic pressures require forest management to address the impacts of climate change. However, we must ask, Are current forest policies sufficient to deal with the impacts of climate change? Here, we report on two surveys of forest stakeholders in Maine including woodlot owners and forestry professionals and discuss their perceptions of the barriers to climate change adaptation. We conclude with several policy directions including reevaluating existing policies, expanding incentive-based policies, integrating adaptation efforts into mitigation efforts, and increasing communication and outreach.

Adaptation to EUTR Requirements: Insights from Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia

Eight years after the European Union Timber Regulation (EUTR) came into force, its effectiveness is still unsatisfactory due to deficient and uneven implementation among member states. In addition, some Western Balkan countries have poor legality monitoring systems, increasing the risk of trade in illegally harvested timber. Regardless of this, no recent work has analyzed the adaptation of national forest policies to the EUTR obligations. Our study aims to contribute to the understanding of EUTR implementation by analyzing the adaptation of policies of the Western Balkan countries (Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia) to the EUTR. Qualitative content analysis was conducted on 22 policy documents from Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. Documents were coded using coding categories derived from EUTR. Our results point out that none of the analyzed countries have a policy to directly address illegal logging or prevention of illegal activities. As EU members, Slovenia and Croatia has implemented EUTR through laws. The Slovenian Forest Act addresses all EUTR obligations, while Croatian Law on EUTR Implementation does not directly address the obligation of legality. This obligation is addressed by the Law on Forests. As Serbia is not an EU member, it did not implement EUTR. Nevertheless, Serbian Law on Forests addresses all EUTR obligations, but has some discrepancies regarding Traceability obligation. With ongoing discourses on Green Deal policies and the increasing focus on “deforestation-free” commodities, stricter implementation might be expected of EUTR at EU level. Most countries would probably have to build capacities for EUTR implementation and become more transparent and responsible concerning information availability. To successfully implement EUTR, an increased number of checks as well as stricter fines will be needed.

Consistency Analysis and Accuracy Assessment of Eight Global Forest Datasets over Myanmar

Accurate and up-to-date forest monitoring plays a significant role in the country’s society and economy. Many open-access global forest datasets can be used to analyze the forest profile of countries around the world. However, discrepancies exist among these forest datasets due to their specific classification systems, methodologies, and remote sensing data sources, which makes end-users difficult to select an appropriate dataset in different regions. This study aims to explore the accuracy, consistency, and discrepancies of eight widely-used forest datasets in Myanmar, including Hansen2010, CCI-LC2015, FROM-GLC2015/2017, FROM-GLC10, GLC-FCS2015/2020, and GlobeLand30-2020. Firstly, accuracy assessment is conducted by using 934 forest and non-forest samples with four different years. Then, spatial consistency of these eight datasets is compared in area and spatial distribution. Finally, the factors influencing the spatial consistency are analyzed from the aspects of terrain and climate. The results indicate that in Myanmar the forest area derived from GlobeLand30 has the best accuracy, followed by FROM-GLC10 and FROM-GLC2017. The eight datasets differ in spatial detail, with the mountains of northern Myanmar having the highest consistency and the seaward areas of southwestern Myanmar having the highest inconsistency, such as Rakhine and the Ayeyarwady. In addition, it is found that the spatial consistency of the eight datasets is closely related to the terrain and climate. The highest consistency among the eight datasets is found in the range of 1000–3500 m above sea level and 26°–35° slope. In the subtropical highland climate (Cwb) zone, the percentage of complete consistency among the eight datasets is as high as 60.62%, which is the highest consistency among the six climatic zones in Myanmar. Therefore, forest mapping in Myanmar should devote more effort to low topography, seaward areas such as border states like Rakhine, Irrawaddy, Yangon, and Mon. This is because these areas have complex and diverse landscape types and are prone to confusion between forest types (e.g., grassland, shrub, and cropland). The approach can also be applied to other countries, which will help scholars to select the most suitable forest datasets in different regions for analysis, thus providing recommendations for relevant forest policies and planning in different countries.

Climate-Smart Forestry in Brazil

Brazil is the second largest forested country in the world with a high level of naturalness and biodiversity richness, playing a significant role in the adoption of mitigation and adaptation strategies to climate change. Although the Brazilian federal government is mainly responsible for the protection of natural ecosystems, the decentralization process, which demands competences of the states and municipalities, allowed the establishment of several agencies and institutions dealing with monitoring, assessment, and management of forest ecosystems through a complex and interrelated number of forest policies. Nevertheless, the deforestation rate, with a consequent loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, represents critical challenges, attracting worldwide attention. The variety of mitigation and adaptation measures adopted over the years represents viable tools to face climate change and to promote climate-smart forestry in Brazil. Notwithstanding the positive effects achieved in the last decade, a better coordination and practical implementation of climate-smart forestry strategies is required to reach nationally and internationally agreed objectives.This chapter aims to depict the Brazilian forestry sector, highlighting the management strategies adopted overtime to counteract climate change.

Institutional analysis of forest governance after the implementation of Law Number 23/2014 in North Sumatra Province, Indonesia

After the implementation of Law Number 23/2014 on Regional Government in Indonesia, the authority for forest management rests with the central and provincial governments. This study aims to (1) assess forest governance performance after the implementation of this law, (2) analyse the institutional aspects of forest governance after the implementation of this law and (3) formulate strategies to strengthen forest governance institutions. This study finds that although Law Number 23/2014 has been implemented in North Sumatra Province, the forestry sector remains centralistic; the characteristics of forest resources have not changed (these continue to be common pool resources) and the behaviour of the actors lacks synergy. In this scenario, the performance of forest governance has not improved significantly, as indicated by the incomplete designation of forest areas; the number of Kesatuan Pengelolaan Hutan that have not implemented the Badan Layanan Umum Daerah scheme; the low rights of access and low forest utilisation by the community; and the slow service process for permits; however, the costs for obtaining permits are according to regulations. This is in line with the results of this study’s institutional analysis, which show that (1) the provincial jurisdiction boundaries have narrowed, given that only the central government has authority over the forestry planning sub-function and forestry supervision; (2) many central government regulations continue to be used in forest management, characterising the low aspect of provincial regional representation rules; and (3) despite clear forest ownership rights, there are claims from other stakeholders, which indicates the low legitimacy of the parties. This study suggests that forest governance performance can be improved by expanding the jurisdiction boundaries through the assistance task mechanism to the provincial government; ensuring provincial government participation in formulating forest policies; and increasing the status of forest permit holders and managers from claimants to proprietors.

Framing Illegal Logging and Its Governance Responses in Brazil – A Structured Review of Diagnosis and Prognosis

In 2012, the new, revised Forest Code was established as the legal and regulatory framework for Brazilian forests. Though illegal logging has continued, frames about Brazil's forest policy and management have changed since that time. While until 2010 the successful implementation of forest policies and the resulting decline in deforestation rates were there for all to see and appreciate, the increase in the deforestation rate since then has become the focus of international criticism. With the help of a structured review of international scientific literature, newspaper articles, and programmes initiated by non-governmental organizations' (NGO) and international organizations' (IO), this paper aims to analyse the frames of illegal logging and its governance responses in Brazil since 2012. The review is guided by the framework of diagnostic (What is the problem? Who is to blame?) and prognostic framing (proposed policy and governance solutions). The main findings revealed a master frame of environmental justice that combines injustice toward indigenous people with the victimization of forest and environment at large. Embedded in this master frame, specific frames that follow the institutional logic of the single policy discourses have been identified. Finally, the results show a strong national focus of governance with continued emphasis on command and control instruments.