Mechanisms to exclude local people from forests: Shifting power relations in forest transitions

Forest transitions may significantly contribute to climate change mitigation but also change forest use, affecting the local people benefiting from forests. We analyze forest transitions as contested processes that simplify multifunctional landscapes and alter local livelihoods. Drawing on the Theory of Access, we develop a conceptual framework to investigate practices of multifunctional forest use and the mechanisms that exclude local forest use(r)s during forest transitions in nineteenth century Austria and twenty-first century Lao PDR. Based on historical sources, interviews and secondary literature, we discuss legal, structural and social-metabolic mechanisms to exclude multifunctional forest practices, marginalizing peasants and shifting cultivators. These include, for example, the increasing enforcement of private ownership in forests or the shift from fuelwood to coal in Austria and restrictive land use planning or the expansion of private land concessions in Laos. By integrating political ecology and environmental history in forest transitions research we unravel shifting power relations connected to forest change.

Assessing Baseline Carbon Stocks for Forest Transitions: A Case Study of Agroforestry Restoration from Hawaiʻi

As the extent of secondary forests continues to expand throughout the tropics, there is a growing need to better understand the ecosystem services, including carbon (C) storage provided by these ecosystems. Despite their spatial extent, there are limited data on how the ecosystem services provided by secondary forest may be enhanced through the restoration of both ecological and agroecological functions in these systems. This study quantifies the above- and below-ground C stocks in a non-native secondary forest in Hawaiʻi where a community-based non-profit seeks to restore a multi-strata agroforestry system for cultural and ecological benefits. For soil C, we use the equivalent soil mass method both to estimate stocks and examine spatial heterogeneity at high resolution (eg. sub 5 m) to define a method and sampling design that can be replicated to track changes in C stocks on-site and elsewhere. The assessed total ecosystem C was ~388.5 Mg C/ha. Carbon stock was highest in trees (~192.4 Mg C/ha; ~50% of total C); followed by soil (~136.4 Mg C/ha; ~35% of total C); roots (~52.7 Mg C/ha; ~14% of total C); and was lowest in coarse woody debris (~4.7 Mg C/ha; ~1% of total C) and litter (~2.3 Mg C/ha; <1% of total C). This work provides a baseline carbon assessment prior to agroforest restoration that will help to better quantify the contributions of secondary forest transitions and restoration efforts to state climate policy. In addition to the role of C sequestration in climate mitigation, we also highlight soil C as a critical metric of hybrid, people-centered restoration success given the role of soil organic matter in the production of a suite of on- and off-site ecosystem services closely linked to local sustainable development goals.

Farmland Transitions in China: An Advocacy Coalition Approach

In recent decades, global social and economic development has resulted in substantial land-use transitions. This was first observed with respect to losses of forested land, attracting worldwide concern. Forest transitions have an important impact on global ecology, whilst farmland transitions are key in terms of global food security. However, research into farmland transitions is lacking, particularly with respect to mechanistic analysis. Using data on China’s farmland areas between 1950 and 2017, we investigated the transitional characteristics, and triggers, of farmland change through linear regression analysis. Furthermore, based on the Advocacy Coalition Framework, we reveal the internal mechanism of these transitions. Our main findings are as follows: (1) between 1950 and 2017, China’s farmland area exhibited significant growth, and there were two transitions, namely in 1984 and 2004; (2) macroscopic economic and social changes determine the overall evolution of the farmland area; (3) there were two advocacy coalitions in the farmland transition policy subsystem—the farmland supplement and farmland consumption coalitions; (4) under the influence of macroscopic economic and social development, external events play a catalytic role in the transitions, and relatively stable parameters have an indirect but lasting effect in terms of transition outcomes.