Distinguishing ecological outcomes of pathways in Grain for Green Program in the subtropical areas of China

Effective forestation policies are urgently required across the globe under the initiative of UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Rather than simply planting trees, such initiatives involve complex components of societal and biophysical systems. However, the underlying pathways by which forestation influences the ecological outcomes are not well understood, especially lacking a unified quantification framework. In this study, such a framework was developed to reveal the pathways in which reforestation programs influenced ecological outcomes through identifying the linkages among reforestation efforts, societal changes, land system changes, and ecological outcomes. The framework was applied in the reforestation program of Grain for Green Program (GFGP), to explore that how the GFGP influenced vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functioning in Guizhou Province of China through direct and indirect pathways. Two independent remote-sensing-based indicators: the enhanced vegetation index (EVI), derived from Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), and gross primary production (GPP), obtained from the Solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF) fine resolution dataset GOSIF, were combined with inventory data and land use maps to detect changes in social and ecological outcomes. Using the Structural Equation Model (SEM) to perform the framework, the results showed that the GFGP positively contributed to the increasing greenness and GPP of the study area through the direct conservation pathway. Although the implementation of GFGP encouraged outmigration and led to a decrease in farmland area, GFGP on greenness and GPP showed negative indirect effects because of the difficulty of reforestation during land-use conversion from farmland to forest land. This study revealed divergent impacts of the reforestation program through multiple pathways, which could provide valuable information for other parts of the globe to design ecological restoration policies more precisely.

Analyzing the Changes in Land Cover and Land Surface Temperature (LST) in the North Bandung Area (NBA)

North Bandung Area (NBA) was designated as a protected area to regulate the water system around Bandung City. Land conversion from vegetated land into built-up areas can decrease groundwater, increase the risk of floods, landslides, and Land Surface Temperature (LST). This study was conducted to describe LST distribution based on land cover types in specific years of 2010, 2014, and 2018. Landsat 5 and 8 Surface Reflectance (SR) Tier 1 imagery data, West Java land cover maps established by BAPPEDA West Java, and RBI administration maps at a scale of 1: 25,000 were used to generate a map of land cover and LST in this research. There are four land cover classes in NBA, i.e., vegetation, water bodies, open areas, and constructed areas. Within eight years observation (2010 to 2018), bare land decreased from 67.6% (2010) to 57.5% (2018). However, coverage of constructed areas increased within eight years of observation from 22.8% to 27.7 %. In addition, due to the reforestation program, vegetation coverage has slightly increased from 9.6% to 14.7%. LST can be classified into three classes, i.e., low, medium, and high temperature. The area with low and medium-class temperatures decreased from 19% to 16% and 61.3% to 51.7%, respectively. However, high LST increased in NBA 18.7% to 30.3%. The enhancement of 5% vegetation area did not significantly reduce land surface temperature in NBA due to forest conversion to constructed area. Therefore, vegetation coverage must be escalated by reforestation program around NBA to reduce land surface temperature.

Study of agile governance on strengthening reforestation program in West Java Indonesia

West Java is one of the provinces in Indonesia that possesses the most critical land area, approximately 714,000 of 911,000 hectares (ha) in total. So that to deal with that severe issue, the Forestry Office of West Java has established an eminent program named “Gerakan Tanam dan Rawat 50 Juta Pohon (The Movement of 50 Million Trees Planting and Caring)”. This research aims to analyze the reforestation program in West Java Indonesia viewed from an agile governance perspective. The study employed the qualitative approach with the descriptive case study method. In addition, in-depth interviews and literature studies were utilized in collecting the data. Moreover, to ensure validity, this study uses the triangulation technique. This study showed that the Planting and Preserving 50 million Trees Program carried by the stakeholders has applied agile governance. The government has made the program in collaboration with various media and technology. However, several activities must be fulfilled more appropriately among multiple parties, especially the government, which is the leading sector.

The tradition of farming in the State Forest Area: lesson learned from Batulanteh’s Production Forest Management Unit, West Nusa Tenggara Province

The research is targeted to identify the motivation of farming, the history of occupation, and the effects on the farmers’ livelihood employing an ex-ante approach that provides potential clues about tenurial factors. Data are collected through interviews and focus group discussions with 34 farmers and 10 key persons and analyzed descriptively. The research revealed that the farmers’ residential status are mostly migrant from Lombok Regency. They have been farming for 22 years since Perhutani Company recruited laborers for reforestation program. Economic pressure is presumably being the most reason for farmers to migrate to and cultivate the state forest areas. The changes authority of forest from Perhutani to forestry service, change the policy of forest management too, and unsettle the farmers. This anxiety can be decreased by increasing the sources of farmers’ income through training such as how to produce beverage juice from cashew fruit flesh and raising honey bees. In this regard, cooperation between industrial ministry, trade ministry, local government, and farmer groups is required, particularly for forest product marketing assistance. Additionally, a forest conservation agent is urgent to regenerate from the local farmers.

Evaluation of the Agreements of the National Reforestation Program in the Santiago de Quito, Palmira, Pistishi and Compud parishes, Chimborazo Province

The objective of this study was to evaluate the Forest Restoration agreements, by means of sampling the equivalent of 10% of the entire ground surface and 10% of the total land, in which control points were established in order to estimate the planted area; for the verification of land for reforestation, the control points were issued from the central office, which were located in the field with GPS; then the systematization of the data collected in the field was carried out. In the Palmira parish, the area evaluated showed 39.38 ha (74.94%) in which there were indications of planting, and 12.84 ha (26.06%) that did not show signs of planting; 57 farms were evaluated, of which 14 (71.93%) presented evidence of planting and 16 farms (28.07%) had no such evidence. In the Pistishi parish, the area evaluated had 36.27 ha (93.81%) in which there were signs of planting, and 2.39 ha (6.19%) that did not show signs of planting; 29 farms were evaluated, of which 22 (75.86%) presented evidence of planting and 2 (24.14%) had no evidence of planting. The properties evaluated in the Santiago de Quito and Compud parishes were considered for reforestation. Keywords: forest restoration, inventory, biodiversity, reforestation. Resumen El objetivo del trabajo fue evaluar los convenios de Restauración Forestal, mediante un muestreo equivalente al 10% de toda la superficie y el 10% del total de los predios, en los que se establecieron puntos de control con la finalidad de estimar la superficie plantada; para la verificación de predios para la reforestación, desde central fue emitido los puntos de control los mismos que fueron ubicados en campo con GPS; seguidamente se realizó la sistematización de los datos recogidos en campo. En la parroquia Palmira se evalúo un área plantada de 39,38 ha (74,94%) en el que se registró indicios de haberse plantado, 12,84 ha (26,06%) no presento indicios de plantación; se evaluaron 57 predios de los cuales 14 (71,93%) presentó plantaciones y 16 predios (28,07%) no se registra indicios de plantación. En ella Parroquia Pistishi se evalúo un área de 36,27 ha (93,81%) en el que se registró indicios de plantación, 2,39 ha (6,19%) no presento indicios de plantación; se evaluaron 29 predios de los cuales 22 (75,86%) presentó evidencias de plantación y 2 (24,14%) no se registra indicios de plantación. Los predios evaluados en las parroquias Santiago de Quito y Compud fueron consideraron para la reforestación. Palabras clave: restauración forestal, inventario, biodiversidad, reforestación.

Prioritizing Agricultural Patches for Reforestation to Improve Connectivity of Habitat Conservation Areas: A Guide to Grain-to-Green Project

Landscape connectivity can largely affect the level of biodiversity and it is a key concern in conservation planning. Considering that protected areas (PAs) may become functionally isolated “islands” under rapid land-use change, there is an urgent need to expand and connect protected areas to prevent further biodiversity loss and improve PAs effectiveness. The Grain-to-Green Project (GTGP) is the largest reforestation program worldwide with the aim of controlling water and soil loss; however, the opportunities for connectivity gains through GTGP have been widely ignored. Here we provided a three-stage hierarchical framework incorporating soil erosion analysis, cropland suitability analysis and network analysis to prioritize agricultural patches for reforestation under the scheme of GTGP. The potential reforestation patches were identified in the first two stages. Then, four different GTGP strategies were designed, and a set of network metrics were used to determine the best strategy and prioritize patches that significantly enhance PAs connectivity. A typical GTGP region, Wanzhou district (Southwest China), was taken as the study area. We found that: (1) the agricultural patches with high reforestation suitability cover an area of c. 40 km2 (1% of the study area); and (2) the efficiency of GTGP strategies varies by species, species with intermediate and high mobility benefit more from a strategy that continuously adds reforestation patches close to PAs, while for species with low dispersal ability, the amount of patches added should also be taken into account to decide the appropriate strategy. We conclude that our framework can provide guidance to restore PAs connectivity with limited land resources in the context of GTGP.

Analysis of Vegetation and Community Attitude as the Reforestation Efforts at Greenbelt Area of Multipurpose Reservoir of Wonogiri

<p>Land conversion has caused the function of the greenbelt for reservoir to be less effective. The management of the greenbelt area is needed to maintain the primary function of the reservoir. Therefore, a vegetation analysis in the greenbelt area is necessary to evaluate the condition of the existing vegetation and community attitude to maintain the greenbelt area. This study aims at identifying the current condition of the greenbelt area and the diversity of vegetation as well as the community attitude at the greenbelt area of multipurpose reservoir of Wonogiri. Vegetation sampling was done by purposive sampling using directed line quadrant method, while community attitude sampling was performed using in-depth interviews. This study found 14 species of vegetation in the greenbelt area. The most significant contribution of vegetation species was shown by the Importance Value Index (IVI), with 14 species of tree in which teak (<em>Tectona grandis L</em>.) was the species with the highest IVI value. The species diversity index was 1.15-1.7 and it was included in the medium category. Reforestation efforts can be continued because the vegetation condition has shown moderate stability. Community attitudes towards the greenbelt largely support the existence of management although people still and will use the land without disturbing the existing plants. The reforestation program that has been carried out in the last few years is expected to be able to restore the greenbelt in support of the reservoir function.</p>

Trade-Offs Analysis of Ecosystem Services for the Grain for Green Program: Informing Reforestation Decisions in a Mountainous Headwater Region, Northeast China

The effects of forest restoration on ecosystem services and their trade-offs are increasingly discussed by environmental managers and ecologists, but few demonstrations have analyzed ecosystem service trade-offs with a view to informing afforestation choices. Here, we examined how the Grain for Green Program (GGP), an ambitious reforestation program in China, affected ecosystem services. We quantified regulating services and provisioning service in the potential scenarios, which were developed to improve ecosystem services better. The results indicated the GGP drove 14.5% of land-use/land-cover from 2000 to 2015, and all the regulating services increased. Prioritizing reforestations in steep-sloped and riparian farmlands can promote flood mitigation, water purification, and soil retention services by 62.7%, 25.5%, and 216.1% as compared with 2015 levels, respectively, suggesting that the improvements strongly depend on afforestation locations. Driven by the new GGP policy, a high proportion of economic forest increased provisioning service (272.2%), but at the expense of decreases in soil retention (−25.1%), flood mitigation (−11.4%), water purification (−36.6%), and carbon storage (−48.5%). We identified a suitable scenario that would reduce the trade-offs, which associated with afforestation types and their spatial allocation. Identifying priority areas of afforestation types can inform the GGP policy to assure sustainable and broader benefits.

Carbon and Biodiversity Outcomes under Divergent Management Scenarios in Shifting Cultivation Landscapes in the Upland Philippines

The Philippines is both a biodiversity hotspot and a megadiverse country. The country also has experienced one of the highest rates of deforestation in Southeast Asia and is among the first countries to introduce a massive reforestation program to address the country&rsquo;s rapid biodiversity and forest loss. Drawing upon an empirical study from the Leyte island and other relevant case studies from the Philippines, in this chapter, we demonstrate that recovering secondary forests following shifting cultivation, locally known as kaingin have the high potentials for biodiversity and carbon co-benefits. Based on our empirical study, we also found that secondary forest regrowing after kaingin use can potentially be used as a cost-effective reforestation measure with multiple benefits to people and the environment in upland areas of the Philippines. We also discuss measures that are essential for such programs to be successful.