National socioeconomic surveys in forestry : Guidance and survey modules for measuring the multiple roles of forests in household welfare and livelihoods

Adequate information on the socioeconomic contributions of forests to household welfare, livelihoods and poverty reduction is key to national sustainable development in the post-2015 agenda. While awareness is growing regarding the multiple roles of forests in these aspects of sustainable development, the lack of systematic data in many countries limits an evidence-based demonstration of this. Lacking reliable information, forests and forestry are not always adequately considered in the development of national policies. This sourcebook is intended to help improve data collection on aspects of forests relating to household welfare and livelihoods. It offers practical guidance and measurement tools that can be included in existing social or socioeconomic surveys undertaken by a country’s national statistical office, or in independent national surveys

Laura Villalobos (CATIE). Additional material was prepared by Andrea

Nicolas Bertrand of UNEP managed the chapter, including the handling of peer reviews, interacting with the coordinating authors on revisions, conducting supplementary research and bringing the chapter to final production. Derek Eaton reviewed and edited the modelling section of the chapter. Sheng Fulai conducted preliminary editing of the chapter. Five Background Technical Papers were prepared for this chapte

Management of Protected Areas in the tropics : An Exploratory and Socio-economic Analysis of Ecotourism Based Stratergies in Periyar Tiger Reserve, India

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Linkages among forests, food security and livelihoods: A comparative analysis of tropical dry forests and tropical wet evergreen forests in Sri Lanka

Forests are increasingly recognised as an important contributor to food security and nutrition, especially for the poorest people, in various ways. Their roles and impacts including the degree of access to forest-based nutrition to the poorer segments however vary depending on the specific geographic and socio-political contexts and forest types. This study examines the nature of forest dependence for food security and nutrition in two dominant forest types in Sri Lanka, namely dry humid forest and wet evergreen forests. Proportionate to the forest cover area in either forest system, this study enumerated 500 households in the dry forest ecology and 190 households in the wet evergreen forest ecology. The findings provide a first quantitative benchmarking of the nature of forest food collection and modelling of the socio-demographic factors determining the forest food collection in the Sri Lankan context. The results show that food produce collection in terms of quantity and value are significantly higher in the wet evergreen forest system and the factors driving the dependence on forests are tied to agricultural involvement of the households. Other factors such as economic status, education, accessibility of the forest emerge statistically insignificant. On the other hand, in dry humid forests, economic status and access to forest become significant factors. Evidence confirms the location specific nature of forest food connection and make the case for context-relevant interventions to foster forest-food interface

Diversity and Distribution of Forest Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicidae) in Nepal: Implications for Sustainable Forest Management

The information available on the diversity of ant species and their distribution and interaction with forest health in Nepal remains limited. As part of a nationwide project on forest health, we conducted inventories to assess the diversity and distribution of forest ants and their role in forest management in Nepal. Ants were collected from 187 plots of 10 m × 10 m size along the north–south belt transects in eastern, central, and western Nepal. We used vegetation beating, sweeping, and hand collection methods in selected forest types. In each transect, we designed six plots in each major forest type (Sal, Schima–Castanopsis, and broadleaf mixed forests) and three plots each in deodar, Alnus, riverine, and Cryptomeria forests. We recorded 70 ant species from 36 genera and six subfamilies. This includes five genera and nine species new for the country, as well as eight tramp species, four of which are major ecological, agricultural, and/or household pests. Our study indicates that forest ant species richness is high in western Nepal and the Siwaliks, and it decreases as elevation increases. The high diversity of ant species in the forests of Nepal needs to be assessed with further exploration using multiple sampling methods covering all seasons and forest types. Ants can be useful indicators for ecosystem management and human impacts on forests. Reports of invasive ants in Nepalese forests indicate the relevance of urgent interventions through sustainable forest management initiatives to prevent future incursions