Assessment of high (diurnal) to low (seasonal) frequency variations of isoprene emission rates using a neural network approach

Using a statistical approach based on artificial neural networks, an emission algorithm (ISO-LF) accounting for high to low frequency variations was developed for isoprene emission rates. ISO-LF was optimised using a data base (ISO-DB) specifically designed for this work, which consists of 1321 emission rates collected in the literature and 34 environmental variables, measured or assessed using National Climatic Data Center or National Centers for Environmental Predictions meteorological databases. ISO-DB covers a large variety of emitters (25 species) and environmental conditions (10° S to 60° N). When only instantaneous environmental regressors (instantaneous air temperature <i>T0</i> and photosynthetic photon flux density <i>L0</i>) were used, a maximum of 60% of the overall isoprene variability was assessed with the highest emissions being strongly underestimated. ISO-LF includes a total of 9 high (instantaneous) to low (up to 3 weeks) frequency regressors and accounts for up to 91% of the isoprene emission variability, whatever the emission range, species or climate investigated. ISO-LF was found to be mainly sensitive to air temperature cumulated over 3 weeks (<i>T21</i>) and to <i>L0</i> and <i>T0</i> variations. <i>T21</i>, <i>T0</i> and <i>L0</i> only accounts for 76% of the overall variability

Global political economy of conservation policies and ecosystem services in the tropics

The growing interconnection of globalised economies has been accelerated by increasing trade flows, direct foreign investments and global market demand between Global North and Global South countries. Because of the social and ecological damage related to global value chains, some scholars have pointed out the need to examine how these developments might be regulated at international level. This paper aims to illustrate the complexity of interactions between the constellations of actors involved in the globalised governance of protected areas in developing countries. The paper reveals that some internal actors, sometimes in coalition with local communities, have developed an alternative rhetoric based on an economic use of biodiversity, in order to resist the growing global pressure for forestland conversions. Following the pioneering work of some political economists including Karl Marx and Karl Polanyi, these alternative rhetoric strategies can be characterised as a form of commodification of nature. This economic approach to nature and subsequently to biodiversity shows that it is more effective and beneficial to conserve nature rather than exploit it, but it dismisses a range of questions about the limitations of any approach that ignores or neglects the central role of state bureaucracies in the governance of biodiversity in the Global South

Archetype analysis of forest policies and measures: towards a new typology

Decision makers have access to a large and growing toolbox of policies and measures that can, in theory, contribute to reducing deforestation and forest degradation. Middle-range theories can be formulated to summarize the conditions under which forest policies and measures are effective in halting deforestation and forest degradation. Such a diagnostics approach can, in turn, provide useful information to help decision makers avoid the trap of one-size-fits-all policy solutions and implement well-informed, context-specific policy solutions. A key element in this approach is the construction of a typology of forest policies and measures. Here we develop and apply an archetype analysis of forest policy and measures as a systematic, bottom-up and replicable way to build such a typology. Our empirical approach is based on three key elements: a broad universe of cases of forest policies and measures, a generic theory of change (ToC) of forest policies and measures, and a list of attributes characterizing this theory of change. Overall, we identify and characterize 10 broad types of forest policies. On the one hand, these encompass historical solutions aimed at changing producers' behaviours such as command-and-control policies and economic incentives. On the other hand, they encompass emerging demand-side policies and policies triggering psychological mechanisms such as social belongingness

A Tentative Theory of Change to Evaluate Jurisdictional Approaches to Reduced Deforestation

Sub-national jurisdictions are promoted as strategic levels of governance for achieving reduced deforestation objectives. Jurisdictional approaches (JA) emerged as government-led, holistic approaches to forest and land use management across one or more legally defined territories. Despite increasing popularity amongst the science and practitioner communities, there is a lack of robust empirical data documenting their effectiveness in delivering environmental, social and economic outcomes. In this paper, we contend that further clarification of the JA concept would help its evaluation. More specifically, we suggest that current evaluation practices of JA would be strengthened if they were based on a theory of change clarifying the causal linkages between the interventions associated with a given JA and their effects. By integrating select empirical knowledge on JA with a selection of middle-range theories from the literature on collective environmental governance, we design a generic theory of change for JA, which is articulated around two intermediary outcomes, namely the emergence of collaboration and social learning. We also formulate hypotheses regarding the conditions that enable or hinder these collective intermediary outcomes of JAs. We acknowledge that another fundamental challenge for JAs is to remove or block the external contradicting signals that still fundamentally drive deforestation. Thus, JA interventions need to operate not only at the jurisdictional level, but also beyond

Recent forest and land-use policy changes in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo: Are they truly transformational?

This paper analyses the policy changes occurring in the forest and palm oil sectors of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, through the lens of the transformational change concept. The aim is to first examine whether Sabah is trans- forming and, if so, to identify the determinants enabling or hindering the change. To determine if Sabah is transforming, we used two criteria: - (i) an ambitious change in the policy framework, that promotes forest conservation and sustainable use, and is moving away from business-as-usual activities; and (ii) the level of implementation of the policies that we identified as supporting transformational change. We found that Sabah very likely did intend to transform. We made this conclusion based on comparing changes in policies occurring in Sabah, and we decided if it is ambitious by primarily comparing Sabah's policies with other Malaysian states, the federal government, and internationally. We showed that: (i) Sabah decided to use voluntary international certification standards (private market instruments) like FSC and RSPO, while the other Malaysian states did not; (ii) they decided to protect more forest compared to national and international targets; and (iii) Sabah is an early mover as the state is one of the first in the world to adopt the RSPO Jurisdictional Approach. But intention needs to be followed by implementation, and this is where the state falls short. The policies in Sabah were not fully implemented because of the patronage system where the more powerful actors used their power to continue with business-as-usual activities, there is frequent political turnover in Sabah, and the state faced difficulty in meeting international standards. Our research shows that local leadership and a local transformational change coalition (civil society actively working in Sabah) mainly prompted the transformational change, although the promises of economic gains and better reputation also played a role. We conclude by emphasising the change must be made more compelling for political leaders, as part of a broader institutional structure, not only through the narrow focus on reducing deforestation but through the development of a more sustainable and equitable national economy, and that consumer countries should play a role in reducing pressures on forest by providing incentives to a state that manages its natural resources sustainably

The Problem of Competition Among Domestic Trunk Airlines - Part I

Cet article propose une analyse des processus d’émergence et de diffusion des paiements pour services environnementaux (PSE) au Cambodge à partir de la théorie du changement institutionnel de John R. Commons. Nous montrons que dans un contexte de conflits d’intérêts autour de l’utilisation des ressources, la mise en place ou le blocage de certains projets PSE correspondent à des stratégies mises en oeuvre par les organisations non gouvernementales de conservation et le Gouvernement pour orienter la définition des règles encadrant la gestion des écosystèmes. Au final, le développement des PSE au Cambodge n’a pas permis une modification profonde de ces règles, le déséquilibre des rapports de force entre les différents acteurs impliqués ayant conduit au maintien du statu quo, au détriment des communautés locales

8 - Les paiements pour services environnementaux ou écosytémiques

Les dispositifs de PSE constituent un des outils de politique environnementale les plus en vogue de ces dernières années. Malgré les imprécisions sur leur définition, les PSE reposent de manière générale sur l’idée d’un paiement (récompense, dédommagement) effectué par ceux qui bénéficient des services fournis par les écosystèmes à ceux qui en assurent le maintien. Les débats concernant leur application, leur ..

Co-producing theory of change to operationalize integrated landscape approaches

Integrated landscape approaches that engage diverse stakeholder groups in landscape governance are increasingly promoted to address linked social–ecological challenges in tropical landscapes. Recent research suggests that a transdisciplinary approach to landscape management can help identify common research needs, enhance knowledge co-production, guide evidence-based policy development, and harmonize cross-sectorial integration. Meanwhile, guiding principles for landscape approaches suggest that identifying common concerns and negotiating a process of change are fundamental to implementation and evaluation efforts. As such, the use of decision support tools such as theory of change models that build ordered sequences of actions towards a desired, and agreed, future state are increasingly advocated. However, the application of the theory of change concept to integrated landscape approaches is limited thus far, particularly within the scientific literature. Here, we address this gap by applying the principles of landscape approaches and knowledge co-production to co-produce a theory of change to address current unsustainable landscape management and associated conflicts in the Kalomo Hills Local Forest Reserve No. P.13 (KFR13) of Zambia. The participatory process engaged a diverse range of stakeholders including village head people, local and international researchers, district councillors, and civil society representatives amongst others. Several pathways, actions, and interventions were developed around the themes of deforestation, biodiversity and wildlife conservation, socio-economic development, access rights, and law enforcement. To make the theory of change actionable, participants identified a need for enhanced cross-sector and multi-level communication, capacity development, and improved governance, while a lack of commitment towards coordinated knowledge exchange and access to information along with poor policy formulation and weak enforcement of rules were among potential impediments to action. Use of theory of change can both inform evidence-based policy design (by revealing place-based challenges and proposing solutions) and support policy mechanisms that promote integration between state and non-state actors (by clarifying actor rights, roles and responsibilities). Co-developing a theory of change for integrated landscape management is inherently context specific, but the process and outcomes of this study should hold relevance across a range of contexts faced with sustainability challenges related to reconciling both conservation and development objectives.</p

7 - La diffusion de la notion de service écosystémique au Costa Rica, en France, à Madagascar, au Brésil et au Cambodge

Depuis le Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), la notion de service écosystémique s’est peu à peu imposée comme norme dans les discours internationaux et contribue à relégitimer des dispositifs existants et à légitimer de nouveaux instruments d’action publique tels que les PSE (Wunder, 2005), aussi bien dans les pays du Nord que dans les pays du Sud (Hrabanski et al., 2013). Les services écosystémiques et les instruments de politiq..