Opportunities, Constraints and Perceptions of Rural Communities Regarding Their Potential to Contribute to Forest Landscape Transitions Under REDD+: Case Studies from Mexico

In Mexico, REDD+ is being presented as a win-win policy enabling forest communities to benefit financially and diversify their income sources while preserving and increasing their forest carbon stocks through more sustainable management. Under the national programme, it is expected that forest communities will have opportunities to tailor their own approaches. However, to date there is little understanding about what opportunities and constraints exist in reality for forest communities to contribute to REDD+, and even less about how their members perceive these opportunities. We assess potential and constraints at community level and investigate perceptions about opportunities in REDD+ and strategies that communities are currently envisaging for participation, in seven communities in the Ayuquila River Basin and around the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve in Jalisco, and in the area surrounding the Monarch Butterfly Reserve in Michoacan. We find that there is more opportunity for reduced degradation and forest enhancement than for reduced deforestation, in all the communities; that it may be difficult to establish additionality for REDD+ activities in some communities; that the amount of forest resource per community may greatly affect the potential to participate; that the presence of people with no land rights may complicate the distribution of benefits; that communities expect REDD+ in general to follow the Payment for Environmental Services model, and that lack of information about what activities may count as REDD+ activities and what level of financial rewards may be expected mean that communities cannot at present adequately appraise whether REDD+ will be worth their while or no

La roza tumba y quema en el contexto de REDD+

Slash and burn (RTQ) is an agricultural system that in the context of climate change has been seen as one of those responsible for deforestation and intensive agriculture (AP) has been proposed to replace it in order to decrease gas greenhouse issued. We evaluated the impact of the RTQ in carbon stocks and fluxes in the context of international politics REDD+. The study was conducted in two communities Ayuquila Basin, Jalisco River. Stores Air carbon and soil in six land uses (pastures, intensive agriculture, RTQ production, RTQ at rest, sites PSA and sites forest that had never been cut), then comparisons between them were conducted were compared. Additionally, carbon stocks and associated with a cycle of ten years of RTQ flows were compared with those of a PA system. We found that C stores in RTQ plots are smaller than those found in best- preserved sites, so we support the idea that the RTQ is a cause of forest degradation. We also found that on average per ton of corn produced, long-term differences in carbon stocks are relatively small; However, although we found that global emissions of a cycle RTQ are higher than those of a PA system, this does not justify the RTQ be replaced by a more intensive system in order to mitigate climate change, especially by inputs not considered

El valor de las emisiones de carbono asociadas al sistema agrícola de roza, tumba y quema

A large part of Mexico´s forests are degraded but present the opportunity for recuperation of carbon stocks through natural growth, once the drivers of degradation are removed. However, there are opportunity costs involved since most of the drivers are related to economic activities including shifting cultivation and cattle grazing. The study calculates the economic costs of sequestration of carbon in tropical dry forest (TDF) in western Mexico based on an analysis of such opportunity costs. Results may help policy makers and land managers make informed decisions about whether to engage in international programs such as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+)

Efecto de la pendiente y la elevación en la biomasa forestal, su aplicación para realizar estimaciones en el paisaje

Above ground biomass concentrations at plot level response to terrain variables and the use of woody plants for estimation of greenhouse gas mitigation has led to demand for rapid and accurate estimation of forest carbon stocks. The aim of this study is to assess the extent of terrain slope and altitude to constraint biomass patterns through the landscape in a tropical dry forest and find models helps to predict them. Biomass obtained with the allometric relationship with diameter at breast height (DBH) for 163 sites in 400 m2 circular plots was obtained, using concentric circles to collect trees with different tree DBH size. Synthetic variable (SV) using ordination technique using species biomass by site as main input was obtained. Correlation and then linear models were carried out for pair of variables. Stand–level biomass, logarithm of biomass and SV were used as dependent variable and terrain slope, altitude and categories of terrain slope and altitude as independent variable. Models using log of biomass and stand–level biomass performed better and with lowest goodness and the complexity trade–off than the ones using SV. We conclude that is possible to predict forest biomass using terrain slope and altitude using terrain attributes but terrain slope has to be categorized to obtain a better fit. The model with of the model has