In this paper, we present an intensification model based on the intensity of exploitation and use of forests and forest lands as a relevant framework for analysing the appearance, dynamics, and evolution of different types of secondary forests. The systematic driving forces responsible for the disturbances and subsequent secondary forest re growth tend to change and evolve along this continuum.

This report examines whether the recent increase in biofuel feedstock production is resulting in increased deforestation rates and magnitudes within tropical regions. It reviews several methodological challenges for undertaking this analysis, and presents a set of preliminary findings. The analysis is focused on three regions from a global perspective: Latin America, southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.

Significantly increased rates of deforestation in Indonesia from the 1970s to the 2000s have brought pressure on law enforcement agencies to better enforce the law and prosecute forest crimes. Generally, criminal wrongdoing in the forestry sector is only prosecuted under the provisions of the Forestry Law. Several reports and results of studies suggest that these sanctions are ineffective in stopping crimes in the forestry sector because they only catch the petty criminals in the field. The main actors who fund and plan large-scale illegal activities persistently evade sanctions.

Agriculture needs to feed 9 billion people by 2050. This will require a 70 100% increase in food production (Godfray et al. 2010). Given climate change, a new kind of agriculture is therefore essential, one that must meet the triple challenge not only of ensuring food security, but also of adapting to future climate change and contributing to climate change mitigation. Meeting these challenges will require coordination with the mechanism known as Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) and other efforts to conserve forests.

Agroforestry and other tree-based systems (wood lots, afforestation) can contribute to Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) in two ways: 1) as part of REDD+ under certain forest definitions; and / or 2) as part of a strategy for achieving REDD+ in landscapes. In the context of REDD+, agroforestry has the potential for reducing degradation by supplying timber and fuelwood that would otherwise be sourced from adjacent or distant forests.

Do improvements in agricultural technology protect or endanger tropical forests? This book examines this controversial issue. It includes both theoretical frameworks for analysing the issue as well as case studies covering a wide range of geographical regions, technologies, market conditions and types of agricultural procedures. The authors identify technologies, contexts and policies that are likely to be beneficial to both farmers and forests.

This chapter summarises the key insights from the case studies included in the book. First, it discusses the technology-deforestation link in six different types of cases: developed countries, commodity booms, shifting cultivation, permanent upland (rainfed) agriculture, irrigated (lowland) agriculture, and cattle production. Next, it returns to the hypotheses presented in the book, and discusses the key conditioning factors in the technology-deforestation link. A number of factors determine the outcome.

Amazonia’s abundant natural resources underpin water, energy, food and health security for the people and economies of the region and far beyond. At the heart of this nexus of securities is water. So abundant in the region, but now under increasing threat as industrial and agricultural pollution increases, and extreme droughts reveal a once unthinkable water vulnerability.

This exploratory study was designed to capture the main features of agrarian change in the upper part of the basin that depends mostly on anicuts. These anicuts amount to 59 percent of the total basin anicuts in terms of numbers, but to only 43 percent in terms of irrigated area. They are generally very old (the history of some of them goes back to 2000 years; see below) and obviously, many changes have occurred during this time.

Las respuestas más importantes al cambio climático se enfocan en la mitigación (reducción de la acumulación de gases causantes del efecto invernadero) en vez de centrarse en la adaptación (reducción de la vulnerabilidad de la sociedad y los ecosistemas). No obstante, puesto que actualmente se reconoce que cierto grado de cambio climático es inevitable, la adaptación está adquiriendo importancia en el ámbito de políticas.