Is it possible to sustainably use tropical forests for services such as food, timber and firewood, and conserve biodiversity at the same time?
This question is the subject of much debate among conservation and development researchers. See Nature’s coverage of this debate here.
A study published in Science finds it can be possible, particularly when locals are involved in forest governance and policymaking.
“There are substantial disagreements among scientists about whether it’s possible to achieve both economic and ecological benefits together from forests, but little work to understand conditions that might lead to this,” says Lauren Persha, one of the study’s authors and a postdoctoral research fellow with the International Forestry Resources and Institutions (IFRI) Research Program, at University of Michigan.
“Our study is one of very few that has been able to do this kind of analysis in a systematic way across a large number of cases and countries,” she adds.
Persha and her colleagues analysed data from 84 villages in six countries across East Africa and South Asia, including Kenya and India. Their aim was to look at the relationship between forest-based subsistence livelihoods and conservation initiatives and work out what factors are important for a positive outcome for both. Tree species richness was used as an indicator to measure forest biodiversity. The percentage of households that depend on a forest for their livelihood was used as an indicator of the forests’ economic and social contribution. The study defined a sustainable forest system as one in which biodiversity levels and contributions to people’s livelihoods were both above average.
They found that in most cases there was a trade off where either biodiversity or the forests’ economic and social contribution was below average. But the study found win-win situations in 27% of cases.
The analysis showed that forests were more likely to be sustainable when local users’ rights to participate in forest governance was formally recognised.
“It’s a lesson for government’s about how to make policies to manage and govern their forests”, said Arun Agrawal, a researcher in natural resources and environment and another author of the study.
Ref: Persha, L et al. Science 331, 1606-1608.