More than just trees: Assessing reforestation success in tropical developing countries

Rural communities in many parts of the tropics are dependent of forests for their livelihoods and for environmental services. Forest resources in the tropics have declined rapidly over the past century and therefore many developing countries in the tropics have reforestation programs. Although reforestation is a long-term process with long-term benefits, existing evaluations of the success of these programs tends to focus on short-term establishment success indicators. This paper presents a review of reforestation assessment that highlights the need to not only consider short-term establishment success, but also longer-term growth and maturation success, environmental success and socio-economic success. In addition, we argue that reforestation assessment should not be based on success indicators alone, but should incorporate the drivers of success, which encompasses an array of biophysical, socio-economic, institutional and project characteristics. This is needed in order to understand the reasons why reforestation projects succeed or fail and therefore to design more successful projects in future. The paper presents a conceptual model for reforestation success assessment that links key groups of success indicators and drivers. This conceptual model provides the basis for a more comprehensive evaluation of reforestation success and the basis for the development of predictive systems-based assessment models. These models will be needed to better guide reforestation project planning and policy design and therefore assist rural communities in tropical developing countries to alleviate poverty and achieve a better quality of life.     

黄土高原生态战略下的农业发展模式研究——以甘肃省庆阳市为例

庆阳市属于黄土高原沟壑区,地形以山地沟谷为主,生态环境脆弱,水土流失严重。耕地面积小,人口压力大,农业经济不发达,面临生态建设的迫切任务。在当前国家退耕还林政策下,为了实现生产发展与生态保护的双赢,就应该走生态农业发展之路。结合生态建设重点发展林果业、草畜业和特色种植业,因地制宜地推行科学的生态农业发展模式,建立农林草畜各业相互联系、相互促进的农业生产系统。通过林草资源的合理利用、农业生产结构调整、农业生产方式的转变、农产品质量的提升和农产品深加工等方面的发展提高生产效益。在这一发展过程中,政府要发挥主导作用,通过科学规划、体制创新、改进生产技术、增加投资和提高农业生产的保障能力,加快农业生产结构和方式的转变,促进生态和环境的持续协调发展。