Secondary cloud forests (SCFs), those that regenerate naturally following abandonment of human activities in previously deforested land, are of great value as refuges of high species diversity and for their critical role in hydrological regulation. This opinion paper analyzes the main environmental, socio-economic, and regulatory aspects that currently hamper the sustainable use and conservation of SCFs in Mexico for the provision of timber and ecosystem services.

Well-managed rangelands provide important economic, environmental, and cultural benefits. Yet, many rangelands worldwide are experiencing pressures of land-use change, overgrazing, fire, and drought, causing rapid degradation. These pressures are especially acute in the Hawaiian Islands, which we explore as a microcosm with some broadly relevant lessons. Absent stewardship, land in Hawaiʻi is typically subject to degradation through the spread and impacts of noxious invasive plant species; feral pigs, goats, deer, sheep, and cattle; and heightened fire risk.

Mozambique started a massive land registration program to register five million parcels and delimitate four thousand communities. The results of the first two years of this program illustrated that the conventional methods utilized for the land tenure registration were too expensive and time-consuming and faced several data quality problems.