Mexico has had a non-state forest certification system under the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) since it was initiated in 1993, and developed a new state-sponsored Mexican Forest Certification System (MFCS) that began in 2008. Several analyses have been made of FSC forest certification in Mexico, but none have summarized the new MFCS system or compared its standards with FSC. We compare the implementation of the non-state FSC market forest certification with the state-sponsored MFCS system in Mexico, and review literature on forest certification, focusing on all studies in Mexico.

Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is a powerful strategy for large-scale tropical forest recovery, and payment for ecosystem services (PES) is used to support FLR programs and projects on privately-owned land. In this article, we discuss the lessons learned from the Water Producer Project, a pioneer, multiple-stakeholder, and PES-supported FLR project in the Atlantic Forest, south-eastern Brazil. The project was implemented in four landscapes located in two municipalities.

Agroforestry (AF), an integration of agricultural and/or pastureland and trees, is a powerful tool for the maximization of profit from a small unit of land; however, it has been less well explored and recognized by existing policies. AF could be the best approach to conserving the fragile soils of Chure and to supplying subsistence needs to the local people. This study endeavored to understand how the adoption of various AF practices contributed to people’s livelihoods in the Bakaiya rural municipality of Makawanpur District.

Existing guidelines and best-practices documents do not satisfy, at present, the need for guiding implementation of Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) based on core principles. Given the wide range of FLR practices and the varied spectrum of actors involved, a single working framework is unlikely to be effective, but tailored working frameworks can be co-created based on a common conceptual framework (i.e., a common core set of principles and a generalized set of criteria and indicators).

Previous research has shown that the Koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) prefers larger trees, potentially making this a key factor influencing koala habitat quality. Generally, tree height is considered at regional scales which may overlook variation at patch or local scales. In this study, we aimed to derive a set of parameters to assist in classifying koala habitat in terms of tree height, which can then be used as an overlay for existing habitat maps.

Projects to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) are designed to reduce carbon emissions through avoided deforestation and degradation, and in many cases, to produce additional community and biodiversity conservation co-benefits. While these co-benefits can be significant, quantifying conservation impacts has been challenging, and most projects use simple species presence to demonstrate positive biodiversity impact.

In this paper, we explore how diverse community networks in Brazil have locally advanced seed production and institutional systems to enhance a restoration economy. By focusing on the experiences of the six major native seed suppliers in Amazonia, the Cerrado, and the Atlantic Forest, we estimate the capacity to scale-up community-based systems to meet a large-scale restoration target as a rural development strategy. Over one decade, 1016 collectors traded 416.91 tonnes of native seeds representing, on average, 31.41 kilos yearly and USD 256.5 as household income.

The contribution of local communities has become widely recognized as a better alternative in forest management than the traditional command-based control approach. However, several years later of implementation, most programs were failed due to a lack of community participation, imposing an uncertain future for community forestry. This paper examines rural Sri Lankans’ participation intention in community forestry (CF) program by using the Probit regression model. Randomly selected 300 individuals representing both CF members and non-CF members were interviewed for the study.

The purpose of this work was to determine which structural variables present statistically significant differences between degraded and conserved tropical dry forest through a statistical study of forest survey data. The forest survey was carried out in a tropical dry forest in the watershed of the River Ayuquila, Jalisco state, Mexico between May and June of 2019, when data were collected in 36 plots of 500 m2. The sample was designed to include tropical dry forests in two conditions: degraded and conserved.

Shea products in Benin (West Africa) are produced in a low-developed agroindustry, but they are estimated to be the country’s third largest export. The nut harvesting and quality guaranteeing in the butter process can only be achieved through improvements in the value chain, thus making it more attractive for stakeholders. The aim of this paper is to provide keys to a better product valorization, obtain a significant increase in household incomes based on shea butter marketing opportunities, and offer competitive products at the local and regional markets.

Addis Ababa, the capital of Ethiopia, is urbanizing very fast. This study aimed to assess urban expansion and Urban Green Spaces (UGS) change in the city from 1989 to 2019. Remote Sensing and Geographical Information System (GIS) and Landscape Expansion Index (LEI) were used to extract Land Use Land Cover (LULC) data, measure urban expansion and UGS change and analyze urban growth pattern in inner zone, outer zone and eight quadrants.

In order to meet the growing global demand for bioproducts, areas of forests planted for productive purposes tend to increase worldwide. However, there are several controversies about the possible negative impacts of such forests, such as invasive potential, influence on water balance and biodiversity, and competition with other types of land use. As a result, there is a need to optimize land use, in order to achieve improvements in terms of sustainability in the broadest sense.