TRI Fellows Research Projects, 2004

Central America

 Jeremy Goetz, MESc 2005

Regeneration of Dry Tropical Trees Across Edaphic and Topographic Gradients

Jeremy Goetz in forestry plot — Los Santos, Panama

Location: Central America, Panama

The early 1990’s saw the total area of deforested and degraded tropical land worldwide (2 billion ha) surpass the area of mature tropical forests (1.8 billion ha) (Lugo 1997). In Panama alone, over 30% of the natural forests have been cleared for agriculture and grazing (Romero et al. 1999). To address this growing problem groups like The Panama Native Species Restoration Project (PRORENA) are working to develop strategies to restore abandoned pastures and degraded grasslands through native species reforestation. While it is understood native tree species may provide greater ecological and economic resources than exotic species, little information exists regarding their effective management; required is a clear understanding of the factors influencing seedling establishment and germination.

Panama Native Species Restoration Project (PRORENA) forestry plots

In dry tropical forests, light and soil moisture are thought to act in tandem to regulate seed germination, seedling establishment and survival (Ray and Brown 1995; Gerhardt 1996). Further, abrupt discontinuities in edaphic conditions are known to occur in tropical landscapes, influencing local environmental conditions. Specializations to these edaphic gradients are well known (Clark et al. 1998; Clark et al. 1999; Tuomisto et al. 2003). As a result, regional plant species diversity may increase as edaphic distinctness increases (Tilman and Pacala 1993). However, there exists little information on the effects of edaphic and topographic factors on plant species’ distributions where the gradient is less extreme. A better understanding of how spatially variable factors like soil moisture interact with various structural and species components is needed.

This study will ask the following: Do local edaphic factors over short environmental gradients affect the distribution and performance of native tree species in tropical reforestation plots? I address this question by examining the growth and survival response of 25 native tree species to soil type, soil moisture, topographic position, and slope angle in a dry tropical reforestation planting located in Los Santos, Panama. Application of this knowledge should have broad-scale applicability for forest managers, ecologists, and conservationists.

 Carishma Gokhale, MEM 2005

Alternative Livelihoods for Women in the Mayan Forests of Southern Belize and their Implications on Natural Resource Use

Carishma Gokhale handing out embroidery patterns to Mayan women of the Toledo District, Belize.

Location: Central America, Belize

Recently introduced sustainable livelihood initiatives are changing the way communities interact with the environment. Training community members to abandon traditional extractive practices and equipping them with skills that allow for environmentally sustainable livelihoods, such as employment as nature guides, has met with recent success in southern Belize. The majority of alternative livelihood initiatives have focused on men. This research explores the alternative livelihoods of women in six Kekchi and Mopan Maya villages of Toledo District, Belize. The focus was on MayaBags, a recent private initiative on the part of an outside donor to develop a sustainable business for the women, helping them maintain their traditional skills of textile weaving, embroidery and basket making, and to help build their self-esteem as income providers in their households. Using qualitative tools including participant observation, semi-structured interviews, group discussions, and structured interviews, insight was gained into the operation and impacts of the project. This research studied the women’s impact on natural resources as well as the role of the donor-recipient relationship in sustainable development initiatives.

 Lisa Patel, MESc 2005

Capacity building in community forestry operations of the Petan Guatemala: negotiating the “social question”

Timber yard in the Petan, Maya Biospere Reserve

Sign identifying the border between two local community forestry concessions.

Location: Central America, Guatemala

Following reports of rapid deforestation of the northern lowland jungles, the Guatemalan government created the Maya Biosphere Reserve and granted concessions to communities living within the reserve to engage in sustainable timber and non-timber harvesting operations. Communities were only given the concession if they received certification from the Forest Stewardship Council and had an accompanying international environmental non-profit to provide them with the necessary technical, administrative, and social capacity building to implement the project. Ten years after the first timber harvesting operations began, the work of international non-profits has been phased out leaving communities to run the operations for themselves.

This thesis examines the role of non-profits in capacity building through interviews with key stakeholders and informants. While the research shows that improving community capacity in technical aspects has been largely successful, the focus on technical skills by environmental NGOs has left the social question largely unanswered. Non-profit workers and community leaders agree that there should have been greater "social capacity-building" through the hiring of sociologists and anthropologists in the original implementation of the project; however, this thesis argues that technical and social capacity building cannot be equated in programmatic terms, and instead the social question requires a different approach if projects are to be sustainable.

 Alvaro Redondo Brenes, MFS 2005

Aboveground biomass and carbon sequestration estimations using allometric models in mixed and pure native forest plantations in Costa Rica.

Location: Central America, Costa Rica

Alvaro Redondo Brenes measuring a tree's height

The research was conducted at three different locations in Costa Rica: La Selva Biological Station and Sarapiqui County in the Atlantic lowlands, and in San Carlos County in the North Huetar Region. The main objective was to estimate aboveground biomass and carbon sequestration using allometric models in mixed and pure native forest plantations. The native species that were evaluated are Callophyllum brasiliense, Vochysia guatemalensis, V. ferruginea, Jacaranda copaia, Virola koschnyii, Dipteryx panamensis, Terminalia amazonia, Hyeronima alchorneoides, and Balizia elegans. A total of 35 farms were selected and 231 permanent and temporal sample plots were evaluated. The area of these plantations varied from 0.1 to 30 ha, and most of them were established with governmental incentives such as the Payment for Environmental Services from 1990 to 1995. At every plot, I measured the diameter at breast height (DBH) and the total height of every presented tree. The DBH and total height will be used to estimate the biomass and carbon sequestration using the allometric models developed by Montero and Montagnini (2004).

A Terminalia amazonia plantation and the landscape matrix, Sarapiqui, Costa Rica

I expect to finish data analysis during the fall semester and write my master’s thesis and articles for the end of the spring semester. Results of the present research will enhance the criteria elaborated in previous research findings. These have been developed in order to improve species choices for reforestation and silvicultural management in Costa Rica, and in other regions with similar ecological features. Moreover, the results will enhance the concept that tropical plantations can serve diverse economic, social, and ecological functions that may help reduce atmospheric CO2 accumulations.

 Aaron Welch, MESc 2005

Conservation at Scale: decision making in international conservation efforts

Aaron Welch takes a break from note taking with two Mopan children in a village along the Rio Grande in the Port Honduras Marine Reserve Watershed, Belize.

Location: Central America, Belize

The goal of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System (MBRS) Project is to enhance protection of the varied marine ecosystems comprising the second largest barrier reef in the world, and to assist the countries of Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras to strengthen and coordinate regional policies, regulations, and institutional arrangements for the conservation and sustainable use of this global public good. Research was focused on the decision process exercised by MBRS project participants in Toledo District, Belize – the country’s southernmost and least populous district where tourism and other development efforts have had the smallest impact and the MBRS project stands to make a significant difference. Despite having stated the need for a decentralized and comprehensive decision process that incorporates the perspectives of all participants, key local community members were often not part of local project decision making. Research findings have implications for the success of MBRS goals locally as well as throughout the region.

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