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Strassburg, B. N.; Latawiec, A.; Creed, A.; Nguyen, N.; Sunnenberg, G.; Miles, L.; Lovett, A.; Joppa, L.; Ashton, R.; Scharlemann, J. W.; Cronenberger, F.; Iribarrem, A.
There has been a concerted effort by the international scientific community to understand the multiple causes and patterns of land-cover change to support sustainable land management
. Here, we examined biophysical suitability, and a novel integrated index of “Economic Pressure on Land” (EPL) to explain land cover in the year 2000, and estimated the likelihood of future land-cover change through 2050, including protected area effectiveness. Biophysical suitability and EPL explained almost half of the global pattern of land cover (R 2 = 0.45), increasing to almost two-thirds in areas where a long-term equilibrium is likely to have been reached (e.g. R 2 = 0.64 in Europe). We identify a high likelihood of future land-cover change in vast areas with relatively lower current and past deforestation (e.g. the Congo Basin). Further, we simulated emissions arising from a “business as usual” and two reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) scenarios by incorporating data on biomass carbon. As our model incorporates all biome types, it highlights a crucial aspect of the ongoing REDD + debate: if restricted to forests, “cross-biome leakage” would severely reduce REDD + effectiveness for climate change mitigation. If forests were protected from deforestation yet without measures to tackle the drivers of land-cover change, REDD + would only reduce 30 % of total emissions from land-cover change. Fifty-five percent of emissions reductions from forests would be compensated by increased emissions in other biomes. These results suggest that, although REDD + remains a very promising mitigation tool, implementation of complementary measures to reduce land demand is necessary to prevent this leakage
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Human wellbeing relies on our ability to exploit our diverse and often fragile natural environment sustainably and into the far distant future
. If there is no such thing as environmentally neutral economic growth, there is certainly an increasing number of options for sustainable human and social development. Such new approaches are essential to the achievement of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.
Non-timber forest products (NTFPs) have been a particular focus of development interest in recent years. The hope is that forest-dependent people can gain new income-generating opportunities with minimal environmental costs. Fruit, basketry, honey and medicinal plants are just a few examples of economically and socially valuable products that can be produced from a sustainably managed natural resource base
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Tropical montane cloud forests represent a rare and fragile ecosystem that is under threat in many parts of the world
. Urgent action is needed to conserve these rich mountain forests, not only because they harbour concentrations of endemic and threatened species but to maintain their vital role in the provision of freshwater. All tropical forests are under threat but cloud forests are uniquely threatened both by human pressures and by climate change impacting on temperature, rainfall and the formation of clouds in mountain areas.
This report aims to stimulate new initiatives to conserve and restore cloud forests around the world. It provides maps of their distribution, regional overviews of the threats they face, and an agenda for priority actions. The particular qualities of cloud forests and issues in their conservation are identified, alongside examples of successful conservation approaches
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Mountain Watch provides a new map-based synthesis of information on environmental change, and its implications for sustainable development, in mountains
. It is designed to assist achievement both of the Millennium Development Goals, which aim to ensure environmental sustainability and improve people's livelihoods, and the Plan of Implementation of the World Summit on Sustainable Development, agreed in Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002.
Mountain Watch profiles methods to assess mountain ecosystems, the pressures that affect them and the services they provide to people. A new analysis of global data is supplemented by regional and local case studies drawn from around the world. Tools are provided for decision-makers to ensure that development sustains mountain environments and the people who depend on them. The report is designed to support an assessment process, launched at the Bishkek Global Mountain Summit during the International Year of Mountains, 2002. This will involve a series of regional workshops, bringing together many stakeholders living in and visiting mountain regions, and will lead to the production of a World Atlas of Mountain Environments. Mountain Watch was compiled by UNEP-WCMC and the UNEP Mountain Programme, in collaboration with the GEF, UNEP Regional Offices, UNEP GRID Centres and other partners, as a contribution to the International Year of Mountains, for which FAO is the lead UN agency, in collaboration with governments, UNEP, UNDP, UNESCO and other partners
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