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Indonesia hosts one of the world’s largest tropical peatlands, yet half of them have been drained and cleared, making them prone to recurring fires. To prevent fires, it is essential to protect intact peatlands and restore degraded ones. Such efforts must reconcile competing land uses and interests to achieve multifunctional peatlands that combine protection, restoration, and suitable agricultural practices. In this article we focus on Ketapang Regency in West Kalimantan, where extensive peatlands were drained and then cultivated with oil palm or left degraded. In response to recurring fires, the Regency government, through a multistakeholder approach, developed an innovative planning instrument that was formalized as a Regency policy to reduce fires while maintaining the multiple functions of peatlands. We address two research questions: (1) What are the potentials and constraints of achieving a multifunctional peatland landscape in Ketapang, West Kalimantan? (2) What roles have the multistakeholder forums played in enabling reconciliation toward multifunctional outcomes? We employed key informant interviews and stakeholder discussions to validate and elaborate our findings. We found that while stakeholders recognized the importance of the regency-level policy instrument for preventing peatland fires and promoting multifunctionality, its implementation remained constrained. The findings suggest that applying zero-burning agriculture is unrealistic; efforts to protect critical peat areas are hindered by incoherent policies across government levels and conflicting land classification; and there is a lack of incentives to change agricultural practices. Multistakeholder forums played crucial roles in facilitating collective learning, bridging institutional gaps, and mediating power asymmetries, and enabled the development of a local policy response. We conclude that multi-stakeholder processes are a foundation for reconciliation in contested landscapes and a catalyst for local policy innovation. However, the achievement of sustained multifunctional landscapes will also depend on strengthening economic instruments and aligning policies across governance levels.

Systems devised for managing tropical forests sustainably have yet to prove successful. In many instances, they have fallen short of initial prospects, but the reasons for these shortfalls are often not apparent. Here, we explore factors that can shape the likelihood of success, collectively referred to as background conditions, which are not always adequately considered prior to selecting a suitable management system. We examine the ability of one background condition, geologic terrane, to explain crude spatial variation in a number of trailing indicators of varying forest land use. Forest areas on Precambrian and Phanerozoic terranes show significant differences in production of fossil hydrocarbons, gold, and tropical roundwood, among other indicators, even after considering regional effects. Background conditions are considered to be factors capable of quantifying spatial variation in the likelihood of achieving management success given predefined benchmarks of sustainability. A number of avenues for further exploring and discriminating spatial variation of background conditions are discussed.

Lineages tend to retain ecological characteristics of their ancestors through time. However, for some traits, selection during evolutionary history may have also played a role in determining trait values. To address the relative importance of these processes requires large-scale quantification of traits and evolutionary relationships among species. The Amazonian tree flora comprises a high diversity of angiosperm lineages and species with widely differing life-history characteristics, providing an excellent system to investigate the combined influences of evolutionary heritage and selection in determining trait variation. We used trait data related to the major axes of life-history variation among tropical trees (e.g. growth and mortality rates) from 577 inventory plots in closed-canopy forest, mapped onto a phylogenetic hypothesis spanning more than 300 genera including all major angiosperm clades to test for evolutionary constraints on traits. We found significant phylogenetic signal (PS) for all traits, consistent with evolutionarily related genera having more similar characteristics than expected by chance. Although there is also evidence for repeated evolution of pioneer and shade tolerant lifehistory strategies within independent lineages, the existence of significant PS allows clearer predictions of the links between evolutionary diversity, ecosystem function and the response of tropical forests to global change.

The demographic history of a flower-cohort of the tropical tree Dicymbe altsonii (Caesalpiniaceae) was studied by collecting litter from flowers, fruits and seeds, and by monitoring seedling survival. Flower production was estimated at 137 to 172 m−2 in a plot of 1 ha. Four percent of the flowers yielded a pod, which contained an average of 2.0 seeds. Post-dispersal mortality over 3 mo was 39% of the initial number of dispersed seeds. Most flowers and fruits were aborted. Insect and vertebrate predation in the tree and on the ground was very low. Reproductive litter production of this species was estimated to be equal to leaf litter production. The amount of phosphorus lost in litter from fruits and flowers was much larger than in leaf litter. This implies that the impact of the biennial flowering events on the nutrient dynamics of the trees and of the ecosystem may be large. It is argued that the reproductive cycle and the pre-dispersal demography of Dicymbe seem to be determined by a scarcity of nutrient resources, and possibly by pollinator limitation.

Zagt reviews \"Foundations of Tropical Forest Biology: Classic Papers with Commentaries\" edited by Robin L. Chazdon and T. C. Whitmore.

The contribution of sprouts to the long-term survival of Chlorocardium rodiei, following logging was investigated. Differently aged sprout populations on cut stumps were surveyed to determine the numbers of sprouts produced, probability of survival and growth rates. Fifty-five to 70% of the stumps produced sprouts. The proportion of stumps that sprouted was lower for the hollow stumps than for the intact ones and the number of sprouts produced per stump was reduced. No significant correlation was found between stump diameter and the number of sprouts. Some sprouts survived for at least 15 y (usually one per stump), and these had a significantly larger average diameter relative to the sprouts at younger sites. The number of sprouts and the diameter of the largest sprout showed a significant positive correlation, suggesting that the maintenance of the inherited stump root system is shared among the sprouts so that the costs per sprout are reduced. We conclude that sprouting on cut stumps may have the potential to contribute to the maintenance of C. rodiei in the canopy at logged sites.

Reduced impact logging has been shown to be environmentally beneficial by reducing damage to the forest stand and soils, but is only one component of good forest management. The implementation of RIL is largely contingent on satisfying concerns about cost to the producer and the values of benefits. While many of the direct costs and benefits associated with RIL have been quantified, there are still a number of unanswered questions and potential bottlenecks. The cost of training, extra wage demands, monitoring, verification and foregone timber have not always been accounted for in cost comparisons between RIL and conventional logging systems. While direct benefits of employing RIL through waste reduction could be considered universal, benefits derived through other income generation schemes, such as carbon offset, are not so clear. Institutional and economic constraints will continue to reduce the likelihood of RIL implementation in those regions where lease conditions promote short-term management objectives. Il a été démontré que l'exploitation forestière à impact réduit favorisait l'environnement en réduisant les dommages causés aux peuplements forestiers et au sol ; elle n'est toutefois qu'un des éléments d'une saine gestion forestière. L'adoption de l'EFIR est surtout liée à des préoccupations relatives aux coûts de production et aux possibilités de bénéfices. Bien que plusieurs coûts et bénéfices directs de l'EFIR aient été quantifiés, bon nombre de questions et d'obstacles potentiels restent à examiner. La formation, les hausses salariales, le contrôle, le suivi et le bois perdu n'ont pas toujours été pris en compte dans la comparaison des coûts de l'EFIR et des systèmes d'exploitation forestière conventionnelle. Bien que les bénéfices directs qu'offre l'EFIR en réduisant les déchets paraissent universels, ceux d'autres mécanismes générateurs de revenus, tels que la compensation de carbone, sont moins évidents. Dans les régions privilégiant les objectifs de gestion à court terme, les contraintes institutionnelles et économiques continueront de restreindre les possibilités d'implantation de l'EFIR. La tala de impacto reducido ha mostrado ser medio ambientalmente beneficiosa a través de la reducción de los daños al los árboles y suelos del bosque, pero es solamente un componente más de una buena administración forestal. La instrumentación del RIL depende ampliamente de satisfacer las preocupaciones acerca del costo para el productor y las incertidumbres acerca de los beneficios. Mientras muchos de los costos y beneficios directos asociados con RIL ha sido cuantificados, existen aún un número de preguntas no respondidas y cuellos de botella potenciales que necesitan tenerse en cuenta. El costo de entrenamiento, alteraciones en las demandas salariales, el monitoreo y verificación de la producción maderera no siempre han sido tenidos en cuenta en las comparaciones de costo entre RIL y los sistemas convencionales de tala. Mientras los beneficios directos de emplear RIL a través de la reducción de desperdicios puede ser considerados universales, los beneficios derivadados a través de otros planes de generación de ingreso, tales como secuestro de carbono, no están tan claros. Las restricciones institucionales y económicas continuarán para reducir la probabilidad de la implementación del RIL en aquellas regiones donde estos promuevan objetivos administrativos a corto plazo.

JRC.D.6 - Knowledge for Sustainable Development and Food Security