Woods Hole Research Center

2010

Almeida, A.S., T.A. Stone, I.C.G. Vieira, and E.A. Davidson. 2010. Nonfrontier Deforestation in the Eastern Amazon. Earth Interactions 14(1):1-15.

Despite the focus on newer and larger areas of forest clearing in the frontier zone of Amazonia, there remain many tracts of primary and secondary forest in areas of older colonization that are still being deforested. This paper focuses one such area, the Zona Bragantina in the eastern Amazon Basin.

Brando, P.M., S.J. Goetz, A. Baccini, D.C. Nepstad, P.S.A. Beck, and M.C. Christman. 2010. Seasonal and interannual variability of climate and vegetation indices across the Amazon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 107(33):14685-14690.

This paper addresses the hotly debated topic of satellite-observed "greening" of the Amazon forest during drought. We found that productivity, as assessed by the MODIS enhanced vegetation index (EVI), was less influenced by variations in climate as the percentage of tree canopy cover increased, probably because tall, dense forests are better buffered against episodic droughts than other vegetation types.  Using data at a site-specific study (Tapajós), we looked at several proxies of vegetation productivity and showed that it was relatively insensitive to leaf area but correlated positively with new leaf flushing and light available for photosynthesis. This suggests that production of new leaves during drought could play an important role in satellite observations of interannual EVI variability. To explain the vegetation "greening" observed during the severe drought of 2005 we put forward the hypothesis that drought could increase EVI by synchronizing leaf flushing via its effects on leaf bud development and tree water status. This mechanism could reconcile the coincident observations of tree mortality in field measurements and satellite observations of forest “greening”.

Andrea Cattaneo, Ruben Lubowski, Jonah Busch, Anna Creed, Bernardo Strassburg, Frederick Boltz, Ralph Ashton (2010) On international equity in reducing emissions from deforestation, Environ. Sci. Policy, doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2010.08.009

Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) can be an effective and efficient means of mitigating climate change. However, the perceived equity in the distribution of financial incentives for REDD could also emerge as a critical issue in international negotiations. This paper compares the equity impacts of five proposed reference level designs using a partial-equilibrium model. Tradeoffs among equity, environmental effectiveness and cost-efficiency indicate the proposals trigger similar aggregate emissions reductions but lead to different outcomes in efficiency and alternative measures of equity. If equity across countries is measured as the financial incentive provided relative to a country’s forest carbon stock, then a REDD mechanism compensating a uniform share of at-risk carbon stocks is the most equitable. On the other hand, if equity is evaluated as the financial incentive relative to the opportunity costs of participating in REDD, then the most equitable approach would be compensating emissions reductions but withholding a part of the payments to compensate for carbon stocks, which also encourages broader country participation under our model.

Goetz, S. J., M. Sun, A. Baccini, and P.S.A. Beck. 2010. Synergistic use of space-borne LiDAR and optical imagery for assessing forest disturbance: An Alaska case study. Journal of Geophysical Research 115:G00E07. doi:10.1029/2008JG000898.

We explored lidar remote sensing as a tool to monitor the response of high latitude vegetation to fire disturbance which modifies a broad range of ecosystem properties and processes. Lidar data were acquired from the Geoscience Laser Altimetry System (GLAS) on ICESAT to derive canopy information in burned areas across Alaska and passive remote sensing data from MODIS and Landsat were used to stratify the landscape based on burn severity and vegetation type. As expected, canopy height decreases following fire, but lidar-derived height is a good overall indicator of fire disturbance because many locations within the burned area perimeters did not actually burn and even severely burned sites contain standing dead trees. However, GLAS height metrics are useful for documenting properties of regrowth in burned areas, thereby facilitating monitoring efforts following fire disturbance. Significantly greater height growth was documented for example in more severely burned areas due to a greater proportion of deciduous regrowth. A new satellite lidar sensor designed for vegetation studies would thus provide valuable information for improving ecosystem models that incorporate disturbance and recovery.

Greenglass, N., J. Funk, M. Chaum, and R.A. Houghton. 2010. Fixing a flawed approach to forest accounting in the next round of the Kyoto Protocol. Carbon Management 1(2):179-182.

To fully and accurately engage forest management in climate change mitigation, the accounting framework must set a stable and durable benchmark from which to assess changes in the contribution of forest management activities to the atmospheric concentrations of GHGs. To consistently, fairly and accurately account for the effects of post-1990 management, all Parties should ideally set a forest management baseline that only takes into account those management activities that were set in place before 1990. The current negotiations should set the tone for bringing the LULUCF sector more fully in line with efforts to combat climate change. The importance of establishing a transparent framework based on verified, consistent and complete methodologies therefore transcends discussions of forest management accounting alone, and should be seen in a wider policy context that supports the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol.

Houghton, R.A., F. Hall, and S.J. Goetz.  2010.  Importance of biomass in the global carbon cycle. Journal of Geophysical Research 114.G00E03.doi:10.1029/2009JG000935.

Management, disturbance, and recovery of forests can either release carbon to the atmosphere and remove it, but the magnitude, even direction, of the net annual flux is not well known. A satellite mission capable of measuring aboveground woody biomass could help improve estimates of the net flux by delivering three products. First, a global map of aboveground woody biomass density would halve the uncertainty of estimated carbon emissions from land-use change. Second, an annual, global map of natural disturbances could constrain the unknown but potentially large terrestrial sink attributable to biomass recovery from such disturbances. Third, direct measurement of changes in aboveground biomass density could indicate the magnitude and distribution of at least the largest carbon sources (from deforestation and degradation) and sinks (from woody growth). This paper lays out the accuracy, spatial resolution, and coverage required for a satellite mission that would generate these products.

Houghton, R.A., N. Greenglass, A. Baccini, A. Cattaneo, S. Goetz, J. Kellndorfer, N. Laporte, and W. Walker. 2010. The role of science in Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD). Carbon Management 1 (2): 253-259.

Emissions of carbon from tropical deforestation and degradation currently account for 12–15% of total anthropogenic carbon emissions each year, and Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD; including REDD+) is poised to be the primary international mechanism with the potential to reduce these emissions. This article provides a brief summary of the scientific research that led to REDD, and that continues to help refine and resolve issues of effectiveness, efficiency and equitability for a REDD mechanism. However, REDD deals only with tropical forests and there are other regions, ecosystems and processes that govern the sources and sinks of carbon in terrestrial ecosystems. Ongoing research will reveal which of these other flows of carbon are most important, and which of them might present further opportunities to reduce emissions (or enhance sinks) through environmental policy mechanisms, as well as how they might do this.

Poulsen, J.R., C.J. Clark, and B.K. Curran. 2010. Forest concession land use planning: Lessons learned from Congolaise Industrielles des Bois (CIB). In Landscape-scale conservation in the Congo Basin: Lessons learned from the Central Africa Regional Program for the Environment (CARPE), ed. D. Yanggen, K. Angu, and N. Tchamou.

Land-use planning is a critical step in the management of tropical forests and their biodiversity, particularly in industrial logging concessions.  We synthesized lessons learned from the land-use planning process undertaken by the Buffer Zone Project in the northern Republic of Congo.  With the goal of reducing the impact of logging and conserving wildlife in four timber concessions surrounding a national park, land-use planning occurred at two different levels: the first defined where logging could take place and the second defined the creation of hunting zones.  Results from this process demonstrate that land-use planning needs to (1) involve and define the roles of multiple stakeholders, (2) be based on data and balanced by economic and social needs, (3) be formalized through management plans.  Future work needs to promote land management at a regional scale with equivalent standards applied to all companies and that formally integrate biodiversity conservation into forestry regulations.

Poulsen, J.R. and C.J. Clark. 2010. Congo Basin timber certification and biodiversity conservation.  Pages 55-60 in Biodiversity conservation in certified forests, ed. S. Douglas, F. Putz, and R. Zagt. Tropenbos International, Wgeningen, the Netherlands.

By raising management standards and improving logging practices, forest certification promises to minimize damage from logging and even conserve biodiversity.  But to date, there has been little evidence that certification benefits biodiversity.  Recently, however, the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified two contiguous timber concessions in the Republic of Congo.  After ten years of active wildlife management in these concessions, elephants and ape populations occur at densities that rival or surpass the adjacent Nouabale-Ndoki National Park.  FSC certification was a motivating factor behind the company’s investment in biodiversity conservation; but it was through a partnership with an international conservation organization and the government of Congo that the company acquired the expertise and mandate to develop and implement a wildlife management system.  Certification also plays an important role by assuring the quality of management standards through audits, particularly in countries that lack the financial and human resources to enforce their forestry laws.

Walker, W.S., C.M. Stickler, J.M. Kellndorfer, K.M. Kirsch, and D.C. Nepstad. 2010. Large-Area classification and Mapping of Forest and Land Cover in the Brazilian Amazon: A Comparative Analysis of ALOS/PALSAR and Landsat Data Sources. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observation and Remote Sensing. 10.1109/JSTARS.2010.2076398.

The majority of tropical nations are in need of high-resolution, satellite-based maps of their forests as the international community now works to design an incentive-based policy mechanism to compensate nations for maintaining their forests intact. Here we assess the ability of a state-of-the-art satellite radar sensor, the ALOS/PALSAR, to support large-area land cover classification as well as high-resolution baseline mapping of tropical forest cover.  Through a comprehensive comparative analysis involving twenty separate PALSAR- and Landsat-based classifications, we confirm the potential of PALSAR as an accurate (> 90%) source for spatially explicit estimates of forest cover based on data and analyses from a large and diverse region encompassing the Xingu River headwaters in southeastern Amazonia. Given that a long-term data record consisting of current and future spaceborne radar sensors is now expected, our results point to the important role that spaceborne imaging radar can play in complementing optical remote sensing to enable the design of robust forest monitoring systems.