Scale dependency of conservation outcomes in a forest-offsetting scheme
File(s)
Author(s)
Giannichi, Marta Lisli
Gavish, Yoni
Baker, Timothy R
Dallimer, Martin
Ziv, Guy
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Offset schemes help avoid or revert habitat loss through protection of existing habitat (avoided deforestation), through the restoration of degraded areas (natural regrowth), or both. The spatial scale of an offset scheme may influence which of these 2 outcomes is favored and is an important aspect of the scheme's design. However, how spatial scale influences the trade-offs between the preservation of existing habitat and restoration of degraded areas is poorly understood. We used the largest forest offset scheme in the world, which is part of the Brazilian Forest Code, to explore how implementation at different spatial scales may affect the outcome in terms of the area of avoided deforestation and area of regrowth. We employed a numerical simulation of trade between buyers (i.e., those who need to offset past deforestation) and sellers (i.e., landowners with exceeding native vegetation) in the Brazilian Amazon to estimate potential avoided deforestation and regrowth at different spatial scales of implementation. Allowing offsets over large spatial scales led to an area of avoided deforestation 12 times greater than regrowth, whereas restricting offsets to small spatial scales led to an area of regrowth twice as large as avoided deforestation. The greatest total area (avoided deforestation and regrowth combined) was conserved when the spatial scale of the scheme was small, especially in locations that were highly deforested. To maximize conservation gains from avoided deforestation and regrowth, the design of the Brazilian forest-offset scheme should focus on restricting the spatial scale in which offsets occur. Such a strategy could help ensure conservation benefits are localized and promote the recovery of degraded areas in the most threatened forest landscapes.
Date Issued
2020-02-01
Date Acceptance
2019-05-21
Citation
Conservation Biology, 2020, 34 (1), pp.148-157
ISSN
0888-8892
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
148
End Page
157
Journal / Book Title
Conservation Biology
Volume
34
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2019 The Authors. Conservation Biology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Conservation Biology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31161689
Subjects
Brazil
Conservation of Natural Resources
Ecosystem
Forests
Amazon
Amazonía
avoided deforestation
compensaciones
conservación
conservation
deforestación evitada
escala espacial
offsets
private lands
restauración
restoration
spatial scale
tierras privadas
亚马逊
保护
恢复
私有土地
空间尺度
补偿
避免森林采伐
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
United States
Date Publish Online
2019-06-04