Browsing by Author "Sheil, Douglas"

Now showing 1 - 7 of 7

Ecological Criteria and Indicators for Tropical Forest Landscapes: Challenges in the Search for Progress
(2004) Sheil, Douglas; Nasi, Robert; Johnson, Brook
"In the quest for global standards, 'Criteria and Indicators' (C&I) are among the foremost mechanisms for defining and promoting sustainable tropical forest management. Here we examine some challenges posed by this approach, focusing on examples that reflect the ecological aspects of tropical forests at a management-unit level and assessments such as those required in timber certification. "C&I can foster better forest management. However, there are confusions and tensions to reconcile between general and local applications, between the ideal and the pragmatic, and between the scientific and the democratic. To overcome this requires a sober appraisal of what can realistically be achieved in each location and how this can best be promoted. Good judgment remains the foundation of competent management. Data can inform this judgment, but an over-reliance on data collection and top-down bureaucratic interventions can add to problems rather than solving them. "Our arguments stress compromise, planning, guided implementation, and threat preparedness. Importance is also placed on skills and institutions: the building blocks of effective forest management. We suggest some options for improving forest management. Although a wider discussion of these issues is necessary, procrastination is harmful. Action is needed."
Forests and Human Health: Assessing the Evidence
(2006) Colfer, Carol J. Pierce; Sheil, Douglas; Kishi, Misa
"This study has two central concerns: the state of human health in forests, and the causal links between forests and human health. Within this framework, we consider four issues related to tropical forests and human health. First, we discuss forest foods, emphasizing the forest as a food-producing habitat, human dependence on forest foods, the nutritional contributions of such foods, and nutrition-related problems that affect forest peoples. Our second topic is disease and other health problems. In addition to the major problems--HIV/AIDS, malaria, Ebola and mercury poisoning, we address some 20 other tropical diseases and health problems related to forests. The third topic is medicinal products. We review the biophysical properties of medicinal species and consider related indigenous knowledge, human uses of medicinal forest products, the serious threats to forest sustainability, and the roles of traditional healers, with a discussion of the benefits of forest medicines and conflicts over their distribution. Our fourth and final topic is the cultural interpretations of human health found among forest peoples, including holistic world views that impinge on health and indigenous knowledge. The Occasional Paper concludes with some observations about the current state of our knowledge, its utility and shortcomings, and our suggestions for future research."
The Impacts and Opportunities of Oil Palm in Southeast Asia: What Do We Know and What Do We Need to Know?
(2009) Sheil, Douglas; Casson, Anne; Meijaard, Erik; van Noordwijk, Meine; Gaskell, Joanne; Sunderland-Groves, Jacqui; Wertz, Karah; Kanninen, Markku
"The ongoing expansion of oil palm plantations in the humid tropics, especially in Southeast Asia, is generating considerable concern and debate. Amid industry and environmental campaigners' claims, it can be hard to perceive reality. Is oil palm a valuable route to sustainable development or a costly road to environmental ruin? Inevitably, any answer depends on many choices. But do decision makers have the information they require to avoid pitfalls and make the best decisions? "This review examines what we know and what we don't know about oil palm developments. Our sources include academic publications and grey literature, along with expert consultations. Some facts are indisputable: among these are that oil palm is highly productive and commercially profitable at large scales, and that palm oil demand is rising. "Implementing oil palm developments involves many tradeoffs. Oil palm's considerable profitability offers wealth and development where wealth and development are needed--but also threatens traditional livelihoods. It offers a route out of poverty, while also making people vulnerable to exploitation, misinformation and market instabilities. It threatens rich biological diversity--while also offering the finance needed to protect forest. It offers a renewable source of fuel, but also threatens to increase global carbon emissions. "We remain uncertain of the full implications of current choices. How can local, regional and international benefits be increased while costs are minimised? While much important information is available, it is often open to question or hard to generalise. We conclude this review with a list of pressing questions requiring further investigation. Credible, unbiased research on these issues will move the discussion and practice forward."
Local Perceptions of Climate Variability and Change in Tropical Forests of Papua, Indonesia
(2013) Boissière, Manuel; Locatelli, Bruno; Sheil, Douglas; Padmanaba, Michael; Sadjudin, Ermayanti
"People everywhere experience changes and events that impact their lives. Knowing how they perceive, react, and adapt to climatic changes and events is helpful in developing strategies to support adaptation to climate change. Mamberamo in Papua, Indonesia, is a sparsely populated watershed of 7.8 million hectares possessing rich tropical forests. Our study compares scientific and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) on climate, and analyzes how local people in Mamberamo perceive and react to climatic variations. We compared meteorological data for the region with local views gathered through focus group discussions and interviews in six villages. We explored the local significance of seasonality, climate variability, and climate change. Mamberamo is subject to strikingly low levels of climatic variation; nonetheless local people highlighted certain problematic climate-related events such as floods and droughts. As our results illustrate, the implications vary markedly among villages. People currently consider climate variation to have little impact on their livelihoods when contrasted with other factors, e.g., logging, mining, infrastructure development, and political decentralization. Nonetheless, increased salinity of water supplies, crop loss due to floods, and reduced hunting success are concerns in specific villages. To gain local engagement, adaptation strategies should initially focus on factors that local people already judge important. Based on our results we demonstrate that TEK, and an assessment of local needs and concerns, provide practical insights for the development and promotion of locally relevant adaptation strategies. These insights offer a foundation for further engagement."
Review of Tools for Incorporating Community Knowledge, Preferences, and Values into Decision Making in Natural Resources Management
(2007) Lynam, Timothy; De Jong, Wil; Sheil, Douglas; Kusumanto, Trikurnianti; Evans, Kristen
"We survey and evaluate selected participatory tools that have been proven effective in natural resources management and research during our extensive experience with forest communities. We first establish a framework for our analysis by identifying a set of criteria for evaluating each tool. Next we provide a brief description of each tool, followed by an evaluation and comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of all the tools examined and how well they can be adapted to diverse contexts. We also provide suggestions for avoiding common pitfalls. Our findings suggest that most tools are flexible enough to be adapted to a range of applications, and that results are more robust when tools are used in concert. Practitioners should not be disturbed when results are contradictory or unexpected; initial surprises can lead to unexpected discoveries. Given the complexity of natural resources and their management, picking the right tool does not guarantee that the data desired will be produced, but selecting the wrong tool does make success less likely. The tools assessed are Bayesian belief networks and system dynamic modeling tools, discourse-based valuation, the 4Rs framework, participatory mapping, scoring or the Pebble Distribution Method, future scenarios, spidergrams, Venn diagrams, and Who Counts Matrices."
The Value of Tropical Forest to Local Communities: Complications, Caveats, and Cautions
(2002) Sheil, Douglas; Wunder, Sven
"The methods used to value tropical forests have the potential to influence how policy makers and others perceive forest lands. A small number of valuation studies achieve real impact. These are generally succinct accounts supporting a specific perception. However, such reports risk being used to justify inappropriate actions. The end users of such results are rarely those who produced them, and misunderstanding of key details is a concern. One defense is to ensure that shortcomings and common pitfalls are better appreciated by the ultimate users. In this article, we aim to reduce such risks by discussing how valuation studies should be assessed and challenged by users. "We consider two concise, high-profile valuation papers here, by Peters and colleagues and by Godoy and colleagues. We illustrate a series of questions that should be asked, not only about the two papers, but also about any landscape valuation study. We highlight the many challenges faced in valuing tropical forest lands and in presenting and using the results sensibly, and we offer some suggestions for improvement. Attention to complexities and clarity about uncertainties are required. Forest valuation must be pursued and promoted with caution."
Wildlife Conservation in Bornean Timber Concessions
(2006) Meijaard, Erik; Sheil, Douglas; Nasi, Robert; Stanley, Scott A.
"Based on an extensive review of the literature, and broad consultation with experts, we have assessed the sensitivity of Bornean vertebrates to the direct and indirect effects of timber harvest. Well-implemented selective logging has a relatively limited direct impact on wildlife populations: few species appear quite sensitive, some benefit, some decline. However, current management practices in Indonesian Borneo generally cause a decline in wildlife populations. Guidelines for sustainable forest management are primarily focused on trees, with few specific recommendations on how to sustainably manage wildlife populations in timber concessions. Based on our findings, we provide extensive wildlife management guidelines, pointing out the importance of maintaining understory vegetation and large trees for fruit, seed, dead wood, and tree hollow production, limiting canopy gaps, and reducing hunting and wildlife trade in concessions. In addition, we provide specific management advice on high priority species of Bornean vertebrates."