Category: Publications

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National REDD+ Implications for Tenured Indigenous Communities in Guyana, and Communities’ Impact on Forest Carbon Stocks: New Publication in “Forests”

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Makushi and Wapichana parabiologists at vegetation and soil assessment training workshop. Dr, Kye Epps, course leader at bottom left.

We used a technically approved United Nations Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL) submission and Opt-In Mechanism to assess how fifteen indigenous communities with tenured forestland may financially benefit from national REDD+. We provide a first-time assessment whether field estimates of the average carbon density of mature forests managed by fifteen forest-dependent communities equals that of nearby unmanaged mature forest, as this could affect REDD+ payment levels. We conclude that, notwithstanding some pending issues, Guyana’s national REDD+ program could be very beneficial for FDP, even under a modest United States (US) $5 unit carbon price.

Free access to full paper: http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/5/231

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Community livelihoods depend upon accurate wildlife estimates

White-lipped Peccary, Amazon Brazil 114.jpg
White-lipped peccary in the Amazon (copyright and photo Jose MV Fragoso)

News article from Virginia Tech University on our research: “Evidence of wildlife passage, such as tracks, scat, fur, and disturbed surroundings, is a more accurate tool for assessing wildlife conservation status than actual encounters with animals, according to an international team of scientists from six universities, publishing in the April 13, 2016, issue of PLOS ONE.” Continue reading “Community livelihoods depend upon accurate wildlife estimates”

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Levantamentos com Observações diretas Subestimam a Abundância de Mamíferos Terrestres: Implicações para uma Caça de Subsistência Sustentável

In corral behind house
Catitu (foto: Jose MV Fragoso)

A conservação de espécies cinegéticas neotropicais deve levar em conta os meios de vida e necessidades alimentares das populações humanas locais.

Artigo:  http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152659

Resumo: Continue reading “Levantamentos com Observações diretas Subestimam a Abundância de Mamíferos Terrestres: Implicações para uma Caça de Subsistência Sustentável”

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Stanford University publishes news piece regarding our new publication.

Large industrial soybean fields in midst of Cerradao forest
Industrial scale soybean fields cut from forest by the Xingu Indigenous Area,  Brazil  (Photo copyright by Jose Fragoso)

Stanford University reports on how our computer model simulating sustainability sheds light on how modern interventions can affect tropical forests and indigenous peoples. Our computer simulation shows that carefully designing government interactions with rural indigenous people is critical for protecting the sustainability of people, wildlife and the land.

Read the full article here: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2016/march/amazon-model-fragoso-031116.html

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New in press: “Socio–environmental Sustainability of Indigenous Lands: Simulating Human-Nature Interactions in the Amazon” in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment

Agro-industrial soy bean farm adjacent to an indigenous area in Brazil
Agro-industrial soy bean farm adjacent to forest of an indigenous area in Brazil   (photo Jose Fragoso)

Research collaborators Takuya Iwamura, Eric Lambin, Kirsten Silvius, Jeffrey B Luzar, and José Fragoso have a new paper in press. The publication examines the resiliency and sustainability of biodiversity, human livelihoods and forest cover within Amazonian indigenous lands under various future development scenarios. The paper is scheduled for publication in the February 2016 issue of the journal “Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment”. 

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New Publication: Utilizing Amerindian Hunter’s Descriptions to Guide the Production of a Vegetation Map

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Anthony Cummings (photo from the Web)

Map Rupununi

Anthony Ravindra Cummings led the Project Fauna team in the production of a vegetation map for the Rupununi region of Guyana, with the participation of Makushi, Wapichana and other Amerindians. Cummings and co-authors Jane Read (Syracuse University, USA) and Jose Fragoso state that with hunter’s vegetation descriptions and remotely sensed imagery we produced an eleven-class vegetation map that covered the main vegetation types described by hunters. “The final map shows that indigenous hunters can be important partners in the map-making process…”.

Full article:

Continue reading “New Publication: Utilizing Amerindian Hunter’s Descriptions to Guide the Production of a Vegetation Map”

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“A fine line: new computer program predicts when human impact becomes too much”

Village by an Amazonian river (photo by Jose Fragoso)

We have completed a major work describing the sustainability of hunting, farming (land use) and local livelihoods in the tropics. We devised an agent based computer simulation model and explored the relationships between the above mentioned elements to consider what the future may hold for tropical forest biota, ecosystems and peoples.

Stanford University, Mongabay and others published news reports about the work. You can view two here: http://news.stanford.edu/news/2014/june/amazon-sustainability-model-061314.html

and  http://news.mongabay.com/2014/0703-morgan-indigenous-model.html

Article:

Iwamura T., Lambin E., Silvius K.M., Luzar J.B. & Fragoso J.M.V. 2014. Agent-based modeling of hunting and subsistence agriculture on indigenous lands: understanding interactions between social and ecological systems. Environmental Modelling & Software, 58: 109-127.

View full article: Continue reading ““A fine line: new computer program predicts when human impact becomes too much””

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“Assessing Carbon Stock Value of Forests is Tricky Business”

Dr. Kye Epps instructs Makushi field researchers on measuring trees for carbon estimation
Dr. Kye Epps instructs Makushi field researchers on measuring trees for carbon estimation (photo by Han Overman)

Mongabay’s Sanhya Sekar  wrote two articles concerning the Fragoso Group’s work with indigenous people’s field measurements of tropical forest carbon stocks.  Sekar writes  “With financial incentives encouraging maintenance of carbon stocks and the increased popularity of carbon trading between countries, a forest has become economically a lot more than a clump of trees that supplements livelihoods. A forest now has an intrinsic value by just existing, a value that can be measured in economic terms.”

The Mongabay articles can be seen here: http://news.mongabay.com/2015/02/assessing-carbon-stock-value-of-forests-is-tricky-business-study-finds/

CITATION: Butt, N., Epps, K., Overman, H., Iwamura, T., & Fragoso, J. M.V. (2015). Assessing carbon stocks using indigenous peoples’ field measurements in Amazonian Guyana. Forest Ecology and Management, 338, 191-199.

View complete article: Continue reading ““Assessing Carbon Stock Value of Forests is Tricky Business””

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Taal Levi, Kirsten Silvius, L. Flamarion de Oliveira and José Fragoso paper in Biotropica

staring into space
Amazonian Squirrel Monkey (photo Jose Fragoso)

Levi T., Silvius K.M., Oliveira L.F.B., Cummings A.R. and Fragoso J.M.V. 2013.  Competition and facilitation in the Capuchin-Squirrel Monkey Relationship. Biotropica, 45:636-643.     

Note: the above paper was highlighted as an “editor’s choice” article by Biotropica: http://biotropica.org/september-2013-editors-choice/

View complete article:  Continue reading “Taal Levi, Kirsten Silvius, L. Flamarion de Oliveira and José Fragoso paper in Biotropica”