The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) published a news item on our publication “National REDD+ overcomes gold and logging: the potential for cleaning up profit chains”. The article analyzes relationships between carbon stocks, markets, conservation, sustainability and indigenous peoples in Guyana.
Monitoring biodiversity and the environment is extremely challenging, especially in the tropics. Brazil’s Center for Biological Research’s (CENBam) PPBio program is a novel, versatile and extremely ambitious approach to enhance the study of biodiversity in the tropics. The program presents a systematic approach to sampling that was first deployed across the Amazon basin. It now is also found in other Brazilian biomes, and in Australia, Argentina and Liberia. This may well be the largest systematically organized biodiversity research effort in the world. PPBio has been operating without funding for the last few years, because of this it is in danger of collapsing. The Brazilian tendency, and that of funders as well, is to reinvent the wheel and come up with a new system each time. Efforts should focus instead of consolidating existing, proven systems like PPBio and leveraging the significant investments those systems have already received.
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
For those interested in tropical forests and animals, I am posting my 1994 PhD thesis. This makes available novel views of tropical forest structure and the ecology of large animals that remain unpublished. Enjoy learning details of the lives of mammals and plants and their evolutionary relationships in the Amazon forest. The dissertation/thesis can be downloaded here: Fragoso JMV 1994 Large Mammals and the Community Dynamics of an Amazonian Forest. PhD, University of Florida, USA.
News report from Stanford University on our research: “By tapping the expertise of indigenous hunters, researchers found that conventional surveying techniques underestimate animal populations and miss species in the remote Amazon. Producing an accurate count is important for planning conservation efforts.” Continue reading “The Amazon rainforest may be home to more animals than previously thought, Stanford scientists show”
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”
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
Collared peccary (copyright photo Jose MV Fragoso)
Our new paper in the journal PLOS ONE reports that we are grossly under-detecting hunted animal species. The results challenge the many studies showing serious negative impacts of subsistence hunting on wildlife species. Seems like the animals may be hiding from us. This research indicates that we need to reassess how we measure hunting impacts in the tropics.
Read the article: http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0152659
“Populações habitam a região amazônica há milhares de anos, mas o avanço de elementos da vida moderna está pondo em risco a sustentabilidade desses povos e do ecossistema onde vivem. Essa é a conclusão de um estudo elaborado pela equipe do biólogo português José Fragoso, da Universidade Stanford, nos EUA.” “ — Os resultados da pesquisa mostram que apenas não invadir áreas indígenas não é suficiente — diz Fragoso. — O que acontece no entorno das reservas tem grande impacto no interior.”
Reportagem do O Globo:Modelo prevê impacto de fatores externos em tribos indígenas – Jornal O Globo
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
Fragoso Lab 