Abstract
Patches of second-growth forest are biodiversity islands with critical importance in agricultural landscapes, providing ecosystem services that support human livelihoods and promote biodiversity, no matter the size. Natural regeneration presents an opportunity for forest landscape restoration (FLR) at low cost. However, this is not always the chosen strategy for the smallholder farmers that control about 80% of farms worldwide and are the primary decision-makers for large land areas with restoration potential. Understanding the perceptions of farmers on restoration strategies can increase our capacity to implement restoration projects. We surveyed 64 Panamanian land managers in Los Santos province, where 53% of farmers are smallholders, to better understand how they perceive restoration strategies (reforestation, regeneration, and assisted natural regeneration) and their preferences. Participants were most confident defining reforestation, associating it with tree planting. Farmers associated natural regeneration with independently growing vegetation, and assisted natural regeneration with human intervention and tree planting. Farmers were polarized in their preference for land clearing, with 36% preferring it as a first option and 42% preferring it as a last option. Over half of participants ranked letting vegetation grow and tree planting among their first and second options. High percentages of tree cover were associated with low preference for land clearing. Large farm size was associated with higher preference for natural regeneration. Expanding natural regeneration requires clearly defining and standardizing this practice. Understanding farmers’ preferences and knowledge of restoration practices will allow the best FLR strategies to be implemented in each specific case to achieve desired restoration goals.
Abstract (Spanish)
Los parches de bosque secundario son islas de biodiversidad con importancia crítica para paisajes agrícolas, porque proveen servicios ecosistémicos que mantienen los medios de vida humanos y promueven la biodiversidad. La regeneración natural ofrece una oportunidad de restauración del paisaje forestal (FLR, por sus siglas en inglés) a bajo costo. No obstante, esta no es siempre la estrategia de restauración preferida por los productores que manejan fincas de pequeña escala que representan el 80% de las fincas en el mundo. Dichos productores son los principales actores en la toma de decisiones sobre una proporción significativa de tierra con potencial para restauración. Entender cómo los pequeños productores perciben la restauración podría ayudar a mejorar la eficiencia en la implementación de proyectos de FLR. Realizamos 64 encuestas a productores panameños en la provincia de Los Santos, donde 53% de los productores manejan fincas de pequeña escala. El objetivo de estas encuestas fue comprender cómo perciben diferentes estrategias de restauración (reforestación, regeneración natural y regeneración natural asistida), y sus preferencias. Los participantes definieron con más confianza reforestación, que asociaron con plantar árboles, mientras que asociaron regeneración natural con vegetación que crece por sí misma, y regeneración natural asistida con intervención humana y plantar árboles. Los productores tenían opiniones polarizadas respecto a limpiar toda la parcela: el 36% la evaluaron como su estrategia preferida y un 42% como menos preferida. Más de la mitad de los encuestados clasificaron plantar árboles y dejar que la vegetación crezca como su primera o segunda opción. Altos porcentajes de cobertura arbórea fueron asociados a una menor preferencia por limpiar toda la parcela, y parcelas más grandes fueron asociadas a una mayor preferencia por regeneración natural. Expandir la regeneración natural como estrategia de restauración depende en gran medida de alcanzar una definición común de esta práctica. Esto ayudará a integrar los conocimientos y necesidades de los ganaderos con los objetivos de restauración, e implementar la mejor estrategia de restauración en cada caso.
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Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Oscar Vega of the ESRI Panama office for GIS assistance in creating the field surveys, and Sandra Vásquez and Jesus Batista for field implementation support.
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Vásquez, V., Barber, C., Dguidegue, Y., Caughlin, T.T., García, R., Metzel, R. (2022). Farmer Perceptions of Tropical Dry Forest Restoration Practices on the Azuero Peninsula of Panama – Implications for Increasing Biodiversity in a Human-Dominated Landscape. In: Montagnini, F. (eds) Biodiversity Islands: Strategies for Conservation in Human-Dominated Environments. Topics in Biodiversity and Conservation, vol 20. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92234-4_25
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