A Global review of cumulative effects assessments of disturbances on forest ecosystems.

This paper reviews trends in the academic literature on cumulative effects assessment (CEA) of disturbance on forest ecosystems to advance research in the broader context of impact assessments. Disturbance is any distinct spatiotemporal event that disrupts the structure and composition of an ecosystem affecting resource availability. We developed a Python package to automate search term selection, write search strategies, reduce bias and improve the efficient and effective selection of articles from academic databases and grey literature. We identified 148 peer-reviewed literature published between 1986 and 2022 and conducted an inductive and deductive thematic analysis of the results. Our findings revealed that CEA studies are concentrated in the global north, with most publications from authors affiliated with government agencies in the USA and Canada. Methodological and analytical approaches are less interdisciplinary but mainly quantitative and expert-driven, involving modeling the impacts of disturbances on biophysical valued components. Furthermore, the assessment of socioeconomic valued components, including the effects of disturbance on Indigenous wellbeing connected to forests, has received less attention. Even though there is a high preference for regional assessment, challenges with data access, quality, and analysis, especially baseline data over long periods, are hampering effective CEA. Few articles examined CEA - policy/management nexus. Of the few studies, challenges such as the inadequate implementation of CEA mitigation strategies due to policy drawbacks and resource constraints, the high cost of monitoring multiple indicators, and poor connections between scenarios/modeling and management actions were paramount. Future CEA research is needed to broaden our understanding of how multiple disturbance affects forests in the global south and coupled social and ecological systems and their implications for sustainable forest management.

A problem of social fit? Assessing the role of bridging organizations in the recoupling of socio-ecological systems.

The decoupling of human-ecosystem relationships in underutilized forested or agricultural regions poses a threat to cultural and biological diversities. Some scholars have proposed transformative strategies involving local-led efforts to reconnect social and ecological systems with the support of bridging organizations (BOs). However, empirically-based understandings about how and under what conditions BOs can address context-specific social conditions to enable transformation work remain limited. Using the concept of social fit - how institutional arrangements address contextual social conditions to enhance governance effectiveness - this study examines the work of the Kyoto Model Forest Association (KMFA), a BO, in improving the relationship between forests and people in Kyoto, Japan. We employed a mixed method approach involving a questionnaire survey, document review, semi-structured interviews, and direct observations. Our findings showed that to improve human-ecosystem interdependence, the KMFA prioritized the provision of public education; invested in places and systems to reduce participation costs; built trust and reduced value mismatches; provided incentives and built management capacity; provided leadership to diverse local forestry groups; facilitated institutional integration of forest and non-forest organizations; and drew resources from diverse organizations. These roles broadened the participation of different actors with novel connections to local ecosystems, enhanced self-organizing capacities, and streamlined the roles of forest management institutions. To sustain these efforts, the KMFA needs to continuously adapt to meet the needs and perceptions of diverse and dynamic actors and to broaden participation. Our analysis provides evidence of the efficacy of BOs to recouple human-ecosystem relationships and improve governance outcomes in underutilized social-ecological systems.

Land cover transformation in two post-mining landscapes subjected to different ages of reclamation since dumping of spoils.

Transformation of natural land cover (LC) into modified LC has become inevitable due to growing human needs. Nevertheless, landscape transformational patterns during reclamation of mine damaged lands remain vague. Our hypothesis was that post-mining landscapes with different ages since dumping become more diverse in LC transformation over time. The aim was to study the impact of landscape reclamation on land cover changes (LCC) in two post-mining landscapes. Land cover maps of 1988, 1991, 1995, 1998, 2000 and 2003 were produced from LANDSAT TM images of Schlabendorf Nord and Schlabendorf Süd and used to survey the changing landscape. Change detection extension was used to identify changes among land cover types (LCTs). Detrended correspondence analyses (DCA) ordination technique (CANOCO) aided study of similarity among LC distribution. Soil pH analysis was carried out to study effect of soil and climate conditions on LCC. The results show that visible patterns of increase and decrease in the LCTs occurred in both landscapes. Given two post-mining landscapes subjected to different ages of reclamation, clear differences in vegetation growth and LCC pattern would occur. At early stages of restoration, LCTs often have unstable conditions and experience more acute transformation depending on the level of land use intensity in space and time. LCCs were mostly due to progressive and reversed succession. Due to variation in post-mining landscape soil conditions, soil treatment during reclamation should be site specific. The comparative analysis of LCCs in Schlabendorf provides a framework for prioritizing land use planning options for sustainable management of post-mining landscapes in temperate ecosystems.