Testing the effectiveness of the forest integrity assessment: A field-based tool for estimating the condition of tropical forest
Testing the effectiveness of the forest integrity assessment: A field-based tool for estimating the condition of tropical forest
复制标题
测试森林完整性评估的有效性：用于估计热带森林状况的实地工具
DOI：
10.1002/2688-8319.12067
复制
发表时间：
2021
影响因子：
2.9
通讯作者：
Suggitt A
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Suggitt A
遏制生物多样性丧失和减缓气候变化的全球目标将需要在现有保护区网络之外保护雨林，这就需要各种公司、社区和个人进行负责任的森林管理。对森林状况进行可靠的评估对于成功的森林管理至关重要，但许多现有的技术是高度技术性的、耗时的、昂贵的或需要专业知识。为了使对热带森林的评估可供广泛的行为者使用，其中许多行为者可能受到资源或专业知识的限制，高保护价值资源网络(HCVRN)与东南亚雨林研究伙伴关系(SEARRP)开发了一个东南亚版本的森林完整性评估(FIA)工具，作为一种快速(1小时)评估实地森林状况的方法，在这种方法中，非专家在走动现场样带时回答50个关于当地环境特征的问题。在这里，我们通过对马来西亚沙巴州16个不同干扰程度的热带雨林地点进行FIA1000森林状况评估来检验该调查工具的有效性。我们发现∼调查分数与森林状况的独立指标之间有很好的一致性(R平方范围为0.50-0.78)，包括生物多样性、植被结构、地上碳和其他生态系统功能的关键指标，表明该工具运行良好。尽管在调查相同的森林地点时，评估者的反应有所不同，但评估者对这些地点的排名是一致的，先前的森林知识对FIA得分的影响很小。对评估员存在分歧的问题进行修订或进一步培训，例如在某个地点是否存在动物，可以提高一致性。我们的结论是，FIA调查工具是评估森林状况的可靠方法，提供了一种快速和可访问的森林保护评估手段。从可持续性标准到社区林业和恢复倡议，FIA工具可以被纳入广泛的森林保护计划的管理实践中。该工具将使更多的组织和个人了解他们管理的森林的保护价值，并确定有针对性的改进领域。
Global targets to halt biodiversity losses and mitigate climate change will require protecting rainforest beyond current protected area networks, necessitating responsible forest stewardship from a diverse range of companies, communities and private individuals. Robust assessments of forest condition are critical for successful forest management, but many existing techniques are highly technical, time‐consuming, expensive or require specialist knowledge.To make assessment of tropical forests accessible to a wide range of actors, many of whom may be limited by resources or expertise, the High Conservation Value Resource Network (HCVRN), with the SE Asia Rainforest Research Partnership (SEARRP), developed a South East Asian version of the Forest Integrity Assessment (FIA) tool as a rapid (< 1 hour) method of assessing forest condition in the field, where non‐experts respond to 50 questions about characteristics of the local environment while walking a site transect. Here, we examined the effectiveness of this survey tool by conducting ∼ 1000 assessments of forest condition at 16 tropical rainforest sites with varying levels of disturbance in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo.We found good agreement (R‐squared range: 0.50–0.78) between FIA survey scores and independent measures of forest condition, including biodiversity, vegetation structure, aboveground carbon and other key metrics of ecosystem function, indicating that the tool performed well. Although there was variation among assessor responses when surveying the same forest sites, assessors were consistent in their ranking of those sites, and prior forest knowledge had a minimal effect on the FIA scores. Revisions or further training for questions where assessors disagree, for example, on the presence of fauna at a site, could improve consistency.We conclude that the FIA survey tool is a robust method of assessing forest condition, providing a rapid and accessible means of forest conservation assessment. The FIA tool could be incorporated into management practices in a wide range of forest conservation schemes, from sustainability standards, to community forestry and restoration initiatives. The tool will enable more organizations and individuals to understand the conservation value of the forests they manage and to identify areas for targeted improvements.