Kimihiko Hyakumura

Under global climate change, analyzing carbon storage dynamics and their drivers is essential for understanding regional carbon sink capacity. Human activities and land-use change have substantially affected regional carbon storage. However, in China, most existing studies emphasize specific driving pathways, and integrated analyses of the combined effects of climate, natural, human, and landscape factors remain limited. This study aims at clarifying the integrated mechanisms by which multiple driving factors influence regional carbon storage. The InVEST model was used to analyze the carbon storage spatiotemporal changes. OPGD was then applied to evaluate the explanatory power of driving factors and their interactions, quantifying their contributions to carbon storage spatial patterns. Based on PLS-SEM, the direct and indirect effects of LULC, climate, natural, human, and landscape factors were quantified to elucidate the driving pathways of carbon storage. This study focuses on Shaanxi Province, which is a key ecological restoration region in the core area of the Loess Plateau. The main results are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2020, carbon storage in Shaanxi Province showed a continuous increasing trend, rising from 2.97 × 10¹⁰ Mg C to 3.03 × 10¹⁰ Mg C. (2) LULC was identified as the most important direct and predominantly negative driving factor of carbon storage. (3) Natural factors had a strong positive influence on carbon storage, among which slope and NDVI exhibited the highest explanatory power; in contrast, climate factors showed weaker but still positive effects. (4) Human activities affected carbon storage through both direct and indirect pathways associated with LULC, with positive effects driven by landscape factors and negative effects driven by natural factors, while climate factors exhibited mixed but weak effects. Overall, carbon storage dynamics in Shaanxi Province reflect a hierarchical and path-dependent process shaped by the combined effects of natural constraints, human activities, and policy guidance through LULC pathways, providing important evidence for systematically understanding the driving structure and pathways of regional carbon storage. These findings highlight the importance of aligning land-use policies with regional biophysical constraints to enhance carbon sequestration efficiency.

This paper explores the role of agroforestry in sequestering atmospheric carbon in the tropics and subtropics, specifically in the Madhupur Sal forest of Bangladesh. Agroforestry, combining trees with crops on agricultural lands, is recognized for its potential to act as a carbon sink and enhance productivity. The study assesses various agroforestry practices, including acacia–pineapple–turmeric–papaya, acacia–pineapple–ginger–banana, and sal–pineapple–aroid combinations. This study innovatively assessed both the carbon sequestration and economic viability of agroforestry in the Madhupur Sal forest, presenting a sustainable land-use model that balances environmental benefits and farm profitability. The research reveals improved farm productivity in these agroforestry systems, with different tree species sequestering varying amounts of carbon. Acacia species, ranging from 12 to 25 ft in height, sequestered an average of 23.35 lbs/year, while sal species (Shorea robusta), with trees 45 to 61 ft tall, sequestered 49.80 lbs/year on average. Factors such as tree height, diameter at breast height (DBH), number of leaves, and branches influence carbon sequestration. The paper suggests that the carbon sequestration (CS) potential of agroforestry results in greenhouse gas emission reduction in Bangladesh. By emphasizing the profitability of these practices alongside carbon sequestration, the study encourages the adoption of agroforestry as a sustainable and economically viable strategy.

REDD+ aims to mitigate climate change by reducing deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries while ensuring social and environmental benefits through the involvement of diverse stakeholders. While several studies evaluate stakeholder participation in various aspects of REDD+, such as the level and type of stakeholder participation at both the project and national context level, there is a lack of research on how the government conducted the consultation meetings across all administrative levels. The objective of this study is to evaluate the participation of different stakeholders in REDD+ in Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), or Laos, funded by the World Bank, with a focus on analyzing government consultation processes to identify drivers of deforestation and forest degradation. The study applied both a literature review and online interviews, conducted with government officials and representatives of CSOs, which took place from March to April 2020. The results indicate significant involvement from cross-sectoral stakeholders. However, central government agencies and development partners dominated stakeholder participation, potentially influenced by government ownership. Non-state stakeholders, though invited to the consultations, had limited participation, highlighting the need for greater emphasis on their roles to ensure the integration of diverse interests and views in the REDD+ initiative.

This paper explores the role of agroforestry in mitigating climate change by sequestering atmospheric carbon in the tropics and subtropics, specifically in the Madhupur Sal forest of Bangladesh. Agroforestry, combining trees with crops on agricultural lands, is recognized for its potential to act as carbon sinks and enhance productivity. The study assesses various agroforestry practices, including Acacia-Pineapple-Turmeric-Papaya, Acacia-Pineapple-Zinger-Banana, and Sal-Pineapple-Aroid combinations. The research reveals improved farm productivity in these agroforestry systems, with different tree species sequestering varying amounts of carbon. Acacia species, ranging from 12 to 25ft in height, sequestered an average of 23.35 lbs/year, while Sal species (Shorea robusta), with trees 45 to 61ft tall, sequestered 49.80 lbs/year on average. Factors such as tree height, diameter at breast height (DBH), number of leaves, and branches influence carbon sequestration. The paper suggests integrating the carbon trading system of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) with Carbon Sequestration (CS) potential to leverage agroforestry for greenhouse gas emission reduction in Bangladesh. By emphasizing the profitability of these practices alongside carbon sequestration, the study encourages the adoption of agroforestry as a sustainable and economically viable strategy for climate change mitigation.

Free, prior, and informed consent, or FPIC, is a crucial component of reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+) projects. This study addresses a significant research gap regarding FPIC in the context of REDD+ projects, with a focus on the Implementation of Governance, Forest Landscapes, and Livelihoods (I-GFLL) project in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR). This research aimed to evaluate the FPIC’s components and implementation. We employed a literature review of the FPIC implementation reports from 242 targeted villages involved in the I-GFLL project and face-to-face interviews with 12 key informants. The research found positive aspects, such as female team membership, boosting ethnic women’s participation; the exclusion of forestry officials to foster an open dialogue; and respect for project rejections, displaying adherence to the FPIC principles. However, some challenging aspects were also highlighted, such as the exclusion of civil society organizations (CSOs) and non-government organizations (NGOs) and the loss of their expertise; limited team knowledge of forestry/climate change, hindering communication; short consultation durations; and an incomplete understanding of technical terms due to the project’s novelty, raising concerns. The study emphasizes the importance of crafting FPIC teams that promote communication, respect community rights, and, ultimately, ensure successful project implementation.

Species diversity and soil quality are deteriorating due to continuous disturbances in ecosystems caused by human interference. However, agroforestry is considered a good approach to minimizing environmental problems. Therefore, the objective of this study was to determine the impacts of participatory agroforestry on restoring soil fertility, farm productivity and biodiversity in the degraded Madhupur Sal forest of Bangladesh. The study purposefully selected 40 common agroforestry programs in Madhupur Sal forest for the collection of soil and plant data from 2020 to 2023. Agroforestry programs have improved soil organic matter, soil carbon, pH, and available N, P and K content to a substantial degree and protected soil degradation, enhancing yield. The soil improvement index represents the potentiality of agroforestry in restoring soil nutrients and carbon in the form of organic matter, which is an important indicator for carbon sequestration and mitigating the impacts of climate change. The resultant cost–benefit and land equivalent ratios were steadily higher, which corroborates the greater productivity and profitability of agroforestry compared to monoculture systems. In contrast, agroforestry restored 31 plant species, opening up opportunities for restoring plant species in the threatened forest ecosystem. Therefore, this study recommended selecting appropriate site-specific species for managing agroforestry and restoring ecosystems.

The potential to sequester carbon by tree species in tropical regions such as Bangladesh is promising in regard to carbon sequestration (CS) potentiality and reducing CO₂ emissions. This study focuses on perennial tree species within 488 hectares of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU) to assess the CS and to produce a C stock map for BAU. To compute the green and dry weight, weight of C and CO₂ sequestration in the tree, a simplified methodology from the National Computational Science Institute of the Shodor Education Foundation was applied. A total of 27,543 trees comprising 424 species were taken into consideration, dividing the whole study area into four segments. B. ceiba and L. acidissima received the maximum and minimum green, dry, and C weight values. The topmost five carbon stock accumulating trees are M. longifolium (264,768 kg yr⁻¹), S. mahagoni (257,290), A. lebbeck (118,310), M. indica (78,906), and T. grandis (51,744) whilst A. lebbeck is the major C stock accumulating tree within BAU. The top five CS potential are found for B. ceiba (181 kg), A. columnaris (139 kg), S. siamea (116 kg), F. elastica (113 kg), and F. religiosa (83 kg). To reveal the prospects of tree species in Bangladesh for emission reduction, the CS potential could be incorporated with the C trading scheme of the CDM (clean development mechanism) of the Kyoto Protocol.

Agroforestry has long been considered one of the most important land-use practices for conserving species while also meeting the fundamental requirements of millions of poor people in developing countries. Thus, the objective of the study was to determine the impacts of agroforestry practices on the livelihood development of rural farmers and biodiversity conservation potency in the Madhupur tract, Bangladesh. The study was conducted in the Madhupur tract, a famous agroforestry region in Bangladesh, using a mix-method approach to data collection, such as face-to-face interviews of 100 agroforestry farmers for livelihood analysis and using sampling techniques across 50 quadrats (20 m × 20 m) for measuring biodiversity. The results showed that the agroforestry practices significantly increased farm income and provided more benefits to rural farmers. Agroforestry farmers were able to build a social platform while simultaneously increasing their capability through training programs. As a result, the development of agroforestry farmers’ livelihood capital was significant. At the same time, the agroforestry practices introduced 34 plant species into the bare forestland and, therefore, provided higher-quality habitats for biodiversity conservation. The fast-growing tree species, mainly Acacia (diversity index of 0.366), in association with partial shade-loving crops such as pineapple, turmeric, and ginger, were the most dominant species in the agroforestry practices of the Madhupur tract. The study also revealed that agroforestry serves as a wildlife corridor and attracts birds for feeding and breeding. Finally, the agroforestry of the Madhupur tract is a viable land-use practice for biodiversity conservation and livelihood development of rural farmers in Bangladesh, and it is highly suggested that it be strengthened and disseminated.

Laos, a mountainous and landlocked country located in Southeast Asia, has the highest percentage of people using insects as food in the world. Lao people obtain edible insects through harvesting in the natural environment and purchasing at food markets. There has been no comprehensive survey about sales of insects at food markets in the wider areas, and our understanding of sales of insects in Laos is limited. Our study aims to identify environmental factors affecting the sales and the diversity of edible insects sold at food markets in Laos. We visited 37 and 55 markets, during the dry and rainy seasons respectively, in northern Laos to record species of sold insects. We then analyzed the correlations between insect sales and three potential factors (seasons, provinces, and urbanization indices around the markets). There was no significant difference in the percentage of markets selling insects between in the dry and rainy seasons; 40–50% of the markets sold insects in both seasons. The composition of sold insects differed between in the dry and rainy seasons, which reflects the seasonality and life history of each insect species. There tended to be more groups of insects for sale in the Vientiane capital than in the other provinces in both seasons. This trend may reflect that it is more difficult to obtain edible insects through wild harvesting in highly urbanized Vientiane capital than in the other provinces, and the commercial demand for insects is increasing. This possibility is directly supported by the positive correlation between the urbanization index and the insect sales in the rainy season. Laos has recently undergone rapid urbanization, particularly in the Vientiane capital, and we predict that commercial demand for edible insects will be much higher in the Vientiane capital and the urbanized cities in the future.