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Since the middle of the last century, understanding the effects of human disturbances on the resilience of tropical forests has been central to the study of tropical biology and conservation. In the XXI century, this area of research has grown and broadened, as second-growth forests are becoming the dominant vegetation in tropical regions around the globe due to increasing pressures imposed by human activities on forest ecosystems (e.g., land use change, climate global change, introduction of exotic species). New approaches (functional, phylogenetic, socio-ecological) have emerged to understand the influence of biophysical and human factors on forest regeneration and on the structure, dynamics, and functions of secondary forests. Further, strong concern is mounting regarding the importance of secondary forests for biodiversity conservation, for large-scale reforestation programs, and for the role of these forests in carbon sequestration and mitigating effects of global climate change. This panel will address key questions about the state of the art of the ecology and economics of secondary tropical forests and the role these forests can play for conservation and restoration in the Anthropocene. The panel will include researchers from different disciplines of natural and social sciences that will discuss these aspects and pin-point guidelines for future research and policies for conserving biodiversity and to restore degraded lands in human modified landscapes across the world's tropics.

Participants

The role of tropical secondary forests in conservation and restoration 

Panel Discussion

Dr. Robin Chazdon

Robin Chazdon is the Executive Director of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, and is guiding new initiatives to expand ATBC’s mission and activities. She is a professor in the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department at the University of Connecticut, USA. She is the Director of an international and interdisciplinary Research Coordination Network, PARTNERS (People and Reforestation in the Tropics), focused on understanding the social and ecological drivers of reforestation in the tropics. Ms. Chazdon also is a member of the Board of Directors of EcoLogic Development Fund. She served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biotropica, as President of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation, and as a member-at-large of the governing board of the Ecological Society of America. She is an author of over 130 peer-reviewed scientific articles and co-editor of two books. Her sole-authored book Second growth: The promise of tropical forest regeneration in an age of deforestation was published in 2014.

Dr. Thomas Rudel

Tom Rudel conducts research on land use change. He has researched the driving forces behind tropical deforestation both through case studies in the Ecuadorian Amazon and through quantitative analyses at the global scale. The latter set of studies has included work on 'the forest transition'. He has also done research on the forces that have driven suburban sprawl, primarily through field studies in the northeastern United States. He just finished a book, entitled 'Defensive Environmentalists and the Paths to Global Environmental Reform', to be published by Cambridge University Press.

Laura is a biogeographer specialized in land change science. Her research focuses on human-environment relations affecting patterns and processes of land-use land-cover change. Her specific research interests are monitoring and modeling land transformation, biophysical remote sensing and ecological dynamics of plant invasions. Results of her research show how important land transitions in the tropics, such as deforestation and the spread of invasive species, are caused by land management practices occurring under particular ecological contexts. Her findings show how the ecology of invasive species, particularly its growth and expansion, is linked to farmers’ economic incentives and labor practices; she also developed ways to characterize heterogeneous tropical land cover types. Her research findings from collaborative efforts also demonstrate how agricultural intensification does not necessarily release spare land for other types of uses.

Dr. Laura C. Schneider

Dr. Bernardo Baeta Strassburg

Bernardo B.N. Strassburg is the founder and Executive Director of the International Institute for Sustainability in Rio de Janeiro, and Assistant Professor at the Pontific Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro. Bernardo is an economist with a M.Sc. in environmental planning (focused on land-use change and ecosystem services in the Amazon), and  Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences, focused on issues related to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD+).

He is dedicated to the transition to sustainability, with focus in the sustainable use of land and its resources, conciliating production needs, environmental services and social development, by developing  interdisciplinary research,  providing assistance to governments, NGO's  and private companies in the pursue of solutions to sustainability challenges and implementation of projects.

Bernardo has led a number of projects in the interface of REDD, biodiversity, improved land use, ecological restoration and financial incentives and published several scientific articles and reports on these topics. Has provided consultancy to the United Nations, the World Bank, Conservation International, World Wide Fund for Nature, the Brazilian and British governments, among others. Bernardo coordinates the Economics Working Group of the Pact for the Restoration of the Atlantic Rainforest.

Manuel serves as Principal Scientist on Forest Management and Restoration at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) since 2006.  Prior to this he was a forest researcher and project leader at the Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE), in Costa Rica, where he taught in its Graduate Program.  From 2002 to 2006 Manuel served as Environmental Affairs Officer at the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity where he facilitated intergovernmental deliberations on forest biodiversity, and climate change.  Manuel has worked in Central American, Caribbean and Amazonian forests and is particularly interested in management for multiple goods and services of both natural and restored forests, mainly from a biophysical perspective but also considering production, regulatory and normative aspects. He also works towards enhancing the quality of forestry education in developing countries through innovative tools and researching on the effectiveness of tropical forest certification. Since 2013 and after being based in Indonesia at CIFOR´s headquarters, he leads CIFOR’s Latin American office in Lima, Peru.

Dr. Manuel R. Guariguata

Dr. Frans Bongers (Moderator)

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