Study of the “socio-bosque” forest conservation programme Ecuador

Context of the service

In 2013, the Ecuadorian government launched the "Socio Bosque" program, which consists of compensating communities and private owners in exchange for a commitment not to deforest.

In 2014, the University of Missouri (USA) and the State Amazon University (Ecuador) signed a cooperation agreement to assess the real impact of the "Socio Bosque" programme on the fight against deforestation.

The methodology used consists of a combination of: (i) advanced remote sensing techniques (modelling), (ii) forest field inventories, and (iii) socio-economic surveys of rural households.

Field inventories are used to generate estimates of forest biomass, structure and composition. This field information makes it possible to validate remote sensing models relating to deforestation and forest degradation. Finally, socio-economic surveys make it possible to compare the levels of forest conservation of different owners and communities and to identify explanatory variables.

Services provided

The expert coordinated a field research team for the collection and data entry, and thus actively contributed to the following tasks:

- Planning of the work, management of logistical aspects and contact with communities and plot owners,

- Realization of forest inventories on more than 200 plots of 25m x 25m in secondary and primary tropical rainforest,

- Georeferencing of inventory plots and transfer of data to GIS,

- Carrying out socio-economic surveys.

Summary of the service

Study of the "socio-bosque" forest conservation program: Coordination and management of a field research team; Forest inventories and surveys of rural households as part of the project; Remote sensing and field assessment of forests under conservation status in the Amazon region; Contribution to the evaluation report of the programme on combating deforestation.