SUSTAINFORESTS addresses the challenge of sustaining tropical forest patches, outside protected areas, and in predominantly agricultural landscapes in Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon. These forest patches still provide crucial ecological functions, serve as habitats for biodiversity, contribute globally to carbon sinks, and are important for livelihoods.
Forest patches mainly face a threat of conversion to agricultural land use, for food crop farming, but also for cash crop production of cocoa, oil palm, coffee, and rubber, among others. From global land use, biodiversity, and climate change perspectives, analysing forest patches can help identify practical actions and policy measures to reduce biodiversity loss, deforestation, land use conversion, and promote sustainable forest use and conservation.
While theories of agricultural expansion, intensification, and forest transition explain agriculture-induced deforestation well, they do not explain the persistence of forest patches in a context of agricultural expansion. Knowing how they became forest patches and why they continue to exist will provide knowledge on how to sustain them. SUSTAINFORESTS studies and analyses the interactive roles of forest patches outside protected areas, of size 0.5 hectares (ha) to about 1000 ha in predominantly agricultural landscapes of the rainforest and savannah zones in Togo, Benin, Nigeria, and Cameroon. The major objectives are to (1) analyse the spatiotemporal dynamics and conditions of forest patches; (2) assess the contributions of forest ecosystem services to human-wellbeing and livelihoods; (3) analyse the context, framing conditions, and key drivers with regard to sustainable use, management, and governance of the forest patches; and (4) to identify pathways to promote the sustainable use, management, and governance of the forest patches. SUSTAINFORESTS examines why the forest patches exist or persist, or in some places even grow, how they maintain ecosystem services and livelihood functions, and are even providing new ecosystem services such as forest foods. SUSTAINFORESTS studies the conditions under which they can have a sustainable future, given their importance for the environment and livelihoods. Insights gained will inform and trigger region-wide efforts to preserve forest patches and help initiate transformative actions on sustainable land and forest management.
