Effects of monitoring and enforcement on harvesting behaviors in a Central American high-montane cloud forest

Background/Question/Methods

Central America contains some of the world’s most biologically rich forests. Forests can be vital to local village residents’ survival, livelihoods, and prosperity. However, due to human-driven disturbances, tropical forests are being negatively impacted by rapid deforestation. One avenue for conserving forests and their biodiversity is through the creation of protected areas.  Previous research has shown that high levels of monitoring and enforcement correlate with higher biodiversity in forests.  However, protected areas differ dramatically in their effectiveness in protecting biodiversity.  To date, there is no clear understanding of why some protected forest areas successfully maintain biodiversity while others do not.  This research examines a multi-national, contiguous, high montane, cloud forest called La Fraternidad Biosphere Reserve to explore the question:  How do varying local interpretations and implementation of international legislation affect forest conditions?   This research focuses on the manifestations of differences in monitoring and enforcement between Honduras and El Salvador.  Anthropogenic effects on tree biodiversity and basal area were examined for La Fraternidad region of Honduras and El Salvador to determine whether different monitoring and enforcement institutions impact forests differently.  Total basal area, stem count and biodiversity indices were calculated and compared between the two countries. A more focused examination was conducted for preferentially harvested species and their distance from village, roads and trails. 

Results/Conclusions

Results indicate that forests with higher monitoring and enforcement have greater tree biodiversity.  Biodiversity and basal area for preferred tree species depended on the level of monitoring and enforcement as well as the distance from trail, road or village.  Areas with low monitoring and enforcement see lower species richness closer to the villages.   Forest areas with frequent monitoring and enforcement showed higher levels of preferred species richness closer to highly patrolled roads and trails, but lower levels of diversity in more remote areas where there is less likelihood of being apprehended.