The ASB Partnership for the Tropical Forest Margins (originally founded as Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn in 1994) is a global partnership of over 90 research institutions, universities, NGOs, community groups and farmer groups. ASB is currently focussed on reducing deforestation and emissions from land use change, including forestry and agriculture, while ensuring viable livelihoods and enhancing social and environmental co-benefits. This presentation gives an overview of the ASB benchmark sites and lessons learned from the process. This presentation formed part of the CRP6 Sentinel Landscape planning workshop held on 30 September – 1 October 2011 at CIFOR’s headquarters in Bogor, Indonesia. Further information on CRP6 and Sentinel Landscapes can be accessed from http://www.cifor.org/crp6/ and http://www.cifor.org/fileadmin/subsites/crp/CRP6-Sentinel-Landscape-workplan_2011-2014.pdf respectively.

1. The ASB Partnership for the
Tropical Forest Margins
Benchmark Sites Experience
Peter A Minang, Meine van Noordwijk & Glenn Hyman
CRP6 MEETING, 30 SEPTEMBER 2011,
BOGOR, INDONESIA

2. 10% TREE cover in
agricultural lands…
Enough to qualify as
forest?
Meadow 1996 2006 Fallow
XP 2011 Vineyard
Land cover
change….
3101 Fremont Drive, Sonoma,
California, United States

3. Purpose of ASB Benchmark
sites (A mix of objectives)
• Understanding of key issues
• Cross-site comparison
• Observation
• Technology transfer for impact (But this did
not quite happen as funds ran short )

4. Key Issues
• Reducing
deforestation and
forest degradation
• Reducing Emissions
from All Land Use
(REALU)
• Trade-offs at Forest
Agriculture
interface …..

5. Site locations
Chiang Mai,
Ucayali, Thailand
Peru
Southern
Cameroon Jambi /Lampung,
Western Amazon,
Indonesia
Brazil

6. Criteria for ASB Benchmark sites (I)
Tropical & Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forest Biome
HIGH EXTRAPOLATION POTENTIAL: PANTROPIC PROBLEM DOMAIN
HIGH INTERPOLATION POTENTIAL?
INDOMALAY
AFROTROPICAL
NEOTROPICAL
AUSTRALASIA
Terrestrial Forest Biomes
Tropical and Subtropical Moist Broadleaf Forests
Tropical and Subtropical Dry and Monsoon Broadleaf Forests
1000 0 1000 2000 Kilometers Focus area
Dividing line between humid and subhumid tropics
Source: WWF Global 200 Ecoregions (WWF 2001).
#
S ASB site locations
Notes: The Biomes displayed are only forest biomes that
are present in the warm humid and subhumid tropics.

7. Criteria for Choice of ASB Benchmarks (II)
Representation of Biome types
SITE BIOME
Sumatran (Jambi and lampung), Equatorial rainforests of the
Indonesia Indonesian and Malaysian
archipelago.
Claveria and Lantapan, Philippines Moonsoonal forests
Pedro Peixoto, Acre and Amazon
Theobroma, Rondônia Western
Brazil
Southern Cameroon Congo Basin
Ma Chaem watershed, Chiang Mai, Subtropical hill forests of
Thailand mainland mountain Southeast Asia
found in Thailand, Myanmar, Laos,
Vietnam, and southern China.

8. Criteria for Choice of ASB
Benchmarks (II)
• DOMAIN SIMILARITY VALUE (Multiple
Criteria- Largely bio-physical determinants
of plant growth)
• elevation, potential evapotranspiration, total
annual precipitation, precipitation in the driest
month, precipitation range, minimum average
monthly temperature, and maximum average
monthly temperature (Gillison 2000).
• Using domain potential mapping procedure
(Carpenter et al., 1993)

9. DOMAIN SIMILARITY VALUES

10. Criteria for Choice of ASB Benchmarks (III)
Range of Socio-Economic Conditions
A range of socio-economic conditions
under which deforestation occurs
• Some Examples:
• Western Brazilian Amazon encompasses two
colonization, and areas along the BR-362 highway
• Cameroon, Congo Basin – low but increasing
population density and traditional indigenous
slash-and-burn practices
• Relatively High Population Density and migration
dynamic in Jambi and

11. Criteria for Choice of ASB Benchmarks
(IV) Partnership and infrastructure
• Working partnership in sites
• Long term perspective of partnership (often including a
local and national partner involved)
• Ensures multiple perspectives / roles / skills
• Access

12. Range of partners (national
partners crucial)

13. BENCHMARK SITE CHARACTERISTICS

14. Specific Characteristics
• Gradients within sites: Land Use, agro-ecology
and Population Density = useful for capturing
dynamics
• Examples:
• Population and land use gradients in Cameroon Site
• Broad gradient from primary forests in the Jambi
area to degraded Imperata grasslands in Lampung
Province, including both indigenous farmers and
colonization projects as well as large-scale
plantations and logging companies

15. Cameroon- Site Gradients
FROM RELATIVELY INTENSE MARKET GARDENING IN HIGH
DENSITY AREAS TO FOREST IN LOW DENSITY AREAS

16. Sumatra- Site Gradients

17. Lessons: some fundamental
considerations
• Use of comparative Methodological
framework (site characterization, meta-land
use)
• The ASB Matrix
• Multiple scales (nesting)
• Long-term commitment and co-location
• Expect surprises

18. Meta-Land Use Framework

19. The ASB Matrix

20. Multiple-scale (nesting)/ The
relevance of the question….
• Now 5 Million ha in
• Started out in ASB as
Cameroon looking at
a 10km x 20km
deforestation drivers
• -40- 80000ha ( in at sub-national level
four blocks in Jambi;
• In Tanjabar ( Tanjung
80000ha in Chiang
Jabung Barat District
Mai
looking at district
• Broadened to 1.5 M level planning
ha for landscape Scenarios of REALU
type interaction (Reduced Emissions
questions from all Land Use)
500k ha

21. Expect Surprises – therefore
be flexible(i)
• Despite • You can often stitch
methodological up data of different
harmonization, data periods to have an
quality can still be impact story from
varied different projects as
• Funding challenges long as methods
long term can match- e.g. ASB h/h
disrupt plans ( I.e. surveys in Ucayali,
technology aspects Peru and RAVA data
of ASB not financed (though not
for long time planned

22. Expect Surprises, hence be
flexible (ii)
• Jambi was chosen
to be more towards
left of curve, but in
a short time moved
more to the right
(Mining becoming
more important due
to change in
government;
emergence of oil
palm)

23. Expect Surprises, hence be
flexible (iii)
• Vietnam added to
enable
understanding of
extreme left hand
side of the forest
transition curve
(which was of
course not very
prominent at
inception of ASB)

24. More information (www.asb.cgiar.org)

25. THANK YOU