Achieving Quality Forest and Landscape Restoration in the Tropics

Liz Ota; Robin L Chazdon; John Herbohn; Nestor Gregorio; Sharif A Mukul; Sarah J Wilson

doi:10.3390/f11080820

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Achieving Quality Forest and Landscape Restoration in the Tropics

Journal article

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Achieving Quality Forest and Landscape Restoration in the Tropics

Liz Ota, Robin L Chazdon, John Herbohn, Nestor Gregorio, Sharif A Mukul and Sarah J Wilson

Forests, Vol.11(8), pp.1-17

2020

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/f11080820

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Abstract

Bonn Challenge

governance

landscape approach

nature-based solutions

reforestation

Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is being carried out across the world to meet ambitious global goals. However, the scale of these efforts combined with the timeframe in which they are supposed to take place may compromise the quality of restoration, and thus limit the persistence of restoration on the landscape. This paper presents a synthesis of ten case studies identified as FLR to critically analyse implemented initiatives, their outcomes, and main challenges, with an eye to improving future efforts. The identified FLR projects are diverse in terms of their spatial coverage, objectives; types of interventions; and initial socioeconomic, institutional, and environmental conditions. The six principles of FLR—which have been widely adopted in theory by large global organisations—are inadequately addressed across the initiatives presented here. The identified FLR project or interventions, although expected to offer diverse benefits, face many challenges including the lack of long-term sustainability of project interventions, limited uptake by regional and national agencies, limited monitoring, reporting and learning, poor governance structures, and technical barriers, which are mainly owing to institutional weaknesses. On the basis of these cases, we propose that the best pathway to achieving FLR is via an incremental process in which a smaller number of more achievable objectives are set and implemented over time, rather than setting highly ambitious targets that implementers struggle to achieve.

Details

Title: Achieving Quality Forest and Landscape Restoration in the Tropics
Authors: Liz Ota (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Robin L Chazdon (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
John Herbohn (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Nestor Gregorio (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Sharif A Mukul (Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, Tropical Forests and People Research Centre
Sarah J Wilson (Author) - University of Victoria
Publication details: Forests, Vol.11(8), pp.1-17
Publisher: MDPI AG
Date published: 2020
DOI: 10.3390/f11080820
ISSN: 1999-4907
Copyright note: Copyright © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Organisation Unit: Australian Centre for Pacific Islands Research; Tropical Forests and People Research Centre; University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland; Forest Industries Research Centre; School of Science, Technology and Engineering; Forest Research Institute
Language: English
Record Identifier: 99469108202621
Output Type: Journal article