Making Forest and Landscape Restoration a Force for Change

Forest and landscape restoration• Restoring functionality and productive

capacity to forests and landscapes in order to provide food, fuel, and fiber, improve livelihoods, store carbon, improve adaptive capacity, conserve biodiversity, prevent erosion and improve water supply.

Potential Extent of Forests and WoodlandsWhere forests would grow if climate and soils were the only constraint

Current Extent of Forests and WoodlandsWhere they are today

More than a quarter has been lost...

Permanent pasture

Protected Primary Forest

Degraded Forest Lands

Permanent pasture

Plantations

Secondary forest

Secondary forest

Permanent pasture

Intensive agriculture land

Degraded Primary Forest

A landscape is an interconnected mosaic

Forest and Landscape Restoration:Not a top-down, one-size fits all solution• Bring people together to identify,

negotiate, and implement practices . . .

• . . . that restore an agreed optimal balance of the ecological, social, and economic benefits of forests and trees . . .

• . . . within a broader pattern of land uses

www.ideastransformlandscapes.org

Forest and Landscape Restoration: Characteristics

Restore functionality and productivity, not ”original” forest

Treat the landscape as a mosaic of sites

Balance local needs and high-level priorities

Manage natural regrowth or plant new trees

Use trees to enhance food production (agroforestry)

Think long-term/large-scale. Monitor, learn, adapt.

www.ideastransformlandscapes.org

Map-based assessment of restoration opportunities• Vast areas of once-forested land have been cleared

or support only degraded forests. Some of these lands can be restored.– How much?– Where?

Mapping a sequence of questions • Where would forests be if

climate and soils were the only limitation?

• Where are forests today? (What has been lost or degraded?)

• Where are the opportunities for restoration?

– Wide scale– Mosaic– Remote

Wide-scale restoration

Wide-scale restoration of forests is possible in less populated areas with less intensive land use where closed forests can grow back on a large scale once barriers such as fire or grazing are controlled.

Opportunities for wide-scale restoration • Degraded or deforested

lands, sparsely populated; not croplands. China

Madagascar

Mosaic-type restoration

Mosaic-type restoration of woodlands and trees is suitable where the population density is higher, including on lands where closed forests cannot grow. The result is a mix of forest, trees, and other land uses including agroforestry and smallholder agriculture.

Opportunities for mosaic-type restoration

Degraded or deforested lands, may have high population density; not croplands.

China

Rukungiri District, Uganda

Remote restoration

Remote opportunities for restoration exist in unpopulated areas, but are so far from human habitation that restoration may not be feasible. In these areas, forests have been lost or degraded by natural and human-influenced forces such as fire, drought, extreme climatic events, or pests and disease.

Croplands

Croplands and settled areas on former forest lands may benefit from tree planting on steep slopes, along waterways and other targeted places to prevent soil erosion, to protect waterways, absorb storm water, increase soil fertility, and enhance soil moisture capacity.

Mosaic restoration is the most widespread opportunity

Africa has the greatest restoration opportunity area

Most restoration opportunities are in the tropics

Restoration opportunities in Latin AmericaLeading countries by region

Restoration opportunities in AfricaLeading countries by region

Restoration opportunities in AsiaLeading countries by region

A window of opportunity has opened…Global agreements call for restoration:

UN Millennium Development Goals• Eradicate extreme poverty & hunger, ensure

environmental sustainabilityREDD-Plus• Slow, halt, and reverse forest cover and carbon lossConvention on Biological Diversity• Restore 15 percent of degraded ecosystems by

2020Bonn Challenge• Restore 150 million hectares of lost and degraded

forests by 2020