Forest restoration
Forest restoration is defined as “actions to re-instate ecological processes, which accelerate recovery of forest structure, ecological functioning and biodiversity levels towards those typical of climax forest”[1] i.e. the end-stage of natural forest succession. Climax forests are relatively stable ecosystems that have developed the maximum biomass, structural complexity and species diversity that are possible within the limits imposed by climate and soil and without continued disturbance from humans (more explanation here). Climax forest is therefore the target ecosystem, which defines the ultimate aim of forest restoration. Since climate is a major factor that determines climax forest composition, global climate change may result in changing restoration aims.[2] Additionally, the potential impacts of climate change on restoration goals must be taken into account, as changes in temperature and precipitation patterns may alter the composition and distribution of climax forests.[3]
Forest restoration is a specialized form of reforestation, but it differs from conventional tree plantations in that its primary goals are biodiversity recovery and environmental protection.[4][5]
Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is defined as a process that aims to regain ecological functionality and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded landscapes.[6] FLR has been developed as a response to the growing degradation and loss of forest and land, which resulted in declined biodiversity and ecosystem services.[6] Effective FLR will support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.[6] The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030) provides the opportunity to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of degraded forests and other ecosystems.[6] Successful ecosystem restoration requires a fundamental understanding of the ecological characteristics of the component species, together with knowledge of how they assemble, interact and function as communities[7]
Scope
Forest restoration may include simply protecting remnant vegetation (fire prevention, cattle exclusion etc.) or more active interventions to accelerate natural regeneration,
Forest restoration is an inclusive process, which depends on collaboration among a wide range of stakeholders including local communities, government officials, non-government organizations, scientists and funding agencies. Its ecological success is measured in terms of increased biological diversity, biomass,
Economic indices of success include the value of forest products and ecological services generated (e.g. watershed protection, carbon storage etc.), which ultimately contribute towards poverty reduction. Payments for such ecological services (PES) and forest products can provide strong incentives for local people to implement restoration projects.[10] Active restoration has been shown to accelerate the carbon recovery of human-modified tropical forests by as much as 50%.[11]
According to
Opportunities for forest restoration
Forest restoration is appropriate wherever biodiversity recovery is one of the main goals of reforestation, such as for wildlife conservation, environmental protection, eco-tourism or to supply a wide variety of forest products to local communities.[13] Forests can be restored in a wide range of circumstances, but degraded sites within protected areas are a high priority, especially where some climax forest remains as a seed source within the landscape. Even in protected areas, there are often large deforested sites: logged over areas or sites formerly cleared for agriculture. If protected areas are to act as Earth's last wildlife refuges, restoration of such areas will be needed.[4][5]
Many restoration projects are now being implemented under the umbrella of “
A recent focal area for forest restoration efforts is within the urban context, where both people and biodiversity will benefit, however this context presents unique challenges.[16]
Natural regeneration
Tree planting is not always essential to restore forest ecosystems. A lot can be achieved by studying how forests regenerate naturally, identifying the factors that limit regeneration and devising methods to overcome them. These can include weeding and adding fertilizer around natural tree seedlings, preventing fire, removing cattle and so on. This is "accelerated" or "assisted"
In some exceptional cases, particularly some
Protecting regeneration areas from browsing animals
Forest in the process of restoration face many challenges, such as seed and nutrient availability, but are notable susceptible to browsing animals. Although browsing animals are necessary in maintaining the understory of forests, they can easily over-graze a freshly replanted swath of forest, where young samplings are easily accessible. Over-grazing is particularly problematic in this case as the samplings and other young plants may be damaged beyond the point of recovery, resulting in a decrease in biodiversity. Care must be taken to use "deer fencing" to protect the regeneration area, or where not financially possible, to plant trees which prioritize structural growth and recovery.[22]
Post-fire regeneration
In large parts of the world, forest fires cover a heavy toll on forests. That can be because of provoked deforestation in order to substitute forests by crop areas, or in dry areas, because of wild fires occurring naturally or intentionally. A whole section of forest landscape restoration in linked to this particular problem, as in many cases, the net loss of ecosystem value is very high and can open the drop to an accelerated further degradation of the soil conditions through erosion and desertification. This indeed has dire consequences on both the quality of the habitats and their related fauna. Nevertheless, in some specific cases, wild fires do actually allow to increase the biodiversity index of the burnt area,[23] in which case the Forest Restoration Strategies tend to look for a different land-use.[24]
Forest restoration projects
A study finds that almost 300 million people live on tropical forest restoration opportunity land in the Global South, constituting a large share of low-income countries' populations, and argues for prioritized inclusion of "local communities" in forest restoration projects.[25][26][27] Project Drawdown lists the restoration of tropical forests as one of the most important solutions for climate change mitigation due to its extraordinary potential to sequestrate carbon and recommends that "local communities need to have a stake in what is growing, if restoration is to sustain."[28] A recent FAO publication reports that Indigenous Peoples are among those facing the greatest risk to their well-being and livelihoods from the effects of climate change, and therefore must be centred in forest restoration and conservation.[9]
Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project
The Ashland Forest Resiliency Stewardship Project (AFR)[29] is a decade long, science-based project launched in 2010 with the intent of reducing severe wildfire risk, but also protecting water quality, old-growth forest, wildlife, people, property, and the overall quality of life within the Ashland watershed. The primary stakeholders in this cooperative restoration effort are the U.S. Forest Service, the City of Ashland, Lomakatsi Restoration Project, and The Nature Conservancy.[30] The project was launched with initial funding from the Economic Recovery stimulus, and received funding from the Forest Service Hazardous Fuels program and the Joint Chiefs Landscape Restoration Partnerships program to back the project through 2016.
Located in the dry forests of southern Oregon, the threat of wildfire is a reality for land managers and property owners alike. The boundaries of the city of Ashland intersect with the surrounding forest in what is referred to as the wildland–urban interface (WUI).[31] Historically, the forests of this region experienced a relatively frequent fire return interval, which prevented buildup of heavy fuel loads.[32] A century of fire exclusion and suppression on federal lands in the Pacific Northwest has led to increased forest density and fuel loads, and thus a more persistent threat of devastating wildfire.[33]
The AFR project has implemented restoration techniques and prescriptions that aim to replicate the process of ecological succession in dry, mixed-conifer forests of the Pacific Northwest. The approach involves a combination of fuels reduction, thinning small-diameter trees, and carrying out prescribed burns. Priority is given to maintaining ecological function and complexity by retaining the largest and oldest trees, preserving wildlife habitat and riparian areas, and protecting erodible soils and maintaining slope stability.
Since its inception in 2010, the AFR project has provided educational experiences to thousands of students and has benefitted the local community by creating jobs and providing workforce training. About 13,000 acres treated in the AFR project was in maintenance status as of February 2022, and Oregon's Landscape Resiliency Program, established through Senate Bill 762, is funding brush cutting and low-intensity burns to ecologically benefit a fire-adapted forest.
Accelerating forest regeneration with Agricultural Waste
In 1998, Costa Rican initiatives were set to regenerate deforested areas, formerly used as cattle pasture. This land was compacted and the soil was depleted, making natural regeneration more difficult. As a partnership with agricultural waste disposals, approximately 12 000 Mg of orange peels and pulp were applied to a 3 hectare segment of the former pastures. This addition of biomass to the soil allowed for a 176% increase in woody plant growth, increased species richness, tripled tree evenness (measured through the Shannon Index), and significantly elevated soil nutrient levels, measured at 2 and 16 years following the application (Truer et al. 2018).[34] A significant increase in canopy closure was also observed using hemispheric topography, further suggesting that agricultural waste may play a larger role in future forest restoration.
Forest landscape restoration
Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is defined as “a planned process to regain ecological integrity and enhance human well-being in
Aims
The concept of FLR was conceived to bring about compromises between meeting the needs of both humans and wildlife, by restoring a range of forest functions at the landscape level. It includes actions to strengthen the resilience and ecological integrity of landscapes and thereby keep future management options open. The participation of local communities is central to the concept, because they play a critical role in shaping the landscape and gain significant benefits from restored forest resources. Therefore, FLR activities are inclusive and participatory.[36]
Desirable outcomes
The desirable outcomes of an FLR program usually comprise a combination of the following, depending on local needs and aspirations:
- identification of the root causes of forest degradation and prevention of further deforestation,
- positive engagement of people in the planning of forest restoration, resolution of land-use conflicts and agreement on benefit-sharing systems,
- compromises over land-usetrade-offs that are acceptable to the majority of stakeholders,
- a repository of biological diversityof both local and global value,
- delivery of a range of utilitarian benefits to local communities including:
- a reliable supply of clean water,
- environmental protection particularly watershed services (e.g. reduced soil erosion, lower landslide risk, flood/drought mitigation etc.),
- a sustainable supply of a diverse range of forest products including foods, medicines, firewood etc.,
- monetary income from various sources e.g. REDD+ mechanism and from payments for other environmental services (PES)[37]
Activities
FLR combines several existing principles and techniques of development, conservation and natural resource management, such as landscape character assessment,
The IUCN hosts the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration,[41] which co-ordinates development of the concept around the world.
In 2014, the
In partnership with the Global Mechanism of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, FAO released two discussion papers on sustainable financing for FLR in 2015. Sustainable Financing for Forest and Landscape Restoration: The Role of Public Policy Makers provides recommendations and examples of FLR financing for countries.[45] Sustainable Financing for Forest and Landscape Restoration - Opportunities, challenges and the way forward provides an overview of funding sources and financial instruments available for FLR activities.[46]
Financing
To finance the planning and implementation of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) activities, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has identified diverse financial mechanisms that tailor to different stages of the FLR process and cover the transaction and the scaling-up of enterprises for sustainable restoration.[47] Several options are available to finance restoration.[47] To meet the unique demands of individual FLR projects, it is critical to identify the best landscape financing strategy.[47] Financial options that generate diverse incentives for local actors may either be for-profit mechanisms, such as debt or loans, or not-for-profit mechanisms which include grants, fiscal policies, or expenses by the public sector.[47] According to FAO, bridging the gap between smallholders and investors, coordinating investment, promoting local ownership of FLR financing strategies, and the development of bankable projects and blended financial mechanisms generate positive outcomes for FLR impact at scale.[47]
See also
- Reforestation
- Restoration ecology
- Secondary forest
- Mangrove restoration
- Land restoration
- Proforestation
- International Day of Forests
Sources
This article incorporates text from a free content work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO (license statement/permission). Text taken from The State of the World’s Forests 2020. Forests, biodiversity and people – In brief, FAO & UNEP, FAO & UNEP.
References
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- ^ a b Stanturf, John A. (2005). "What is forest restoration?". Restoration of boreal and temperate forests. Boca Raton: CRC Press. pp. 3–11. Archived from the original on 2017-07-04. Retrieved 2012-06-17.
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- ^ Reitbergen-McCraken, J., S. Maginnis A. Sarre, 2007. The Forest Landscape Restoration Handbook. Earthscan, London, 175 pp.
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- ^ Shono, K., E. A. Cadaweng and P. B. Durst, 2007. Application of Assisted Natural Regeneration to Restore Degraded Tropical Forestlands. Restoration Ecology, 15(4): 620–626.
- ^ Elliott S, Navakitbumrung P, Kuarak C, Zankum S, Anusarnsunthorn V, Blakesley D, 2003. Selecting framework tree species for restoring seasonally dry tropical forests in northern Thailand based on field performance. For Ecol Manage 184:177-191
- ^ Goosem, S. and N. I. J. Tucker, 1995. Repairing the Rainforest. Wet Tropics Management Authority, Cairns, Australia. Pp 72. http://www.wettropics.gov.au/media/med_landholders.html Archived 2012-06-12 at the Wayback Machine
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- ^ "Tropical Forest Restoration". Project Drawdown. 2020-02-07. Retrieved 2020-12-05.
- ^ "City of Ashland, Oregon - Ashland Forest Resiliency Project - What is AFR?". www.ashland.or.us. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
- ^ "Ashland Forest Resilency Project - Lomakatsi Restoration Project". Lomakatsi Restoration Project. Archived from the original on 2016-02-10. Retrieved 2016-02-05.
- ^ Toman, E., Stidham, M., Shindler, B., McCaffrey, S. 2011. Reducing fuels in the wildland-urban interface: community perceptions of agency fuel treatments. Intl. Journal of Wildland Fire 20 (3):340-349
- ^ Hagmann, R.K., Franklin, J.F., Johnson, N.K. 2013. Historical structure and composition of ponderosa pine and mixed-conifer forests in south-central Oregon. Forest Ecology and Management 304: 492-504
- ^ Franklin, J.F., and Johnson, K.N. 2012. A restoration framework for federal forests in the Pacific Northwest. Journal of Forestry 110 (8): 429-439
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- ^ Mansourian, S., D. Vallauri, and N., Dudley (eds.) (in co-operation with WWF International), Forest Restoration in Landscapes: Beyond Planting Trees. Springer, New York.
- ^ Elliott, S., D. Blakesley and K. Hardwick, in press. Restoring Tropical Forests: a Practical Guide. Kew Publications, London
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External links
- The Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration - More information on global initiatives to restore forest ecosystems
- Issuance Of Eco-Restoration License
- Collaborative Forest Landscape Restoration Program, United States Forest Service, Washington, DC
- Forest and Landscape Restoration Project, World Resources Institute, Washington, DC
- The Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism