Abstract
Existing guidelines and best-practices documents do not satisfy, at present, the need for guiding implementation of Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) based on core principles. Given the wide range of FLR practices and the varied spectrum of actors involved, a single working framework is unlikely to be effective, but tailored working frameworks can be co-created based on a common conceptual framework (i.e., a common core set of principles and a generalized set of criteria and indicators). We present background regarding FLR concepts, definitions, and principles, and discuss the challenges that confront effective and long-term implementation of FLR. We enumerate the many benefits that a transformative criteria and indicators framework can bring to actors and different sectors involved in restoration when such framework is anchored in the FLR principles. We justify the need to co-develop and apply specifically tailored working frameworks to help ensure that FLR interventions bring social, economic, and environmental benefits to multiple stakeholders within landscapes and adjust to changing conditions over time. Several examples of working FLR frameworks are presented to illustrate the goals and needs of communities, donors and investors, and government agencies. Transparency, feedback, communication, assessment, and adaptive management are important components of all working frameworks. Finally, we describe existing FLR guidelines and what we can learn from them. Working frameworks can be developed and used by different actors who seek to initiate an FLR process and to align restoration actions at different scales and levels.
Highlights
Process, Principles, and Practice of Forest and Landscape RestorationForest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) was proposed nearly 20 years ago in an attempt to broaden the thinking about reforestation beyond industrial plantations and community-level woodlots.The global extent of deforestation and forest degradation became more defined a decade later, when a spatial analysis estimated the global opportunity area for forest restoration as being greater thanForests 2020, 11, 706; doi:10.3390/f11060706 www.mdpi.com/journal/forests1 billion hectares and was used to underpin the Bonn Challenge to initiate restoration across 150 million hectares by 2020
Six core principles define the essence of FLR (Table 1) and represent the current shared understanding of members of the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration (GPFLR), a group of high-level international organizations involved in FLR policy and implementation
Creating working guidance and implementation frameworks based on core principles that are co-designed and used by different actors and stakeholders can help to ensure that FLR reaches its full potential to transform lives and landscapes
Summary
Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) was proposed nearly 20 years ago in an attempt to broaden the thinking about reforestation beyond industrial plantations and community-level woodlots. In its latest formulation, FLR is defined as “a process that aims to regain ecological functionality and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded landscapes. Six core principles define the essence of FLR (Table 1) and represent the current shared understanding of members of the GPFLR, a group of high-level international organizations involved in FLR policy and implementation These principles define a holistic approach aimed to encourage aligned practices on the ground. Local conditions and actions are largely shaped by landscape-level factors, and the outcomes of interventions emerge from the interaction of land uses within the landscape mosaic These outcomes should be assessed at the landscape scale, recognizing attempts to balance land use trade-offs through a multisectoral approach and including all stakeholder groups in the decision-making process. The potential benefits of FLR extend beyond increasing tree cover to include sustainable agricultural production, stabilization and diversification of local livelihoods and commercial opportunities, improved delivery and quality of ecosystem functions and services, improved social justice and well-being, increased resilience to climate change, improved habitat connectivity, and enhanced biodiversity conservation [18]
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