Abstract
Reforestation programs have been proposed as a remedial measure to tackle deforestation and forest ecosystems degradation. Because one of the main constraints to the implementation of restoration practices is lack of funding, these programs need to be carefully planned to efficiently use the economic and human resources invested. In this study we present a geospatial decision-making tool to identify suitable areas for restoration. The overall approach entails (1) the use of the simple multiattribute rating technique (SMART) to identify and rank the attributes according to their importance for prioritizing areas for restoration and (2) the implementation of 0–1 integer programming to select the areas that maximize the environmental benefit. The approach is exemplified through a case study in central Mexico's mountainous state of Estado de Mexico, encompassing an area just above 2 million ha. Specialists in different aspects of reforestation selected the following attributes to identify priority areas for r...
Highlights
Reforestation is a key element in efforts to counter the loss of forest lands around the world
The Forest Sustainable Development Program of the state named Estado de Mexico (PROBOSQUE 2006) was aimed at restoring degraded forest lands, located mainly in the mountainous areas; the goal of its reforestation activities was to maximize the overall benefits of forest land restoration, with emphasis on the conservation of ecosystem services such as soil stabilization and the maintenance of the hydrologic cycle
Locating the areas that maximize the restoration benefits is important for all the state, but it is critical for the mountainous areas where these ecosystem services are produced
Summary
Reforestation is a key element in efforts to counter the loss of forest lands around the world. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) (2010), an average of 5.3 3 106 ha/year were reforested from 2000 to 2010. This is twice the rate reported for forest plantations during the same period. The Forest Sustainable Development Program of the state named Estado de Mexico (PROBOSQUE 2006) was aimed at restoring degraded forest lands, located mainly in the mountainous areas; the goal of its reforestation activities was to maximize the overall benefits of forest land restoration, with emphasis on the conservation of ecosystem services such as soil stabilization and the maintenance of the hydrologic cycle. Managers often try to fulfill their programmatic goals without a thorough consideration of whether the areas selected for reforestation are the most suitable or even a priority
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