Abstract
Specific forest restoration aims to maximum ecosystem services (ESs); however, the complex trade-offs among ecosystem services pose considerable challenges for fulfilling such goals. Based on forest restoration on Hainan Island, China, we integrated spatially explicit models of ecosystem services and spatial prioritization techniques based on the efficiency frontier between habitat quality and plantation revenue to analyze the impacts of decision-makers’ preferences on optimal configurations of forest restoration. We then investigated the effects of different optimal restoration schemes on water purification, soil retention, carbon sequestration, and coastal hazard mitigation. Based on our results, plantation revenue and habitat quality exhibited an obvious trade-off during the process of restoration. Forest restoration patterns also varied with the degree of preference for plantation yield or habitat quality, indicating that understanding ecosystem service tradeoffs can support the optimal selection of forest restoration schemes under different preferences. However, when the values of multiple ecosystem services associated with forest restoration were considered (e.g., water purification, soil retention, carbon sequestration, and coastal hazard mitigation), the optimal solution choice varied. Our results suggest the application of the efficiency frontier can deepen quantitative understanding of ecosystem service trade-offs, and the addition of multi-benefit evaluation based on optimal solutions can provide a more detailed and broader picture of forest restoration plans. Integrated efficiency frontier assessment with the valuation of ecosystem services associated with forest restoration provides a quantitative approach for optimal forest restoration, which can be applied in broad forest restoration programs.
Highlights
To fulfill the growing needs of food, timber, fiber, and other goods, many natural habitats have been rapidly converted to human-dominated landscapes
We evaluated the benefits from water purification, soil retention, carbon sequestration, and coastal hazard mitigation, which are critical in securing local people and assets
The trade-offs between plantation revenue and habitat quality, as well as among multiple ecosystem services, under different forest restoration scenarios were systematically quantified by using the efficiency frontier-based methods
Summary
To fulfill the growing needs of food, timber, fiber, and other goods, many natural habitats have been rapidly converted to human-dominated landscapes. With the rise in land-use intensification, trade-offs among ecosystem services (ESs) can intensify simultaneously [1]. Ecological restoration, as a major strategy to improve ecosystem services and reverse biodiversity losses, has been used worldwide [2]. Under the Bonn Challenge, a global effort to restore 350 million hectares of deforested and degraded land to national forest by 2030, over 30 countries have made commitments to undertake restoration activity [3]. The great challenges for restoration are the trade-offs between available land resources and increasing demands for better services and the trade-offs among ecosystem services [4,5]. For the low-income regions or countries, balancing provision services that might strongly link to local poor livelihoods, and biodiversity and regulating services, is vital for a sustainable development [6].
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