Restoration of forest in a changing climate

Abstract

Forest ecosystems are facing the risk of degradation mainly due to habitat fragmentation and degradation due to human activities. Forests are life supporting systems to human beings. Restoration of tropical forest is a critical task in present era as forest fires and habitat fragmentation are the major issues for forest degradation. Restoration is important to reverse degradation in forest ecosystems. Globally, 2 billion ha land have been identified for restoration of forest. Deforestation accounts for 60% emission of carbon back into the atmosphere which is sequestered by the forest ecosystem. Globally, tropical forests have large biodiversity pools and carbon sinks, and this diversity conservation has a huge effect on climate change mitigation. Forest restoration has become a conservation option to reestablish ecological processes and ecosystem services, as reducing the effects of climate change. The Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the Kyoto Protocol is the best option of a restoration approach to curtail CO2 emissions. The Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) approach addresses the ecological integrity and resilience to the climate change issues. The manuscript aims to highlight the new approaches for restoration, ecosystem services and ecological sustainability in forest ecosystem.