Forest And Landscape Restoration Research Articles

A cost-benefit analysis of ecosystem services from restoring degraded soils to forest ecosystems in the Sahel

Techniques of degraded ecosystems restoration in the Sahel have largely contributed to slowing down desertification process. However, they are often very costly, requiring important manpower and financial resources. The economic benefits of such cases of land restoration are under-documented, especially in scientific literature. The aim of this study is to estimate the ecosystem benefits (market and non-market, direct and indirect) associated with changes in biodiversity induced by forest and landscape restoration (FLR) interventions in the Sahel, and to compare them with the costs of these interventions. Data has been compiled using individual and group surveys, floristic inventory, and existing literature. Ecosystem services framework has been used to structure the analysis. Financial and economic cost-benefit analysis have been compiled, based on the historical case of the managed Gourga forest (Ouahigouya, North Burkina Faso), to estimate whether FLR brings benefits greater than it costs. The results show that restoration of the site is profitable over the first ten years thanks to farming activities, becoming unprofitable in years 11–45 after farming is completely stopped. This study opens up new prospects for improved design of FLR in the Sahel.

Challenges and Institutional Barriers to Forest and Landscape Restoration in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh

Preventing, halting, and reversing ecosystem degradation is now a global priority, partly due to the declaration of the United Nations (UN) Decade on Ecosystem Restoration by the UN General Assembly 2021–2030 on 1 March 2019. Apart from the most recent global target to protect 30% of the natural planet by 2030 as part of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed during COP15, there are several other global goals and targets. The Government of Bangladesh (GoB) has also pledged to restore 0.75 million hectares of forests as part of the Bonn Challenge. The Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) of Bangladesh contain almost one-third of the country’s state-owned forests and are home to 12 ethnic communities, whose livelihoods are dependent on forests. Although once rich in biodiversity, the majority of the forests in the region are highly degraded due to faulty management, complex institutional arrangements, and land disputes with locals. The CHT, therefore, represent the most promising region for ecosystem restoration through forest and landscape restoration (FLR). Here, using the secondary literature, we examine the current institutional arrangements and drivers of deforestation and forest degradation in the CHT region and potential benefits and modalities to make FLR successful in the region. Based on our study, we suggest that institutional reform is essential for successful FLR in the CHT. We also discuss key interventions that are necessary to halt ecosystem degradation and to secure community participation in natural resources management in the region.

Quo vadis, smallholder forest landscape? An introduction to the LPB-RAP model.

The impacts of the Anthropocene on climate and biodiversity pose societal and ecological problems that may only be solved by ecosystem restoration. Local to regional actions are required, which need to consider the prevailing present and future conditions of a certain landscape extent. Modeling approaches can be of help to support management efforts and to provide advice to policy making. We present stage one of the LaForeT-PLUC-BE model (Landscape Forestry in the Tropics-PCRaster Land Use Change-Biogeographic & Economic model; in short: LPB) and its thematic expansion module RAP (Restoration Areas Potentials). LPB-RAP is a high-resolution pixel-based scenario tool that relies on a range of explicit land use types (LUTs) to describe various forest types and the environment. It simulates and analyzes future landscape configurations under consideration of climate, population and land use change long-term. Simulated Land Use Land Cover Change (LULCC) builds on dynamic, probabilistic modeling incorporating climatic and anthropogenic determinants as well as restriction parameters to depict a sub-national regional smallholder-dominated forest landscape. The model delivers results for contrasting scenario settings by simulating without and with potential Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) measures. FLR potentials are depicted by up to five RAP-LUTs. The model builds on user-defined scenario inputs, such as the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSP) and Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP). Model application is here exemplified for the SSP2-RCP4.5 scenario in the time frame 2018-2100 on the hectare scale in annual resolution using Esmeraldas province, Ecuador, as a case study area. The LPB-RAP model is a novel, heuristic Spatial Decision Support System (SDSS) tool for smallholder-dominated forest landscapes, supporting near-time top-down planning measures with long-term bottom-up modeling. Its application should be followed up by FLR on-site investigations and stakeholder participation across all involved scales.

Bridging Social Innovation with Forest and Landscape Restoration

AbstractMitigating climate change, preventing mass species extinctions, improving rural livelihoods, and disaster risk reduction are among today's most urgent challenges. To meet these challenges, a large number of social actors need to agree to engage and act collectively on Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR), ensuring its dual goal of restoring ecological functionality and improving people's wellbeing. Although FLR has gained momentum globally, the experiences so far continue to face socio‐economic and governance challenges associated with the design and realization of effective efforts. Social Innovation (SI) can be seen contemporarily as the process and the result of interaction between stakeholders in the construction of solutions to social needs and problems, including those tackled by FLR. Here, using a content analysis approach applied to existing literature, we propose five possible conceptual bridges between FLR and SI. The Social Innovative – Forest and Landscape Restoration (SI‐FLR) process advocates that sustainable livelihood needs should be attended first to ensure the Social‐Ecological Systems' resilience. These bridges are: (1) “Landscape as the main context”; (2) “Nature as social need”; (3) “Landscape stewardship groups”; (4) “Governance capabilities”; (5) “Adapting and transforming to enhance resilience.” Identifying these bridges, will help decision‐makers and project managers to improve the FLR initiatives by supporting the potential of SI and sparking the interest of other researchers to explore the many possibilities of SI‐FLR.

Long-term effect of forest and landscape restoration practices on soil organic carbon stock in semi-arid Burkina Faso

In semi-arid areas, forest and landscape restoration (FLR) practices are being implemented to reverse the land degradation process. The objective of this study was to investigate the long-term effect of FLR practices on soil organic carbon stock (SOCs) under different land uses in the semi-arid region of Burkina Faso. The study was conducted on degraded land under rehabilitation practices for 45, 27, 18 and 11 years, which were compared to similar land without specific rehabilitation measures. The soil was collected in 2018 in 35 sampling plots of 30 m x 30 m. Soil analysis concerned bulk density, soil particle size, soil pH, soil organic carbon content, and respiratory activity of microorganisms. SOCs increased by 150%, 98% and 29% over 0-10 cm depth in 45-, 27- and 11-year of FLR practices, and decreased by 6% in 18-year of FLR practices compared to their respective control. SOCs were not linearly increased with the duration of the implementation of FLR practices because the variation of SOCs depends on several other parameters such as soil texture, and types of combination of FLR practices. The highest SOCs were recorded for 27 years (9.5 t.ha-1) and 45 years (8.5 t.ha-1) of FLR practices. This study revealed the importance of including Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) as one of the combined FLR practices, for improvement of SOCs.

Evaluation of Combined Landscape Restoration Practices on Soil Organic Carbon Stocks in Semiarid Regions of Burkina Faso

Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) practices have been reported to improve soil organic carbon stocks (SOCs) and contributing to climate change mitigation. This study aims to evaluate the impact of combined FLR practices, mainly developed in semiarid regions, on SOCs. The SOCs, soil texture, bulk density (ρ), pH, CO2 emissions, and herbaceous biomass were determined at a 0 - 30 cm depth. The experimental design comprised degraded land without FLR practices and three sets of combined FLR practices. These practices included “zaï” + stone bunds + organic manure + assisted natural regeneration (ANR) used to convert degraded land into forest (GF) and cropland (PARL); “zaï” + stone bunds + crop rotation + crop/fallow successions + ANR used to convert degraded land into cropland (OARL) and “zaï”+ stone bunds + organic manure used to convert degraded land into cropland (KARL). SOCs were highest (20.02 t C ha−1) under OARL compared with the other combinations of FLR practices. SOCs increased by 99% (+0.2 t C ha−1⋅yr−1), 58% (+0.3 t C ha−1⋅yr−1) and 13% (+0.2 t C ha−1⋅yr−1) under GF, OARL and KARL, respectively, and decreased by 15% (−0.1 t C ha−1⋅yr−1) under PARL. This study provides additional information explaining SOC variation in restored degraded land through the implementation of a combination of FLR practices. This is useful for recommending the combination “zaï” + stone bunds + crop rotation + crop/fallow successions + ANR to improve SOCs in the semiarid agroecosystem.

Forest and landscape restoration monitoring frameworks: how principled are they?

Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) aims to simultaneously restore ecological functionality to deforested or degraded landscapes and ensure the provision of ecosystem services essential for human well‐being. Interest in FLR has followed the ambitious commitments made to restore degraded forest by 2030 under the Bonn Challenge and the New York Declaration on Forests. To clarify and define FLR, the Global Partnership on Forest and Landscape Restoration articulated six principles that underlie this approach, but other sets of principles have also been developed. Our paper examines if and to what extent these principles and their interdependencies are captured in frameworks currently used to monitor FLR. We conducted a literature review to identify FLR monitoring frameworks that linked criteria to principles, but found only five appropriate publications. These frameworks were strictly hierarchical and thus unlikely to capture the interactions and interdependencies among different elements of FLR. Two of the five addressed all six principles. Second, we conducted a series of group exercises with experts to characterize the topology of FLR monitoring frameworks by linking criteria to principles and examining interconnections. We cataloged 18 criteria and 76 indicators, in a non‐exhaustive exercise. Cognitive mapping of the interconnections between FLR principles and criteria showed that criteria are typically linked to more than one principle indicating the need to consider networked frameworks. However, no FLR monitoring frameworks currently exist for understanding and operationalizing all six principles, and integrating the interconnected processes underpinning FLR planning, monitoring, and assessment.

Strategic Pathways to Scale up Forest and Landscape Restoration: Insights from Nepal’s Tarai

Deforestation and forest degradation mostly caused by human interventions affect the capacity of the forest ecosystem to provide ecosystem services and livelihood benefits. Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is an emerging concept that focuses on the improvement of the ecosystem as well as the livelihood of the people at the landscape level. Nepal has successfully recovered degraded forest land mainly from the hilly region through forest restoration initiatives, especially community-based forestry. However, the Tarai region is still experiencing deforestation and forest degradation. This study navigated the gaps related to forest restoration in the existing policies and practices and revealed that the persistence of deforestation and forest degradation in Tarai is a result of a complex socioeconomic structure, the limitations of the government in implementing appropriate management modality, unplanned infrastructure, and urban development. We suggest that forest restoration should focus on ecological and social wellbeing pathways at the landscape level to reverse the trend of deforestation and forest degradation in the Tarai regions of Nepal. The study provides critical insight to the policymakers and practitioners of Nepal and other countries (with similar context) who are engaged in forest/ecosystem restoration enterprise.

Perceptions from non-governmental actors on forest and landscape restoration, challenges and strategies for successful implementation across Asia, Africa and Latin America

Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) has been defined as a planned process that aims to regain ecological functionality and enhance human well-being in degraded landscapes. Several governments and organizations worldwide rose to the challenge of halting degradation and restoring landscapes. Commitments are ambitious, thus a synthesis of current experiences with and strategies for implementation is important to inform future actions. To guide successful implementation, the Global Partnership on FLR put forward six principles, namely, the conservation and enhancement of ecosystems at landscape scales, the restoration of multiple functions, the engagement of multiple stakeholders, with allowances for context dependency and adaptive management. Non-governmental organizations, acting globally, regionally and (or) at national and local scales, play a fundamental role in supporting governments fulfill their commitments. Therefore, we gathered the perceptions of actors within non-governmental organizations engaged in FLR across countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America about what FLR is and their perceived challenges and strategies for implementation. We employed the six principles of FLR to organize and evaluate the responses. Results show that the principles of landscape scale, ecosystem conservation and enhancement, and multi stakeholder engagement are all considered by interviewees as core components of an FLR program. Yet several restoration projects shared by interviewees still required further evidence of a landscape vision, and the integration of actors beyond local communities and the environmental government sectors. Context dependency was evident in the clear incorporation of local natural resource governance norms, such as tribal and community management in project structure, yet few projects appeared to be designed by local actors. The principle of “adaptive management” was mostly missing from the responses, perhaps because most projects had not had sufficient time to learn from intervention outcomes. Key financial challenges for FLR implementation were the short duration and availability of funding, high-up front costs and few short-term returns. To overcome these challenges, promising strategies relate to the development of tangible economic returns for local actors engaged in productive restorative actions that are planned alongside conservation and ecological restoration actions in the landscape. The challenges of negotiating actions with a multitude of actors and the lack of supportive policies highlighted in the interviews require organizations to focus efforts on leveraging the enactment and enforcement of legislations that look beyond jurisdictional boundaries and support landscape management with clear, long term incentive mechanisms and cross-sectoral collaboration. In addition, implementation can be further supported with the scientifically robust sharing of results on how different FLR projects move forward in meeting the social and environmental objectives of a successful, integrative restoration of degraded landscapes.

Stochastic simulation of restoration outcomes for a dry afromontane forest landscape in northern Ethiopia

Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) is carried out with the objective of regaining ecological functions and enhancing human well-being through intervention in degrading ecosystems. However, uncertainties and risks related to FLR make it difficult to predict long-term outcomes and inform investment plans. We applied a Stochastic Impact Evaluation framework (SIE) to simulate returns on investment in the case of FLR interventions in a degraded dry Afromontane forest while accounting for uncertainties. We ran 10,000 iterations of a Monte Carlo simulation that projected FLR outcomes over a period of 25 years. Our simulations show that investments in assisted natural regeneration, enrichment planting, exclosure establishment and soil-water conservation structures all have a greater than 77% chance of positive returns. Sensitivity analysis of these outcomes indicated that the greatest threat to positive cashflows is the time required to achieve the targeted ecological outcomes. Value of Information (VOI) analysis indicated that the biggest priority for further measurement in this case is the maturity age of exclosures at which maximum biomass accumulation is achieved. The SIE framework was effective in providing forecasts of the distribution of outcomes and highlighting critical uncertainties where further measurements can help support decision-making. This approach can be useful for informing the management and planning of similar FLR interventions.

Forest and Landscape Restoration: A Review Emphasizing Principles, Concepts, and Practices

Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) is considered worldwide as a powerful approach to recover ecological functionality and to improve human well-being in degraded and deforested landscapes. The literature produced by FLR programs could be a valuable tool to understand how they align with the existing principles of FLR. We conducted a systematic qualitative review to identify the main FLR concepts and definitions adopted in the literature from 1980 to 2017 and the underlying actions commonly suggested to enable FLR implementation. We identified three domains and 12 main associated principles—(i) Project management and governance domain contains five principles: (a) Landscape scale, (b) Prioritization, (c) Legal and normative compliance, (d) Participation, (e) Adaptive management; (ii) Human aspect domain with four principles: (a) Enhance livelihoods, (b) Inclusiveness and equity, (c) Economic diversification, (d) Capacity building; (iii) Ecological Aspects domain with three principles: (a) Biodiversity conservation, (b) Landscape heterogeneity and connectivity, (c) Provision of ecosystem goods and services. Our results showcase variations in FLR principles and how they are linked with practice, especially regarding the lack of social aspects in FLR projects. Finally, we provide a starting point for future tools aiming to improve guidance frameworks for FLR.

With Power Comes Responsibility – A Rangelands Perspective on Forest Landscape Restoration

Tree planting has long been promoted to avert climate change and has received renewed impetus in recent years with the Bonn Challenge and related forest restoration initiatives guided by the forest and landscape restoration (FLR) framework. Much of the focus for reforestation and afforestation is on developing countries in Africa, Asia and South America, where large areas of rangelands in drylands and grassy biomes are portrayed as “degraded”, “unused”, and in need of more trees. This perception is rooted in persistent theories on forests and desertification that widely shaped colonial policy and practice and remain influential today’s science-policy frameworks. From a rangelands perspective, the global FLR thrust raises two main concerns. First, inappropriate ecological understandings of the ecology of drylands and grassy biomes encourage afforestation, grazing restriction and fire suppression, with negative impacts on hydrology, carbon storage, biodiversity, livestock production and pastoral livelihoods. Second, their target-driven approach requires large-scale afforestation and massive funding to achieve. Nearly half of the area pledged to the Bonn Challenge is in fact destined for forestry and other commercial plantations, which threaten pastoral livelihoods and cause ecological damage while having very limited potential to mitigate climate change. As the officially endorsed framework of the Bonn Challenge and related global restoration initiatives, FLA has become a powerful instrument for guiding global restoration efforts and funding. Its proponents have a responsibility to ensure that the framework is evidence-based and underpinned by appropriate ecological models for different ecoregions.

Achieving Quality Forest and Landscape Restoration in the Tropics

Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is being carried out across the world to meet ambitious global goals. However, the scale of these efforts combined with the timeframe in which they are supposed to take place may compromise the quality of restoration, and thus limit the persistence of restoration on the landscape. This paper presents a synthesis of ten case studies identified as FLR to critically analyse implemented initiatives, their outcomes, and main challenges, with an eye to improving future efforts. The identified FLR projects are diverse in terms of their spatial coverage, objectives; types of interventions; and initial socioeconomic, institutional, and environmental conditions. The six principles of FLR—which have been widely adopted in theory by large global organisations—are inadequately addressed across the initiatives presented here. The identified FLR project or interventions, although expected to offer diverse benefits, face many challenges including the lack of long-term sustainability of project interventions, limited uptake by regional and national agencies, limited monitoring, reporting and learning, poor governance structures, and technical barriers, which are mainly owing to institutional weaknesses. On the basis of these cases, we propose that the best pathway to achieving FLR is via an incremental process in which a smaller number of more achievable objectives are set and implemented over time, rather than setting highly ambitious targets that implementers struggle to achieve.

Co-Creating Conceptual and Working Frameworks for Implementing Forest and Landscape Restoration Based on Core Principles

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.

Manila Declaration on Forest and Landscape Restoration: Making It Happen

Globally, Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) is gaining widespread recognition from governments and policymakers for its potential to restore key ecosystem services and to improve human wellbeing. We organized an international conference on FLR, titled—Forest and Landscape Restoration: Making it Happen, between 25–27 February 2019 in Manila, the Philippines with 139 participants from 22 countries. The Forest and Landscape Restoration Standards (FLoRES) task force also met prior to the conference, which included a field visit to a pilot community-based forest reforestation site in Biliran Island, the Philippines. Based on the three-day conference, case study presentations, and FLoRES task force meeting, we prepared the Manila Declaration on Forest and Landscape Restoration to highlight the need to support quality of FLR efforts and outcomes in the tropics. Here we provide a synthesis of the main messages of the conference, with key outcomes including the Manila Declaration on Forest and Landscape Restoration, and ways forward to make quality FLR happen on the ground.

Five scale challenges in Ecuadorian forest and landscape restoration governance

The forest and landscape restoration (FLR) targets set as part of the Bonn Challenge draw attention to the governance arrangements required to translate national FLR targets into local action. To achieve the targets, actors at multiple levels of the governance scale aim to influence relevant processes on the ecological scale. In this article, we focus on the scale challenges relating to the implementation of Ecuador’s restoration targets, by analysing the implementation of the 2014–2017 National Forest Restoration Plan in the montane Chocó Andino and Bosque Seco landscapes. From 54 semi-structured interviews, a document review, and geographical data analysis, we identified two temporal (i, ii) and three spatial scale challenges (iii, iv, v): i) Political cycles mismatch with FLR timelines; ii) Planning horizons mismatch with FLR timelines; iii) National restoration objectives mismatch with decentralised land use planning realities; iv) The governance level of existing FLR efforts mismatches with the level receiving restoration funds; and v) Tensions exist between the spatial dimensions of biodiversity and water-related restoration efforts. The findings highlight that more attention must be given to scale-sensitive governance to make the process in which national FLR targets are translated into local action more effective.

Scaling up forest landscape restoration in Canada in an era of cumulative effects and climate change

While the global restoration movement is rapidly gaining momentum, understanding the concept and benefits of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is paramount to safeguarding the natural capital of Canada's forests. In the face of increasing cumulative effects, we investigated the opportunities for scaling up FLR efforts in Canadian forests. The pace of industrial natural resource extraction developments (logging, agriculture, mining, and energy sector), and their overlapping in time and space with the impacts of climate change have resulted in ecosystem function and services alteration, as well as changes in natural disturbance regimes (e.g., wildland fire and pests). These dramatic and synergistic changes to environmental, socio-economic and cultural values occurring in the landscape need to be considered in land use planning but are highly variable and uncertain. We suggested that adding FLR to the land use agenda could offer a clear pathway to transform degraded landscapes into functional landscapes that deliver co-benefits and livelihoods to multiple land users. Supported by existing policies, the practices and goals of FLR initiatives dovetail with Canadian national conservation priorities such as national woodland caribou recovery as well as the development of Indigenous protected areas and nature-based climate solutions. At the international level, involvement in FLR initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge could advance Canadian climate change and ecosystem degradation commitments identified in the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals as well as in the Convention on Biological Diversity. To inform policymakers and practitioners, we suggested key collaborative actions to move towards a national restoration framework. Given competing land uses and values, a successful FLR strategy will require a multi-stakeholder governance approach supported by the different levels of government as well as other land users including extractive industries and Indigenous communities. Assessing socio-economic trade-offs around planning, funding, implementing, and monitoring restoration efforts is also crucial.

Lessons Learned from the Water Producer Project in the Atlantic Forest, Brazil

Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) is a powerful strategy for large-scale tropical forest recovery, and payment for ecosystem services (PES) is used to support FLR programs and projects on privately-owned land. In this article, we discuss the lessons learned from the Water Producer Project, a pioneer, multiple-stakeholder, and PES-supported FLR project in the Atlantic Forest, south-eastern Brazil. The project was implemented in four landscapes located in two municipalities. Altogether, 41 PES contracts with landowners were signed, resulting in various FLR practices being implemented in a total of 342.4 ha (64.2 ha for riparian forest restoration, 90.8 ha for soil conservation, and 187.4 for forest conservation) of land, which represents 39% of the project goal. As of the end of the project, only 50% (USD 49,250) of the available PES funds had been spent. However, funds spent on project planning, implementation, communication, and monitoring were 12 times greater than those spent on PES. Several challenges restricted the progress and monitoring of the project. The main issue was landowner participation and/or engagement. In terms of lessons learned, we highlight that PES schemes are more complex than initially thought, and that sufficient funding does not guarantee the success of FLR projects. It is essential to promote landowner participation and engagement by considering them key players in FLR projects. Finally, acceptance from landowners was higher and implementation was easier for forest conservation practices that required no land-use changes. Thus, we suggest that similar future projects should focus on targeting private properties in marginal agricultural lands with a high probability of natural regeneration. Alternatively, future projects could focus on lands with remnant forest cover of high conservation value.

How improved governance can help achieve the biodiversity conservation goals of the Philippine National Greening Program

The Philippine National Greening Program (NGP) is a Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) initiative designed to increase forest cover on degraded lands for poverty reduction, food security, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation. Despite the inclusion of an explicit biodiversity objective in the NGP, the Philippine government is struggling to implement projects that explicitly address biodiversity recovery. Using a case-study methodology, we identified three constraints that obstruct achievement of the NGP’s biodiversity conservation goals: 1) a focus on planting targets; 2) disregard for established community-based forestry practices; and 3) poor planning, organization, and implementation. These factors restricted establishment of diverse plantings suited to biodiversity recovery. Poor governance emerged as an overarching issue that connects each of these factors. Specific regulatory guidelines clearly need to be added to existing policy frameworks to assist planners and practitioners in the implementation of biodiversity-focused projects. Our results also indicate that these three factors and governance limitations, which impede attainment of biodiversity objectives, also affect production goals of the program. It is evident that establishing species-rich projects alone will benefit biodiversity little unless broader steps are taken to improve implementation processes across the NGP.

Secondary forest fragments offer important carbon and biodiversity cobenefits.

Tropical forests store large amounts of carbon and high biodiversity, but are being degraded at alarming rates. The emerging global Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) agenda seeks to limit global climate change by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the growth of trees. In doing so, it may also protect biodiversity as a free cobenefit, which is vital given the massive shortfall in funding for biodiversity conservation. We investigated whether natural forest regeneration on abandoned pastureland offers such cobenefits, focusing for the first time on the recovery of taxonomic diversity (TD), phylogenetic diversity (PD) and functional diversity (FD) of trees, including the recovery of threatened and endemic species richness, within isolated secondary forest (SF) fragments. We focused on the globally threatened Brazilian Atlantic Forest, where commitments have been made to restore 1million hectares under FLR. Three decades after land abandonment, regenerating forests had recovered ~20% (72Mg/ha) of the above-ground carbon stocks of a primary forest (PF), with cattle pasture containing just 3% of stocks relative to PFs. Over this period, SF recovered ~76% of TD, 84% of PD and 96% of FD found within PFs. In addition, SFs had on average recovered 65% of threatened and ~30% of endemic species richness of primary Atlantic forest. Finally, we find positive relationships between carbon stock and tree diversity recovery. Our results emphasize that SF fragments offer cobenefits under FLR and other carbon-based payments for ecosystem service schemes (e.g. carbon enhancements under REDD+). They also indicate that even isolated patches of SF could help to mitigate climate change and the biodiversity extinction crisis by recovering species of high conservation concern and improving landscape connectivity.