The typical response to the loss of forest cover has been to plant trees, usually, but not always, on an industrial scale, and with a limited mix of species. Indeed, planted forests now make up 7 percent of the world’s forest area and contribute over 40 percent of the global industrial wood and fibre supply (FAO, 2010). 

The global agricultural sector today faces the double challenge of feeding a growing population while preserving the underlying natural resources of land, water and air. In the meantime, already a third of the world’s soils are degraded. Soil and nutrient management techniques aimed at restoring soil health will therefore be essential to meeting these challenges.

FAO Informative Material for the International Year of Soils (IYS 2015).

La régénération de la mangrove n’est pas une tâche simple, elle nécessite un certain nombre de précautions et d’engagements de la part des populations concernées et des autorités locales tout comme les institutions gouvernementales et/ou non gouvernementales. L’un des principes de réussite de cette activité de reforestation est de rendre les communautés locales actrices et porteuses du projet. Dans ce cadre, la sensibilisation des populations riveraines aux enjeux de la protection des ressources naturelles : mangrove, couvert végétal et stocks de poissons apparaît primordiale.

When development impacts a broad landscape and causes the loss of multiple ecosystem services, decisions about which of these impacts to offset must be made. We use industrial oil-palm developments in Kalimantan and quantify the potential for restoration to offset oil-palm impacts on carbon storage and biodiversity. We developed a unique backcasting approach combined with a spatial conservation prioritisation framework to identify priority areas for restoration offsetting.

The National Forestry Authority has monitored Uganda’s land cover, including forested areas, periodically since 1990. The land cover classification is comprised of 13 classes as shown in the table below. The first five classes in the table refer to the different types of forests in Uganda. The largest forest type is woodland. Compared to other landcover types, forests are a small proportion of the country area.

The Global Forest Resources Assessment 2015 (FRA 2015) development began in June 2011 when the FRA Advisory Group discussed the FRA Long-Term Strategy and its implications for FRA 2015. The design process involved users, national correspondents and experts from a wide variety of technical backgrounds.

The Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) approach, which is still in its nascent stages of development, is rapidly gaining attention as a more appropriate way to restore both degraded forests as well as the surrounding degraded landscape. The great value of this approach is that it integrates forest restoration actions with the desirable objectives of the landscape, and it is undertaken with the full participation of the people who will have a role in the management of the restored areas over the longer term.

REDD+ is an important instrument for many developing countries in the tropics to fulfill their commitments under the Paris Agreement. Accordingly, various countries have considered it in their current (Intended) Nationally Determined Contributions as to shape the future pathway for addressing the 2.0°C goal.

The Little Sustainable Landscapes Book aims to clarify and disseminate sustainable landscape management methods, and to catalyse their implementation across private and public sectors worldwide.

The Restoration Diagnostic is a structured method for determining the status of enabling conditions within a landscape being considered for restoration and for designing the requisite policies, practices, and measures needed for successful restoration. The Diagnostic was developed as part of the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) by the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

New global forest restoration initiatives present an unparalleled opportunity to reverse the trend of deforestation and forest degradation in the coming years. This effort will require the collaboration of stakeholders at all levels, and most importantly, the participation and support of local people. These ambitious restoration initiatives will also require monitoring systems that allow for scalability and adaptability to a range of local sites.