Restoration of the World's Degraded Forest Landscapes
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A World of Opportunity - Global Potential for Forest Landscape Restoration Lars Laestadius, World Resources Institute & Peter Potapov, South Dakota State University ABSTRACT: Forests have paid a high price for the growing human need for food, feed, fuel and timber. More than three quarters of the world’s forests have been cleared, fragmented or degraded while almost half have disappeared completely. Just one fifth remains undisturbed in tracts that are large enough to maintain all their natural functions. The consequences are immense. Degradation harms local livelihoods. Loss of ecosystem services causes local poverty and downstream disasters. Biodiversity may be irreversibly lost. Yet restoration is possible. Poor people can turn degraded lands into healthy, productive and biologically rich assets within a few years if given long-term secure rights and good technical advice. Restoration can stimulate economic growth in poor rural areas, increase carbon stocks and ecosystem resilience and reduce the risk of natural disasters. Restoration should focus on restoring or enhancing the functionality of a landscape (that is, its supply of ecosystem services)—not on maximizing new forest cover. Site level decisions should be made with the greater context of the landscape in mind so that trade-offs among conflicting interests are possible. Local stakeholder involvement in decision- making and implementation is essential. Promotion of spontaneous (“natural”) regrowth should be a viable option along with tree planting. A preliminary geospatial assessment by the authors suggests that more than a billion hectares of deforested and degraded land are available for broad-scale or mosaic type restoration. The opportunities for restoration are more evenly distributed among developing countries than the opportunities to avoid deforestation which makes restoration an interesting addition to REDD plus. *** DISCUSSION: Covered questions regarding the huge potential for greater integration between agriculture and forestry, and the need to include more economic assessments within biophysical models. Funding has been allocated to do this at a country level for both Ghana and Mexico in the coming months.
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Transcript of Restoration of the World's Degraded Forest Landscapes
A World of Opportunity - Global Potential for Forest Landscape Restoration
Lars Laestadius, World Resources Institute & Peter Potapov, South Dakota State University
ABSTRACT: Forests have paid a high price for the growing human need for food, feed, fuel and timber. More than threequarters of the world’s forests have been cleared, fragmented or degraded while almost half have disappeared completely.Just one fifth remains undisturbed in tracts that are large enough to maintain all their natural functions. The consequencesare immense. Degradation harms local livelihoods. Loss of ecosystem services causes local poverty and downstreamdisasters. Biodiversity may be irreversibly lost.
Yet restoration is possible. Poor people can turn degraded lands into healthy, productive and biologically rich assets within afew years if given long-term secure rights and good technical advice. Restoration can stimulate economic growth in poorrural areas, increase carbon stocks and ecosystem resilience and reduce the risk of natural disasters.
Restoration should focus on restoring or enhancing the functionality of a landscape (that is, its supply of ecosystemservices)—not on maximizing new forest cover. Site level decisions should be made with the greater context of thelandscape in mind so that trade-offs among conflicting interests are possible. Local stakeholder involvement in decision-making and implementation is essential. Promotion of spontaneous (“natural”) regrowth should be a viable option along withtree planting.
A preliminary geospatial assessment by the authors suggests that more than a billion hectares of deforested and degradedland are available for broad-scale or mosaic type restoration. The opportunities for restoration are more evenly distributedamong developing countries than the opportunities to avoid deforestation which makes restoration an interesting addition toREDD plus.
***DISCUSSION: Covered questions regarding the huge potential for greater integration between agriculture and forestry, andthe need to include more economic assessments within biophysical models. Funding has been allocated to do this at acountry level for both Ghana and Mexico in the coming months.
A World of Opportunity -Global Potential forForest Landscape Restoration
Lars LaestadiusWorld Resources Institute
Peter Potapov South Dakota State University
29 September 2010
Restoration of the World’s Degraded Forest Landscapes
Potential forest
Source: WRI/SDSU
Virgin forest – 23% Working forest – 51% Lost forest – 26%
Source: WRI/SDSU
What is restoration?
Sustainable improvement of the supply of ecosystem services in a landscape through active measures
Re-greening
Rehabilitation
Improvement !Gain
Forest Landscape Restoration:not a top-down, one-size fits all solution
• Brings people together to identify, negotiate, and implement practices . . .
• . . . that restore an agreed optimal balance of the ecological, social, and economic benefits of forests and trees . . .
• . . . within a broader pattern of land uses
Forest Landscape Restoration
Functionality, not forest
Landscapes and sites
Local needs and high-level priorities
Aided regrowth and planting
Adaptive management
• Alliance for Religions & Conservation
• China• CARE• CBD Secretariat • CIFOR• El Salvador• FAO• Finland• Global Mechanism/UNCCD• ICRAF• IUCN • Italy• ITTO• IUFRO
• Kenya• Ghana (FORIG)• Japan• Lebanon• Netherlands• PROFOR/World Bank• South Africa• Switzerland (SECO)• United Kingdom• United States• UNEP-WCMC• UNFF Secretariat• WBCSD• WWF
Collaborators include:• Brazil Forest Service• WRI• Wageningen International• Tropenbos Indonesia • Helpage Rwanda• Stora Enso
A global partnership for forest landscape restoration
Area of Investigation
Potential Forest Extent
forests (darker green), woodlands (lighter green)
Current Forest Extent
green – forests, light green – woodlands/sparse tree cover, yellow – deforested
How much is left?
43%
41%Forest
Woodlands
Potential Forest Landscapes: Status
Dark green - intact forest landscapes; Green - natural/managed forests; Very light green - natural/managed woodlands
Lighter green – degraded forests; Orange - degraded and partially deforested forests/woodlands; Red - deforested forests/woodlands
Type of land Classification Source
1. Intact forest Intact forest landscapes (3)
2. Managed natural forestsForest (satellite)Tree cover (landcover map)
(2)(4)
3. Degraded forestForest (satellite)Cultivated lands or agroforestry mosaic (landcover map)
(2)(4)
4.Degraded and partially deforested potential forest
Woodlands (satellite)Potential for supporting forest (climate, soils)
(2)(1)
5. Deforested potential forestNon-forest (satellite)Potential for supporting forest (climate, soils)
(2)(1)
6. Natural/managed woodlandsWoodlands (satellite)Potential for supporting woodlands (climate, soils)Un-managed land (landcover map)
(2)(1)(4)
7.Degraded and partially deforested potential woodlands
Woodlands (satellite)Potential for supporting woodlands (climate, soils)Non-forest or cultivated land (landcover map)
(2)(1)(4)
8. Deforested potential woodlandsNon-forest (satellite)Potential for supporting woodlands (climate, soils)
(2)(1)
(1) Potential forest cover map(2) Current forest cover map(3) Global intact forest landscapes map(4) Global landcover map
Lands with potential for broad-scale restoration
Degraded or deforested areas, sparsely populated, not used to produce crops.
Capable of supporting closed forest.
China
Madagascar
Lands with potential for mosaic restorationDegraded or deforested areas , may have extensive land-use and high population density. Capable of supporting closed forest or sparse woodlands.
ChinaRussia
Human pressure(land-use intensity and population density)
Opportunities for Restoration
Dark green – broad scale restoration (degraded or lost forest, low population, no croplands)Light green – mosaic restoration (pastures, agroforestry mosaics, mosaics of crops and
other vegetation, abandoned lands, etc)
Bright yellow – irrigated croplands protective restorationLight yellow – rainfed croplands, plantations protective restoration
Opportunities for Forest Landscape Restoration
0 100 200 300 400 500
Oceania
North & Central America
Europe & Russia
South America
Asia
Africa
Million hectares
Wide-scale restoration Mosaic-type restoration
Wide-Scale Restoration Opportunities(Million hectares)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
BrazilChina
MyanmarIndonesia
Russian FederationColombia
Lao People's Democratic RepublicAustraliaThailand
IndiaCЇte d'Ivoire
TurkeyCambodiaViet NamEthiopia
United States of AmericaVenezuela
CanadaEcuador
GhanaDemocratic Republic of the Congo
United Republic of TanzaniaMadagascarMozambiqueNew Zealand
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
BrazilChina
AustraliaUnited States of America
Russian FederationMadagascar
AngolaIndonesia
DR CongoNigeria
IndiaMexico
ArgentinaSudan
MozambiqueUnited Republic of Tanzania
TurkeyZambiaBolivia
CanadaCЇte d'Ivoire
ColombiaGuinea
ChadEthiopia
Mosaic-Type Restoration Opportunities(Million hectares)
Restoration Has Many Parents ...
Mitigation
Adaptation
Water
Fuel, fiber, food
Disasters
Biodiversity
Livelihoods
... Is it therefore an orphan?
The Americas Asia
Africa and Europe
Opportunities Are Widely Spread
1950
1900
Today
”Restoration’s just another word for nothing´left to lose”Restoration is possible!
