Forest Landscape Restoration

1. Forest Landscape Restoration Context, Concepts and Principles

2. A planned process that aims to regain ecological integrity and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded forest landscapes Definition Forest Landscape Restoration

3. What is a Landscape? “A landscape is a contiguous area, intermediate in size between an ‘ecoregion’ and a ‘site’, with a specific set of ecological, cultural and socio-economic characteristics distinct from its neighbours”

4. What is a Landscape? World  Eco-region  “Conservation” Landscape  “Cultural” landscape  Landscape units  Site

5. An example World  Eco-region  Watershed  Valley in the watershed  Forest  Forest stand

6. Terrestrial Ecoregions

7. Within which will be nested other stakeholders “landscapes”

8. A large conservation landscape: The 100,000 sq km Gaza-Kruger-Gonarezhou Transfrontier Park between Mozambique, South Africa and Zimbabwe

9. Asmall cultural landscape: The 70,000 hectare Dyfi watershed in Wales, UK

10. The landscape provides us with an operational context Don’t get hung-up on fixing boundaries Sometimes we will be able achieve broad stakeholder consensus Sometimes we won’t and will have to work with several But we must know, and refer back to our “conservation” landscape Whose Landscape?

11. Design and negotiation of an implementation package Build consensus to operationalise vision at a landscape scale Implementation action Implement decisions at a site scale The landscape is often the appropriate scale to operationalise conservation visions– however these need to be set at a larger scale Strategic planning and legislation Identify conservation priorities at an ecoregional scale

12. Is this just not land-use planning? NO - BUT IT IS AN ATTEMPT TO IMPLEMENT THE “ECOSYSTEM APPROACH” - A CBD OBLIGTION

13. Unit of Scale Acceptability of net losses of forest functions (goods and services) at a particular unit of scale Trends in specialisation Global Unacceptable Low High Ecoregion Strongly discouraged – should be opposed in virtually all circumstances Landscape Discouraged – requires strong justification and guarantees Stand/site Acceptable – with good management What do we want from landscapes?

14. A planned process that aims to regain ecological integrity and enhance human well-being in deforested or degraded forest landscapes Definition Forest Landscape Restoration

15. Ecological integrity = the diversity and quality of an ecosystem that allows it to support life, adapt to change and provide for the needs of future generations Human well-being= people meeting their needs, safeguarding their livelihoods and realising their full potential Definitions

16. A1 A2 From a degraded site (point B), restoration should promote both ecological integrity and social wellbeing (eg: towards points A1 A2 or A3). Interventions that move the system to points C1 or C2 would fail either on the human count or on the ecological one. C1 High Restoration Human wellbeing Medium A3 . B Low C2 Ecological integrity

17. Forest Landscape Restoration or tree planting? The public and private sector spend US$ 100s of millions on tree planting. Yet, less than 2/3 of tree planting initiatives actually succeed… • Forest landscape restoration goes beyond planting trees to re-establish forest cover, • Forest landscape restoration is about restoring “forest functionality” that will deliver a broad range of goods and services to society at the appropriate scale - the landscape. • Forest landscape restoration is about both forest quality and forest quantity: traditional tree-planting schemes have encouraged quantity only • Tree planting schemes often exclude rather than involve local people • Conventional tree planting creates simple rather than diverse forests

18. Expenditure on tree planting • Estimated that worldwide private forest investment flows was $223 billion in 1996 (up from $ 193 bn. In 1993) (source: Bazett, 2000) • The World Bank provided $1.4 billion in loans between 1984 and 1994 to create 2.9 million hectares of tree plantations (source: WRM) • The EU spent a total of $ 1 billion between 1993-97 on afforestation schemes - • About 20% of world's plantations not commercially viable (ABARE 99) • Brazil planted 6 million ha of which 1/3 is no longer viable.

19. Not just a tool - it’s a paradigm shift - a vehicle to promote the ecosystem approach? Restoring forest functionality at a landscape level Involves halting and reversing Building assets for people and biodiversity Adaptation to climate change Critical to link policy with practice Overview of FLR

20. Consistency with the FLR definition Scale Focus on forest functions Measurable Partnerships Participation Replication Timeframe Potential principles for FLR

21. It is a package that: Focuses on restoring forest functions Deals with scale via a landscape approach Requires informed consensus of key stakeholders What makes FLR unique?

22. FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION: * Where? * What? * How? * Why?

23. WHY SHOULD FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION TAKE PLACE ? Ecological reasons: eg • improve and safeguard water supplies • regulate and stabilise local climatic patterns • protect soils from erosion and degradation • create new habitat for wildlife Social reasons: eg • support local economic development • build assets for livelihood security • reduce risk (health, economic, natural disasters) Economic reasons: eg • Economic diversification • Community development

24. WHERE SHOULD FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION TAKE PLACE ? Ecological Criteria: • Extent to which fragmentation/degradation has occurred • Extent to which ecotype was represented elsewhere • High biodiversity of forest species (endemism/endangered species) Social criteria: • Institutional compatibility • Social stability • Local support, especially champions? Economic criteria: • What are the transaction costs • How much will government revenue increase or decrease • Protecting existing and planned infrastructure

25. HOW SHOULD FOREST LANDSCAPE RESTORATION BE UNDERTAKEN ? Some key considerations: • how to integrate socio-economic and ecological dimensions • how to establish political will • how to deal constructively with power relationships re: land-use rights • how to promote partnerships with key stakeholders • how to mobilise the required funds

26. Forests Reborn A joint Initiative by WWF-International and IUCN - The World Conservation Union Programme Goal: to facilitate the promotion and implementation of forest restoration as a tool for safeguarding livelihood security, protecting biodiversity and ameliorating lost or impaired forest ecosystem functions Programme Purpose:by June 2002, to ensure that the WWF and IUCN networks are equipped to promote and influence the effective mobilisation of private and public sector resources into socially and ecologically appropriate forest restoration initiatives

27. By 2005, undertake at least twenty forest landscape restoration initiatives in the world’s threatened, deforested or degraded forest regions to enhance ecological integrity and human well-being WWF’s Restoration target

28. OTHER RESPONSES TO THE FLR CONCEPT • World Bank New Forest Strategy: "Under its new strategy, the Bank will support … and make significant contributions to forest landscape restoration. The Bank can take advantage of the vast experience accumulated in ICRAF and CIFOR in this area and further develop the concept through the emerging Forest Reborn initiative developed jointly with bilateral donors, WWF, IUCN, and other organizations." • CIFOR- Has requested IUCN / WWF to become a full member of Forests Reborn