Publication

Forest landscape restoration is a response to deforestation and degradation.

Forests and trees provide important ecosystem services that contribute to all aspects of human well-being. These are fundamental for global sustainability and sustainable development, including climate change mitigation and adaptation. Deforestation and land degradation together with climate change have been recognized as major threats to the provision of these crucial ecosystem services and thus a threat to human welfare. The annual forest loss in 2015–2020 averaged 10.2 million ha per year (FAO 2020). In addition, almost a third of forest landscapes (˜27%, or 1,459 Mha) is estimated to have suffered some degree of degradation (Laestadius, Minnemeyer, Leach 2012). 

In response to these detrimental processes, there has been an unprecedented increase in the recognition of the urgent need to restore forest ecosystems along with political commitments towards this aim. For most countries, achieving these commitments would mean halting deforestation and, for some, considerable increase in forest cover in the near future. To be successful, however, forest restoration must address the social and economic drivers that caused deforestation in the first place.