Implementing Forest Landscape Restoration - A Practitioner’s Guide

Large-scale restoration initiatives are underway to counter global loss and degradation of the world’s forests. These include the Bonn Challenge (150 million ha by 2020), the New York Declaration on Forests (350 million ha by 2030), and land net degradation neutrality (LDN) by 2030 set by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD).

Recognising the challenge of implementing these high-level targets and initiatives, and realising that obtaining results on the ground will confront many context-specific questions, a team of scientists from relevant IUFRO units has prepared this practitioner’s guide to Implementing Forest Landscape Restoration. The guide follows from, and builds upon the IUFRO World Series “Forest Landscape Restoration as a Key Component of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation” (Stanturf et al. 2015). This guide addresses FLR implementation as a whole but with a view toward climate change mitigation and adaptation; only if the landscape is changing and FLR is successful will climate benefits materialise.

Even though guidelines for broad national planning and ecological assessments are available, implementing FLR in practice goes beyond generalized concepts. Implementing FLR generally requires a group of stakeholders rather than being the responsibility of a single stakeholder. Often one or more facilitators are needed to organise a multi-stakeholder team and these facilitators are the main target audience for this FLR implementation guide. This guide is intended to be a training resource for FLR facilitators who have a broad approach to land management. The guide is also aimed at anyone who implements FLR in a specific country or local context. Thus, policymakers and practitioners considering FLR commitments can use this guide to gain an understanding of the complexities of actual implementation.

The guide is comprised of separate modules that address important aspects of FLR implementation.  The underlying approach to FLR implementation is the concept of project cycle management that takes users on a systematic path from the initial project idea to measurable results in the landscape. Each module gives details on important aspects of the journey from broad FLR policy to local implementation activities, including getting started with FLR implementation, governance, FLR project design, implementation activities, monitoring and evaluation, climate change mitigation and adaptation methods, and communication. Users are encouraged to read all modules, but each module can be read independently. Some key concepts are duplicated among modules or cross-referenced to facilitate reading.