Dead planet, living planet

implementation strategies, duration, and in how much they

considered socio-economic and institutional aspects, which

are essential for successful restoration (CIFOR, 2002). Forest

restoration can restore many ecosystem functions and recover

many components of the original biodiversity. Approaches to

restoring functionality in forest ecosystems depend strongly on

the initial state of forest or land degradation and the desired

outcome, time frame, and financial constraints (Fig. 6).

In many deforested, degraded and fragmented forest habitats

investments in restoration and rehabilitation forests can yield

high biodiversity conservation and livelihood benefits (Sayer

, 2003, Chazdon, 2008; TEEB, 2009; TEEB, 2009).

What are the benefits to

biodiversity/conservation from

forest restoration?

Restoration in densely settled tropical areas can have more im-

pact on biodiversity than further extension of “paper parks” in

remote, pristine forests and can also deliver important forest

In Son La District in Northwestern Vietnam, Tai and Hmong

communities have managed upland forests for generations.

Forests are classified according to function including old growth

protected areas (Pa Dong), younger secondary forests that are

part of long rotation swiddens (Pa Kai), early regenerating for-

ests (Pa Loa) and bamboo forests (Pa). The lands are held un-

der communal tenure and allow for a well-managed landscape

that supports considerable biodiversity. In Cao Bang Province, to

the North the Nung an ethnic community found that their lime-

stone forests had degraded because of the growing fuelwood

and timber extraction pressures from State Forest Enterprises

and local villages. After biodiversity and hydrology began to de-

teriorate in the 1960s and1970s, the communities in Phuc Sen

organised to divide forest protection among the 12 villages. A

combination of planting with indigenous pioneering tree species

like mac, rac and more valuable timber species, combined with

Restoration of limestone forests in Phuc Sen in Northwestern Vietnam

natural regeneration, has led to the reforestation of many of the

limestone hillocks in the area. The restoration of the limestone

forests has facilitated the reestablishment of spring flows that

provide water for the lowland rice fields. It has also allowed for

the return of many indigenous mammal species, including five

endemic and 26 rare species. The process is currently being rep-

licated through a Community Forest Network operating at the

district and provincial level (Dzung

et al

., 2004). In many parts

of upland Southeast Asia, communities are organising to pro-

tect threatened upland forests. Part of these initiatives deal with

outside pressures from private sector timber enterprises as well

as from the expansion and commercialisation of agriculture. The

emergence of community forestry networks is apparent in up-

land areas of Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia.

Source: Poffenberger, 2006 pg. 11

CASE STUDY #2

goods and services to a wider range of stakeholders (Sayer

et al

2003). Retention of even small fragments of natural vegetation

is justified by their great potential value in providing the build-

ing blocks for future restoration programmes. Restored forests

can improve ecosystem services and enhance biodiversity con-

servation (Chazdon, 2008). Along the Mata Atlantica in Brazil

a non-profit organization named Instituto Terra undertakes ac-

tive restoration of degraded stands of Atlantic Forest by estab-

lishing tree nurseries to replant denuded areas (Instituto Terra

2007). Benefits include biodiversity enhancement, water regu-

lation, carbon storage and sequestration as well as preventing

soil erosion. In Vietnam, forest restoration thorough planting

indigenous tree species and fostering natural regeneration has

lead to increased water supply as well as increased and higher

quality habitats for animals and plants as shown in case study

2 (Poffenberger, 2006). Restoring eucalyptus woodlands and

dry forests on land used for intensive cattle farming in south-

east Australia was found to yield numerous benefits including

reversing the loss of biodiversity, halting land degradation due

to dryland salinisation and thereby increasing land productivity

(Dorrough and Moxham, 2005).