March 2019: Project partners have unveiled a web portal that provides detailed information about more than 150 forest and landscape restoration projects in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). The portal builds on the USAID-funded Comparative Research Project on Landscape Restoration for Emissions Reductions, which is co-implemented by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT).

The forest and landscape restoration (FLR) database provides a standardized overview of recently finalized, ongoing and planned restoration initiatives and their characteristics, and highlights some institutional and technical arrangements that are associated with the successful implementation of restoration activities. It draws on projects implemented under five broad funding streams: the 20×20 initiative, which aims to bring 20 million hectares of land in the LAC region into restoration by 2020; the REDD+ Forest Investment Program (FIP); diverse land restoration projects funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF); emission-reduction projects supported by the UNFCCC Clean Development Mechanism (CDM); and stand-alone local restoration projects implemented by various local governments, civil society organizations and research organizations.

FLR projects tend to reflect the aims of the donors, rather than the specific causes of degradation.

Restoration projects are described as having diverse objectives, ranging from increasing vegetation cover, contributing to biodiversity and ecosystem recovery, or climate change mitigation. Other projects focus on social and economic benefits for local populations, including improved livelihoods from sustainable management of silvo-pastoral systems and agro-forestry practices. The website includes an interactive regional map, which indicates the geographical location as well as type of project. Based on these variables, the map can also be used to assess a project’s restoration potential (ability to store additional forest biomass), and hence provide additional insights on the potential to contribute to climate change mitigation.

However, in a related analysis contained in a 2018 publication by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) titled, ‘Transforming REDD+: Lessons and New Directions,’ a case is made for additional work to enhance synergies between FLR and climate-related targets. Authors of a chapter titled, ‘Forest Restoration: Getting Serious About the ‘Plus’ in REDD+,’ note that while FLR and REDD+ projects share some common objectives, only a few restoration projects in the LAC region track forest carbon impacts, “since pledges are mainly based on area to be restored, and many projects do not include the establishment of reference levels or carbon monitoring in their activities.”

The publication further concludes that many restoration projects in Latin America focus on increasing vegetation cover and re-establishing ecological processes and biodiversity, but do not directly address the causes of degradation, “which are remarkably similar across the tropics.” The authors attribute this to the tendency of FLR projects “to reflect the aims of the donors, rather than the specific causes of degradation.” In particular, multilateral donors who contribute the largest amounts of funding to large-scale restoration initiatives are described as tending to prioritize “social agendas” in their funding choices.

The FLR database forms part of the Land Use, Carbon & Emission Data (LUCID) portal, co-managed by WUR and CIFOR. [Database Overview] [Full Database] [Publication: Forest Restoration: Getting Serious About the ‘Plus’ in REDD+] [Publication Landing Page]