Manuel R. Guariguata

• M.Sc., Ph.D.
• Senior Research Associate at Center for International Forestry Research

Monitoring is crucial to meet the goals of the major global forest landscape restoration (FLR) initiatives that are underway. If members of the global FLR community are going to learn from one another, a multi‐scalar, multi‐site monitoring approach is needed to generate information that can provide the basis for social learning and adaptive managem...

Secondary cloud forests (SCFs), those that regenerate naturally following abandonment of human activities in previously deforested land, are of great value as refuges of high species diversity and for their critical role in hydrological regulation. This opinion paper analyzes the main environmental, socio-economic, and regulatory aspects that curre...

Natural forest regrowth is critical for restoring ecosystem services in degraded landscapes and providing forest resources. Those who control tenure and access rights to these secondary forest areas determine who benefits from economically charged off-farm opportunities such as finance for forest restoration, selling carbon credits, and receiving p...

The strategy of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration identifies three pathways for action for overcoming six global barriers thought to hamper upscaling. We evaluated 6,023 peer-reviewed and gray literature papers published over the last two decades to map the information landscape underlying the barriers and associated pathways for a...

Despite growing global attention on forest landscape restoration (FLR) as an integrated approach to enhancing environmental and human well‐being, the potential for leveraging monitoring to catalyze learning and improve management outcomes is not being fully realized. We assessed the extent to which collaborative monitoring, a process that embraces...

A global assessment of the status of tertiary, vocational, and technical forest education and training found deficits in the inclusion of knowledge and student diversity. Coverage of forest services and cultural and social issues was characterized as weak in the curricula of many programs. The inclusion of traditional and Indigenous knowledge was f...

The Taskforce on Best Practices, established under the leadership of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), is a collaborative effort of ca. 300 members from more than 100 global organizations that supports capacity development and knowledge dissemination to help achieve the vision of the United Nations Decade on Ecosyst...

A governance perspective that connects actors at multiple levels in forest restoration is largely missing and much needed to expedite the translation of national restoration targets into long‐lasting outcomes. An explicit focus on the interactions across governance levels, and how these influence ecological processes at different spatial levels, ca...

The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030 (hereafter “UN Decade”) recognizes the critical need to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of the world’s ecosystems. Effective restoration of degraded ecosystems is of paramount importance for recovering biodiversity, ecosystem health and integrity, ecosystem goods and services, c...

Objectives of the Study Many actors globally are attempting to reverse deforestation and forest degradation, combat climate change, and conserve biodiversity, describing their actions with a wide range of often confusing terms. We sought to clarify how seven common terms and concepts are used in the scientific literature, and how to use them more e...

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El monitoreo colaborativo en la restauración del paisaje forestal (RPF) ofrece una forma de vincular a los implementadores con los actores relevantes, facilitar la transferencia del conocimiento, compartir las mejores prácticas y aprender de los errores entre las escalas y los niveles de gobernanza. El estado actual del monitoreo colaborativo en La...

Secondary forests, i.e., those arising after the clearance and abandonment of previously forested land, dominate tropical forest landscapes, rapidly sequester carbon, provide essential ecosystem services and are prone to re-clearance. Secondary cloud forests (SCF) play a particularly critical role for biodiversity and hydrological regulation. To pr...

The global food system is failing to deliver sufficient and nutritious food to all, while damaging the earth and unsustainably drawing down its resources. We argue that trees and forests are essential to solving these challenges. We outline the current contributions of trees and forests to the global food system and present recommendations to lever...

Bibliographic database of peer-reviewed and gray literature publications over 1990 and 2021, presenting information related to ecosystem restoration, and that may be associated as evidence for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The database constitutes the full list of an information map on the evidence underlying the six barriers, and their a...

Governments are negotiating actions intended to halt biodiversity loss and put it on a path to recovery by 2050. Here, we show that bending the curve for biodiversity is possible, but only if actions are implemented urgently and in an integrated manner. Connecting these actions to biodiversity outcomes and tracking progress remain a challenge.

Natural forest regrowth is a cost‐effective, nature‐based solution for biodiversity recovery, yet different socioenvironmental factors can lead to variable outcomes. A critical knowledge gap in forest restoration planning is how to predict where natural forest regrowth is likely to lead to high levels of biodiversity recovery, which is an indicator...

EXPERT INPUT TO THE POST-2020 GLOBAL BIODIVERSITY FRAMEWORK: TRANSFORMATIVE ACTIONS ON ALL DRIVERS OF BIODIVERSITY LOSS ARE URGENTLY REQUIRED TO ACHIEVE THE GLOBAL GOALS BY 2050

Forests and trees are critical for the survival of life on earth. They conserve a tremendous biodiversity and fulfill essential ecosystem services such as climate regulation, cycling of nutrients and water. They contribute to food and nutrition security, are a major source of raw materials and offer countless livelihood opportunities. However, fore...

¿Tiene México las condiciones técnicas y económicas para abordar con responsabilidad la década de la restauración Ecológica? ¿Compensan las acciones actuales de RE en México las tasas de degradación de sus ecosistemas? ¿Qué tanto pesa la producción científica en el desarrollo de la RE ecológica en México? ¿Qué tanto aportan y podrían aportan las in...

To support the implementation of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and help achieve its goals, there is a need for a shared vision of ecosystem restoration. A key step in creating a shared vision of ecosystem restoration is to adopt principles that underpin the full set of ecosystem restoration activities. To this end, this brochure presents t...

To maximize trees restoration potential, it is crucial to know where and how. In this study led by Rens Brouwer, we explored the planting performance and productivity of a socio-environmentally highly valuable species from the Amazon, the Brazil nut tree, and compared its planting success across management practices, degraded areas, agroforestry sy...

1. Forest landscape restoration (FLR) has gained momentum globally and guidance is needed to identify those species, sites and planting methods that increase restoration success. Incorporating native Non-Timber Forest Product (NTFP) species in FLR approaches provides an opportunity to simultaneously deliver ecological and economic benefits. The Bra...

We reflect on the socioeconomic challenges in designing, implementing and monitoring tree planting activities using a case study of Ethiopia, a country aiming to restore 15 of the 127.7 million hectares (ha) pledged by 31 African countries as of June 2021. Based on a literature review and expert assessments, we describe and analyse the historical c...

Background: A deep discussion of the phases of planning by all stakeholders will help to identify the challenges faced by countries that are embarking on large-scale restoration actions to comply with international agreements. Question: Was the planning phase of restoration projects done according to international guidance? We evaluated six of the...

Brazil nuts are an economically important non-timber forest product throughout the Amazon Basin, but the forests in which they grow are under threat of severe degradation by logging, road building, agricultural expansion, and forest fires. As a result, many Brazil nut trees grow within a mosaic of young secondary forest, primary forest remnants and...

Forest and landscape restoration (FLR) provides a framework for implementing restorative interventions that collectively address major environmental challenges such as soil and land degradation, biodiversity loss, water scarcity, lack of sustainable rural livelihoods, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. Restorative interventions can take...

Forests, trees and agroforestry are part of major land-use transitions worldwide, with an impact on the balance between the global issues of planetary boundaries and local concerns about livelihoods and peoples’ rights. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include complex trade-offs between various local and global interests in forests or de...

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is being promoted as a means of tackling global challenges including land degradation, climate change, biodiversity conservation and sustainable development. However, as the FLR agenda gains momentum, it is critical that FLR initiatives pay sufficient attention in promoting the sustainable management of woodfuels,...

1. The global food system is causing large-scale environmental degradation and is a major contributor to climate change. Its low diversity and failure to produce enough fruits and vegetables is contributing to a global health crisis. 2. The extraordinary diversity of tropical tree species is increasingly recognized to be vital to planetary health...

Natural regeneration is key for large-scale forest restoration, yet it may lead to different biodiversity outcomes depending on socio-environmental context. We combined the results of a global meta-analysis to quantify how biodiversity recovery in naturally regenerating forests deviates from biodiversity values in reference old-growth forests, with...

Las iniciativas de la restauración del paisaje forestal pueden verse obstaculizadas por falta de comunicación o tal vez por la superposición entre sectores, políticas no alineadas con un objetivo común y por desbalances de información y poder tanto al interior como entre diferentes niveles de gobierno. Es necesario enfocarse en cómo funcionan los a...

Governance arrangements directly influence decision making processes and the degree to which different stakeholder groups are engaged in planning, implementing, and receiving benefits from Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR). Narrow institutional and agency mandates must be better aligned to permit new ways of governing landscapes that are cente...

Existing guidelines and best-practices documents do not satisfy, at present, the need for guiding implementation of Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) based on core principles. Given the wide range of FLR practices and the varied spectrum of actors involved, a single working framework is unlikely to be effective, but tailored working frameworks...

Mensajes principales • En condiciones apropiadas, las tierras que fueron sometidas al uso agrícola o pastoril pueden revertir a bosques mediante el proceso de regeneración natural ya sea de forma asistida o sin asistencia. Estos nuevos bosques conservan biodiversidad, brindan un amplio espectro de bienes y servicios ecosistémicos, y apoyan econom...

Under suitable conditions, deforested land used for agricultural crops or pastures can revert to forest through the assisted or unassisted process of natural regeneration. These naturally regenerating forests conserve biodiversity, provide a wide array of ecosystem goods and services, and support rural economies and livelihoods. Based on studies in...

Global initiatives such as the Aichi Targets and Bonn Challenge have inspired governments to pledge to restore millions of hectares of degraded lands. Many of these calls to action and policy frameworks identify capacity development as important for implementing and scaling-up restoration activities to meet global targets. However, there is little...

Legal frameworks could play a key role in enabling countries to meet their ambitious forest landscape restoration (FLR) targets. In this paper, we examine the perceptions of different types of stakeholders from 17 Latin American countries on aspects of forestry and environmental legal frameworks that enable or hamper FLR interventions at the nation...

Ecological restoration, when implemented effectively and sustainably, contributes to protecting biodiversity; improving human health and wellbeing; increasing food and water security; delivering goods, services, and economic prosperity; and supporting climate change mitigation, resilience, and adaptation. It is a solutions-based approach that engag...

p>Restoring degraded lands is high on the international agenda and the number of restoration projects in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has increased considerably over the past decades. However, the variety of approaches used have not been systematically documented and analyzed. We aimed to develop a restoration typology as a function of the...

Necesidades y oportunidades 1 Mensajes principales • La capacitación multidimensional dirigida a los profesionales de la restauración en América Latina ha avanzado notablemente en los últimos diez años, aunque todavía se concentra en la dimensión ecológica. • La participación frecuente de los profesionales de la restauración en diferentes tipos de...

Para planificar una iniciativa de restauración de forma colaborativa y llevarla a cabo con éxito, la restauración del paisaje forestal (RPF) requiere del compromiso a largo plazo por parte de una variedad de partes interesadas. Esto solo es posible cuando las personas involucradas, ya sean propietarios de tierras, grupos indígenas, entidades gubern...

In Peru, concessions for harvesting Brazil nuts (fruits of the Amazon tree Bertholletia excelsa) were launched in the Madre de Dios Department in 2000. This study analyses the extent to which the Brazil nut concession system (which covers about 1 million ha of closed canopy forest) has met its objective of providing a governance model for sustainab...

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) requires a long-term commitment from a range of stakeholders to plan the restoration initiative collaboratively and see it through successfully. This is only possible when the people involved – whether they are landholders, indigenous groups, government entities, non-governmental organizations or other crucial act...

The ambitious restoration commitments made by Latin American countries have increased the demand for professionals having multidimensional training in ecological restoration; however, little is known about the kind of training that professionals are currently receiving. Through an online survey, we explored whether restoration professionals in Lati...

Several Andean countries have planned to restore forest cover in degraded land to enhance the provision of multiple ecosystem services in response to international commitments such as the Bonn Challenge. Hydrological services, e.g. water supply, hydrological regulation and erosion mitigation, are particularly important to sustain the life of more t...

The Bonn Challenge, a voluntary global initiative launched in 2011, aims to bring up to 350 million hectares of degraded land into some level of restorative state by 2030. Pilot forest landscape restoration (FLR) efforts indicate that enhancing community and smallholder tenure rights is critical for achieving FLR's desired joint environmental and s...

Las instituciones a cargo de la toma de decisiones enfrentan la necesidad urgente de conservar los bosques remanentes y restablecer la cobertura boscosa en paisajes forestales degradados y deforestados. La escala de la necesidad y la oportunidad para establecer una diferencia, es enorme. La degradación con frecuencia se percibe como “el problema”,...

Hasta la fecha, las acciones encaminadas a la restauración ecológica de los ecosistemas terrestres en México no han sido documentadas de forma sistemática con el propósito de extraer lecciones aprendidas e identificar vacíos de información. El presente estudio describe la situación actual de la práctica de restauración ecológica en sus dimensiones...

New, global initiatives to restore forest landscapes present an unparalleled opportunity to reverse deforestation and forest degradation. Participatory monitoring could play a crucial role in providing accountability, generating local buy in, and catalyzing learning in monitoring systems that need scalability and adaptability to a range of local si...

Decision-making bodies at all scales face an urgent need to conserve remaining forests, and reestablish forest cover in deforested and degraded forest landscapes. The scale of the need, and the opportunity to make a difference, is enormous. Degradation is often viewed as ‘the problem’, and restoration as ‘the solution’. But, rather than being a goa...

This information brief, makes specific recommendations for policy changes that could enhance the role of natural regeneration in ecological restoration interventions and as an integral component of forest and landscape restoration.

En México, las acciones encaminadas a la recuperación de las condiciones, procesos y funciones de los ecosistemas que han sido degradados (i.e., restauración ecológica) necesitan ser documentadas de forma sistemática. Así, el propósito del presente estudio fue caracterizar de manera retrospectiva, los enfoques y estrategias relacionadas con la rest...

The rise of ecosystem services (ES) as a conservation and management tool has changed the way forests are conceived, but so far its translation into management actions has been limited. In this paper, we discuss the development of certification of forest ecosystem services (FES) from the perspective of those implementing it at the local level. We f...

The Brazil nut (the seeds of the rainforest tree Bertholletia excelsa) is the only globally traded seed collected from the wild by forest-based harvesters across the Amazon basin. The large geographic scale of Brazil nut exploitation and the significant contributions to local livelihoods, national economies, and forest-based development over the la...

Avances en proyectos de restauración en México

Los países andinos tropicales comparten la cultura hispánica, un mismo lenguaje y están atravesados por la cordillera más larga del mundo. Pero por otro lado, exhiben una gran heterogeneidad la cual se refleja en la forma como cada país andino aborda la restauración ecológica. La humanidad está pasando por un momento histórico en el cual los países...

La meta Aichi 15 del Convenio sobre la Diversidad Biológica, el Reto de Bonn y la Iniciativa 20x20 son iniciativas orientadas a impulsar la restauración en Latinoamérica, sin embargo, son esfuerzos que no especifican los procesos de restauración.En este estudio se buscaron los países que cuentan con un plan de restauración en Latinoamérica para, po...

Discusiones realizadas en los últimos años en distintos foros y grupos conformados por diferentes actores asociados al sector de plantaciones forestales en Perú han identificado limitantes de tipo regulatorio, fiscal, técnico e institucional que han influido en que este sector no se haya desarrollado a la fecha. Entre ellos se encuentran excesivos...

After more than 20 years and substantial investments of time and money, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification of tropical forest management is due for a stringent impact evaluation. For any social, ecological, and economic outcomes to be attributed to FSC certification, rival explanations need to be ruled out. We recognize that different t...

To date, the spatial distribution pattern and density of Brazil nut trees in logged forest stands is unclear across the Amazon basin. We asked the following questions: (1) What are the densities and spatial distributions of Brazil nut juveniles (10 ≤ dbh < 40 cm) and adults (≥ 40 cm dbh) in three selectively logged Brazil nut concessions (1413 ha s...

New global forest restoration initiatives present an unparalleled opportunity to reverse the trend of deforestation and forest degradation in the coming years. This effort will require the collaboration of stakeholders at all levels, and most importantly, the participation and support of local people. These ambitious restoration initiatives will al...

A major global effort to enable cost-effective natural regeneration is needed to achieve ambitious forest and landscape restoration goals. Natural forest regeneration can potentially play a major role in large-scale landscape restoration in tropical regions. Here, we focus on the conditions that favor natural regeneration within tropical forest lan...

The scope of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification, a market-based mechanism targeting sustainable forest management, could be expanded to certify delivery of a range of forest ecosystem services (FES). To assess the feasibility of such an undertaking, we examined market demand for FES certification based on the benefits and costs applicab...

The planting of forests has been met with both scepticism and support in international forest policy and management fora. Discussions regarding the values of plantations for extrinsic purposes such as timber supply, carbon sequestration, water quality and biodiversity conservation, reveal widely varying opinions across and within different settings...

The main objective of participatory monitoring is to enable the local population, though lacking formal training, to participate in the systematic collection of information. Participatory monitoring has been increasingly adopted in recent decades as a way of devolving the power to make decisions about natural resource management from the government...

The field of ecological restoration (ER) is now challenged by the need to achieve recovery at large spatial scales. Such scaling up requires technological expertise, inclusiveness and clarity of goals, and correct governance schemes and monitoring protocols, which are often absent from ER projects in most countries. We analyze the case of Colombia...

Globally, 1.5 billion people use or trade non-timber forest products (NTFPs) with the majority of NTFP use and trade occurring at local and regional scales, generally invisible to researchers and policy makers. NTFPs cannot be measured by monetary estimations alone, as they have significant subsistence and sociocultural importance and are commonly...

Management decisions on appropriate practices and policies regarding tropical forests often need to be made in spite of innumerable uncertainties and complexities. Among the uncertainties are the lack of formalization of lessons learned regarding the impacts of previous programs and projects. Beyond the challenges of generating the proper informati...

Tree plantations play a controversial role in many nations’ efforts to balance goals for economic development, ecological conservation, and social justice. This paper seeks to contribute to this debate by analyzing the socioeconomic impact of such plantations. We focus our study on Chile, a country that has experienced extraordinary growth of indus...

Although many examples of multiple-use forest management may be found in tropical smallholder systems, few studies provide empirical support for the integration of selective timber harvesting with non-timber forest product (NTFP) extraction. Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) is one of the world's most economically-important NTFP spec...