Community Forestry and Forest and Landscape Restoration in Developing Countries: Learning from the Field

Dear Colleagues,

In response to unprecedented need and global commitments, practitioners, NGOs, and policy makers are seeking ways to scale up restoration over vast areas. Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) is an approach that provides benefits to people and nature by choosing from a basket of restoration options, including agroforestry, natural regeneration, tree planting for restoration, and tree planting for harvest. Examples from around the world suggest the most effective restoration projects (1) provide tangible benefits and (2) actively engage local communities in planning, leading and carrying out restoration, with appropriate support (technical, educational, and financial) from implementers. However, the field still grapples with how to implement FLR: how to engage communities, govern and implement restoration, and manage projects autonomously in the long term. Community forestry could play a significant role in this. As a field, community forestry has been tackling how to devolve resource control to local people to achieve both economic and ecological benefits, a problem currently faced by FLR practitioners. As a practice, community forests and forestry could be a key benefit-producing component of an FLR program as these benefits are concrete and tangible.

The goal of this Special Issue is to explore the potential of community forestry in FLR, both as a part of an FLR program and as a field that could inform restoration efforts. What does this look like on the ground? What is the potential of community forestry to contribute to FLR? What are the keys to successful, lasting restoration that benefits both people and forests? This SI seeks papers that address these topics through rigorously researched and documented case examples from around the world. Empirical work or reviews are also welcome. We invite papers from a range of fields and disciplines; these can focus on ecological, social, and/or economic factors, but should attempt to explore all three to some degree (especially case studies). Additional guidance will be provided for case study write-ups.

Dr. Sarah Jane Wilson
Guest Editor

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