T he Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) sets the policy framework for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use through the commitments of 195 countries and the European Union. The Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020 included Aichi Biodiversity Target 12, which set the goal for 2020 of preventing the extinction of known threatened species and improving and sustaining their conservation status. Despite government commitments and successful efforts for certain species 1 , the overall extinction risk continues to increase, and widespread implementation shortfalls will prevent Target 12 from being met 2 . A new global framework with revised goals and targets is currently being negotiated, which places the stabilization and restoration of species' populations as an outcome goal for 2030, as a stepping stone towards the CBD's 2050 Vision 3,4 .

Forest loss and degradation globally has resulted in declines in multiple ecosystem services and reduced habitat for biodiversity. Forest landscape restoration offers an opportunity to mitigate these losses, conserve biodiversity, and improve human well-being. As part of the Bonn Challenge, a global effort to restore 350 million hectares of deforested and degraded land by 2030, over 30 countries have recently made commitments to national forest landscape restoration. In order to achieve these goals, decision-makers require information on the potential benefits and costs of forest landscape restoration to efficiently target investments. In response to this need, we developed an approach using a suite of ecosystem service mapping tools and a multi-objective spatial optimization technique that enables decision-makers to estimate the potential benefits and opportunity costs of restoration, visualize tradeoffs associated with meeting multiple objectives, and prioritize where restoration could deliver the greatest benefits. We demonstrate the potential of this approach in Uganda, one of the nations committed to the Bonn Challenge. Using maps of the potential benefits and costs of restoration and efficiency frontiers for optimal restoration scenarios, we were able to communicate how ecosystem services benefits vary spatially across the country and how different weights on ecosystem services objectives can affect the allocation of restoration across Uganda. This work provides a generalizable approach to improve investments in forest landscape restoration and illuminates the tradeoffs associated with alternative restoration strategies.

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