Projects focusing on the restoration of degraded ecosystems have to be financially appealing, spatially multiscaled, and ecologically efficient. Considering such premises, a model was elaborated to assess the locals in relation to the kind of management to be adopted (conservation or restoration) and, for locals indicated for restoration, the kind of restoration to be adopted (assisted or passive). Furthermore, we propose a set of ecologically-based alternatives at medium-and local-scale to assist the restoration of areas considered unsuitable for passive restoration. Such techniques are: install artificial connectors among forest fragments near each other, or, for areas where forest fragments are far each other, install nucleation techniques, revitalization of concrete-lined urban rivers, and the control of erosion and invasive plant species. We tested the potential of our model through a case study carried out in Sorocaba, Sao Paulo State, Brazil. The study area is predominantly occupied by pasture lands, but urbanization also is an important land cover category. There are 661 forest fragments, being 25 of them larger than 50 ha. From the area considered "non-habitat", i.e., modified due to human usage, 35.5% of the total study area and 45.5% of the study area classified as non-habitat is suitable for passive restoration, and the rest of the area needs is suitable only for assisted restoration techniques. We verified that the facility and low cost of installation are advantageous features of such techniques and the results obtained by mean of application of the assisted techniques indicate that the alternatives tend to accelerate the process of establishing connectivity of the landscape in locals devoid of connections.

Soil erosion and the invasion of exotic plant species are major constraints to achieve sustainable development around the world. Currently, we find few products devoted concomitantly to combatting soil erosion as well as the establishment of unwanted exotic plants. In this paper, we introduce a new product, called herein a bioblanket, that protects the soil and impedes the establishment of exotic plant species. This product is of simple design, and to manufacture it, we use two biodegradable materials: jute tissue and grass wastes. We designed this product to combat soil erosion and the germination and establishment of new, unwanted, invasive plant species. In this paper, we describe our evaluation of how successful this product was in terms of improving the chemical attributes of soil. We also identified the product's potentialities and weaknesses by means of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. The bioblanket ameliorated the chemical attributes of the soil, as evidenced especially by the neutralization of acidity (8.5%) and aluminum toxicity (33%), and by an increment in nutrients concentration. We argue that after adequate treatment and management, the residues of plants that are normally considered unwanted materials can be transformed into a raw material to control the propagation of unwanted plant species, and concomitantly control soil erosion while improving the chemical conditions of the soil. The improvement of the soil chemical attributes was one of the main positive effects reported through the SWOT analysis. In addition, the SWOT analysis revealed some features that need improvement in future generations of the product, but we argue that these features do not impede the benefits for the use of the product in its present form.

The process of landscapes' fragmentation has led to having two realistic complementary options: (a) developing techniques and approaches for conserving the healthy remaining forest fragments and (b) restoring degraded places. The second option can be conducted by projects that focus on restoring or rehabilitating the degraded environment. In this research, a framework was tested through a set of pilot-scale projects in a highly urbanized Municipality of the southeastern Brazilian region (Sorocaba, São Paulo State). Four projects were carried out in order to test the efficacy of techniques devoted to solving different problems of environmental degradation (isolation of fragments, loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, and bioinvasion) in different environments (terrestrial [forested and nonforested] and aquatic [rivers]) through the acceleration and orientation of the process of restoration. Here, we show the main findings, discuss the potential and weaknesses found in each project, and offer some recommendations for future potential users. The projects are constituted of techniques and approaches that are all cheap, naturally based, and easy to be implemented and with a high probability of social comprehension and acceptance. In each project, we got interesting outcomes, considering all successes and limitations (for example, a high reappearance of vegetation in streams and strong control of soil erosion). This model embraces the main aspects of environmental recovering through a feasible, realistic, and socioecological approach, and it brings high potential to be used by other researchers and also for technicians and decision makers who search for feasible and realistic projects.