People-Centric Nature-Based Land Restoration through Agroforestry: A Typology

Abstract

Restoration depends on purpose and context. At the core it entails innovation to halt ongoing and reverse past degradation. It aims for increased functionality, not necessarily recovering past system states. Location-specific interventions in social-ecological systems reducing proximate pressures, need to synergize with transforming generic drivers of unsustainable land use. After reviewing pantropical international research on forests, trees, and agroforestry, we developed an options-by-context typology. Four intensities of land restoration interact: R.I. Ecological intensification within a land use system, R.II. Recovery/regeneration, within a local social-ecological system, R.III. Reparation/recuperation, requiring a national policy context, R.IV. Remediation, requiring international support and investment. Relevant interventions start from core values of human identity while addressing five potential bottlenecks: Rights, Know-how, Markets (inputs, outputs, credit), Local Ecosystem Services (including water, agrobiodiversity, micro/mesoclimate) and Teleconnections (global climate change, biodiversity). Six stages of forest transition (from closed old-growth forest to open-field agriculture and re-treed (peri)urban landscapes) can contextualize interventions, with six special places: water towers, riparian zone and wetlands, peat landscapes, small islands and mangroves, transport infrastructure, and mining scars. The typology can help to link knowledge with action in people-centric restoration in which external stakeholders coinvest, reflecting shared responsibility for historical degradation and benefits from environmental stewardship.

Soil Organic Matter, Mitigation of and Adaptation to Climate Change in Cocoa–Based Agroforestry Systems

“…However, the changes in soil properties are slow and gradual and only a partial recovery towards the conditions found in secondary forest was recorded, even for 45-year old mixed agroforest. This slow belowground change relative to aboveground appearance is in-line with restoration experience elsewhere [56].…”

Cost-Benefit Analysis of Landscape Restoration: A Stocktake

“…Several factors ought to be considered while deciding on the restoration strategy to be employed; the specific ecosystem resilience, the land-use history, the landscape context, the goal for the restoration, and available resources [14]. In addition, depending on the level of land degradation, and the intended impact of restoration on land use and land-use changes [17] distinguishes four intensities/levels of restoration; ecological intensification, recovery/regeneration, reparation/recuperation, and remediation. Table 1 presents a summary of some of the commonly practiced landscape restoration options/strategies in different land use or ecosystem types adapted from Reference [18,19].…”

Restoring the Unrestored: Strategies for Restoring Global Land during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (UN-DER)

“…Therefore, as a global citizen, it is the responsibility of each and every individual to inspire and motivate others to take part in land restoration ventures. Importantly, adopting a culture of restoration in our daily life itself is one of the best strategies to keep the ball rolling [82,83]. Learning the biocultural practices of indigenous and local people from diverse parts of the world is essential to understand the relevance of implying cultural practices for land restoration [81,83] and also for attaining multi-level sustainability goals in a timebound manner [84].…”