ITTO

Guidelines for forest landscape
RESTORATION in the tropics

A healthy forest landscape in the Alto Vale do
Itajaí region, Brazil. Photo: © Wigold Schaffer2020 Policy Brief

Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics—policy brief 1

International Tropical Timber Organization

Forest landscaperestoration is an inclusive,
whole-of-landscape approachthat can help reverse landdegradation, increase carbon
storage, conserve biodiversity
and create sustainable
livelihoods for local
communities

Inspecting a 16-year-old plantation in a forest concession,
Indonesia. Photo: © Sari Bumi Kusuma

2 Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics—policy brief

E

normous changes have occurred intropical forest landscapes in recent
decades, and large areas—nearly a billion
hectares—have become degraded andrequire urgent restoration. Considerable
knowledge and experience exists on how
to restore degraded forest landscapes,
and there are many inspiring examples
of success in the tropics.
Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is an
inclusive, whole-of-landscape approachthat can help reverse land degradation,
increase carbon storage, conserve
biodiversity and create sustainable
livelihoods for local communities.
ITTO published guidelines on therestoration, management and rehabilitationof degraded and secondary tropical forests
in 2002—the first international effort toprovide overall guidance on tropical forest
restoration. But FLR is a fast-developing
sphere of science and practice, and manyother guidelines and tools relevant to FLR
have since been released. Field experiences
and research have yielded new information
and approaches.
In light of such developments, ITTO—inclose collaboration with the Collaborative
Partnership on Forests, the Asian Forest
Cooperation Organization and many otherpartners working in tropical forests1—has
now published a new set of guidelines,
Guidelines for Forest Landscape Restorationin the Tropics, with the aim of helping
policymakers, practitioners, communitybased organizations and others to put FLR
into practice in the field. This policy brief
outlines the six FLR principles and theirassociated guiding elements, summarizes
some of the lessons learned, and proposes
immediate actions for assisting uptake ofthe guidelines.

The guidelines are a joint effort of ITTO, members of
the Collaborative Partnership on Forests, particularly theCenter for International Forestry Research, the Food andAgriculture Organization of the United Nations, the Global
Environment Facility, the International Union for Conservationof Nature, the International Union of Forest Research
Organizations and the United Nations Environment
Programme, and other major collaborating institutions,especially the Asian Forest Cooperation Organization,
RECOFTC, WeForest and the World Resources Institute.

1 Collecting biodata from farmers for a benefit-sharing agreement on a community plantation, Offinso
district, Ghana. Photo: © Emmanuel Antwi Bawuah

FLR is defined in the guidelines as an ongoing processof regaining ecological functionality and enhancing humanwellbeing across degraded and deforested forest landscapes.
The process has three key elements: 1) participation;2) adaptive management; and 3) a consistent monitoring
and learning framework.
Overview
Guidelines for Forest Landscape
Restoration in the Tropics is structured
around six principles of FLR developedby the Global Partnership on Forest andLandscape Restoration. The principles areenriched by 32 guiding elements and, foreach of these, by recommended actions
to put FLR into effect in the field. The
guidelines also present case studies in thetropics—showing how FLR can be achieved
and the challenges and opportunities it
presents, especially for local people.
The guidelines provide a basis for policy
decisions and a technical reference thatcan be used or adapted to the needs andcapacities of users. They present therationale for action and indicate the roles
and responsibilities of stakeholders.2

Target audience
The guidelines are intended for:• National and subnational forest andnatural-resource policymakers andlegislators in tropical countries• Restoration practitioners• Community-based organizations• Private-sector organizations• Civil-society organizations• Research and education institutions• International organizations,
governments outside the tropics,
and donor agencies.

The guidelines are voluntary. They may be
adapted as appropriate according to national
and local circumstances.
2Note that the guiding elements are not exhaustive given
the complexity of forest landscapes and the huge diversityof site-specific contexts.

Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics—policy brief 3

Guidelines for Forest Landscape
Restoration in the Tropics isstructured around six principles
of FLR developed by the Global
Partnership on Forest andLandscape Restoration

Restoring pastures in watersheds—clearing grassfrom around recently planted trees, Ecuador.
Photo: © Sarah Wilson

Principles and guidingelements
The principles and guiding elements shownin Table 1 (and described in detail in theguidelines) have been formulated to assist
stakeholders in the development andmonitoring of national policies aimed atcreating enabling conditions for successful
FLR implementation and outcomes. The
principles provide a conceptual basis, andthe guiding elements further describe eachprinciple and the conditions needed forsuccessful FLR. Together, the principles
and guiding elements form a continuum
defining FLR as a concept (Figure 1).
The principles are further described below.

Principle 1: Focus on landscapes
FLR takes place within and acrossentire landscapes. It focuses on restoring
landscapes, not individual sites. FLR needs tobe planned and organized at the landscapescale and not in forested areas alone.
It should consider the variety of existing
interacting land uses and tenure andgovernance arrangements in the landscape.

Principle 2: Engage stakeholders
and support participatory
governanceFLR should actively engage stakeholders—
including women, young people andvulnerable groups—in planning anddecision-making regarding land use,restoration goals and strategies,
implementation methods, benefit sharing,and monitoring, assessment and review.

Principle 3: Restore multiple
functions for multiple benefits
FLR should aim to restore multiple economic,
social and environmental functions in alandscape and to generate a wide rangeof ecosystem goods and services that
equitably benefit stakeholders.

Principle 4: Maintain and enhancenatural forest ecosystems withinlandscapes
FLR should restore dynamic forest
processes related to species composition,
structure, productivity, biodiversity, pollination

4 Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics—policy brief

and floral and faunal genetic diversity. FLR
interventions, therefore, should aim to restore
the productivity, ecosystem functions andcarbon stocks of degraded tropical forests.

Principle 5: Tailor to the local
context using a variety ofapproaches
This principle helps ensure that the planningand implementation of FLR respond to theneeds of local people and ecosystems. The
best way to ensure that FLR is well adapted
to local conditions is for local stakeholders
to be fully involved in its development,implementation, monitoring and assessment.

Principle 6: Manage adaptively
for long-term resilience
FLR is a long-term undertaking. FLR must
be tailored to the local conditions prevailingat the time of commencement but becapable of adaptation to changing
economic, social and environmental
circumstances.

Table 1: Overview of the six principles and 32 guiding elements of FLR
P1

Focus on landscapes

GE1

Undertake inclusive, gender-responsive landscape-level assessment and land-use planning

GE2

Gain recognition that FLR must transcend sector policies

GE3

Conduct FLR at an appropriate scale

GE4

Address tenure and access rights

P2

Engage stakeholders and support participatory governance

GE5

Build adequate governance capacity for decentralized FLR

GE6Obtain strong stakeholder engagement

GE7

Conduct joint stakeholder analysis of the drivers of degradation

GE8

Strive for social equity and benefit sharing

GE9

Conduct participatory FLR planning, decision-making and monitoring

GE10

Build stakeholder capacity for sharing responsibility for FLR

GE11

Address long-term financing for FLR initiatives

GE12

Establish a favourable investment environment for FLR

P3

Restore multiple functions for multiple benefits

GE13

Generate multiple functions and benefits

GE14

Conserve biodiversity and restore ecological functions

GE15

Improve livelihoods

GE16

Make full use of locally based knowledge

P4

Maintain and enhance natural forest ecosystems within landscapes

GE17

Avoid the conversion of natural forests

GE18

Restore degraded forests and rehabilitate degraded forest land

GE19

Avoid forest fragmentation

GE20

Conserve natural grasslands, savannas and wetlands

P5

Tailor to the local context using a variety of approaches

GE21

Assess local context and restrictions

GE22

Allow for future changes in conditions

GE23

Tailor FLR interventions to the local context and generate local benefits

GE24

Achieve the financial and economic viability of FLR investments

GE25

Identify opportunities to increase local incomes

GE26

Develop sustainable supply chains

P6

Manage adaptively for long-term resilience

GE27

Take an adaptive management approach

GE28

Continually measure the biophysical dimensions of the landscape

GE29

Periodically assess vulnerability to climate change

GE30

Develop participatory monitoring of FLR

GE31

Encourage open access to, and the sharing of, information and knowledge

GE32

Report on FLR outcomes

Note: P = principle; GE = guiding element.

Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics—policy brief 5

Figure 1: Principles and guiding elements of FLR—a continuum
P1: Focus onlandscapes
GE1–GE4
GE1–GE4

P6: Manage adaptively
for long-term resilience
GE27–GE32

GE5–GE12

P2: Engage stakeholders
and support participatory
governanceInterdependence
between principles andguiding elements
P5: Tailor to the local
context using a varietyof approaches

GE21–GE26

Note: P = principle; GE = guiding element.

GE13–GE16

GE17–GE20• A central tenet of a landscape approachis that the end goal is not predefined
but determined by stakeholders througha process of visioning and balancing
trade-offs, and this requires clear
dialogue structure and objectives.
• Establishing an effective monitoring andevaluation system is key for the successful
implementation of FLR.
The guidelines present a full set of thelessons learned from the case studies.

P3: Restore multiple
functions for multiple
benefits

P4: Maintain and enhancenatural forest ecosystem
within landscapes

Implementation

Lessons from case studies

The implementation of FLR can benefit
from practical strategies that define, plan,
initiate, sustain, scale up and adapt
interventions to address changing local
needs and environmental conditions,following the logic of project-cyclemanagement. The project-cycle
management framework for FLR is not a
simple, linear process but, rather, iterative,adaptive and hierarchical, with recurringconsultations among stakeholders.

The guidelines present 18 case studies
of FLR interventions in the tropics that havebeen implemented in the past or are under
implementation now. Some of the many
lessons learned from these are as follows:

The guidelines present recommended
actions for putting FLR into effect in an
operational framework comprising thefollowing four phases:• To ensure the effective participation of
local stakeholders and guarantee fairbenefits, communities need to havestrong rights and secured tenure basedon customary practices.

1. Visioning (preparation)—short-term
timeframe to define the FLR goal, and along-term timeframe for achieving thevision.
2. Conceptualization (planning)—
relatively short-term timeframe(e.g. 1 year).
3. Implementation (acting)—mid-term
timeframe (e.g. 3–10 years).
4. Sustainability (sustaining theachievement)—long-term timeframe (atleast decades).

Community members of Thbong Domrey,
Cambodia, patrol their community forest.
Photo: © RECOFTC• Landscape approaches are designed
to function at multiple scales, frominfluencing sustainable land-use
decisions by individuals to reforming
national and regional land-use planningpolicies and guidelines.

• Stakeholder engagement, especiallyamong local communities, plays a bigrole in the success of FLR.
• Strong awareness among local people
and communities of the direct andindirect economic and social benefitsof FLR is essential for obtaining theircommitment and support.
• Institutional conditions that need to
be in place to support FLR include thecoordination of policies and government
programmes to integrate human,
technical and financial resources.
• The equitable participation of local people
is a precondition for successful FLR.

6 Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics—policy briefA landscape view of the Intag Valley,Imbabura Province, northwest Ecuador.
Photo: © Sarah Wilson

An event on National Arbour Day 2017
in Nongbua, Sangthong, Lao People’s
Democratic Republic. Since 2016, theAsian Forest Cooperation Organization
has joined with the Lao government
in demonstrating village-driven forest
management to restore highly
fragmented and degraded forest
landscapes, drawing inspiration fromthe forest restoration experience ofthe Republic of Korea under Saemaul
Undong (New Village Movement).
Photo: © Asian Forest Cooperation
Organization

The way forward
Restoring forest landscapes and sustainably
managing and protecting existing forests
against degradation constitutes acost-effective strategy for reaching the goalsof the Paris Agreement on climate change.
The Sustainable Development Goals
and several other globally agreed policy
instruments, including the United Nations
Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030), recognize FLR as an important tool
for achieving the aspirations such
instruments embody.

A number of immediate
actions can be taken toencourage the use of theguidelines at the nationaland local levels

The ambition of the guidelines summarized
here is to support the goals of stakeholders
in the implementation of FLR and to inform
decision-makers and practitioners in thedevelopment of successful FLR interventions.
A number of immediate actions can be taken
to encourage the use of the guidelines at
the national and local levels, including thefollowing:• Apply the guidelines as a reference andguiding document in the developmentof FLR interventions at the national andsubnational levels as well as in making
finance available for FLR.
• Use the guidelines as a vehicle forincreasing capacity in tropical countries
to undertake FLR, in combination withother specific guidelines, tools andapproaches.
• Identify landscapes where FLR isnecessary, feasible and a local priority
and make a long-term commitment
to its implementation.

• Promote the dissemination andapplication of the guidelines by
local stakeholders and other actors.
• Work to ensure that relevant international
conventions and processes promote anduse the guidelines to advocate andimplement FLR.
• Monitor the impacts of these guidelines
on changing practices in forest andlandscape use throughout the tropics.
ITTO acknowledges the Asian Forest
Cooperation Organization, the Global
Programme Climate Change and Environmentof Swiss Development Cooperation, theCollaborative Partnership on Forests Joint
Initiative on Forest Landscape Restoration,and the Government of the Republic ofKorea for their financial contributions tothe development of the guidelines.
Guidelines for Forest Landscape Restorationin the Tropics can be downloaded atwww.itto.int/guidelines

Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics—policy brief 7

Forest restoration using the framework-species method
has transformed the landscape of the upper Mae Sa Valley,Thailand. Photo: © FORRU-Chiang Mai UniversityInternational Tropical Timber Organization

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8 Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics—policy brief