Restoring Forests and Trees for Sustainable Development: Policies, Practices, Impacts, and Ways Forward

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Forests and trees are crucial for human wellbeing, sustainable development, and ultimately, life on Earth. The critical ecosystem services that forests provide are widely acknowledged, yet their provision is seriously threatened by continuing deforestation and forest degradation.

Restoring Forests and Trees for Sustainable Development utilizes a multidisciplinary perspective to analyze and discuss the various opportunities and challenges of restoring tree and forest cover. It examines forest restoration commitments, policies and programs, their implementation at different scales and contexts, and how forest restoration helps to mitigate environmental, societal, and cultural challenges. This book explores how restoration affects forest ecosystem services, contributes to biodiversity conservation, and generates benefits and synergies, while recognizing the considerable costs, tradeoffs, and variable feasibility of its implementation.

The chapters review forest restoration governance, practices, and technological advances, and reflect on the possibility of sustainable and just approaches to meet the challenges that lie ahead to achieve ambitious international forest restoration targets and commitments.

Dr. Pia Katila is a Senior Scientist at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke).

Dr. Carol J. Pierce Colfer is a Senior Associate at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR).

Dr. Wil de Jong is Professor at the Chair of Silviculture, Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources, Freiburg University, Adjunct Professor at Renmin University of China, School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, and Professor Emeritus at Kyoto University.

Dr. Glenn Galloway is the Director of Master of Sustainable Development Practice program at the University of Florida.

Dr. Pablo Pacheco is the Global Forests Lead Scientist at the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Dr. Georg Winkel is Professor and Chair of the Forest and Nature Conservation Policy Group at Wageningen University.