Scope of the study/review
Looking at " Forest Rehabilitation Initiatives"
which we consider to be
Deliberate activities aimed at artificial and/or natural regeneration
of trees on formerly forested grasslands, brushlands, scrublands,
or barren areas for the purpose of enhancing productivity, livelihood,
and/or environmental service benefits.
The focus of review would be initiatives that aim
to actually establish trees on formerly forested land; and not be
strictly technical trials of species or planting design, or assessments
of success or impacts, or creation of manuals/ guidelines, or larger
policy or institutional changes not directly related to a specific
rehabilitation initiative. Integrated projects with forest rehabilitation
components will also be included in this review.
- Deliberate activities
could include
- Technical interventions: protection, planting, site management,
silvicultural practices
- New or revised socio-economic arrangements: marketing,
financial and economic incentives, infrastructure, access,
education and awareness, authority and responsibility arrangements,
distribution of costs and benefits, extension and capacity
building
- New or revised institutional arrangements: land tenure,
policies, rules and regulations, enforcement, institutions
(customary/local and State level), monitoring
- Artificial and/or natural regeneration
of trees - It will include any rehabilitation methods
that involve trees - from agroforestry to plantations to assisted
natural regeneration.
- Formerly forested grasslands, brushlands,
scrublands, or barren areas - The focus will be
restricted to initiatives that aim to put trees back on formerly
forested lands, and not include the rehabilitation of degraded
or secondary forest areas.
Modified from van Noordwijk et al. (2003)
Formerly forested lands include grasslands, brushlands, scrublands,
or barren areas severely impacted by intensive and/or repeated disturbance
with consequently inhibited or delayed forest regrowth. Questions
on existing land cover and % tree cover could help clarify status
of the site prior to the rehabilitation initiative. Intensive and/or
repeated disturbances could include mining, overextraction of wood,
repeated fires, overgrazing, intensive agriculture, failed plantations,
invasive species, floods, drought, and combinations of the above.
For the purpose of this review, rehabilitation of mined areas will
be excluded.
- Purpose of enhancing productivity,
livelihood, and/or environmental service benefits
- Objectives could span the whole range from productivity to livelihood
and/or environmental benefits for different stakeholders. Examples:
Production of timber, fuelwood, pulp and paper, poles, charcoal,
or NTFPs; agroforestry; biodiversity conservation; watershed functions;
soil conservation; carbon sequestration; regreening of bare land;
or any combination.
Type of environments
- Restricted to upland and lowland areas, and excluding wetlands.
Forestry sector involvement
- Restrict to projects that the forestry sector has been involved
in in terms of jurisdiction, planning, or management.
Reasons for such focus/
scope
- The concept as used here is an expansion from traditional
views of forest rehabilitation or reforestation which focus
primarily on the technical aspects. New or revised socio-economic
and institutional interventions that bring about rehabilitation
of formerly forested sites are also included. Often lack of
such socio-economic and institutional interventions are the
primary constraints to bringing back trees on such lands.
- The focus is restricted to rehabilitation of grasslands, brushlands,
scrublands, or barren areas because :
- Potentially different management interventions are called
for in the rehabilitation of grasslands, brushlands, scrublands,
or barren areas versus rehabilitation of degraded forest
areas
- Focusing on formerly forested lands will hopefully help
to delimit the range of initiatives being considered to
a logical identifiable threshold
- Bringing back forests on grasslands, brushlands, scrublands,
or barren areas could be important in helping to reduce
degrading pressures on existing forests
- Rehabilitation of mined areas will be excluded because tenure
of mined lands is often very clear and rehabilitation constraints
are usually primarily technical. A large body of knowledge already
exists on technical methods to rehabilitate post-mined lands.
- Wetlands will be excluded because of the need to constrain
the review to a manageable size.
- Restricted to projects that the forestry sector has been
involved in for ease of gathering data. This does not necessarily
imply projects on forest lands alone, since the forestry sector
could have been involved in planning and managing restoration
projects on agricultural and other lands as well.
 Download
PDF file (studyfocus.pdf)
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