Enhancing Resilience Through Forest Landscape Restoration: Understanding Synergies and Identifying Opportunities November 2017
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IUCN/Ali Raza Rizvi Discussion Paper Enhancing Resilience through Forest Landscape Restoration: Understanding Synergies and Identifying Opportunities November 2017 This document is the first in a series intended to (1) identify and highlight the contribution of forest landscape restoration towards enhancing landscape resilience, as well as the resilience of communities dependent on forests (and the ecosystems services they provide); (2) promote understanding within the resilience community of how forest landscape restoration can enhance resilience; and (3) help build a better case to communicate restoration benefits in climate policy processes and mechanisms (e.g. adaptation, disaster risk reduction, co-benefits, etc.) This analysis aims to inform decision makers, practitioners, and other stakeholders involved in the fields of forestry and resilience of the opportunities for integrating forest landscape restoration with resilience principles, and the synergies therein. The views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of IUCN. IUCN acknowledges the support of the KNOWFOR program, funded by UK aid from the UK government. This publication has been made possible in part by funding from the International Climate Initiative (IKI) of the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB). Suggested citation: Baig, Saima; Rizvi, Ali Raza and Mike Jones. 2017. Enhancing Resilience through Forest Landscape Restoration: Understanding Synergies and Identifying Opportunities (Discussion Paper). IUCN, Gland, Switzerland. 16 pp. Additional review and inputs provided by Angela Andrade, Elmedina Krilasevic, Chetan Kumar, Salome Begeladze, Maria Garcia Espinosa, and Katherine Blackwood. 2 Key messages Forest landscape restoration is the ongoing process of regaining ecological functionality and enhancing human well-being across deforested or degraded forest landscapes. forest landscape restoration is more than just planting trees – it is restoring a whole landscape “forward” to meet present and future needs and to offer multiple benefits and land uses over time. Forest landscape restoration approaches and practices provide opportunities for enhancing socio-ecological resilience in landscapes. At the same time, resilience principles can make valuable contributions to forest landscape restoration implementation, thus ensuring that socio-ecological resilience is enhanced. 1. Introduction Forests are invaluable ecosystems, providing countless goods and services to people across the globe. These goods and services take the form of food, fuel, medicine, employment and income (i.e. provisioning services). Local communities as well as national and global markets use wood and non-timber forest products (NTFP) for various purposes. Forests also support extensive biodiversity; providing habitat and food sources for various species, soil formation and nutrient cycling; and deliver indirect benefits, such as watershed protection (i.e. supporting services). They provide regulating services such as climate and flood regulation and water purification. Finally, they have cultural, religious, aesthetic and recreational values. According to one estimate, the economic benefits of forests amount to US$ 130 million per year.i The rural poor (approximately 1.6 billion people),ii in particular, benefit extensively from forest goods and services. However, forests around the world are being converted to other land uses, jeopardizing these benefits. This conversion comes in many forms, such as clear-cutting for agriculture, ranching and development, unsustainable logging for timber, and degradation due to climate change and forest fires. One estimate suggests that 30% of the Earth’s original forest cover has been converted for other uses, and an additional 20% has been degraded.iii This amounts to two billion hectares of forest lands across the world which have been degraded and deforested to such a degree that the number and quality of ecosystem services they produce have been dramatically diminished.iv Diminished ecosystem services in turn affect the wellbeing of forest dependent communities, rendering them unequipped to deal with future shocks. The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) estimates that globally 20% of cultivated lands, 30% of forests, and 10% of grasslands are currently degraded.v This degradation has translated into economic losses, and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB) calculated that the cost of forest loss was between US$ 2-5 trillion per year.vi 3 In addition, the impacts of climate change can be felt across Box 1. Forests have four major roles in climate many forest ecosystems, affecting human societies in a change: multitude of ways. It affects humans directly, and both 1. They currently contribute about one- humans and biodiversity indirectly, through its influence on sixth of global carbon emissions when forest (and other) landscapes. Furthermore, forests across the cleared, overused or degraded; 2. They react sensitively to a changing globe are being impacted not only by climate change and its climate; associated disturbances such as flooding, droughts, wildfires 3. When managed sustainably, they and insects but also by other drivers of change such as land produce wood-fuels as a benign vii alternative to fossil fuels; use, pollution, and overexploitation. Since communities are 4. They have the potential to absorb also dependent on biodiversity, they are impacted when about one-tenth of global carbon species are affected. In turn, however, forest landscapes are emissions projected for the first half of this century into their biomass, soils key to addressing climate change and its impacts (see Box 1). and products and store them - in Global vegetation patterns are heavily dependent on climate principle in perpetuity and human influences that affect the distribution, structure, Source: FAO 2012; and ecology of forests. viii Particular climate regimes are http://www.fao.org/forestry/climatechange/5 3459/en/ associated with specific plant communities or functional types ix and climate change can therefore have extensive impacts on the configuration of forests. x The Third Assessment Report of the IPCC thus predicts that forest ecosystems are likely to be seriously hampered by future climate change. xi This is likely to occur even if global warming in this century is less than projected, resulting in changes in species composition, productivity, and biodiversity. xii xiii According to the FAO , the increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO2 due to change in climate will directly affect forest growth and production. On the other hand, changes in temperature and precipitation will result in indirect impacts through complex interactions in the forest ecosystems. Although warming in temperate and boreal zones may have a positive effect on ecosystems, a decline in precipitation and an increase in decomposition rates is likely to nullify this. xiv Furthermore, the increase in productivity in some tropical zones will be temporary; and in drylands, the increase in temperature might lead to increased plant stress, decreasing their productivity. xv It is important to note that these are complex processes, with a wide range of possible outcomes - some of which may be positive and some negative. Changes in forest productivity due to climate change (and other factors) are likely to have a multitude of impacts on natural and human systems. It will influence the production of wood and wood products, thus leading to losses in income for forest communities and the timber industry. This is likely to reduce the overall capacity for economic production and increase the risks for economic activities. Local communities are also likely to be more at risk from exposure to climate extremes (such as droughts, floods and fires). Biodiversity will be impacted as forests shift towards the poles and vulnerable species could be lost. xvi The higher predicted incidences of extreme events will have a devastating effect on the forest flora and fauna, as will the increase in forest fires due to droughts, and floods. xvii Changes in precipitation and runoff patterns will result in decreases in the availability of water in many parts of the world's forested watersheds, thus decreasing the goods and services they provide. xviii Incidences of pest outbreaks are also 4 expected to rise as the defenses of host species change with a changing climate, as well as with the change in the abundance of parasites and predators. FAO cites examples where insect and pathogen lifecycles or habits have been altered by local or larger-scale climate change (e.g. mountain pine beetles in North America and pine and oak caterpillars in Europe).xix Taken together, forest degradation and deforestation are the source of 1.6 Giga-tons (Gt) of annual carbon emissions,xx which contribute to escalating climate instability that affects many of the world’s poorest or most vulnerable communities. It is well established that the degradation and deforestation of landscapes can cause downward spirals into poverty.xxi High population growth and lack of agricultural diversification can encourage farmers to cultivate continuously, thus reducing soil fertility and future crop yields. Degradation and deforestation have been routinely linked to the increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters, particularly floods and landslides. It is therefore necessary to implement strategies and approaches aimed at enhancing