Forest landscape investments
The Strategy
The Vision
Latin America has more than 450 million hectares of deforested and degraded land. As this land fails to deliver the complete set of economic benefits possible under pristine or sustainably managed conditions, it contributes to rural poverty and market inefficiencies.
Forest landscape investments provide an opportunity to reclaim these lost benefits by paving the way for a forest-based green economy that meets the social and environmental needs of present and future generations for decades to come.
The forest landscape approach can manifest in different ways: commercial tree planting, enrichment planting, agroforestry, natural forest management,
or a mosaic of trees integrated into mixed-use landscapes such as silvopastoral systems.
This wide spectrum of investment options allows to adjust and optimize ecosystem goods and services in response to changing societal and environmental needs, creating a resilient business model able to buffer all sorts of disturbance.
Attracting sufficient funding for forest landscape restoration is the key challenge to successful implementation. As public support is unlikely to meet total financing needs, the effectiveness of the approach will rely on attracting significant private sector investments.
How it works
Guiding principles
Forest landscape restoration investments contribute to regain lost environmental services and strengthen ecosystem resilience for the future.
Seven principles are key to the success of the approach:
Focus on landscapes
Forest landscape investments take place within and across entire landscapes. They do not focus on individual sites but represent a mosaic of interacting land uses and management practices under various governance and tenure systems.
Ecosystem protection
Forest landscape investments do not fuel deforestation or forest degradation but enhance the conservation, recovery, and sustainable management of forests to maintain and restore vital ecosystems.
Stakeholder engagement
Forest landscape restoration investments involve stakeholders at different governance levels in land use planning, decision-making, restoration practice and climate strategy processes.
Context specific
Forest landscape restoration investments include a wide range of restoration measures that are adapted to the unique economic, social, and environmental contexts on the ground.
Scientific background
Forest landscape restoration investments draw on the latest science and international best practices integrated with traditional knowledge and tailored to available capacities.
Holistic approach
Forest landscape restoration investments contribute to restore multiple ecological, social and economic functions across a landscape and generate a range of ecosystem goods and services that benefit multiple stakeholder groups.
Long-term resilience
Forest landscape restoration investments support preventive and adaptive measures that meet changing environmental and social needs, strengthening the resilience of ecosystems over the medium and long-term.