Local Decision-making is Essential for Effective and Long-Lasting Tropical Reforestation
Engaging with and empowering local decision-making processes is key to creating restoration interventions that will be integrated into local lives and communities, and thereby persist into the future. Effective local governance can be achieved through a variety of different models and strategies. Restoration can tap into existing governance structures (for example, farming associations) or can galvanize communities around new structures, institutions, partnerships and/or tenure arrangements.
Case studies from the PARTNERS network show that, in the right context, creating public-private partnerships worked well to engage local communities; in others, creating restoration projects on communal land gave people the space and opportunity to collectively restore and reforest land. However, in all cases understanding local decision making processes (or lack thereof) and empowering local stakeholders to engage in restoration governance and implementation are essential for effective and long-lasting restoration.
SUPPORTING PAPERS
- Analysis Shows Gaps in Understanding of Impacts of Forest Restoration on Local Livelihoods (Adams et al. 2016)
- How Community-based Forest Led to Rules to Protect Young Recovering Forests (Bray 2016)
- How Public-private Partnership Can Empower Communities and Improve Restoration Outcomes (Cagalanan 2016)
- Empowering Local Citizens to Make Forest Management and Restoration Decisions (Holder 2016)
- Rural Villager Association Shows Leadership, Empowerment and Inclusivity in Restoring Watersheds (Kramer & Vallarino 2016)
- Stakeholders Describe Multiple Dimensions of Trade-offs Among Reforestation Alternatives (Lazos et al. 2016)
- Strengthening Local Governance to Promote FLR (Mansourian et al. 2016)
- The Value of Community-managed Agroforests and Second-growth Forests as Restoration Approaches (Souza et al. 2016)
- Strategies, Adaptations and Innovations for Governing Tomorrow’s Forest Landscapes (Wilson & Cagalanan 2016)
- Participatory Planning Essential for Achieving Successful Outcomes in Governing Riparian Forest Restoration (Meli and Brancalion 2017)
- Participatory Restoration Planning and Strengthening Community Capacity are Key Strategies to Achieve Restoration Success
(Gregorio & Herbohn 2018) - Exploring the Social and Ecological Trade-offs in Tropical Reforestation: A Role-Playing Exercise (Fagan and Schwartz 2019)