Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is a planned process that aims to regain ecological integrity and enhance human wellbeing in deforested or degraded landscapes. The aim of this book is to explore options to better integrate the diverse dimensions - spatial, disciplinary, sectoral, and scientific - of implementing FLR. It demonstrates the value of an integrated and interdisciplinary approach to help implement FLR focusing specifically on four issues: understanding the drivers of forest loss and degradation in the context of interdisciplinary responses for FLR; learning from related integrated approaches; governance issues related to FLR as an integrated process; and the management, creation and use of different sources of knowledge in FLR implementation. The emphasis is on recognising the need to take human and institutional factors into consideration, as well as the more obvious biophysical factors. A key aim is to advance and accelerate the practice of FLR, given its importance, particularly in a world facing increasing environmental challenges, notably from climate change. The first section of the book presents the issue from an analytical and problem-orientated viewpoint, while later sections focus on solutions. It will interest researchers and professionals in forestry, ecology, geography, environmental governance and landscape studies.

Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline, developed from practitioners’ efforts to restore degraded land, with interest also coming from applied ecologists attracted by the potential for restoration projects to apply and/or test developing theories on ecosystem development. Since then, forest landscape restoration (FLR) has emerged as a practical approach to forest restoration particularly in developing countries, where an approach which is both large-scale and focuses on meeting human needs is required. Yet despite increased investigation into both the biological and social aspects of FLR, there has so far been little success in systematically integrating these two complementary strands. Bringing experts in landscape studies, natural resource management and forest restoration, together with those experienced in conflict management, environmental economics and urban studies, this book bridges that gap to define the nature and potential of FLR as a truly multidisciplinary approach to a global environmental problem. The book will provide a valuable reference to graduate students and researchers interested in ecological restoration, forest ecology and management, as well as to professionals in environmental restoration, natural resource management, conservation, and environmental policy.

Agroforestry -- the practice of integrating trees and other large woody perennials on farms and throughout the agricultural landscape -- is increasingly recognized as a useful and promising strategy that diversifies production for greater social, economic, and environmental benefits. Agroforestry and BiodiversityConservation in Tropical Landscapes brings together 46 scientists and practitioners from 13 countries with decades of field experience in tropical regions to explore how agroforestry practices can help promote biodiversity conservation in human-dominated landscapes, to synthesize the current state of knowledge in the field, and to identify areas where further research is needed. Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes is the first comprehensive synthesis of the role of agroforestry systems in conserving biodiversity in tropical landscapes, and contains in-depth review chapters of most agroforestry systems, with examples from many different countries. It is a valuable source of information for scientists, researchers, professors, and students in the fields of conservation biology, resource management, tropical ecology, rural development, agroforestry, and agroecology.

This book offers perspectives on how to develop a sustainable global balance of urbanization, land-use intensification, land abandonment, and multifunctional cultural landscapes. The focus is on the latter by describing the large variety of traditional cultural landscapes having evolved through centuries or even millennia by the use of the natural, terrestrial and aquatic resources. Those cultural landscapes encompass pasture, agroforestry, terraced, irrigation, coastal, monastic, and sacred landscapes as well as lake-, river-, and saltscapes. The restoration of low-input land-use systems which often carry a high biodiversity on the species, ecosystem, and landscape level as well as agrobiodiversity and agrodiversity is outlined. The restoration of multifunctional and diverse landscapes, however, is not only an ecological issue but encompasses many socio-economic aspects such as e.g., the revitalization of villages, eco-tourism, healthy food production, infrastructure, and rural-urban partnerships. Global environmental problems, which are related to urbanization and the intensification of the use of land and water resources are comprehensively outlined. Land abandonment which occurs on all continents is qualitatively and quantitatively assessed and the consequences for natural and cultural heritage loss is highlighted. With the presentation of current rural development and landscape conservation strategies on the national as well as international level, the topic reflects the high significance of environmental policy on the global scale. The global implementation of natural and cultural heritage conservation is, for example, given by the UNESCO World Heritage Sites, National Parks, Biosphere Reserves, Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Sites, High Nature Value Farmland, and the Satoyama initiative. However, also the “every-day” landscapes can contribute to biodiversity and strong sustainability. This comprehensive compendium, based on about 4,000 references of scientific studies, literature reviews, project reports, and environmental policy papers is thought for all students, scholars, and stakeholders from multifaceted disciplines, interested in multifunctional cultural landscapes and how traditions and innovation on the landscape level can be merged for a sustainable future on our planet. Case studies from all over the world are presented which can be used in Higher Education or to demonstrate the numerous approaches of sustainable rural development.

This book, published in cooperation with WWF International, integrates the restoration of forest functions into landscape conservation plans. The contents represent the collective body of knowledge and experience of WWF and its many partners - collected here for the first time. This guide will serve as a first stop for practitioners and researchers in many organizations and regions, and as a key reference on the subject.