L13- Forest and Landscape Restoration

• Atmospheric CO2 at the middle of the pacific ocean:

  

  • has increased dramatically→ size of global forests affect this- more CO2 is sucked up in summer

  • caused by converting land to agriculture, degrading forests through selective logging, burning fossil fuels

• Global temperature:

  • dramatic increase

    

Paris Agreement (COP21):

• 2015 UN framework convention

• restrict future temp increase to 2 degrees, preferably 1.5 degrees

• emphasising the urgency to cut fossil fuel emissions, deploy solutions to remove CO2 from the atmosphere

Land Degradation:

Degraded lands:

• worlds resources institute assessment→ lots in Africa, overlap with seasonal savanah woodlands- debated

  

  → there is a vast area of land that is degraded

What is land degradation?

• overexploitation of natural resources, magnified by climate change and biodiversity loss

• UN convention to combat desertification

Impacts of land degradation:

• loss of landscape productivity and resilience to extreme events

• ecological, social, economic threats

  • 40% of intrastate conflicts over 60years are linked to natural resources

  • will displace 135million people

  • >70% of countries associate this with a national security risk

Pushing the FLR agenda:

• Bonn challenge→ restore 150million hectares of worlds deforested and degraded lands by 2020, 350mh by 2030

  • brings together lots of targets/agreements e.g. UN framework, convention on biological diversity, UN convention to combat desertification

  • benefit of restoring 150mh is more than $80 billion every year

  • worked with local people, committing areas

    • 210mh has been pledged, 19Gt of CO2, continuing

    • commitments are primarily in the tropics:

    

    • most commitments are in tropical and developing nations

    

    • is this neocolonialism?→ western countries paying the global south to clean up damages they made

  • potential on converting old sheep pastures into forested areas in the UK:

    • increasing carbon price will turn growing trees very profitable

      

Key characteristics of FLR:

• local stakeholders are actively involved

• whole landscapes are restored→ conflicting interests

• balance of ecosystem services and good

What counts as FLR:

• range of activities to better human needs e.g. carbon sequestration

1. natural forest/habitat regeneration→ letting it grow naturally

2. multi-species silvicultural systems→ under-crop forested areas, trees growing over top

3. monoculture tree plantations→ deliver timber, pulpwood, firewood

Problems:

• may generate afforestation (establishing a forest where there is no recent tree cover) in savanahs→ lots of carbon is kept underground and is protected from fire

  

• there are less areas where there are real restoration opportunities:

  

Value for biodiversity:

1. natural forest regeneration→

   • take away cows and people from isolated areas

   • Columbian Andes, high species turnover up the slope, 75% has been deforested→ 75% has been given over to low-intensity cattle pasture

   • study→ birds and dung beetles (good indicators of ecosystem health) in pasture, secondary forests, mature secondary forests

     

     • lose half of dung beetles species richness and a third of bird species richness in pasture

     • as the secondary forest recovers→ get same species richness as the primary forest

       

     • secondary forests do have a similar community to primary forests:

       

     • there are similar kinds of abundance in primary and secondary forests:

       

     • are bringing back rare bird species:

       

     → natural restoration does recover biodiversity in Columbia

   • in the Amazon

     • more mature secondary forests have higher biomass (are crossing red lines) are doing well in recovery of good species richness and community similarities to the primary forest

       

     → secondary forests can recover biodiversity levels to primary forests in decades

3. restorations via tree plantations:

   • good for carbon sequestration

   • grains for green program→ largest restoration program, paid rural households to re-establish forests on sloped croplands

     • grew 27.8mha of forest in 10 years

     • goals→ timber extraction, frjuits, reduce landslides, erosions and floodings, biodiversity is not an explicit goal

     • can do more than one activity in one space:

     

     • biodiversity:

       • improved bird richness with mixed strategies

       

       • bees did not do well in mixed, did better in croplands where there are more pollinator foods

       

       • there are more specialist birds in mixed habitats but not bees:

       

       • mixed FLR is not more expensive

     → is economically viable to do monocultures and mixed FLRs but does not have huge biodiversity gains

Natural regenerations vs tree plantations:

• study:

  

  • for biodiversity, soil erosion and water yield→ NR is better

  • carbon- neutral for both

  • trees- both, benefits sway more to NR when harvesting timber

  • timber→ pasture is better

    

    → NR delivers biodiversity, carbon, soil and water

    → plantations are needed for timber but not for the rest

    → where timber is not an explicit goal, should promote NR

How to promote FLR at massive scales:

1. natural regeneration

   • in Latin America, 36mha were naturally restored, are marginal, dry, steep high places- abandoning lands

   • in areas that aren’t naturally abandoned, need governmental or inter-governmental investments

     • national programs→ chinas GFGP, Brazils atlantic forest restoration pact (Bonn challenge)

     • REDD+

       • cost of reforesting 1h of pasture, in Andes Columbian:

       • spend 300 if not using carbon market

       • point at which price meets cost of restoring pasture→

       

       → is very cheap

     • unleashing power of markets

       • getting businesses involved

       • value is more than the activity that was happening before

       • governments to create an incentive for positive FLR market actions

       • markets are very big scale→ good as many ecosystem good and services need large areas and for connectivity

       • businesses are going to charge for these services

       • ability to alleviate poverty, generate jobs and deliver EGS economic value to society

       • land tenure→ new policies need to let landholders engage

       • Will FLRs improve livelihood or deepen inequalities?

       • negatives of using markets:

         • are focusing too much on restoration

         • need support to see best types of restoration

         • need governance

         • may undermine interests of local people e.g. don’t need carbon but want timber instead

       • strategies to combat negatives of using markets:

         • economic mechanisms e.g. subsidise costs, loans, tax breaks

         • investments in technology, education, infrastructure

         • standards and certifications

         • legal mechanisms

Summary:

• preventing >2 degrees will require negative emissions technology e.g. FLR

  • sucks carbon out and promotes ecosystem services

  • should focus on natural regeneration

• should unleash the power of the market

  • need more research on the negatives of this though