Center for Biodiversity Outcomes, PO Box 875402, Tempe, AZ, 85287-5402, U.S.A.
Conservation International, 2011 Crystal Dr #600, Arlington, VA, 22202, U.S.A.
Conserv Biol. 2020 Oct;34(5):1221-1228. doi: 10.1111/cobi.13478. Epub 2020 May 25.
The loss of forest is a leading cause of species extinction, and reforestation is 1 of 2 established interventions for reversing this loss. However, the role of reforestation for biodiversity conservation remains debated, and lacking is an assessment of the potential contribution that reforestation could make to biodiversity conservation globally. We conducted a spatial analysis of overlap between 1,550 forest-obligate threatened species' ranges and land that could be reforested after accounting for socioeconomic and ecological constraints. Reforestation on at least 43% (∼369 million ha) of reforestable area was predicted to potentially benefit threatened vertebrates. This is approximately 15% of the total area where threatened vertebrates occur. The greatest opportunities for conserving threatened vertebrate species are in the tropics, particularly Brazil and Indonesia. Although reforestation is not a substitute for forest conservation, and most of the area containing threatened vertebrates remains forested, our results highlight the need for global conservation strategies to recognize the potentially significant contribution that reforestation could make to biodiversity conservation. If implemented, reforestation of ∼369 million ha would also contribute substantially to climate-change mitigation, offering a way to achieve multiple sustainability commitments at once. Countries must now work to overcome key barriers (e.g., unclear revenue streams, high transaction costs) to investment in reforestation.
森林的丧失是物种灭绝的主要原因之一，而造林是扭转这一损失的两种既定干预措施之一。然而，造林对生物多样性保护的作用仍存在争议，缺乏对造林可能对全球生物多样性保护做出的潜在贡献的评估。我们对 1550 种森林专性受威胁物种的分布范围与在考虑社会经济和生态限制后可造林的土地之间的重叠进行了空间分析。预测至少在 43%（约 3.69 亿公顷）的可造林地上造林可能会使受威胁的脊椎动物受益。这大约占受威胁的脊椎动物发生的总面积的 15%。在热带地区，特别是巴西和印度尼西亚，保护受威胁的脊椎动物物种的机会最大。虽然造林不能替代森林保护，而且含有受威胁脊椎动物的大部分地区仍然是森林，但我们的研究结果强调，全球保护战略需要认识到造林可能对生物多样性保护做出的重大贡献。如果实施，约 3.69 亿公顷的造林也将为减缓气候变化做出重大贡献，为同时实现多个可持续性承诺提供一种途径。各国现在必须努力克服投资造林的关键障碍（例如，收入流不明确、交易成本高）。
