Department of Geography, Environment, and Spatial Sciences, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Environmental Science and Policy Program (ESPP), Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
Environ Manage. 2021 Nov;68(5):619-641. doi: 10.1007/s00267-020-01360-y. Epub 2020 Sep 18.
Forest landscape restoration (FLR) is gaining ground as a novel, holistic approach to sustainable environmental management across developing countries. In sub-Saharan Africa, 30 countries have joined the African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative to advance FLR goals. Although conceptually compelling, and despite efforts articulating initial implementation guidelines, divergent discourses and interpretations confound FLR translation into practice. We propose a characterization of FLR in practice using insights from political ecology; principles of ecological restoration and landscape sustainability science; and the philosophy, principles, and objectives of the FLR paradigm. Our qualitative analysis further draws on secondary data and insights from participant observation during FLR-related workshops. We build and organize the FLR characterization around answers to ten questions: why restoration; what purpose; for what desired outcomes; where (location and land uses); what spatial extent and scale(s); who; which techniques; how (approach/strategy); when and how long; and how much to achieve. We then assess early FLR strategic priorities for interventions across nine African countries and analyze five selected actual projects to illustrate use of the proposed FLR characterization framework. The illustrative characterization of both planned interventions and actual projects does not reflect all the proposed characteristics of FLR in practice. Missing features include the initial biophysical condition, the desired target ecosystem state, and evaluation dimensions, and ill-articulated aspects include cross-sectoral integrations. We contend that any significant differences between FLR conceptualization, including its principles, and the practical manifestations can undermine coherence, the value that the FLR approach adds, and its wider adoption. The proposed characterization of FLR in practice contributes to scholarly attempts to realign FLR conceptual philosophy, principles, and rhetoric to its practical manifestations in different contexts, and can inform future design of FLR undertakings for more inclusive landscape governance.
森林景观恢复（FLR）作为一种新颖的、整体的可持续环境管理方法，在发展中国家得到了广泛的关注。在撒哈拉以南非洲，有 30 个国家加入了非洲森林景观恢复倡议，以推进 FLR 目标的实现。尽管从概念上讲具有吸引力，并且尽管已经努力制定了初步的实施指南，但不同的论述和解释使 FLR 的实践转化变得复杂。我们使用政治生态学的见解、生态恢复和景观可持续性科学的原则以及 FLR 范式的哲学、原则和目标，提出了一种对实践中的 FLR 的描述。我们的定性分析还进一步借鉴了与 FLR 相关的研讨会期间的二手数据和参与者观察的见解。我们围绕十个问题来构建和组织 FLR 的描述：为什么要恢复；目的是什么；为了实现什么预期结果；在哪里（位置和土地利用）；什么空间范围和尺度；谁；哪些技术；如何（方法/策略）；何时以及持续多长时间；以及需要多少投入来实现。然后，我们评估了九个非洲国家早期的 FLR 干预战略重点，并分析了五个选定的实际项目，以说明所提出的 FLR 描述框架的使用。计划干预和实际项目的描述并不反映实践中所有的 FLR 特征。缺失的特征包括初始的生物物理条件、期望的目标生态系统状态和评估维度，以及表述不清晰的方面包括跨部门整合。我们认为，FLR 概念化，包括其原则和实践表现之间的任何重大差异，都可能破坏一致性，即 FLR 方法的附加值及其更广泛的采用。对实践中的 FLR 的描述有助于学者们努力使 FLR 的概念哲学、原则和修辞与不同背景下的实际表现相一致，并为未来更具包容性的景观治理的 FLR 项目的设计提供信息。
