Before Bonn and beyond: the history and future of forest landscape restoration

Background

This article presents an overview of the history of restoration at an international scale. It begins with the origins of forestry in 1990s and goes to the landmark decision in 2011 to establish the Bonn Challenge. The authors focus specifically on the emergence of forest landscape restoration and how this concept has evolved over time. 

Conclusions & Takeaways

The article demonstrates how FLR was defined in 2003 during the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration (GPFLR) but did not fully takehold until 2011 when the first Bonn Challenge Ministerial Roundtable was held. The authors argue that this emergence provides new challenges for GPFLR; the approach requires a inclusion or range of stakholders and the mobilization of resources by governments. To do so, this article calls upon GPFLR to define and communicate FLR in a understandable and attractive way and to leverage new partnerships in order to achieve resilient, healthy landscapes.