Reforestation and Regrowth in the Human Dominated Landscapes of South Asia

background

This study evaluates the drivers of reforestation and regrowth in South Asia using case studies and a meta-analysis of 24 papers.

Conclusions & Takeaways

The dominant pathway of reforestation appears to be the protection of degraded forests, encouraging regrowth through planting of trees.  The reasoning behind this pathway is increased conservation awareness; scarcity of forest products; and government transfer of forest management operations to communities. Some of these forest improvements were from plantings and some fro natural regeneration. Overall, however, the natural regeneration pathway appears to be less common. Agroforestry appears to play a strong role as farmers self-initiated planting to decrease their local scarcity of wood resources. The authors assert that the forests that generate as a result of community and social forestry is much more diverse in type (plantation, natural regeneration, agroforestry) than given credit for.