Dead planet, living planet

What are the human livelihoods/ human well-being impacts of forest restoration? Forest restoration can also play crucial role in livelihood improve- ments and human well-being. These benefits include enhancing adaptation capacity, contributing to food security and improving the livelihoods of people depended on forest ecosystems, com- munity empowerment among other things (CIFOR, 2002) .For example, in the Shinyanga region of Tanzania, the HASHI pro- gram helped local people from 833 villages to restore 350,000 ha of acacia and miombo woodland through traditional pastoralist practices in only 18 years. The benefits to people livelihoods have been significant. Ecological restoration can also improve produc- tivity, livelihoods and economic opportunities through reducing soil degradation, desertification and water loss. Experience from these and other forest restoration projects, show that inmost cases it is of paramount importance that local communities are placed in the centre of attention (i.e. considered as the key actors and in- volved in decision-making processes). Crucial issues to consider when implementing forest restoration are land tenure, incentives,

access to resources and to management rights, natural versus exotic species, and appropriate monitoring and evaluation instru- ments (CIFOR, 2002; WRI, 2005; Chazdon, 2008). Additionally, enabling conditions are always strongly policy-related. Sometimes they may have to be simple set-ups which strongly facilitate deci- sion-making and implementation processes. Economic push and pull mechanisms are needed to launch a policy dialogue, involving both government representatives and the poorest Challenges There are many challenges to successful forest restoration. For example, a high rate of failure will result in plantations if selected tree species are not suited to site conditions or if the appropriate hydrological patterns are not also restored, too few species are planted. Invasive species may establish more easily in monoculture tree plantations and have greater susceptibility to species-specific pathogens (Chazdon 2008).

The future implications of large-scale forest restoration on the structure and composition of forests, landscapes and fauna is

CASE STUDY #3

In the Shinyanga region of Tanzania, large areas of dense acacia and miombo woodland were cleared by 1985, transforming the landscape into semi-desert. The HASHI project, whose success was recognized by the UN Development Programme with an Equator Initiative prize in 2002, helped local people from 833 villages to restore 350,000 ha of acacia and miombo woodland through traditional pastoralist practices in only 18 years. Its strik- ing success stems from the rich ecological knowledge and strong traditional institutions of the agro-pastoralist Sukuma people who live in the region. By 2004, 18 years into the project, at least 350,000 hectares of ngitili (the Sukuma term for enclosures) had been restored or created in 833 villages, encompassing a popula- tion of 2.8 million (Barrow and Mlenge 2004:1; Barrow 2005b). Benefits of the restoration include higher household incomes, better diets, and greater livelihood security for families in the re- gion. Nature has benefited too, with a big increase in tree, shrub, grass, and herb varieties, as well as bird and mammal species. Regenerating Woodlands: Tanzania’s HASHI Project Source: Monela et al , 2004

The Shinyanga case illustrates the importance of working with local people. In the past, the state imposed its own solutions, which often failed. The Shinyanga project has involved local people in the entire process of landscape restoration. It has built on local institutions rather than creating new ones. Villages have been encouraged to pass their own by-laws to protect com- munal ngitilis (enclosures of acacia-miombo woodlands), and traditional village guards monitor activities in the ngitilis. Local involvement has been critical to the success of the project. For- est restoration has also strongly benefited from the Tanzanian government’s push towards decentralisation, which involved the allocation of clear land rights to local communities. Greater se- curity of land tenure has engendered a sense of ownership and responsibility among the Sukuma agropastoralists, whose large herds of cattle now co-exist in a healthier environment.

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