Vital Forest Graphics

Greening degraded forest landscapes

C easures aimed to create and rees- tablish forests can take a number of forms, including restoration, rehabili- tation, reforestation and afforestation. In some countries such efforts have led to a change from net forest loss to net forest gain. Successful forest landscape restoration starts from the ground up, with the close participation of local communities who often possess traditional forest-related knowledge. In Tanzania, the Shinyanga region used to have extensive acacia and

While there is no substitute for the environmental services provided by natural forests, as forests worldwide continue to disappear at an alarming rate, increased efforts are being made to reestablish forest areas

miombo woodland, until population pressures combined with agropastoral practices resulted in widespread defor- estation and land degradation. Yet since 1986 the Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme has promoted conservation of woods and grassland using the tradi- tional indigenous natural resource man- agement system Ngitili or fodder reserves. As a result, by 2000 between 378 000 and 472 000 hectares of woodlands had been restored in 833 villages in the Shinyanga region (Barrow et al. 2003).

Global forest plantations for protective purposes

Percentage of total forest area

Over 25% 10 to 25% 1 to 10% Less than 1% No data available

Source: FAO 2006a.

60 VITAL FOREST GRAPHICS