Restoring forest landscapes: Building national contexts and global knowledge for effective restoration with livelihood and climate outcomes

There is limited knowledge and evidence on the potential to achieve the global emission reduction target defined by the Paris Agreement - to keep global warming to 1.5°C - and the role that restoration of degraded forests and landscapes will have in this context. Building on discussions with colleagues from USAID's Climate Change Office (Evan Notman, Juliann Aukema and Noel Gurwick) and with main partners and key stakeholders, we have defined a set of priority analyses that are urgently needed to inform the early implementation of restoration with a view on climate change and development objectives. We have identified four research and policy analysis activities that we believe can provide, through partner engagement, much-needed direction to national, regional and international restoration initiatives. These activities include: 1. critically assessing the principal national- and regional-level restoration approaches, including supportive governance and institutional arrangements, favorable market and investment conditions, and consequences and trade-offs for other land uses and for economic growth 2. quantifying the potential carbon sink size that can be achieved under various probability scenarios, including differences in biomes, and policy and governance framework conditions in the priority restoration areas 3. developing a risk assessment framework and making available a global map and data base depicting opportunities and risks for restoration investments at global scale 4. working with partners in national and international initiatives in support of national, regional and international plans that take account of insights generated by findings from activities (1), (2) and (3).