CIFOR will build on an existing body of knowledge of FLR from CIFOR and partners to produce influential knowledge products and tools that assess the performance of FLR activities in terms of their environmental and social outcomes. We will evaluate FLR’s generation of ecosystem services and the sharing of benefits among economically vulnerable social groups, including ethnic minorities and female community members. FLR programs include large-scale reforestation efforts implemented by state governments and development agencies. While some of these programs are large-scale in extent, many target smallholder landscapes, as in the ecosystem service-focused programs targeting sloping landscapes in transition throughout Asia (e.g. China, India, Indonesia, Vietnam) and parts of Africa (e.g. Ethiopia, Rwanda, Eastern DRC). There are also examples of under-the-radar FLR activities by smallholder and community forest managers, which are of particular interest in Amazonia and other parts of Latin America. FLR is implemented in the form of planted forests, forest protection and managed natural regeneration, among others. In many cases, FLR requires trade-offs among land uses (forestry, agriculture, animal husbandry) and between users, which include marginalized social/ethnic groups; in other cases, which are often overlooked, FLR is embedded in longstanding landscape management patterns. Our review of existing programs that use FLR to produce ecosystem services and improve livelihoods will aggregate, generate and operationalize knowledge to share in accessible formats and fora targeting decision makers through well selected boundary partners. Outputs will elucidate the links between FLR programs and key environmental and socioeconomic interests, including biodiversity conservation, carbon storage, water and anti-erosion services, production of forest products, and the functioning of credit and compensatory schemes bringing economic opportunity to local communities and households. Promoters and implementers of FLR will be equipped with a comprehensive and inclusive understanding of the many models and ecological and social best practices available to date. To achieve this, CIFOR will coordinate closely with KNOWFOR partners, PROFOR and IUCN, to ensure that geographic synergies are maximised for dissemination of knowledge products and policy outreach, and to bring CIFOR’s evidence-based approach to bear on the work done by all partners on the theme of FLR.
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