Balancing Act: Optimizing Forest Restoration in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest for Biodiversity, Social Equity, and Cost-Effectiveness
Markus Gastauer
Instituto Tecnológico Vale, R. Boaventura da Silva, 955, CEP 66055-090, Belém, Pará, Brazil
Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues
2Department of Biological Science, College of Agriculture “Luiz de Queiroz”, University of São Paulo, Piracicaba, Brazil
“Our research underscores the critical role of forest restoration in not only achieving regional conservation and socio-economic goals but also in addressing the global challenge of staying within planetary boundaries. By identifying strategies that optimize biodiversity outcomes, enhance social equity, and minimize costs, our work contributes to the broader scientific understanding of how to navigate the complex interplay between human activities and Earth's critical thresholds. In this way, we are helping to chart a path toward restoring and maintaining a safe operating space for humanity on a planetary scale”
In the face of escalating climate change, vanishing biodiversity, and persistent social-economic disparities, forest restoration emerges as a paramount Nature-based Solution, that is strategies and approaches that harness natural processes and ecosystems to address various societal challenges. Growing trees within restoration projects are able to remove huge amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and stock it in their stems. Thus, emerging forests represent important carbon sinks. Additionally, emerging forests provide new habitats for many species and offer income possibilities during implementation and by the sustainable use of timber and non-timber forest products.
These benefits motivated numerous countries to set ambitious forest restoration targets. Brazil, for example, targets the restoration of more than 12 million hectares (Mha) up to 2030 to align with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Paris Agreement. The Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact, a bottom-up, non-governmental movement involving more than 300 organizations and private corporations, aims to restore 15 Mha of degraded and deforested lands by 2050 in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, a globally recognized hotspot for conservation and restoration. In this context, our paper which awarded us the national Frontiers Planet Prize for Brazil delves into a comparative analysis to unlock the most effective strategies for upscaling forest restoration activities in this biome. The aim is to outline the restoration strategies able to maximize biodiversity outcomes, while promoting social equity and low restoration costs.
Forests can be restored by the planting of trees. This so-called active restoration guarantees forest development in a few years, but is labor- and resource-intensive. Conversely, natural forest regrowth (NFR) lets forests regrow on their own, without planting trees. As this strategy relies solely on the spontaneous growth of trees from existing or newly arriving seeds, it offers a cost-effective approach with potential benefits in carbon sequestration and biodiversity preservation.
However, the potential for NFR varies across the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and works best in regions that already have a high forest cover, and is less effective were no nearby forests are available. Thus, NFR may not target all ecologically vulnerable areas such as the margins of springs and watercourses, hillsides or mountaintops, that suffered degradation. Furthermore, NFR may disproportionally burden small farms and familiar agriculture. To outline that, we compared two distinct scenarios:
● Scenario I prioritizes areas with high NFR potential to meet restoration targets, i.e., 15 Mha in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.
● Scenario II adopts a balanced approach, combining NFR with tree planting to restore all ecological sensitive areas in a first step, then selecting areas with the lowest overall restoration costs. Restoration costs comprise implementation and opportunity costs. Implementation costs are the costs for seedlings and their plantation. Opportunity costs are the income losses of an owner when no longer producing in an area.
Our analysis confirmed our hypothesis and revealed that land use classes commonly associated with low technified familiar and subsistence agriculture as well as small rural properties show disproportionally more areas able to regrow naturally than large monoculture commodities such as soy or sugar cane and big landowners. Notable, Scenario 2 outperformed Scenario I in all indicators, including social fairness, compliance with environmental laws, and overall restoration cost-effectiveness. Specifically, it ensures a more homogeneous distribution of restoration efforts equally among all counties from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, guaranteeing connectivity and penetration of ecosystem services in all regions.
This analysis, considering legal, environmental, social, and economic aspects, underscores the importance of a site-specific approach in selecting the most effective forest restoration strategy. It emphasizes the need for a holistic perspective that goes beyond mere implementation costs, ensuring a balanced distribution of restoration efforts and costs among various stakeholders, and guarantees that all land-users take part in the challenge to comply with the Paris Agreement.
The research's implications extend beyond the socio-economic context of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest, emphasizing the necessity of considering the entire socio-environmental landscape to optimize global, national, and regional restoration priorities. As that, our research on forest restoration is evolving by extending our comparative analyses beyond the Brazilian Atlantic Forest to other vulnerable biomes like the Amazon and Cerrado. We aim to refine our models using advanced technologies such as remote sensing and machine learning while deepening interdisciplinary collaborations to address the complex challenges of restoration. We furthermore plan to scale up our restoration strategies to different regions, conduct long-term studies to assess ecological and socio-economic impacts, and work closely with policymakers to translate our findings into actionable guidelines. Additionally, we will focus on engaging local communities to ensure that restoration efforts are inclusive and equitable.
Our work directly engages with critical planetary boundaries, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and land-use change. By developing integrated solutions that consider environmental, social, and economic factors, we contribute to the global effort to maintain Earth's systems within safe limits. By that, our research offers practical solutions for large-scale ecosystem restoration that maximize biodiversity and carbon sequestration while promoting social equity. By ensuring cost-effective and socially just restoration efforts, we help pave the way for widespread adoption of sustainable land management practices, contributing to global climate and biodiversity goals. Ultimately, our work supports the overarching aim of returning humanity to a safe operating space within planetary boundaries.
Photo 1. Markus Gastauer, lead author of the winning article.
Photo 2. Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues, 2023 National Champion for Brazil.
