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Restoring Tropical Forests: Lessons Learned from Case Studies on Three Continents

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Ecological Restoration

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Abstract

Restoring the structural complexity and functional diversity of tropical rainforest is not possible in human time scales but knowledge of the process has significantly increased over the past three decades. Strategies to restore tropical forests must build on theories of community assembly and succession, as well as understanding of both the local ecological and human communities. In this chapter, we discuss three long-term tropical forest restoration case studies in Australia, Costa Rica, and Thailand, each using specific approaches tailored to overcome local ecological, cultural, and socioeconomic constraints. Differences are apparent in the intensity of restoration intervention adopted to manage ecological issues, and in the way local cultures, prevailing socioeconomic conditions, and therefore costs can influence outcomes. Based on the unifying threads identified, we detail key factors essential to recovering tropical biodiversity whilst protecting the livelihoods of landholders on whose land restoration is most likely to occur.

Lead authors of the case studies: Costa Rica: Karen D. Holl & Rakan A. Zahawi; Thailand: Stephen Elliott and Australia: Nigel I. J. Tucker.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Policies and incentives, developed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, to finance restoration and conservation of forests as carbon sinks.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to NSF for financial backing connected to the Islas Project (DEB 05-15577; DEB 09-18112; DEB 14-56520, DEB 20-16623), which provided support for the work of K.D.H. and R.A.Z. Also, thanks are recorded to Biotropica Australia Pty Ltd. for supporting NT’s study and to Chiang Mai University for supporting S.E.’s work on this chapter. We are grateful to the many field assistants and landowners who made the results reported here possible.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Cairns, Australia

    Nigel I. J. Tucker

  2. Biotropica Australia, Tarzali, QLD, Australia

    Nigel I. J. Tucker

  3. Forest Restoration Research Unit, Department of Biology and Environmental Science Research Center, Faculty of Science, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand

    Stephen Elliott

  4. Environmental Studies Department, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA, USA

    Karen D. Holl & Rakan A. Zahawi

  5. Lyon Arboretum and School of Life Sciences, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa, Honolulu, HI, USA

    Rakan A. Zahawi

  6. Charles Darwin Foundation, Puerto Ayora, Ecuador

    Rakan A. Zahawi

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  1. Nigel I. J. Tucker
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  2. Stephen Elliott
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  3. Karen D. Holl
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  4. Rakan A. Zahawi
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Correspondence to Nigel I. J. Tucker .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Future Regions Research Centre, Federation University Australia, Ballarat, VIC, Australia

    Singarayer Florentine

  2. Ecological Restoration Department, Kalbar Operations, Bairnsdale, VIC, Australia

    Paul Gibson-Roy

  3. School of Molecular and Life Sciences, ARC Centre for Mine Site Restoration, Curtin University, Bentley, WA, Australia

    Kingsley Wayne Dixon

  4. National Research Collections Australia, Centre for Australian National Biodiversity Research, CSIRO, Canberra, ACT, Australia

    Linda Broadhurst

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Tucker, N.I.J., Elliott, S., Holl, K.D., Zahawi, R.A. (2023). Restoring Tropical Forests: Lessons Learned from Case Studies on Three Continents. In: Florentine, S., Gibson-Roy, P., Dixon, K.W., Broadhurst, L. (eds) Ecological Restoration. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25412-3_3

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