Author Lamb, D. & Gilmour, D.

Year of publication 2003

Large areas of the world's forests have been lost or degraded and landscapes everywhere are being simplified by current land-use practices. In this publication, Lamb and Gilmour present approaches to restoring and rehabilitating the vast areas of degraded, fragmented and modified forests which cover much of the world. They argue that by applying best practice at the site level it is possible to enhance socio-economic and ecological gains at the landscape level. This book provides an important contribution towards the objectives of the Forest Landscape Restoration approach and is essential reading for practitioners and decision makers involved in forest restoration. This approach is consistent with the ecosystem approach called for in the Convention on Biological Diversity. The ecosystem approach is based on the realization that: 1) land management has on-site and off-site impacts on ecosystems and people and therefore must be undertaken within the limits of ecosystem functioning; 2) viable species populations and healthy ecosystem processes cannot be contained within small units of land measured in tens or hundreds of square kilometres, particularly when these areas are disconnected; and 3) conservation planning and action must take place across whole landscapes and involve multiple interest groups.