Trees, landscapes, restoration, indicators, Tree Diversity Day 2014, CBD, biodiversity, invasive species, seedlings, policy, metrics, UNEP, WCMC

1. ICRAF - Tree diversity for landscape restoration
Friday, 10 October 2014
Session 2 : Tools and indicators for use to assess progress towards Aichi targets
Supporting forest restoration through
assessment and indicators
Hilary Allison
UNEP-WCMC
Head of Ecosystem Assessment Programme
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

2. Supporting forest restoration through assessment
and indicators
Outline of presentation
1. Role of forest restoration in
delivery of Aichi targets - the
global story
2. Forest restoration – delivering
ecosystem services
3. Tools to support decision
making and monitoring of
forest restoration at national,
sub national and local scale
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

3. 1. Role of forest restoration in delivery of Aichi targets
• Target 5: By 2020, the rate of loss of all natural habitats, including forests, is at least halved and where
feasible brought close to zero, and degradation and fragmentation is significantly reduced.
• Target 7 : By 2020 areas under agriculture, aquaculture and forestry are managed sustainably, ensuring
conservation of biodiversity
• Target 13 By 2020, the genetic diversity of cultivated plants and farmed and domesticated
animals and of wild relatives, including other socio-economically as well as culturally
valuable species, is maintained, and strategies have been developed and implemented for minimizing
genetic erosion and safeguarding their genetic diversity.
• Targets 14, By 2020, ecosystems that provide essential services, including services related to water,
and contribute to health, livelihoods and well-being, are restored and safeguarded, taking into account
the needs of women, indigenous and local communities, and the poor and vulnerable.
• Target 15 By 2020, ecosystem resilience and the contribution of biodiversity to carbon stocks has
been enhanced, through conservation and restoration, including restoration of at least 15 per cent of
degraded ecosystems, thereby contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation and to
combating desertification
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

4. 1. Role of forest restoration in delivery of Aichi targets
Target 5 Loss of habitats halved or reduced
Indicator Extent of forest cover
Net change in forest area by country,
2005-2010 (ha/year
Source: FAO, 2010
Trends in forest area, 1990-2010
At the global level, the rate of forest area loss has slowed
from -8.3 million hectares per year during the period 1990-2000, to -5.2 million
hectares per year during 2000-2010.
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

5. 1. Role of forest restoration in delivery of Aichi targets
Target 7 Areas under sustainable management
Indicator: Area of forest under sustainable management: certification
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

6. 2. Forest restoration – delivering ecosystem services
• Forest restoration drivers
– as part of response to climate change
– in restoring vital ecosystem services
– revitalising local economies
• Progress on restoration in response to all these drivers is result of cumulative national
and sub national decisions
• In particular national and sub-national interventions often in response to desire for
more delivery of ecosystem services
• Assessment of what kind of interventions to deliver ecosystems services can be achieved
through employing tools like TESSA
• Indicators a way of monitoring the impact of restoration decisions
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

7. 2. Forest restoration – delivering ecosystem services
FOREST ECOSYSTEM SERVICES (adapted from UK National Ecosystem Assessment, 2011)
Provisioning services
Crops (NTFP) livestock and fisheries
Trees for timber
Trees for fuel
Forests and water management (upland catchment protection)
Regulating services
Climate (reducing climate stress, carbon sequestration)
Hazards (soil protection & flood protection)
Diseases or pests
Detoxification and purification (water quality, soil quality, air quality, noise reduction)
Pollination
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators
Cultural services
Biodiversity
Forest environment, (personal wellbeing, social cohesion, education, art, recreation, health,
landscape character )
Supporting services
Soil formation, nutrient cycling, water cycling, production
Biodiversity

8. 3. Tools to support decision making and monitoring
of forest restoration
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators
• TESSA
• Biodiversity Indicator Development Framework

9. TESSA
Toolkit for Ecosystem Service
Site-based Assessment

10. 3. Tools to support decision making and monitoring of forest restoration
The problem:
Lack of site-level tools available to non-experts on the ground to collect locally-relevant data
to inform local decision-making
Project objective:
“To develop and deploy a rapid assessment tool to understand how far conserving sites for
their biodiversity importance also helps to conserve different ecosystem services, relative to
a converted state”.
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators
Why TESSA?

11. What needs does the tool address?
• Site-scale ES assessments
• Accessible to non-experts
• Lower cost
• Deliver scientifically robust results quickly
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

12. Scope
Global climate
regulation
Harvested
wild goods
Water-related
services
Nature-based
recreation
Cultivated
goods
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

13. What does TESSA do?
Outline of Toolkit
• Rapid assessment of ES
• Identify & compare
alternative site
• Use participatory mapping
& surveys to collect data
Forested mountain Cultivated mountain
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

14. What does TESSA do?
Decision-tree for methods to use – e.g. water related services
• Offers step by step
guidance
• Identifies winners &
losers visually
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

15. Links between TESSA and Regulation / Spatial Planning
• Assessments by TESSA help land-use decision-making
by:
1) Estimating ecosystem services values both
qualitatively and quantitatively
2) Visually and quantitatively demonstrating the
trade-offs between the current and alternative state.
Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve Alternative state -
Wetland grasses, forest
Loss of wetland grasses & forest
habitats
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

16. Go to http://tessa.tools/
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

17. TESSA Toolkit
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators
•Webinar
•Downloadable toolkit
•Ecosystem Services papers

18. 3. Tools to support decision making and monitoring of forest restoration
Uses of biodiversity indicators:
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators
• Track progress in achieving targets
• Guide policy design & implementation:
o Highlight where action is needed
o Adaptive management
• Build support:
o Communicate simple messages

19. Joined Up Indicators
PRESSURE – STATE – BENEFIT - RESPONSE
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

20. What is a successful indicator?
Scientifically valid – theory of relationship between the
indicator and its purpose (what change in the indicator
means) + reliability of the data
Based on available data – over time (monitoring)
Responsive to change in the issue of interest
Easily understandable – conceptually + presentation +
interpretation
Relevant to user’s needs
It is used!
(for measuring progress, early-warning, understanding an
issue, awareness-raising, …)
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

21. BIODIVERSITY INDICATOR DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK
Purpose – actions needed for selecting
successful indicators
Production – essential to generate indicators
Permanence – mechanisms for ensuring
indicator continuity and sustainability
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

22. Purpose – actions needed for selecting
successful indicators
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

23. Production – essential to generate indicators
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

24. Permanence – mechanisms for ensuring
indicator continuity and sustainability
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

25. www.bipindicators.net
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators

26. CONCLUSIONS
• Forest restoration is contributing to overall global delivery of
Aichi targets
• Decisions to restore forests happen at varying scales and due
to a combination of drivers among which is included
improving the delivery of ecosystem services
• Assessment of forest restoration in terms of ecosystem service
delivery needn’t be an overwhelming task
• Important to monitor the impact of forest restoration
decisions including through well designed indicators
• Plenty of decision support tools to assist you
Supporting forest restoration through assessment and indicators