Rehabilitation and Restoration Of Degraded Forests (PDF) - IUCN

REHABILITATION AND RESTORATION OF DEGRADED FORESTS
the proceeds of a collection of one or two rupees from each user
household. A committee was formed to manage the forests. Thus, this
local system had two formal organisational elements: a local forest
watcher paid by collection from user households, and a management
committee. The main purpose of the organisation was to allow a
degraded forest to regenerate by protecting it. Management practices
were clearly developed with this objective in mind. These were the
main silviculture elements:
• users could collect dry branches, grass and fodder, but had to have
approval from the village leader (who was a member of the user
group) to cut trees for timber;
• cutting green grass was not permitted in the monsoon period since
it is the crucial period for regeneration of grasses and tree seedlings;
and
• children were not allowed to cut grass at any time, the stated reason
being that children are careless or inexperienced and might cut tree
seedlings as well as grass.
These rules were simple, but provided a sound formula for allowing
the degraded forest to regenerate. They allowed a type and intensity of
utilisation that would not interfere with regeneration. The existence of
healthy broad-leaf forests on both slopes of the valley, replacing what
was once low shrubland, attests to the effectiveness of these controls.
Main lessons: Local communities are able to initiate and manage effective restoration
activities where they have a vested interest in the outcome, as long as they have secure
access and use rights. They can also develop simple but effective institutional
arrangements to manage the forests and distribute benefits.
8.4 Maximum diversity plantings on mined land in Brazil
A large open-cut bauxite mine at Trombetas in Para’ state in central
Amazonia is located in an area of relatively undisturbed evergreen
equatorial moist forest. A reforestation program has been developed to
restore the original forest cover to the greatest extent possible. The
project has treated about 100 ha of mined land per year for the last 15
years (Parrotta and Knowles 2001).
There are several key steps. First, the mined site is levelled and topsoil
is replaced to a depth of about 15 cm using topsoil from the site that
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