INVESTING IN TREES AND LANDSCAPE ... - PROFOR

country-level analyses to identify zones with high restoration potential at the national and subnational
level, so that appropriate investments and policies can be designed to support such restoration.
This analysis focuses on areas in which deforestation and degradation have already taken place and,
therefore, where the biological and economic output of landscapes may be well below their potential.
Investors can reap benefits by restoring the productive potential of such landscapes, with positive
feedback in food production, ecosystem health, and profitability. Identifying a complementary set
of investment opportunities—area where degradation is actively in process but where investment
could reverse the process and halt its negative feedback loops—would be an important focus for
subsequent spatial analysis.
Identifying priority areas for landscape restoration will generally require overlaying and analyzing
multiple sets of biophysical, socioeconomic, infrastructure, and market data in light of the specific
objectives and intended beneficiaries of any prospective restoration investment. Developing such
a map for all of Africa is neither feasible nor appropriate, given that restoration objectives will differ
widely depending on the investment location, proponents, and intended beneficiaries. However, a
rich array of spatially explicit data is available to help prospective investors, government officials, and
others target investments for maximum public and private benefit. The following types of biophysical
datasets are likely to be helpful for targeting investments in landscape restoration (see annex I):
• Data on the physical potential of rural landscapes, including soil type and capacity; climate
and rainfall averages, variability, and trends; and water infiltration, net evapotranspiration, or
water yield.
• Data on existing land and landscape management practices, including soil and land use maps,
maps of cropping or livestock systems, and maps of forest or tree cover density.
• Maps that project future biophysical conditions, particularly with respect to the anticipated effects
of climate change on temperature, water availability, and yield potential.
• Maps on the relative condition of land units and their ability to be productive from both a biological
and an economic standpoint. Land degradation maps, for instance, may be helpful for identifying
areas that are underperforming and may therefore be good candidates for landscape restoration.
• Composite maps based on custom integrative analyses that combine several of the above
sets of factors to answer specific questions, such as where carbon can be most cost-effectively
sequestered in vegetation and soils, where biodiversity is threatened by agricultural intensification,
and where upstream watersheds are most vulnerable to degradation that threatens urban
water supplies.
2.4 POTENTIAL MARKET DRIVERS FOR LANDSCAPE RESTORATION
Private investment in forest and agricultural production and marketing can be a driver of landscape
restoration, but only if it is planned thoughtfully with respect to the landscape context, with
appropriate stakeholders involved, and knowledge of spatial features of production and markets.
Agricultural investments are typically targeted to the development of individual products chosen
solely on the basis of growing conditions in a particular agro-ecosystem (water, climate, topography,
biodiversity, soil type); institutional conditions (e.g., land tenure, extension systems, government
stability), and market infrastructure (e.g., transport, communications, processing facilities). Less
Chapter 2. WHERE DO PRIVATE MARKET INCENTIVES CONVERGE WITH LANDSCAPE RESTORATION GOALS?
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