Multi-objective forest restoration planning in Costa Rica : balancing landscape connectivity and ecosystem service provisioning with sustainable development
Morán Ordóñez, Alejandra (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Hermoso, Virgilio (Centre de Ciència i Tecnologia Forestal de Catalunya (CTFC))
Martínez-Salinas, Alejandra (Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (Turrialba, Costa Rica))

Date:	2022
Abstract:	Degradation, fragmentation, and loss of tropical forests has exponentially increased in the last decades leading to unprecedented rates of species extinctions and loss of ecosystems functions and services. Forest restoration is key to recover ecosystems health and achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, restoring forests at the landscape scale presents many challenges, since it requires balancing conservation goals and economic development. In this study, we used a spatial planning tool (Marxan) to identify priority areas for restoration satisfying multiple objectives across a biological corridor in Costa Rica. Biological corridors are critical conservation instruments promoting forest connectivity while acknowledging human presence. Increasing forest connectivity requires restoration initiatives that will likely conflict with other land uses, some of them of high national economic importance. Our restoration plan sought to maximize the provision of forest-related services (i. e. , seed dispersal, tourism and carbon storage) while minimizing the impact on current land uses and thus avoiding potential conflicts. We quantified seed dispersal and tourism services (birdwatching potential) using species distribution models. We used the carbon sequestration model of InVEST to quantify carbon storage potential. We tested different restoration scenarios that differed in whether land opportunity costs of current uses were considered or not when identifying potential restoration areas, or how these costs were estimated. We showed how a landscape-scale forest restoration plan accounting for only forest connectivity and ecosystem service provision capacity can greatly differ from a plan that considers the potential impacts on local livelihoods. Spatial planning tools can assist at designing cost-effective landscape-scale forest restoration plans, identifying priority areas where forest restoration can maximize ecosystem provision and increase forest connectivity. Special care must be paid to the use of adequate estimates of opportunity cost, to avoid potential conflicts between restoration goals and other legitimate land uses.
Grants:	European Commission 691149 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad IJCI-2016-30349 Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad RYC-2013-13979
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió acceptada per publicar
Subject:	Nature-based solutions ; Neotropical birds ; Spatial conservation planning tools ; Species distribution models ; Secondary forest ; Tropical forests
Published in:	Journal of environmental management, Vol. 310 (May 2022) , art. 114717, ISSN 1095-8630

DOI: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114717

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Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > CREAF (Centre de Recerca Ecològica i d'Aplicacions Forestals)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles