Advances and shortfalls in applying best practices to global tree‐growing efforts

As global tree‐growing efforts have escalated in the past decade, copious failures and unintended consequences have prompted many reforestation best practices guidelines. The extent to which organizations have integrated these ecological and socioeconomic recommendations, however, remains uncertain....

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Bibliographic Details
Published inConservation letters Vol. 17; no. 2
Main Authors Schubert, Spencer C., Battaglia, Katherine E., Blebea, Christina N., Seither, Cole J. P., Wehr, Helena L., Holl, Karen D.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.03.2024
Wiley
Subjects
Annual reports
Best practice
Best practices
Biodiversity
Community
Community involvement
Deforestation
forest restoration
Funding
Information sharing
Local communities
monitoring
NGOs
Nonprofit organizations
Organizations
Reforestation
stakeholder engagement
tree planting
Trees
Water supply
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Summary:As global tree‐growing efforts have escalated in the past decade, copious failures and unintended consequences have prompted many reforestation best practices guidelines. The extent to which organizations have integrated these ecological and socioeconomic recommendations, however, remains uncertain. We reviewed websites of 99 intermediary organizations that promote and fund tree‐growing projects to determine how well they report following best practices. Nearly half the organizations stated tree or area planting targets, but only 25% had measurable, time‐bound objectives. Most organizations discussed the benefits local communities would receive from trees, but only 38% reported measures of these outcomes. Nonprofit organizations with greater prior experience converged more closely on best practices, and their level of scientific expertise was positively associated with clearer project selection standards. Although many tree‐growing organizations acknowledge the importance of clear goals, local community involvement, and monitoring, our results raise questions regarding whether long‐term benefits are being achieved and emphasize the need for stronger public accountability standards.
ISSN:1755-263X
1755-263X
DOI:10.1111/conl.13002