Exploring forest rehabilitation and restoration: A brief systematic review

Ecosystem services are essential to global environmental policy, highlighting the critical role of forests as providers of these services. However, extensive deforestation threatens access to these vital services. This underscores the urgent need for comprehensive forest management practices, highlighting forest rehabilitation and restoration as essential strategies. These approaches require context-specific planning and consideration of various factors outlined in existing literature. Recognising the critical role of forests and the threats they face, this study analysed existing research on forest rehabilitation and restoration techniques to inform effective global policies and interventions. Using a systematic review methodology, this study investigated trends in forest rehabilitation and restoration efforts without a predefined start date, covering publications up to 2023, examined the utilisation of different practices, and identified opportunities for enhancing the success of efforts globally. An analysis of 117 publications revealed increasing research activity in recent years, with notable peaks between 2019 and 2023, indicating growing interest in the field. Geographic analysis showed regional disparities, with Asian and South American countries leading in research frequency. Policy recommendations underscored the importance of community participation, efficient fire control, and government support in forest rehabilitation efforts. The reviewed publications predominantly focused on tropical forests and reforestation/natural succession/nucleation as primary practices, highlighting the significance of these ecosystems and strategies in current research. Moreover, this review highlighted the complexity of forest rehabilitation and restoration, emphasising the need for global collaboration, interdisciplinary approaches, and strong policy support.