Forest landscape restoration and the pursuit of just livelihoods: Reflections from Ghana's modified Taungya system (MTS) restoration approach

Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) emerged as both an ecological imperative and a development strategy, yet FLR discourses remain largely focused on biophysical metrics, overlooking its socio-economic and cultural impacts. Applying the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework (SLF), this study assesses the livelihood impacts of the Modified Taungya System (MTS) restoration approach on the human, social, natural, physical, and financial capitals across two forest-fringe communities. Using a mixed-methods design, we found that the MTS reconstitutes development conditions, enhancing human, social, natural, physical, and financial capital through training, cohesion, improved forests and technologies, and income gains. Mean household incomes of participating farmers rose by 123% (GHS4,110 to GHS9,147; USD254–587), with female farmers gaining 158% relative to 84% for male farmers, signalling gendered economic transformation. However, long-term sustainability remains fragile, threatened by delayed benefits, insecure land tenure, lack of resources, and erosion of local stewardship. The study argues that FLR approaches should be conceived as a collaborative process, integrating effective benefit sharing, inclusion, culturally grounded governance practices, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge. This research repositions FLR as a link where restoration and livelihood outcomes are reinforcing conditions for development. Theoretically, the study extends the SLF, incorporating gender-disaggregated outcomes alongside the five capitals, offering an application of the framework to community-based forest restoration. Future research should adopt matched comparison-group designs to more rigorously establish the causal contribution of MTS participation to household livelihoods.