Restoration Advice

Planting a tree is easy. Restoring an ecosystem is hard. We’re here to help.

Do you need advice to address challenges in your restoration project? You’re not alone. Lot’s of projects need it.

Our team of restoration ecologists provide free, confidential advice.

We can address most challenges with a couple of zoom calls. If you present us with a really difficult problem, we may come to visit you on the ground to figure it out together.

Restoration Community Talks

We host renowned restoration experts to discuss methods, techniques & tools in forest restoration. And sometimes we talk amongst ourselves to exchange tips, failures, successes and resources.

All restoration practitioners are invited to join, learn and discuss.

We offer 2 sessions for our Community Talks:

9am CET – Asia, Africa & Europe session
5pm CET – Americas session

Next Talk: TBD - we’ll inform you once the next talk is planned!

Examples

Here are some examples of what other organisations have needed help with. Feel free to contact us with any of these – or entirely different – questions.

Site Analysis

Only ecosystems that are forest under natural conditions should be reforested, in order not to destroy grassland ecosystems.

Is my site a deforested forest ecosystem or a natural grassland? We are happy to figure that out with you.

Restoration Method

Traditional planting? Applied nucleation? Farmer managed natural regeneration? Agroforestry? Direct seeding? Natural regeneration?

So many ways of restoring a forest. Which one is best for my site? We are happy to help you find the answer.

Species Selection

Usure which species you should plant at your site? Not quite clear how to analyse a target forest to define a species list? We are happy to help.

Project Review

Do you feel relatively confident that your project is running well but would like an independent pair of eyes to take a look and spot potential issues? We’re happy to review your project along our restoration standards and recommend improvements.

Monitoring Program Set-Up

What’s the most important data to collect to monitor the development of my restoration site? How many monitoring plots do I need? How can I minimise the amount of work? Who can analyse my data for me? We are happy to help.

Advisory Team

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Anna Gee

Strategic Advisor
Restoration Ecology PhD Student

Imperial College, London

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Oscar Verduzco

Tropical Botanist

Plant-for-the-Planet

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Dr. Peter Borchardt

Community-Based Restoration Specialist

CEN Centrum für Erdsystemforschung und Nachhaltigkeit Universität Hamburg

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Oscar Perula

Planting Specialist

Plant-for-the-Planet

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Dr Fidel Chiriboga

Biologist, Ecologist, Environmental Scientist

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Sara Lofqvist

Restoration Policy PhD Student

ETH Zürich

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Julia Maschler

PhD Student researching Forest Carbon Sequestration

ETH Zürich

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

David Mathenge

Restoration Advisor

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Abi Croker

Fire ecology PhD researcher

Imperial College London

Our Corporate Partnerships Team

Adrish Poddar

Conservation Ecology

Plant-for-the-Planet

Request Advice

or

Contact [email protected]

Essential Resources for Running a Forest Restoration Project

Start with…

Brancalion, P.H. and Holl, K.D., 2020. Guidance for successful tree planting initiatives. Journal of Applied Ecology, 57(12), pp.2349-2361.

Holl, K.D. and Brancalion, P.H., 2022. Which of the plethora of tree-growing projects to support?. One Earth, 5(5), pp.452-455.

Holl, K.D. and Aide, T.M., 2011. When and where to actively restore ecosystems?. Forest ecology and management, 261(10), pp.1558-1563.

Holl, K.D., 2017. Restoring tropical forests from the bottom up. Science, 355(6324), pp.455-456.

Di Sacco, A., Hardwick, K. A., Blakesley, D., Brancalion, P., Breman, E., Cecilio Rebola, L., Chomba, S., Dixon, K., Elliott, S., Ruyonga, G., Shaw, K., Smith, P., Smith, R. J., & Antonelli, A. 2021. Ten golden rules for reforestation to optimize carbon sequestration, biodiversity recovery and livelihood benefits. Global change biology, 27(7), 1328–1348.

Trillion Trees Guide to Investing in Forest Restoration.

Yale Tropical Forest Landscapes Conservation, Restoration & Sustainable Use

Paid online course

Dig Deeper

Stanturf, J., Mansourian, S. and Kleine, M., 2017. Implementing forest landscape restoration, a practitioner's guide. International Union of Forest Research Organizations, 2017, pp.1-128.

Holl, K.D., Luong, J.C. and Brancalion, P.H., 2022. Overcoming biotic homogenization in ecological restoration. Trends in Ecology & Evolution.

Holl, K., 2020. Primer of ecological restoration. Island Press.

Beatty, C.R., Cox, N.A. and Kuzee, M.E., 2018. Biodiversity guidelines for forest landscape restoration opportunities assessments (p. 10). Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.

Landscape Restoration

Landscape Leadership: Catalyse Sustainable Development in Landscapes

Free online course

Landscape Finance: Investing in Innovation for Sustainable Landscapes

Free online course

Invasive Species

These resources allow you to check if any of the species you are planting could be invasive in your ecosystem:

Global Register of Introduced and Invasive Species (free)

CABI Digital Library (partially paywalled)
Provides detailed information, not only on invasiveness.

Global Biodiversity Information Facility (free)

Applied Nucleation

Applied Nucleation Restoration Guide for Tropical Forests

Tropical Ecosystems

ITTO, 2020. Guidelines for forest landscape restoration in the tropics. ITTO Policy Development Series No. 24.

Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration

Rinauldo, T., Muller, A., Morris, M. 2019.. Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) manual. A resource for project managers, practitioners and all who are interested in better understanding and supporting the FMNR movement. World Vision Australia, pp. 196

Restoration Priority Areas

Strassburg, B.B., Iribarrem, A., Beyer, H.L., Cordeiro, C.L., Crouzeilles, R., Jakovac, C.C., Braga Junqueira, A., Lacerda, E., Latawiec, A.E., Balmford, A. and Brooks, T.M., 2020. Global priority areas for ecosystem restoration. Nature, 586(7831), pp.724-729.

Yale Tropical Forest Landscapes Conservation, Restoration & Sustainable Use

Paid online course