Using markets to leverage investment in forest and landscape restoration in the tropics

Governments and international organizations are promoting or drafting programs to undertake Forest and Landscape Restoration (FLR) of hundreds of millions of hectares of degraded tropical landscapes to support the provision of ecosystem goods and services. But the challenge to recover economic and ecological functionality could be far beyond their financial capacity. Here, we explore the potential of markets and their interaction with policies to leverage investment for FLR in the tropics. We first review the challenges and opportunities of exploiting market forces for FLR, which can be essential for kick-starting the implementation of programs globally. We identify four key opportunities for regulating markets to promote FLR: economic mechanisms; technological, educational or infrastructural investment; legal and enforcement mechanisms; and market-led standards and certification schemes. Finally, we present five pitfalls that may arise when relying on markets to promote FLR. Governments will need to play a critical role in establishing appropriate policy frameworks and institutional arrangements to leverage investments when market signals are not strong enough to initiate changes in traditional land use or farming practices, or to regulate reforestation activities when market signals become so strong that they overwhelm all other land-use activities, leading to a transformed and homogenized landscape.