Community‐driven post‐fire restoration initiatives in Central Chile: when good intentions are not enough

Abstract

A fundamental pillar of community-driven restoration projects is motivation, without which initiatives are doomed to fail. However, technical knowledge and funding are also important factors for success. In this work, we present three case studies of post-fire restoration projects driven by local communities in Central Chile to assess whether motivation and proactive actions were sufficient to carry out successful restoration projects. We found that while in the three cases motivation was essential for starting restoration actions, the level of technical knowledge, the ability to connect with academic institutions, and the capability to secure funding played key roles in the projects' results. We identified three key factors that should be present to increase community-driven restoration success: (1) appropriate technical knowledge and expertise to set suitable restoration objectives and activities; (2) adequate capabilities and networks for procuring financial and technical resources; and (3) capacity to apply for available funding to ensure resources for later phases. Ensuring the concurrence of these three factors cannot be the sole responsibility of local communities. Instead, it should be a shared responsibility between government agencies and academic institutions to develop strategies that help develop links between experts and local communities.

Assessing the Importance of Native Mycorrhizal Fungi to Improve Tree Establishment after Wildfires

“…Climate change, forestry with pyrogenic species, and a prolonged drought have increased dry biomass and the likelihood of fires in Central Chile [80][81][82], giving birth to one of the most severe fires registered in recent history in 2017 [83]. Initiatives to restore the degraded MTE in Central Chile after those intense and extensive fires have had limited success due to economic, ecological, and cultural reasons [38]. Here, we demonstrate that inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi could greatly enhance the likelihood of success at a relative low cost, solving at least two of the main issues limiting restoration in Chilean matorral.…”

“…In the dry conditions of the late spring and summer of MTEs, fires are likely to keep occurring with an ever-increasing frequency, especially considering climate change and current land-use changes [91]. Inoculation with mycorrhizal could be a key strategy to improve the survival of the seedlings of native species in much needed restoration and propagation initiatives-at least-in the Chilean MTE, especially considering international accords such as REDD+, Nationally Determined Contributions, Bonn Challenge, and the Initiative 20 × 20 (see [38]), as well as the global commitments on the conservation of biodiversity.…”

“…In the long term, actions should be taken to ensure the restoration of the Chilean MTE and avoid its further degradation after fires. Restoration initiatives in Chile have had very limited success and are usually costly and inefficient [24,38] with Chile seemingly unable to fulfill international agreements in this regard.…”

Suppression of an invasive pine by a native shrub following a megafire

“…The devastating 2017 "Las Máquinas" mega re burned over 200,000 ha of the Coastal Maulino Forest, a stark reminder of the vulnerability of this ecosystem (Valencia et al 2018). Despite ongoing active and passive restoration efforts in south-central Chile (Morales et al 2021; Souza-Alonso et al 2022), challenges persist, including the rapid arrival of post-re pine regeneration that hinders restoration success González et al 2020González et al , 2023. This highlights the need for conservation and restoration practices tailored to this unique ecosystem.…”

RePlant Alfa: Integrating Google Earth Engine and R coding to Support the Identification of Priority Areas for Ecological Restoration

“…One of the main challenges to identify the best areas to implement restoration activities is the large number of variables that need to be jointly assessed, which usually include ecological, economic, social and institutional factors (Morales et al 2021). Spatial prioritizations like this could be addressed with the use of Multi-Criteria Spatial Decision Analyses, which integrate different geospatial variables through a system of interaction rules that combine them to generate information for decision-making (Mendoza & Martins, 2006;Malczewski 2006;Huang et al 2011).…”