People’s participation in social-ecological restoration toward a framework for drivers fostering social-ecological restoration within forest landscape

Abstract

Many ecological restoration projects overlook social perspectives, resulting in unsuccessful restoration outcomes within Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR). The factors that influence an individual's or group's decision to adopt innovations, ranging from social-ecological approaches to specific restoration practices, are still poorly understood. This article examines those drivers determining the adoption of innovations in the context of FLR. Our work, based on a systematic literature review, points to the need for meaningful stakeholder inclusion in social-ecological restoration projects and emerging use of the concept of social-ecological restoration in the research projects. Thus, this article specifically focuses on adoption theory and social-ecological restoration frameworks. We derived a balanced framework that comprises seven drivers and strategies of social-ecological restoration built on the degree of restoration actors’ involvement, particularly local community participation across restoration scales. In developing countries, establishing social groups that share savings and credit structures within neighboring households can be a sustainable approach. Further studies should focus on comparing different studies at local scales within which restoration field trials span different aspects of social-ecological restoration and how it is linked to social cohesion.