Barriers and opportunities in effective management of forest landscape restoration: Tain II degraded forest restoration, Ghana

Abstract

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) approach has become a key strategy to ensure sustainable forest management and counteract the impacts of deforestation and forest degradation on biodiversity, greenhouse gas emissions, climate change, and food insecurity. However, the management of FLR to restore degraded forest landscapes remains a major conundrum in most tropical regions, including Ghana. This study, conducted in Tain II degraded forest Reserve landscape in Ghana, examined the management of the forest landscape restoration project and associated barriers and opportunities. A structured questionnaire was administered to 150 respondents from three fringe communities. A partial least squares path model (PLS-PM) was used to examine and identify interrelations between opportunity and barrier factors. The results indicated positive effects of incentives, farmers’ access to information, community-driven fire management, and technical assistance on FLR initiatives, while in contrast, social restrictions, conflicts over resources and land usage, difficulty in sustaining FLR, land ownership challenges, and governance issues impeded the FLR. There was a high degree of interdependence among the various contributing factors, suggesting that effective management of the FLR requires diligent management of trade-offs to help achieve sustainable forest management. Our findings underscore the need for community-based restoration programs and innovative interventions that offer incentives and technical assistance to farmers and provide constant information to stakeholders to foster synergistic future forest landscape trajectories for sustainable development.

Keywords

• Forest landscape restoration
• Management of FLR
• Barriers
• Opportunities