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Articles by Adrian Monge

Category : Review article

article id 1673, category Review article
Eshetu Yirdaw, Mulualem Tigabu, Adrian Monge. (2017). Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review. Silva Fennica vol. 51 no. 1B article id 1673. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.1673
Keywords: restoration; desertification; land degradation; rangelands; croplands; dry forests; landscapes
Highlights: The prospect of restoring degraded drylands is technically promising; The forest landscape restoration concept can be used as the overarching rehabilitation framework; Development of process-based models that forecast rehabilitation outcomes is needed; Rehabilitation methodologies developed for moist areas are not necessarily suitable for drylands; More data is needed on cost-benefit analysis of rehabilitation interventions.
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Land degradation is widespread and a serious threat affecting the livelihoods of 1.5 billion people worldwide of which one sixth or 250 million people reside in drylands. Globally, it is estimated that 10–20% of drylands are already degraded and about 12 million ha are degraded each year. Driven by unsustainable land use practices, adverse climatic conditions and population increase, land degradation has led to decline in provision of ecosystem services, food insecurity, social and political instability and reduction in the ecosystem’s resilience to natural climate variability. Several global initiatives have been launched to combat land degradation, including rehabilitation of degraded drylands. This review aimed at collating the current state-of-knowledge about rehabilitation of degraded drylands. It was found that the prospect of restoring degraded drylands is technically promising using a suite of passive (e.g. area exclosure, assisted natural regeneration, rotational grazing) and active (e.g. mixed-species planting, framework species, maximum diversity, and use of nurse tree) rehabilitation measures. Advances in soil reclamation using biological, chemical and physical measures have been made. Despite technical advances, the scale of rehabilitation intervention is small and lacks holistic approach. Development of process-based models that forecast outcomes of the various rehabilitation activities will be useful tools for researchers and practitioners. The concept of forest landscape restoration approach, which operates at landscape-level, could also be adopted as the overarching framework for rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems. The review identified a data gap in cost-benefit analysis of rehabilitation interventions. However, the cost of rehabilitation and sustainable management of drylands is opined to be lower than the losses that accrue from inaction, depending on the degree of degradation. Thus, local communities’ participation, incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge, clear division of tasks and benefits, strengthening local institutions are crucial not only for cost-sharing, but also for the long-term success of rehabilitation activities.

  • Yirdaw, Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI), Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: eshetu.yirdaw@helsinki.fi (email)
  • Tigabu, Sveriges Lantbruks Universitet (SLU), Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Southern Swedish Forest Research Centre, P.O. Box 49, SE-230 53, Alnarp, Sweden E-mail: Mulualem.Tigabu@slu.se
  • Monge, Viikki Tropical Resources Institute (VITRI), Department of Forest Sciences, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: adrian.mongemonge@helsinki.fi

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