Social participation in forest restoration projects: insights from a national assessment in Mexico

Abstract

Ecosystem restoration is gaining momentum worldwide, but restoration projects frequently fall short of addressing the human dimension, notably through the involvement of local people. While social participation has been recognized to have a fundamental role in the success and sustainability of forest management projects, it is frequently not incorporated into restoration project planning. We gathered responses from a national assessment program regarding the status of terrestrial restoration projects in Mexico. We found that most of these projects were limited to the use of a local short-term work force in tree planting activities and were designed to alleviate short term local socioeconomic tensions, indicating that effective social participation is not well understood by managers.