Ecological outcomes of Atlantic Forest restoration initiatives by sugar cane producers |
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| Institution: | 1. Institute of Biological and Health Sciences, Federal University of Alagoas, Av. Lourival Melo Mota, s/n, Tabuleiro do Martins, Maceió, AL 57072-900, Brazil;2. School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 7PS, UK;1. VTI (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute), MAP Unit, SE-581 95 Linköping, Sweden;2. Lund University, Department of Human Geography, SE-223 62 Lund, Sweden;3. VTI (Swedish National Road and Transport Research Institute), MAP Unit, Box 55685, SE-102 15 Stockholm, Sweden;4. Linköping University, CSPR (Centre for Climate Science and Policy Research), SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden;1. Imperial College London, United Kingdom;2. Imperial College London and the Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, United Kingdom;1. Project Research Group, Urban and the Environment Division, Kawasaki Environment Research Institute, City of Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan;2. Center for Research Strategy, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan;3. Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE, UK;1. University of Vienna, Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research, Faculty of Life Sciences, Rennweg 14, 1030 Vienna, Austria;2. United Nations University Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), Tokyo, Japan;3. PRIMAFF – Policy Research Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery, Tokyo, Japan;4. Centre de Droit International, Université libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, B-1050 Brussels, Belgium;1. Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT), Cologne University of Applied Sciences, 50679 Cologne, Germany;2. Water, Energy and Environment Center (WEEC), University of Jordan, Jordan |
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| Abstract: | Brazilian environmental law (the Forest Code) compels large landowners to conserve a proportion of forest on their properties, often necessitating restoration of degraded habitat. Sugar cane producers have been active participants in these restoration projects, especially in the northeast region where sugar cane has largely replaced the exceptionally biodiverse Atlantic forest. Despite the potential conservation importance of such restoration projects there have been few evaluations of their outcomes. Here, we assess sugar cane company restoration projects in an Atlantic rainforest region of northeast Brazil. Specifically, we assess the ability of restoration projects to: (i) restore species diversity and vegetation structure; (ii) increase connectivity between forest fragments, and; (iii) restore assemblage composition. Restored areas contained approximately half the species richness of remnant fragments and had a substantially different species composition. Moreover, the density of trees in restored areas was a third of that in remnants, despite a very similar height profile. The currently poor outcomes of Atlantic Forest restoration projects in northeast Brazil are a consequence of a severely limited capacity for natural regeneration and poor restoration practices. We conclude by identifying possible strategies to improve the quality of privately financed restoration projects. |
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| Keywords: | Biodiversity Brazilian Forest Code Landscape ecology Mata Atlantica |
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