Soil Restoration and Monitoring Guidelines

Forests and forest soils are critical components of terrestrial ecosystems, delivering a wide range of ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, climate regulation, nutrient cycling, and water filtration. Therefore, their conservation should be prioritized wherever feasible to maintain ecological function and long-term sustainability. In cases where conservation is no longer viable due to anthropogenic disturbance or natural degradation, ecological restoration becomes necessary. Restoration efforts should adopt a holistic approach that promotes the recovery of soil health, including soil physical, chemical, and biological properties, while recognizing the intrinsic interconnection between forest and soil restoration. To effectively guide restoration, it is essential to assess both the condition and the capability of soils through spatial mapping and site-specific diagnostics. This enables the selection of appropriate restoration strategies that align with soil constraints and potential. Furthermore, soil capability mapping can inform realistic expectations for ecosystem service recovery. Restoration itself can consist of multiple techniques and interventions, which are being summarized in this report along with their impact on different soil parameters. This practical tool allows selecting context-appropriate interventions that effectively support soil health recovery and ecosystem resilience. Monitoring is a critical component to guide and evaluate restoration success by using scalable indicators that are cost-effective, time-efficient and applicable across spatial scales. These indicators enable cross-site comparisons and long-term assessments. Mapping soil capability and condition prior to restoration allows for the identification of site-specific limitations and potentials. Monitoring should begin with a pre-restoration baseline to establish reference conditions and guide indicator selection. Additionally, Identifying degradation problems is an important step in the pre-monitoring phase. Post-restoration monitoring must be structured, consistent, and longitudinal, capturing short- and long-term soil responses. The use of scalable indicators facilitates tracking of soil recovery across heterogeneous landscapes, improving comparability and policy relevance.

This Guideline provides a synthesis of the main findings derived from work conducted within the framework of the SUPERB project. Findings are illustrated in an integrated table with expected impacts of restoration measures on physical, chemical, and biological aspects of soil health. Additionally, we propose a monitoring scheme for selected scalable indicators to support long-term assessment of soil health. We emphasize the need for context-explicit restoration measures that take into account the inherent capacity of the soil, rather than applying blanket treatments.