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Combining a restoration project with activities benefiting the local population

Visible results make it easier to understand the invisible results

Good practices

Aug 29, 2025
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Combining a restoration project with activities benefiting the local population photo

In regions where forests are not commonly seen as assests and potential sources of useful forest products, forest management might be overlooked by the landowners, as they do not see the immediate benefit of the forestry works. If you are working with forest restoration in such regions, with the long term goal to create forests that benefit both nature and people, it is important  to provide "easy to notice" aims and results in areas of high social impact. By doing so, it will be easier to both explain and get acceptance for other, not so visible restoration measures and results.

In this good practice we are providing some tips and tricks on this topic, based on the restoration done in the Spanish demo area of the Horizon 2020 SUPERB.

Context:

In the Castille and Leon regions of Spain, much of the land is community-owned by many small municipalities. The forests in the region have traditionally been used and managed, for example for fire-wood and chestnut production, and the open areas have been grazed. However, today, recurrent fires and rural abandonment have resulted in degraded forests, often dominated by Quercus pyrenaica, with low value to the remaining local citizens.

Within this context, the Spanish part of the Horizon 2020 project SUPERB has been working with forest restoration with the aim of enhancing biodiversity through wildlife corridors while chestnut plantations and roundwood production will serve as economic pillars for rural development. During the project, we have noticed that to accomplish long-term goals, it is important to provide "easy to notice" aims in areas of high social impact.

Problem Description:

In regions where forests are not commonly seen as assets and potential sources of useful forest products, forest management might be overlooked by the landowners, as they do not see the immediate benefit of the forestry works.
This might have negative implications for the acceptance and engagement of the local community, in forest restoration projects.
However, by actively locating forest restoration measures that are "easy to notice"; and clearly beneficially to the locals in the near vicinity of the villages and main roads, it might be easier to connect your project to the local community.

Implementation Steps:

Planning and involving in local meeting to explain what is the benefit that the community will have is key to get everyone on board.

Some tips and tricks to establish a good local connection and acceptance of your forest restoration project, even if it mainly includes restoration actions and results that are rather “invisible” for most locals:
- Involve and inform the locals in your restoration project early on, by arranging and/or participating in local meetings. Explaining the benefits of your project to the community is key to get everyone on board!
- Talk to the locals and try to learn about the traditional uses of the territory and surroundings of where the people of interest lives. In this way it is easier to plan your “easy-to-notice” actions to places with "good"; visual impact of the restoration activity. It also strengthens the sense of ownership and involvement among the locals.
- Involve other stakeholders in the area, such as walkers and others that are using, but not living in the area. Inform them on how they may benefit from the forest restoration and try to adapt the localisation of both “easy-to-
notice” and “invisible” or messy restoration actions to how they are utilizing the area.
- Try to locate restoration measures that are rather “invisible” or even might look messy or disturbing in some other way, to more remote areas where people seldom visit.

Stakeholder Engagement:

Local administration usually feels that they are the less important part in the decision making hierarchy, although they are the most imporant one for social acceptance and the most susceptible to changes in their closer environment.

Replicability:

YES, the practice has been tested and replicated in multiple contexts and scales and therefore, can be easily transferred and/or adapted to other initiatives with similar goals.

Use traditional uses of the territory and close to the surroundings where the people of interest lives in order to have a " good" visual impact of the restoration activity

Key Success Factors:

Local administration and rural influencers (walkers and users of the area where restoration activity occurs)

Common Constraints:

Bad (late) timing

Positive Impacts:

  • Improved conflict mitigation
  • Improved societal support
  • Increased non-wood forest products

Getting a higher acceptance of an action is always positive. This increase the future benefits not only by locals but with local and regional policy makers.

Negative Impacts:

  • Reduced recreational value

There is no negative impacts related with GP that comes to our mind

All the restoration actions can be seen as a social benefit. Here, we want to stress a strategy to get support to other restoration activities with a more hidden social benefit.
Source/Author(s)
  • David Lastra González - Cesefor
Topic
  • Integrative Forest Management
  • Social & Stakeholder
Stakeholders
  • Landowners & Practitioners
  • Planners & Implementers
Purpose
  • Other protective and regulatory functions
  • Social and cultural values
  • Specific habitats (deadwood, microhabitats, habitat types,...)
Biogeographic region
  • Atlantic
  • Mediterranean
Countries
  • Spain
Degradation Driver
  • Social
Scale Area
  • 37.4 ha