Newforest institute: Restoring habitat for resilience and vision in the forested landscape

Abstract

Humans have long relied on the land for their material, psychological, and spiritual well-being, understanding themselves as an integral part of the natural world. However, in modern times - and in accelerated fashion - this essential and multi-layered connection has been sorely strained if not altogether severed, resulting in poverty of both a material and spiritual nature with profound consequences not only for the environment, but also for the human community as well. Seeing the human community as an ecosystem within the landscape provides a meaningful framework for understanding its role as a powerful component of broader ecological restoration. Indeed, to restore to the human community its ability to experience itself as nature, embedded within the larger landscape, is a fundamental and indispensable act of environmental restoration. With the objective of developing means of creating measurable, landscape-scale improvements in the health and resilience of forests and forest-dependent communities, the Newforest Institute pursues three core activities: (1) community-based initiatives; (2) strategic partnering; and (3) research design and implementation. Working with university, government and community partners, we have developed the conceptual frameworks underlying the three forest-related initiatives we outline here: The Urban-Rural Youth Forestry Partnership, The Women's Earth Project, and The Abundance Project. In this paper, we outline our initiatives, research design, and alternative approaches to sustainable forest management, community-based forestry, and processes of community engagement and change. © 2009 WIT Press.