On the way to restore Guatemala's degraded lands: Creating governance conditions

Abstract

Guatemala is a megadiverse country but its ecosystems have been constantly threatened by stress factors. During the 1991–2001 period, the country experienced a forest loss of 93,127 ha/year. This situation prompted the Government to set a target to restore 1.2 million ha of degraded land by 2045 and approved in 2015 a National Strategy for Forest Landscape Restoration. Findings show that the combination of a platform for dialogue and a legal framework (PROBOSQUE Law) to support restoration work on the ground has proved to be very important for the implementation of the National Strategy. Another key factor was the three-level approach that combined implementation activities at national, regional and local levels.