Restoration in Northern Andean-Patagonian Forests: Insights from the Past, Directions for the Future

Abstract

As an introduction, key concepts and terms associated with restoration are presented. Then, we address forest restoration development in Patagonia during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, highlighting changes in conceptual approaches and paradigms over the last three decades. Hereby, we differentiate the various levels of forest restoration, encompassing experimental approaches at stand as well as landscape scales. At the stand level, we particularly focus on the restoration of forests which have been degraded by different impact factors (e.g., fire, diseases, livestock) with various interventions by planting and sowing trees. At the landscape scale, we consider the necessity to set clear and specific goals and objectives from the planning stage. Finally, we discuss the need for a restoration perspective that considers the current regional trends in land-use intensification, population increase, and expected global changes, taking into account a vision of the future, and its convergence or divergence from the European outlook.