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Climate change is a global phenomenon that affects biophysical systems and human well-being. The Paris Agreement of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change entered into force in 2016 with the objective of strengthening the global response to climate change by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase even further to 1.5 °C. The agreement requires all Parties to submit their “nationally determined contributions” (NDCs) and to strengthen these efforts in the years ahead. Reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation is an important strategy for mitigating climate change, particularly in developing countries with large forests. Extensive tropical forest loss and degradation have increased awareness at the international level of the need to undertake large-scale ecological restoration, highlighting the need to identify cases in which restoration strategies can contribute to mitigation and adaptation. Here we consider Brazil as a case study to evaluate the benefits and challenges of implementing large-scale restoration programs in developing countries. The Brazilian NDC included the target of restoring and reforesting 12 million hectares of forests for multiple uses by 2030. Restoration of native vegetation is one of the foundations of sustainable rural development in Brazil and should consider multiple purposes, from biodiversity and ecosystem services conservation to social and economic development. However, ecological restoration still presents substantial challenges for tropical and mega-diverse countries, including the need to develop plans that are technically and financially feasible, as well as public policies and monitoring instruments that can assess effectiveness. The planning, execution, and monitoring of restoration efforts strongly depend on the context and the diagnosis of the area with respect to reference ecosystems (e.g., forests, savannas, grasslands, wetlands). In addition, poor integration of climate change policies at the national and subnational levels and with other sectorial policies constrains the large-scale implementation of restoration programs. The case of Brazil shows that slowing deforestation is possible; however, this analysis highlights the need for increased national commitment and international support for actions that require large-scale transformations of the forest sector regarding ecosystem restoration efforts. Scaling up the ambitions and actions of the Paris Agreement implies the need for a global framework that recognizes landscape restoration as a cost-effective nature-based solution and that supports countries in addressing their remaining needs, challenges, and barriers.

Part 1: Examining Non-Timber Forest Product Systems 1. Introduction: The Need to Understand the Ecological Sustainability of Non-Timber Forest Products Harvesting Systems Charlie M. Shackleton, Tamara Ticktin and Ashok K. Pandey 2. Non-Timber Forest Products in Livelihoods Charlie M. Shackleton 3. The Ecological Sustainability of Non-Timber Forest Product Harvest: Principles and Methods Tamara Ticktin 4. The Importance of Environmental History in Evaluating the Sustainability of Non-Timber Forest Product Harvesting Systems Annika C. Dahlberg Part 2: Case Studies of Ecologically Sustainable Non-timber Forest Product Harvest Systems 5. Harvesting of Palm Fruits can be Ecologically Sustainable: A Case of Buriti (Mauritia Flexuosa Arecaceae) in Central Brazil Mauricio Bonesso Sampaio and Flavio Antonio Maes dos Santos 6. Harvesting from the Tree of Life: Responsible Commercialization of Baobab in South Africa and Malawi Lucy Welford, Sarah Venter, Christian Dohse and Itai Chibaya 7. The Road to Sustainable Harvests in Wild Honey Collection: Experiences from the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve, Western Ghats, India Anita Varghese, Snehlata Nath, Robert Leo and Sumin George Thomas 8. The Sustainability of Small-Scale Fishery Harvests in the Context of Highly Variable Resources Jaime Aburto, Georgina Cundill and Wolfgang Stotz 9. The Sustainability of Soapberry (Sapindus Laurifolia Vahl) Fruit Harvest by the Soliga Community in South India Siddappa Setty R. 10. Moving from the Ecological Sustainability to the Participatory Management of Janaguba (Himatanthus Drasticus - Apocynaceae) Cristina Baldauf, Christiane E. Correa, Maisa Ciampi-Guillardi, Julia C. Sfair, Damasio D. Pessoa, Raydine C.F. Oliveira, Marilyn F. Machado, Cicero Ikaro Dantas Milfont, Terry C.H. Sunderland and Flavio A.M. dos Santos 11. Sustainable Bark Harvesting of Important Medicinal Tree Species, India Ashok K. Pandey 12. Cork Oak (Quercus Suber L.): A Case of Sustainable Bark Harvesting In Southern Europe Augusta Costa and Graca Oliveira 13. Sustainability of Golden Grass Flower Stalk Harvesting in the Brazilian Savanna Isabel B. Schmidt, Isabel Benedetti Figueiredo and Tamara Ticktin Part 3: Ecological Sustainability in Dynamic Social Contexts 14. Commercialization and Sustainability: When can they Co-Exist? Rachel Wynberg and Jaci van Niekerk 15. Good Governance: A Key Element of Sustainable Non-Timber Forest Product Harvesting Systems Rebecca J. McLain and Steven Lawry 16. Ecologically Sustainable Harvesting of Non-Timber Forest Products: Disarming the Narrative and the Complexity Charlie M. Shackleton, Ashok K. Pandey and Tamara Ticktin