Community incentives, empowerment key to successful forest landscape restoration
1 June 2026, Bali
ITTO Projects Manager Tetra Yanuariadi delivered remarks on the potential of forest landscape restoration in Southeast Asia, emphasizing how the approach can simultaneously support ecological integrity and enhance human wellbeing in deforested or degraded forest landscapes. © EU TAF-GTEI
Empowering and incentivizing local communities are vital for the long-term success of forest landscape restoration (FLR) projects, an ITTO official has said, as countries in Southeast Asia consider how to implement an ambitious new tree-planting initiative.
ITTO Projects Manager Tetra Yanuariadi delivered remarks at the “First Workshop on the Development of ASEAN Leaders Declaration on One Billion Trees Growing Program and Its Implementation Plan,” held in Bali, Indonesia, on 12–13 May 2026.
Presenting on the potential of FLR in the region, Dr Yanuariadi provided background on FLR and its principles, and lessons from ITTO’s wide-ranging work in the restoration and sustainable management of tropical forests, including some of the prerequisites for successful long-term restoration projects.
Dr Yanuariadi emphasised how FLR is an approach designed to simultaneously regain ecological integrity and enhance human wellbeing in deforested or degraded forest landscapes. Principles underlying the approach include strong stakeholder engagement and participation, and the careful tailoring of interventions to local contexts and changing circumstances.
Through more than 1,200 projects valued at about USD 430 million, ITTO has extensive experience in the restoration and sustainable management of forests across the tropics. Valuable lessons learned are packaged and made freely available in the Organization’s extensive library of technical guidelines, including its Guidelines for Forest Landscape Restoration in the Tropics, published in 2020.
Dr Yanuariadi underlined the role of FLR in reducing ongoing forest loss and degradation and thus making a key contribution to countering greenhouse gas emissions and climate change while also boosting both biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.
Opportunities for FLR, he pointed out, are often concentrated in degraded forest land, secondary forests, and degraded old-growth forests. Realizing that such efforts can go a long way to support nations in Southeast Asia and beyond to meet national and international policy goals.
Relevant ITTO projects demonstrate to decision-makers the potential of FLR to address substantive issues, he said. Incorporating elements that boost sustainable livelihoods – such as agroforestry systems and compensation for ecosystem restoration – is important to incentivizing local communities to engage in FLR initiatives.
ITTO stated it needs time – often more than a typical project cycle of three years – to build the capacity of stakeholders, including women and youth, to the degree needed for successful and sustainable FLR, and for the full benefits of projects to unfold.
“Communities want to see the products of their forest restoration efforts and involvement which yield results a long time after the completion of the project,” Dr Yanuariadi said.
Dr Yanuariadi also highlighted areas for further research and policy development to strengthen FLR, including approaches that are more inclusive of local and non-state actors; considering socio-ecological issues and trade-offs together; embedding FLR principles across all forest-related policies; and expanding capacity building programmes and strong equity provisions.
The One Billion Trees initiative was welcomed at the 47th ASEAN Ministers on Agriculture and Forestry Meeting in October 2025 as a vital contribution to forest conservation, climate action, and community empowerment in the region.
The meeting encouraged all ASEAN Member States to develop national action plans to support the collective regional targets and to strengthen monitoring and reporting systems to track progress.
The workshop on developing the leaders’ declaration was organized by the ASEAN Secretariat and the European Union-funded Technical Assistance Facility to the Green Team Europe Initiative.