Abstract

The large-scale forest restoration pledges made by many Latin American countries are expected to be mostly implemented in rural areas, where competition for land with agriculture and lack of farmer engagement may prevent forest expansion. Planning for forest restoration actions must combine policy-driven approaches (topdown) that set national and regional targets, with site-specific objectives based on the socio-political context and local needs (bottom-up). Here we present five case studies from projects in Latin America that were conducted in different social and legal contexts, but shared the use of riparian-forest buffers as a focal point for forest restoration in rural landscapes. These cases illustrate how focusing on riparian buffers may help bridge top-down and bottom-up approaches when planning forest restoration in rural landscapes of Latin America. In some cases, restoration actions were motivated by economic incentives and legal compliance whereas in others they were driven by societal demands. We propose that riparian forest buffers deserve special consideration as a suitable place to begin bridging the gap between national-scale restoration commitments and local-scale use and production needs, while facilitating the participation of all stakeholders in both the planning and implementation processes.