Evaluation and Monitoring of Ecological Restoration Actions

Client: Arcadis 

Forest restoration is an activity that can be implemented through various methods and its main goal is to promote natural ecosystem dynamics, such as ecological succession. 

However, forest restoration is a multivariate process, its end is not clearly defined and it requires periodic assessments in order to have an idea of the need for new management interventions that guarantee the progress of ecological succession in a given area. 

This assessment, combined with meticulous monitoring, necessary to measure forest restoration in degraded areas, is one of the services carried out by Geonoma. 

A work of this nature was carried out in 2018 on a farm located in the municipality of Teresópolis - RJ, where a forest restoration project was started in 2009, after several years of cattle raising in the area. 

Our team assessed the conservation status of the remnants of natural vegetation on the site, its regeneration potential, and carried out the monitoring and evaluation of forest restoration areas, using as a reference the methods defined by INEA (Instituto Estadual do Ambiente do Rio de Janeiro) Resolution No. 143 and 2017. 

As a result, it was concluded that despite the committed efforts, the planting areas could not be considered restored, since there was still, among other factors, a very severe infestation of exotic grasses on the farm. 

In any case, the forest restoration work in the area could still be considered successful, since no signs of regression were observed in the ecological processes that direct the succession of the native vegetation.