Overcoming governance barriers to forest restoration: A global review of challenges and solutions

Forest restoration and tree planting are increasingly being perceived as a remedy to climate change, biodiversity loss, food insecurity, poor soil quality, joblessness and numerous other global challenges. Yet challenges related to governance - such as who takes the decisions to plant which trees and where, who the rightsholders are, and who benefits in the long term - are often ignored, with a direct impact on restoration results. Consequently, actors seek to implement governance-related solutions - such as improving tenure security and enacting enabling policies - to facilitate forest restoration. We review the global, English-language scientific literature (1995–2025) in order to identify and categorise these governance challenges and solutions with a view to improving knowledge, practice, and success in forest restoration. We identify a range of governance challenges that forest restoration projects or programmes should assess across spatial scales, with tenure issues being the most frequently cited challenges. We also offer a menu of governance solutions, with collaborative approaches and economic incentives topping the list, providing powerful triggers for forest restoration. We conclude with four recommendations - two for researchers and two for practitioners - that can contribute to better outcomes in forest restoration programmes.