Passive restoration is often quite effective: response to Zahawi et al. (2014)

Although we share many of the ideas expressed by Zahawi et al., we believe that they are more skeptical in some aspects of the value of passive restoration than we are. Their comment is based primarily on experience within tropical habitats with idiosyncratic legal and social circumstances that limit extrapolations to other habitats. Passive restoration is not always slower than active restoration, and restoration goals should not always focus on rapid development of mature vegetation structure and function. Even less mature vegetation may provide important benefits. A meta‐analysis to compare passive and active restoration in a variety of habitats and geographical regions is needed.