Despite global commitments to forest restoration, evidence of the pathways through which restoration creates social and ecological benefits remains limited. The objective of this paper is to provide empirical evidence to generate insights on the relationship between forest cover change and key provisioning ecosystem services and reforestation pathways. In Southern Ethiopia, three zones along a gradient of decreasing land cover complexity and tree cover were examined. The land cover change was assessed using satellite remote sensing and complemented ground‐based tree inventory. Perceptions of land cover and ecosystem services change and farmer responses were evaluated through three Participatory Rural Appraisals and eight Focus Group Discussions. Since the 1970s, a landscape shift from a forest‐grassland to a cropland mosaic was associated with increased food production, improved food security, and higher incomes. However, this shift also coincided with reductions in livestock, construction materials, fuelwood and water availability, prompting reforestation efforts designed to recover some of these lost ecosystem services. In particular, some households established Eucalyptus woodlots and encouraged natural regeneration. Natural trees, Eucalyptus woodlots, Ensete plantations (a type of plantain), and grasslands were positively associated with homestead proximity; thus, homestead establishment resulting from population increase in this predominately agricultural landscape appeared to foster a viable forest restoration pathway—that is, 'more people, more trees'. This is a reforestation pathway not previously described in the literature. A return to a more diverse agricultural landscape mosaic provided more secure and diversified income sources along with better provisioning of construction materials, fuelwood, and higher livestock numbers.

中文翻译：

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更多的人，更多的树木：埃塞俄比亚南部森林砍伐趋势的逆转

尽管全球对森林恢复做出了承诺，但恢复创造社会和生态效益的途径的证据仍然有限。本文的目的是提供经验证据，以得出有关森林覆盖率变化与关键供应生态系统服务和重新造林途径之间关系的见解。在埃塞俄比亚南部，检查了三个地区，这些地区沿着逐渐减少的土地覆盖率和树木覆盖率的梯度变化。土地覆盖的变化是使用卫星遥感和补充的地面树木清单进行评估的。通过三场参与性农村评估和八次焦点小组讨论，评估了对土地覆盖和生态系统服务变化以及农民反应的看法。自1970年代以来，从森林草原到农田马赛克的景观转变与增加粮食产量，改善粮食安全和增加收入有关。但是，这种转变还伴随着牲畜，建筑材料，薪材和水供应量的减少，促使人们进行了旨在恢复某些丧失的生态系统服务的造林工作。特别是一些家庭桉树林地鼓励自然再生。天然树木，桉树林地，Ensete人工林（一种车前草）和草原与宅基地的距离呈正相关；因此，在这个以农业为主的土地上，由于人口增加而建立的宅基地似乎促进了一条可行的森林恢复路径，即“更多的人，更多的树木”。这是先前文献中未描述的造林途径。回归到更加多样化的农业景观马赛克，提供了更安全和多样化的收入来源，以及更好地提供了建筑材料，薪柴和更高的牲畜数量。