Restoration has now emerged as a global priority, with international initiatives such as the “UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030)”. To fulfill the large-scale global restoration ambitions, an essential step is the monitoring of vegetation recovery after restoration interventions. This study aimed to evaluate the utility of remotely sensed vegetation indices, using the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and enhanced vegetation index (EVI), to monitor the progress of forest regeneration across a tropical forest restoration project area in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Using the chronosequence approach, results indicated non-linear patterns in NDVI and EVI across the first 25 years of recovery. Both NDVI and EVI increased for the first 10 years of forest regeneration. This 'greening' phase could be used as the indicator of the successful onset of forest recovery. In particular, the decline of elephant grass, and the consequent arrival of shrubs and trees, can be detected as an increase in NDVI. Primary forests differed from the 25-year-old regenerating forests based on the unique combination of low mean and low seasonal variation in EVI. Our results, therefore, suggest that the long-term success of forest restoration could be monitored by evaluating how closely the combination of mean, and degree of seasonal variation in EVI, resembles that observed in the primary forest.

中文翻译：

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乌干达基巴莱国家公园热带森林恢复梯度的遥感植被绿化

随着“联合国生态系统恢复十年（2021-2030）”等国际倡议的出台，恢复现已成为全球优先事项。为了实现大规模的全球恢复目标，一个必不可少的步骤是在恢复干预后监测植被恢复情况。本研究旨在评估遥感植被指数的效用，使用归一化差异植被指数 (NDVI) 和增强型植被指数 (EVI)，监测乌干达基巴莱国家公园热带森林恢复项目区森林更新的进展. 使用时间顺序方法，结果表明在恢复的前 25 年中 NDVI 和 EVI 呈非线性模式。在森林更新的前 10 年，NDVI 和 EVI 均有所增加。这种“绿化” 阶段可用作森林恢复成功开始的指标。特别是，象草的减少以及随之而来的灌木和树木的到来，可以被检测为 NDVI 的增加。基于 EVI 低平均和低季节性变化的独特组合，原始森林与 25 年历史的再生森林不同。因此，我们的结果表明，可以通过评估 EVI 的平均值和季节性变化程度的组合与原始森林中观察到的相似程度来监测森林恢复的长期成功。基于 EVI 低平均和低季节性变化的独特组合，原始森林与 25 年历史的再生森林不同。因此，我们的结果表明，可以通过评估 EVI 的平均值和季节性变化程度的组合与原始森林中观察到的相似程度来监测森林恢复的长期成功。基于 EVI 低平均和低季节性变化的独特组合，原始森林与 25 年历史的再生森林不同。因此，我们的结果表明，可以通过评估 EVI 的平均值和季节性变化程度的组合与原始森林中观察到的相似程度来监测森林恢复的长期成功。