Tree species prioritization

About the Masterclass

Tree planting has emerged as a key strategy in global efforts to combat climate change, restore degraded ecosystems, and secure livelihoods for rural communities. Initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and national restoration commitments across Africa, Asia, and Latin America have set ambitious targets to restore millions of hectares of degraded land.

Yet translating these global commitments into effective local restoration action remains a major challenge. While restoration projects often identify dozens of tree species that could biophysically survive in a landscape, programmes frequently lack transparent and practical approaches for validating, ranking, and narrowing these options into realistic and stakeholder-aligned planting portfolios.

In the absence of structured prioritization processes, species selection decisions are often shaped by nursery availability, donor priorities, or unequal influence within community consultations. This can result in simplified or “flat” species portfolios that reduce ecological impact, complicate seed supply systems, and overlook the differentiated needs of women, youth, and marginalized groups who depend on trees for fuel, fodder, medicine, food, and income.

Expected outcomes

Develop a stronger understanding of how to move from broad species suitability assessments to context-responsive species prioritization processes
Gain practical exposure to participatory and evidence-based approaches for integrating ecological, socioeconomic, and livelihood considerations into species selection decisions
Strengthen the ability to apply transparent and weighted prioritization criteria to develop ranked species portfolios for restoration planning
Improve awareness of how gender and social inclusion considerations can be embedded into participatory species selection and decision-making processes
Reflect on practical challenges, trade-offs, and opportunities involved in prioritizing tree species across different restoration contexts

Program overview

Time	Session Segment	Lead	Focus
0:00 – 0:10	Opening and context Setting	Moderator	Framing the challenge of tree species prioritization
0:10 – 0:20	Perspective 1: Biodiversity and ecological integrity	BGCI Representative	Ecological and biodiversity considerations in species prioritization
0:20 – 0:30	Perspective 2: Restoration planning and implementation	UNIQUE Land Use Representative	Operational and programme-level realities
0:30 – 0:40	Perspective 3: Community and livelihood priorities	Community Practitioner / Restoration Champion	Local priorities and lived realities
0:40 – 0:50	Presentation	CIFOR-ICRAF	Gender and Inclusion in Species Decisions
0:50 – 1:10	Thematic dialogue	Moderator + Panel	Ecological Suitability vs Livelihood Priorities
1:10 – 1:20	Audience reflection and interactive discussion	Moderator	Practitioner reflection and engagement
1:20 – 1:27	Key takeaways and synthesis	Moderator	Consolidating lessons learned
1:27 – 1:30	Closing and transition	Moderator	Linking to the next masterclass

Who should attend

Restoration practitioners, broad tree planters, ecologists, and landscape planners
Tree planting programmes, NGOs, and government staff involved in forest and landscape restoration and broader tree planting initiatives
Researchers and academics in agroforestry, biodiversity, and ecosystem management
Investors and development partners supporting restoration and tree planting initiatives

Species suitability to prioritized restoration portfolios

Effective restoration requires more than identifying what can grow. It requires transparent and participatory approaches for deciding what should be prioritized for biodiversity, livelihoods, resilience, and long-term restoration success.

👉 Join this masterclass to explore practical approaches for developing inclusive, evidence-based, and context-responsive species prioritization strategies for restoration.