Native Species Reforestation Symposium

Multilateral institutions together with national governments have set ambitious goals for restoring the world’s degraded and deforested landscapes. But often the interventions proposed consist of tree planting using only a few, mostly exotic, tree species, leaving the landscape with diminished biodiversity and climate resilience. This symposium, hosted by the Yale Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative (ELTI), highlights the critical role native species play in landscape restoration and what happens when they are left out, the importance of research on native species for long-term land management, and what native species reforestation looks like on the ground. A delegation of scientist and practitioners from Rwanda—ELTI’s African training landscape—will give insight into how their agencies and organizations face these challenges head on. With expertise from Latin America, Asia, and Africa, speakers and participants will share and engage in rich discussion about innovative research and tangible implementation approaches to restoring native species in the working landscape.