Restoring forest ecosystems and effectively conserving remnants is vital to face the global outbreak of deforestation, forest degradation, climate change, social injustice, and the biodiversity crisis. Besides scaling up forest restoration, setting reasonable goals can guide to more successful plantings that provide more ecosystem services that deliver different benefits and potential trade-offs. Therefore, monitoring forest structure, composition, and other attributes is mandatory while establishing a new forest cover. During the process, wise solutions can arise from the adaptive management process. We can overcome this era׳s threats based on solid knowledge and actions taken on an enormous joint effort. Therefore, forest restoration is a vital part of today׳s crisis solution.

This is an update of David Lamb, Reforestation, Editor(s): Simon A Levin, Encyclopedia of Biodiversity (Second Edition), cademic Press, 2013, Pages 370–379, ISBN 9780123847201, https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-384719-5.00121-0.