Relation between restoration public policies and human development at the global level

Abstract

Abstract Development is a necessary process for the advancement of society. However, this advance causes the use of natural resources to increase in ever greater proportions, generating impacts on ecosystems. In the last 30 years, more than 400 million hectares of forests have been deforested due to anthropic activities, mainly agriculture. In this sense, there is a need for public policies that determine the appropriate use of these resources and their restoration through sustainable productions, especially agroforestry systems. Hence, the objective of this study was to review public policies aimed at restoration in several countries and evaluate their relationship with HDI and forest cover loss in these countries. We created a structural equation model to determine the effect of HDI on the number of public policies and rates of forest cover loss (based on the annual losses between 2000 and 2020). We found a total of 414 public policies. The number of public policies focused on restoration has increased over the years and this could be related to some international commitment frameworks. The model reveals a direct positive effect between HDI and the number of public policies, showing that the level of development of a country can affect the design of public policies aimed at restoration. We expected that more developed countries would have the lowest deforestation rates, since poverty and income inequality are correlated with higher pollution and usually with deforestation, but this was not observed in our model. Our data showed that only 22% of all public policies presented monitoring plans for restoration actions, 7% intended to implement agroforestry systems as a restoration strategy, and only 5% mentioned the use of native species. Finally, the level of development of a country can influence the development of public policies aimed at restoration, but, to achieve greater success in reversing the loss of vegetation cover, adequate planning, monitoring, and engagement of all stakeholders is necessary, whether they are public governance, private governance, and the community in general.