Restoration is more complex than just planting trees. It requires that farmers, rural communities, businesses, and government agencies—all with different interests—unite behind a shared vision. Establishing common goals and measuring progress facilitates deeper collaboration among diverse actors. The World Resources Institute, together with the Government of El Salvador, the Regional Program for Research on Development and Environment (PRISMA), and the German Corporation for International Cooperation (GIZ), created the Sustainability Index for Landscape Restoration in a diverse, 1,200 square kilometer landscape. The Sustainability Index for Landscape Restoration is a field-tested tool for measuring the impact of restoration efforts and can be used in countries willing to develop monitoring systems at the landscape level.

How the Index can help you to measure progress in Landscape restoration?

Convene stakeholders involved in landscape management and monitoring
Identify the desired impacts and definition of targets against a baseline
Prioritize cost-effective components for the construction of the index
Develop a landscape scoring to report on the status of the landscape against initial objectives.