Vietnam has largely succeeded in reforestation within its border. Started in the 1980s, accompanying the transition to a market-driven economy, forestry management moved to a multi-sector approach with NGOs, businesses, local communities and management boards involved from originally government control. In 2008, Vietnam become a REDD pilot country, and both Forest Trends and FAO have recorded the increase in forest cover in Vietnam. However, challenge still exits. The demand for wood products in Vietnam is high, and now the country imports much from Cambodia, where illegal and unsustainable loggings happen frequently.

Environmentalists have called Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff’s commitments on reducing deforestation and supporting renewable energy ‘weak’ and representing little more than maintaining the status quo. Greenpeace Brazil say the target of restoring 12 million hectares of forest represents only half of the reforestation requirements under Brazil’s Forest Code and are just another commitment to comply with existing laws, not a bold new initiative.
Brazil has, however, worked to reduce greenhouse gas emissions more than any large country over the past decade, with emissions from all sectors having fallen by around 40% since 2005, with an 85% cut in carbon dioxide from deforestation.

An article published in the journal ‘Science’ has said that efforts by countries and companies to achieve ‘zero net deforestation’ may be having the unintended effect of rainforests being replaced by less valuable plantations. As the approach does not distinguish clearly between the different values of replanted areas and natural forests, it means some countries are guilty of replacing their native forests with exotic species. A more favourable way of protection would be for companies, states and other groups to set separate reduction targets in forest loss and for reforestation efforts.

Based on historic trends, global forest cover is predicted to stabilise at around 22% forest cover over the next century. This represents a decline of an additional 10% compared to where we are today. The increase in decline is predicted based on the long-term challenge of feeding a growing population while still conserving forest areas.

A recent study has revealed how recovering forests manipulate the process of nitrogen fixation to ‘heal’ themselves. Forests recovering from agricultural land use demonstrated exceptionally high rates of biomass accumulation, indicating very high rates of nitrogen demand. The results from the study indicate that nitrogen-fixing trees should be used preferentially in reforestation projects.