Counterurbanization: A neglected pathway of forest transition

Highlights

• Increase of human settlement into rural areas (counterurbanization) is generating new patterns of reforestation.
• Counterurbanization often promote local forest expansion due to land use changes leading to marginal agriculture dis-intensification and an increasing valuation of nature.
• New forests are likely to have a novel composition, a mixture of native and exotic plants that are dispersed from home gardens.
• Emerging forests present an aggregated pattern around accessible, low-density residential areas with natural appeal.
• Although this pathway locally affects small areas, counterurbanization could have a growing global effect, with the potential to modify biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural values.

Abstract

Human settlement into rural areas (counterurbanization) is generating new patterns of reforestation, with distinctive features compared to the previously considered pathways of forest transition through “economic development” and “forest scarcity”. Here, we discuss the specific features of this neglected pathway of forest recovery and describe the process with the support of study cases around the world. This pathway includes specific motivations (e.g., natural amenities, outdoor recreation), particular socio-economic processes, conflicts between newcomers and locals, and specific ecological outcomes (e.g., a larger proportion of non-native species in the new forests). Although this pathway locally affects small areas, as a widespread and expanding process around the world, counterurbanization could have a growing global effect, with the potential to modify biodiversity, ecosystem services, and cultural values. These novel characteristics should be further explored to better understand the patterns and processes of forest transitions in a context of a globally connected world.