The Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM), produced by IUCN and the World Resources Institute, provides a flexible and affordable framework approach for countries to rapidly identify and analyse forest landscape restoration (FLR) potential and locate specific areas of opportunity at a national or sub-national level. ROAM can provide vital support to countries seeking to move forward with developing restoration programmes and landscape-level strategies.
A ROAM assessment can be undertaken by a small core assessment team through collaborative engagement with other experts and stakeholders and can deliver the following products:
- Identified priority areas for restoration
- A shortlist of the most relevant and feasible restoration intervention types across the assessment area
- Quantified costs and benefits of each intervention type
- Estimated values of additional carbon sequestered by these intervention types
- Analysis of the finance and investment options for restoration in the assessment area
- A diagnostic of restoration readiness and strategies for addressing major policy and institutional bottlenecks
By implementing ROAM, decision-makers and stakeholders can expect to deliver the following types of outcomes:
- Better information for improved land-use decision-making
- High-level political support for FLR Fundamental inputs to national strategies on FLR, REDD+, adaptation and biodiversity, among others, and for mutually reinforcing convergence between such strategies
- A basis for better allocation of resources within restoration programmes
- Engagement of and collaboration among key policy-makers and decision makers from different sectors, as well as other stakeholders with interests in how landscapes are managed
- Shared understanding of FLR opportunities and the value of multifunctional landscapes