In 2003, China planted small islands of native trees along a degraded river; 20 years later they held only 19–30% of an intact forest’s diversity and biomass
A 20-year study in southwest China found that planting small patches of native trees can help restore damaged tropical forests without planting entire landscapes. The approach successfully rebuilt forest cover, but researchers found that biodiversity and mature forest conditions recovered much more slowly, showing that long-term restoration still requires sustained effort.