IRET-SICA index reveals uneven resilience in 40 Central American restoration projects

Restoration projects across member countries of the Central American Integration System incorporate resilience more consistently through environmental practices than through social or economic measures, according to an analysis of 40 projects. The study developed and applied a multidimensional composite index that evaluates terrestrial ecosystem conservation and restoration projects across three interrelated dimensions: environmental, social and economic. Its central finding was that resilience is generally implemented selectively rather than fully integrated, with economic conditions producing the greatest variation among the projects examined.

The framework, called the Terrestrial Ecosystem Resilience Index for the Central American Integration System, or IRET-SICA, was designed to address a methodological problem identified by the researchers. Existing approaches to resilience assessment often privilege environmental outcomes while providing limited integration of social and economic considerations. Comparative evidence was also scarce in climate-vulnerable countries of the Central American Integration System, or SICA. IRET-SICA operationalizes resilience through 19 indicators and was applied to a sample of 40 terrestrial ecosystem conservation and restoration projects implemented across SICA member countries.

Analysis of the 40-project sample showed that resilience-related practices were most consistently incorporated within the environmental dimension. Integration of the social dimension was lower and more uneven, while the economic dimension showed the lowest and most variable levels of integration. The greatest variation across projects occurred in the economic component, making it the main source of regional differentiation in the index. Most projects were classified in the study’s medium-resilience category, but this overall result masked a pattern of partial rather than comprehensive integration across the three dimensions.

The index provides an analytical view of how environmental, social and economic factors interact within restoration projects, not merely a single measure of ecological performance. By displaying these dimensions together, IRET-SICA can expose structural imbalances that predominantly environmental assessment frameworks may overlook. The results indicate that stronger incorporation of environmental practices does not necessarily correspond to equivalent integration of social considerations or economic factors. The comparative design also allows projects and national contexts to be examined within the same framework, helping distinguish shared patterns from the factors that differentiate individual cases.

The study presents IRET-SICA as a replicable tool for project evaluation, adaptive management and evidence-based environmental policymaking in climate-vulnerable regions. Its scope is bounded by the sampled projects, selected indicators and regional setting, and the supplied study abstract does not establish whether the index produces better restoration outcomes or whether it is equally suitable for every ecosystem or country. The available findings instead concern how resilience is represented in the 40 projects assessed. The research was published as open-access research in Discover Sustainability on 19 September 2026, with the early accepted version identified as subject to further editorial changes.

Subject of Research: Multidimensional assessment of resilience in Central American terrestrial ecosystem restoration projects

Article Title: Assessing multidimensional resilience in terrestrial ecosystem restoration projects with the IRET-SICA framework

Article References: Salgado-Guifarro, O. A., Juárez Rosa, A. J., Durón Arguijo, D. M., & Ponce López, G. E. (2026). Assessing multidimensional resilience in terrestrial ecosystem restoration projects with the IRET-SICA framework. Discover Sustainability. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43621-026-04756-8

Image Credits: AI Generated

DOI: 10.1007/s43621-026-04756-8

Keywords: ecosystem restoration, resilience assessment, Central America, IRET-SICA, composite index, environmental indicators, social dimensions, economic dimensions, climate vulnerability, adaptive management, Assessing, multidimensional