The increase in the use of trails for outdoor recreation observed in
recent decades has led to greater pressure on existing trails and the
creation of informal new trails, resulting in damage and degradation of
these infrastructures. This degradation is concerning because many of
these trails are located in protected natural areas, which aim to
conserve natural resources and associated biodiversity. Concurrently,
ecosystems worldwide have also been experiencing increased degradation,
prompting the United Nations to declare the current decade as the Decade
for Ecosystem Restoration. In this context, through a systematic review
of the scientific literature, we aimed to better understand what science
has discovered to enhance the management of degraded trails in protected
natural areas worldwide. We observed that the number of research studies
has been growing, particularly in the last decade, and is concentrated
in countries with developed economies and by researchers from these
countries. The terms used to describe a trail are quite diverse in the
literature. Furthermore, some terms used in trail management, such as
building or construction, maintenance, and repair, are uniformly
utilized by authors. However, terms to address the reversal of trail
degradation, such as restoration, recovery, and rehabilitation, are used
quite variably among authors. Thus, future research could help clarify
the use of these terms. We also noted that many studies have been
dedicated to investigating the state of degradation of the trails in
protected areas. However, only a minority of articles have addressed
strategies to reverse the scenario of trail degradation, especially
through experiments to identify the most effective strategies for
different situations. This observation is concerning since the
degradation of ecosystems and trails can become extremely costly or even
irreversible. Therefore, further scientific studies are crucial to
improve trail management, especially to reverse the scenario of trail
degradation in protected natural areas.