Available Now: Key Concepts for Creating a Shared Vision of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

At the dawn of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the promise of restoration looms large – the opportunity to positively address the co-crises of climate and biodiversity, to reduce poverty, and to improve human wellbeing, including human health and livelihoods. But confusion abounds about what exactly qualifies as a restorative management activity and about the distinctions between forest and landscape restoration, watershed restoration, ecosystem restoration, ecological restoration, and more. People generally agree, however, that restoration should in principle lead to “net improvement” for both nature and people. In April 2021, 58 international experts on restoration and nature-based solutions met for the Third Global Forum on Ecological Restoration. Participants contributed to: the identification of core principles for all types of restoration and restorative activities; the initial development of a framework for prioritizing the most impactful restorative activities; and draft preliminary standards of practice for restorative activities. Participants also drafted a preliminary definition of net gain across the continuum of possible restoration activities. In combination, these advances facilitate a shared understanding of the concept of ecosystem restoration and the potential for investments in restoration to achieve measurable ecological and social improvements or “net improvement” in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems and the human communities that depend on them.

This presentation will provides more information about how proposed principles and a framework for prioritizing activities along the restorative continuum can help achieve net improvement and implement a shared vision for the UN Decade. This panel will kick start a global consultation on principles and standards for ecosystem restoration and the proposed prioritization framework, including safeguards.

This event was cohosted by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) and its Ecosystem Restoration Thematic Group (ERTG).