This publication serves as a comprehensive resource guide to help countries implement Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF). Created for Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), SER, and other partners, it offers essential guidance, practical recommendations, and background information to maximize the impact of restoration efforts across various ecosystems.

The Global Biodiversity Standard aims to promote effective and high-quality global biodiversity outcomes for tree plantings, forest restoration, agroforestry, and other initiatives. The manual serves as a guide for practitioners to achieve improved biodiversity outcomes through site-based certification.

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) recognizes humans as key players in ecosystems. This guide, created by experts from various organizations and promoted by UFRO, WWF, SER and UNIL, helps integrate human factors into restoration work. It provides tools and insights for professionals to improve ecosystem restoration outcomes globally.

This publication offers guidance on how to implement restoration projects to benefit both nature and people. SER, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the Commission on Ecosystem Management of the International Union for Conservation of Nature developed it in cooperation with 22 collaborative organizations. The publication presents over 300 recommendations and highlights key principles fundamental to achieving long-term success across all ecosystem types and restoration projects, from forests to oceans.

This summary report of the Standards of practice includes an overview of each of the five components of the restoration process, along with their relevant subcomponents. Detailed explanations of over 300 recommendations and key principles within the five components are included in the full version of the Standards of practice.

The International Principles and Standards for the Ecological Restoration and Recovery of Mine Sites is a first-of-its-kind framework with standards for socially and environmentally responsible restoration in global mining activities. These standards are designed to inspire and drive better restoration outcomes in mining landscapes.

In 2021 the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) and Climate Focus, on behalf of the Global Restoration Observatory (GRO) network co-led a collaborative effort to formalize a sector-wide Restoration Project Information Sharing Framework. The Framework is designed to support more coordinated global tracking of progress and trends in ecosystem restoration. Through the use of shared variables, the Framework will facilitate the coordination and sharing of project information to support global restoration monitoring while also improving restoration practice.

The second edition of the Australian Standards have been designed to encourage all restoration and rehabilitation projects in Australia to reach their highest potential. SERA and 12 partner organizations developed the national Standards over a 4.5-year period, carefully considering the needs of all stakeholders. The drafting process involved multiple drafts and two editions, collectively worked on by the partners in consultation with hundreds of key stakeholders including agencies, researchers and industry organisations and individual practitioners.

SER is pleased to announce the release of a set of 10 guiding principles for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. These principles are intended to guide the delivery of all aspects of the UN Decade, from international policy support to restoration implementation on the ground and in the water. SER was one of three lead partners in the development of the guiding principles designed to help create a shared vision of ecosystem restoration. These best-practice principles detail the essential tenets of ecosystem restoration that should be followed to maximize net gain for native biodiversity, ecosystem health and integrity, and human health and well-being, across all biomes, sectors and regions.

Through a series of virtual workshops held in April 2021, the Forum brought together 58 invited experts in restoration science, practice, and policy to support the implementation of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration by developing a shared vision of key concepts for ecosystem restoration. This preliminary report, Achieving Net Gain for Biodiversity and Human Wellbeing: Integrating Ecological Restoration with Other Nature-based Solutions, summarizes the activities of the Forum workshops, and post-Forum follow up through 4 June 2021, when the discussion drafts were released for formal consultation. The organizing team intends to release final products from each of the three themes in September 2021.

Restoration practitioners must increasingly incorporate seed procurement models and seed use planning early in project development, despite insufficient guidance about what are reasonable expectations for the sourcing and use of native seeds. This open access issue of Restoration Ecology presents a series of articles examining each key step in the native seed supply chain, and provides a framework for the “standards” that need to be applied to native seed batches if the native seed supply chain is to achieve the levels of reliability and transparency required. These Seed Standards provide seed buyers, end users, and funding bodies with a level of confidence and reliability in the sourcing of quality native seeds, and a pathway toward global best practice in native seed use.

Recognizing the increasing role of ecological restoration as a tool for addressing a wide variety of ecological and social challenges, SER and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) Ecosystem Restoration Thematic Group (ERTG) hosted their second biennial Global Forum on Ecological Restoration in in September 2019. Thirty-eight experts from sixteen countries came together to address "The Role of Ecological Restoration in Achieving Global Biodiversity Targets: Broadening the Post-2020 Framework," especially in view of the upcoming United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the Short-Term Action Plan on Ecosystem Restoration (STAPER) in 2013 as guidance for the voluntary development and implementation of national restoration strategies. This publication, a collaboration between the Convention on Biological Diversity, SER, and the Forest Ecosystem Restoration Initiative (FERI) offers an introduction and guide to STAPER through case studies and resources. 

This publication is intended to provide a foundational starting point for shellfish reef restoration. This publication was a collaboration between The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and SER. English, Mandarin, and Cantonese versions are available at the links below. 

September 2019

This groundbreaking new publication provides updated and expanded guidance on the practice of ecological restoration, clarifies the breadth of ecological restoration and allied environmental repair activities, and includes ideas and input from a diverse international group of restoration scientists and practitioners.

February 2018

Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management Thematic Group on Ecosystem Restoration (IUCN-CEM).

December 2017

Forest Ecosystem Restoration Initiative (FERI), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), People and Reforestation in the Tropics, a Network for Education, Research, and Synthesis (PARTNERS), Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations (FAO)

December 2016

The first edition of the International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration was released December 12, 2016 at the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 13th Conference of the Parties in Cancun, Mexico. The first edition is now archived.  Please use the most recent version of the Standards.

March 2016
SER Australasia Standards Reference Group

The first version of the National Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration in Australia was released in March 2016. This edition is now archived. Please refer to the most recent version of the Australian Standards.

2012
IUCN, Protected Planet, IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), Convention on Biological Diversity, Parks Canada Agency, Equilibrium Research, Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), Wrangellia Consulting

This publication provides a framework to guide the efforts of protected area managers and partner organizations in restoring the natural, cultural and other important values in protected areas of all categories and all governance types. The most comprehensive source of guidance on restoration for protected areas produced to date, the document has as its foundation a clear set of principles which, rather than defining rigid processes, provide the tools and perspectives for a holistic, collaborative approach to restoration that engages stakeholders and achieves desired results.

2012

This short leaflet discusses the economic dimensions of ecological restoration and its importance in protecting and enhancing our so-called natural capital, the “ecological infrastructure” that sustains all life. Through a series of case studies, the leaflet illustrates both the far-reaching economic impact that effective restoration programs can have and the fundamental need to properly account for nature’s goods and services within all decision-making processes governing the world’s economic activities.

August 2009

This Policy Position Statement outlines the critical role of ecological restoration in safeguarding rare, endangered, and endemic species amid the uncertainties of climate change. It discusses the ways in which restoration can be used alongside other management strategies to improve species’ resilience by increasing habitat area, reconnecting fragmented landscapes, and improving both ecosystem function and structural complexity at the landscape scale.

October 2008

This Policy Position Statement discusses the nature of ecosystem fragmentation and examines the role that ecological restoration can play in reversing fragmentation and re-establishing habitat, landscape, and ecosystem connectivity. It closes by providing a series of recommendations for land managers and policymakers charged with addressing connectivity issues.
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May 2008

This Briefing Note discusses the complementary roles of ecological restoration and biological conservation and explores the potential for their integration within a unified ecosystem approach. It describes the importance of restoration as a facet of conservation planning and includes case examples that illustrate this type of integrated approach.

August 2007

This position statement, issued in 2007, calls attention to the vital role played by terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in supporting humanity, and the need to protect and restore these systems in order to mitigate global climate change and its effects.

2006
SER & IUCN

This paper was produced through a joint working group of SER and the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management to outline a rationale for making ecological restoration a cornerstone of conservation and sustainable development programs throughout the world. While the conservation benefits of restoration are obvious, this paper sheds light on its inherent capacity to simultaneously improve human well-being in degraded landscapes by renewing economic opportunities, rejuvenating traditional cultural practices and refocusing the aspirations of local communities, among other benefits.

December 2005

This document provides a set of guidelines to lead restoration practitioners and project managers stepwise through the process of ecological restoration in accord with the principles outlined in the SER International Primer. The guidelines are applicable to the restoration of any ecosystem—terrestrial or aquatic—and can be used to guide projects under any auspices, including public works projects, environmental stewardship programs, mitigation projects, private land initiatives, and others.

2004

The SER Primer presents a concise overview of the key concepts and fundamental principles upon which ecological restoration is based. With a wide readership from around the globe, the Primer includes the most widely-cited definition of ecological restoration and defines nine attributes of a restored ecosystem as the basis for determining when restoration has been successful. The document is currently available in eleven languages.

November 2001

This Restoration Science and Policy Paper presents an overview of genetics and outlines some of the considerations that restoration designers and managers should be aware of as they plan and implement projects

September 1993

Originally published in the first volume of Restoration Ecology, these environmental policies were adopted by SER to clarify the relationship between the Society’s work and the broader fields of conservation and environmentalism.