Ecosystem restoration

The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) challenges everyone to massively scale up restoration efforts that breathe new life into our degraded ecosystems. Restoring our planet’s imperilled ecosystems intrinsically connects us with a chance at a healthier future. We will work together to bring life and function back to our scarred ecosystems through extensive and pro-active restoration – rebuilding degraded areas to improve habitat for wildlife, protect our soils and watersheds, support economic resiliency, and better confront a changing climate.

Press release 12 Dec, 2022

��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ�� Restoration Barometer documents extensive ecosystem restoration across 18…

Montreal, Canada, 12 December 2022 (��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ��) – The International Union for Conservation of Nature (��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ��) has today published its first Restoration Barometer report, documenting that investments of $26bn…

Conservation Tool

The Restoration Barometer

The global restoration tracker

Grey literature 2022

Enhancing the integration of governance in forest landscape restoration…

Governance is a crucial factor in the equity, effectiveness and sustainability of forest landscape restoration (FLR). The Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology (ROAM) provides a framework…

About Ecosystem restoration

Ecosystem restoration manifests through actions as varied as new mangroves, grass or other plantings, natural or assisted regeneration, agroforestry, soil enhancement measures, or improved and sustainable management to accommodate a mosaic of land, aquatic, or marine uses.

Any degraded ecosystem including agricultural areas, savannah, wetlands, protected wildlife reserves, fisheries, managed plantations, riversides, coastal areas and many others may offer opportunities for improvement through restoration. Ecosystem restoration could focus on re-establishing ecological integrity on a hillside or a sea grass bed to the large-scale landscape restoration of a plateau or mountain range.

The tangible benefits of the Decade can be viewed through the lens of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) such as substantial Nature-based Solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, water and food security, poverty reduction, economic growth and biodiversity conservation.

$125 trillion

contribution of landscapes and marine ecosystem services every year to the global economy

22 countries

are using the Restoration Barometer to report the progress of their restoration targets and more than 50 countries have endorsed it.

��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ��'s role?

Every government, community, conservation organisation and private enterprise will play a role in fulfilling the objectives of the Decade. The Food and Agriculture Organization and the UN Environment Programme are the UN agencies tasked with facilitating its delivery. ��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ�� joins the two UN agencies along with the Global Landscapes Forum to form the consortium for the implementation of the Decade.

��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ�� adopted in its last World Conservation Congress, where members made express requests to raise the ambition on ecosystem restoration in line with the CBD Post2020 global biodiversity framework, with specific support towards implementation.

As such, ��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ�� contributes to the Decade through (i) developing scientific underpinning to guide implementation of restoration activities, (ii) supporting monitoring through flagship tools including the Red List of Ecosystems and the Restoration Barometer, (iii) mobilising its constituency to action on the ground, and (iv) paving the way for global communities of action in all ecosystems.

Policy brief: Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021 – 2030

Policy positions

Remake the world
As a farmer or a small landholder, you have the tremendous power to shape ecosystems. Use this power and join the planet’s biggest landscape restoration promise by becoming a part of the Bonn Challenge. The actions of one farmer can make a difference. The restorative actions of one million farmers, can remake the world.

������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Global Ecosystem Typology 2.0
The ������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Global Ecosystem Typology is a hierarchical classification system that, in its upper levels, defines ecosystems by their convergent ecological functions and, in its lower levels, distinguishes ecosystems with contrasting assemblages of species engaged in those functions. This report describes the three upper levels of the hierarchy, which provide a framework for understanding and comparing the key ecological traits of functionally different ecosystems and their drivers. An understanding of these traits and drivers is essential to support ecosystem management.

������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� Restoration Intervention Typology for Terrestrial Ecosystems
������ϲʿ�������ֳ�ֱ�� spurs restoration action and monitoring by launching a typology of restoration interventions for ALL terrestrial ecosystem types including coasts and inland waters. The ecosystem types were derived from the  and the grouping of ecosystems for the .  The typology also aligns with existing or emerging classification systems, such as the one that will be used by the upcoming Mangrove Restoration Tracker Tool developed under the .

Using locally controlled funds to support the development of communities…

A new animation from GWI West Africa, one in a three-part series, explains how local development funds can provide long-term financing to communities who lose their livelihoods when the construction of dams forces them from their land.

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Conservation Tool

The Restoration Barometer

The global restoration tracker

Project Jul, 2016 - Dec, 2024

Global Learning, Finance, and Partnerships project under The Restoration…

The Restoration Initiative (TRI) unites 10 countries and three Global Environment Facility agencies – ��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ��, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the United Nations Environment Programme – along…

Conservation Tool

��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ�� Global Ecosystem Typology

The ��ϲʿ��ֳ�ֱ�� Global Ecosystem Typology is a comprehensive classification framework for Earth’s ecosystems that integrates their functional and compositional features. This new typology helps…

Publication 2021

Using ecosystem risk assessment science in ecosystem restoration

Recent global initiatives in ecosystem restoration offer an unprecedented opportunity to improve biodiversity conservation and human health and well-being. Ecosystems form a core…