As biodiversity rapidly decreases, ecosystem restoration is becoming an ever increasing priority. This is why the United Nations has launched the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and is calling on everyone to join #GenerationRestoration. This campaign aims to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation globally, both on land and in oceans, in order to combat poverty, climate change and prevent mass extinction. ICLEI is proud to be an official global partner of the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

A recent editorial piece by Dr. Mario V. Balzan, Senior Lecturer at Malta College of Arts, Sciences & Technology (MCAST) delves further into the aims of the movement, "to collate evidence of the impacts of ecological restoration on biodiversity and the different dimensions that constitute wellbeing. We are interested to learn about projects that have used ecological restoration to reverse biodiversity decline and increase resilience to climate and environmental drivers. Similarly, we would like to learn about experiences using ecological restoration for place regeneration, providing new economic opportunities and educational, recreation and non-material benefits, and to address distributive, procedural and interactional injustices associated with the management of natural capital".

ICLEI Members and projects are hard at work to push forward initiatives which will promote biodiversity, and benefit communities. One such project, NetworkNature, facilitates and amplifies nature-based solutions (NbS) that create both ecological benefits by maintaining biodiversity, as well as provide benefits for human well-being.

NetworkNature is now begining a new semester of learning, dedicated to the topic of ecosystem restoration. Over the course of the semester, NetworkNature will gather the latest findings and best practices in this field from leading experts, which will illuminate the path forward for ecosystem restoration as a means of fostering community collaboration, sustainable development, and capacity building. This builds on outcomes from the previous semester, which highlighted impacts of NbS implementation on health and well-being.

To learn more about the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, click here. To read about the new NetworkNature semester on ecosystem restoration, click here.