United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Ecosystems are the basis of life on Earth. Forests, Grasslands, Peatlands, Urban areas, Mountains and Oceans, these are all examples of ecosystems. The degradation of these ecosystems, through conversion, over-exploitation, pollution and other impacts is however posing an existential threat to humanity.

Today we are using 1.6 Earths to give us what we need to live, eat and grow our economies. The loss and degradation of natural habitats for plants and animals has helped drive an estimated 1 million species toward extinction.

But this degradation is not inevitable. We have the power and the knowledge to reverse or avoid the harm and restore the Earth – if we act now.

That is why the United Nations has declared the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration covering the years 2021 to 2030. This initiative is all about preventing, halting and reversing the degradation of our ecosystems around the world, for the benefit of people and nature. The goal is to not only protect the environment but also to tackle issues like poverty, climate change, and the threat of species extinction. Only with healthy ecosystems can we enhance people’s livelihoods, counteract climate change, and halt the collapse of biodiversity.

Ecosystem restoration covers a wide range of activities that contribute to protecting intact ecosystems and repairing degraded ecosystems. It includes things like improving the quality of soil in farmlands, replenishing fish populations in overfished areas, cleaning up polluted sites, restoring biodiversity and conserving fauna and flora that can assist in this restoration process.

These efforts can vary in size, from small projects ranging a few hundred meters to massive ones covering thousands of kilometres, across countries and regions, depending on what needs to be done.

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