Ecological Restoration: The Big Picture

“This is an extraordinary time full of vital, transformative movements that could not be foreseen. It’s also a nightmarish time. Full engagement requires the ability to perceive both.” – Rebecca Solnit

Learning about and understanding an ecosystem’s history and inherent adaptive traits make it possible for us to help that ecosystem change its trajectory away from degradation, damage, and destruction toward "healing" or more technically repair, recovery, and self-sustaining regeneration. When we assist in the recovery of an ecosystem, based on our knowledge of the ecosystems ecology, the process is called ecological restoration. Please note that the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration uses a term slightly different than ecological restoration. These distinctions are followed in the most recent third edition of the SER international standards and principles for ecological restoration (Gann et al 2026).

On March 1, 2019, the United Nations General Assembly declared 2021 – 2030 a UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Over 80 governments have made major commitments to restore large areas of land. For example, Mexico has committed to restoring 5 million hectares by 2030. But there is a big gap between commitments and what is being done. Ecological restoration and allied restorative activities (see Gann et al 2026, Figure 1) involves both ecological systems and human systems; in fact, it is more accurate to speak in terms of social ecological systems. There are huge gaps between science and practice, and both of them and policy. Moreover, there is a huge shortfall of qualified people to do and above all lead this kind of work. Additionally, there are now tens of thousands of self-proclaimed or verified restoration projects, but they’re not talking to each other and not sharing basic protocols for planning, implementation, and monitoring.

Going forward, societies should seek to work together to increase the extent, improve the functionality of 'native' and cultural ecosystems by investing in a 'family of restorative activities'. This would help reverse the extinction crisis, the climate catastrophe crisis, land degradation and desertification, and the global health crisis which are four of the overarching problems we face today.