Video by Zsuzsa Zicho
Ecosystem restoration has a positive and direct impact on all our lives
Healthy ecosystems underpin everything that humanity needs to sustain life on this planet, yet almost three quarters of our planet’s land is degraded, and more than 3 billion people are affected by soil erosion which is caused by land mismanagement and unsustainable agricultural techniques.
The restoration work at communities draws carbon down and cools the surface temperature of the earth. Restoring degraded land also increases local biodiversity, restores water-systems, and improves food-security and local livelihoods. It is empowering to know that, by being part of the Ecosystem Restoration Communities, you, as an individual, can have such a significant impact through the simple act of working together to build biologically diverse, life-supporting ecosystems.
Restoring ecosystems creates a world of abundance, with more than enough natural and financial health and wealth for us all. That is a powerful message in times where climate change, biodiversity loss, loss of fertility and poverty seems to limit our options more and more. No, we can increase our options if we restore the natural function of our planet.
We enable ecosystem restoration to happen at a planetary scale
By rehabilitating damaged and degraded forest and wetland ecosystems and practising regenerative agriculture, Ecosystem Restoration Communities are restoring the natural function to the land. This leads to an increase in soil fertility; a reduction in soil erosion, floods and drought; and the re-establishment of entire food webs. Restoring the earth brings about a significant reduction in poverty through the return of sustainable and regenerative livelihoods in degraded areas. And, the most empowering part of this is that local communities bring about this change, working hand-in-hand with a global community committed to a more beautiful and resilient Earth.
We are part of a truly global effort
In June 2021 the United Nations launched the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, recognising that it is vital that we act now to reverse the effects of land degradation that is bringing about biodiversity loss, a lack of food and water security, compromised livelihoods and a reduction in carbon sequestration, which is essential to stave off the worst effects of climate change and to create a safe CO2 level in the atmosphere.