The United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed 2021–2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, through its Resolution A/RES/73/284, following a proposal for action by over 70 countries from all latitudes. The UN Decade positions the restoration of ecosystems as a major nature-based solution towards meeting a wide range of global development goals and national priorities.

The UN Decade calls for strong commitments and efforts by countries, the international community, civil society, businesses, and others to achieve transformational ecosystem restoration. All ecosystems are addressed, including forests, grasslands, croplands, wetlands, savannahs, inland water, coastal and marine ecosystems, and even urban environments.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration aims to:

• Showcase successful government-led and private initiatives to halt ecosystem degradation, restore those ecosystems that have already been degraded
• Enhance knowledge exchange on what works and why (policy, economics and biophysical aspects), and how to implement restoration at scale
• Connect initiatives working in the same landscape, region, or topic, to increase efficiency and impact
• Create links between ecosystem restoration opportunities and initiatives with businesses interested in building a solid portfolio of sustainable production and impact investment
• Bring a wider spectrum of actors on board, especially from sectors that are not traditionally involved, by demonstrating the importance of ecosystem restoration to conservation as well as generation of social and economic benefits.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration has an open consultation process to receive feedback on the Strategy for the Decade and its Communication Strategy. The deadline for the submission of feedback is 30 April 2020.

The Decade’s Strategy aims to foster a restoration culture in which restoration initiatives start and scale up across the planet, by establishing a global movement, improving the political will of the Member States and other actors, and by enhancing the capacity for designing, implementing and sustaining ecosystem restoration initiatives. Agroecological farming and the restoration agro-ecological landscapes and seascapes is mentioned in the strategy as a way to improve food production systems.

The Strategy is the primary document setting up the structure of the Decade, including its objectives and activities. The first draft of the Strategy is developed through an elaborated consultation process, which included more than 50 interviews with over 100 interviewees from a range of backgrounds as well as consultations with youth groups in more than 19 countries.

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