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This Briefing Note discusses the complementary roles of ecological restoration and biological conservation and explores the potential for their integration within a unified ecosystem approach. It describes the importance of restoration as a facet of conservation planning and includes case examples that illustrate this type of integrated approach.

This book explains the methods and results of a major research project, RECONDES, that was undertaken to develop strategies of effective use of vegetation to combat desertification and land degradation by water. The research approach combined understanding of the processes of erosion and land degradation with identification of suitable and effective plants and types of vegetation that could be used to decrease the intensity of soil erosion. The project uses the relatively new concept of physical connectivity of water and sediment in the landscape. The premise of the approach is that sediment connectivity can be reduced through the development of vegetation in the flow pathways, and that this approach is more sustainable than use of physical structure. It required research into the locations and characteristics of these pathways and into properties of suitable plants and species at a range of scales and land units. These components are combined to produce a spatial strategy of use of suitable plants at the most strategic points in the landscape, designed for restoration or mitigation of land degredation. Additional benefits of use of vegetation as a strategy of sustainable management are outlined. The methods and restoration strategy were developed in relation to the dryland environments of the Mediterranean region of southern Europe, involving field measurements, monitoring and modelling in the study area in Southeast Spain, the driest and most vulnerable region in Europe to desertification.

Dead Planet, Living Planet is part of the United Nations Environment Programme's work to assess the challenges and opportunities faced when transitioning to a low carbon, resource efficient Green Economy. The book is a collection of short chapters that discuss ecosystem services, global land use change and a series of approaches to ecosystem restoration. The book is testament to the significant breadth and depth of knowledge UNEP has gathered in this area. The range of approaches for successful restoration that have been investigated is very impressive.

Recent estimates place current global forest cover at 50% of its original extent, with a large proportion of this loss having occurred within the past 50 years. Despite conservation efforts, many of the remaining forest ecosystems have been seriously degraded and fragmented, resulting in environmentally, economically and aesthetically impoverished landscapes. Loss of forest cover not only limits the scope of biodiversity and genetic conservation but also diminishes the prospect of many rural and coastal populations throughout the developing world attaining a decent and secure livelihood. In many areas, faltering clean water supplies, catastrophic floods and landslides, declining fish stocks and unreliable local weather patterns can be traced back to impaired forest ecosystem functions. WWF and IUCN are working to develop a co-ordinated programme of work aimed at mobilising public and private sector funds into socially and ecologically appropriate forest restoration initiatives. The programme will aim to provid guidance to governments and industry on good forest restoration practice and on definition of priority areas for such activities. The objectives of this study are to: ● identify candidate criteria that can be used for prioritising socially and ecologically appropriate forest restoration at a regional level; ● define broad areas which can provide a focus for a regional restoration programme.

Sustainable management of the natural resource base is one of a very few, truly fundamental issues that the international community will be obliged to address effectively over the next two decades. The last twenty years have seen an emphasis on global and national economic management; the next twenty will need to address environmental management effectively. This needs to follow a globally structured approach, based on adequate, reliable, up-to-date data and knowledge, and governed by appropriate international strategies and agreements. One key product sorely lacking to reach this goal is an overview of where land degradation takes place at what intensity and how land users are addressing this problem through sustainable land management. In order to fill this knowledge gap, three projects (WOCAT, LADA, DESIRE) have come together to establish the current status, while mapping out a route forward.