The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030, co-led by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP),  recognizes the critical need to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of the world’s ecosystems. Effective restoration of degraded ecosystems is paramount for recovering biodiversity, ecosystem health and integrity, ecosystem goods and services, climate-change mitigation and human health and well-being.

Through a consultative process, UN Decade partners offered ten principles for ecosystem restoration to create a shared vision and increase the likelihood of achieving the highest level of recovery possible.

To facilitate the application of these principles to restoration projects, FAO, the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Commission on Ecosystem Management (IUCN CEM) joined forces to coordinate the development of the Standards of practice to guide ecosystem restoration, as one of the key products of the FAO-led Task Force on Best Practices.  

The Standards of practice provide key recommendations for the entire restoration process, which can be applicable across all sectors of society, land or sea uses, ecosystems and regions, and to the broad array of ecosystem restoration activities under the UN Decade.

In collaboration with fifteen organizations[1], the Task Force on Best Practices is pleased to announce the release of the summary version of the Standards of practice.

This summary of the Standards of practice includes an overview of the five components of the restoration process, along with their relevant subcomponents. Detailed explanations of the 45 subcomponents and over 250 recommended practices within the five components will be included in the full version of the Standards of practice.

Access the summary version of the Standards of practice here.

For any questions, please email [email protected]

[1] Botanic Gardens Conservation International, Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), Brock University, Center for International Forestry Research–World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF), Commonland, Conservation International, Forestoration International, Institute for Regional Conservation, Junglescapes Charitable Trust, Lebanon Reforestation Initiative, Leuphana University, The Nature Conservancy (TNC), United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNUCRIS), University of Montana, and World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).