Nature restoration for green recovery and beyond: principles and best practice from BirdLife’s experience

With the launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, there is no better time to work together to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation to help achieve the climate targets of the Paris Agreement, the Sustainable Development Goals and the proposed targets of the Global Biodiversity Framework, supporting an equitable, carbon-neutral and nature-positive future. [...] FOCUS ON QUALITY AS WELL AS QUANTITY TO ACHIEVE MULTIPLE BENEFITS FOR NATURE, CLIMATE AND PEOPLE Ecosystem restoration, when implemented effectively and sustainably, contributes to protecting birds and biodiversity, improving human health and wellbeing, increasing food and water security and quality, delivering goods, services, and economic prosperity, and supporting climate change mitigation, res. [...] Why, what and how: the 5Cs, 3Rs and 3Es To achieve our restoration goals, we need to focus on outcomes (why we want to restore) and process (what and how to do it – the ways and means). [...] We also need to address the drivers of ecosystem degradation, and safeguard or sustainably manage non-protected ecosystems (including agricultural landscapes and agroforestry) and reforest/afforest where feasible and necessary, following the 5Cs, 3Rs and 3Es. [...] Examples of BirdLife and our Partners’ work on restoration around the world • BirdLife and the Pan-African Agency of the Great Green Wall (GGW) have been working together since 2019 through a Memorandum of Understanding to support implementation of the Great Green Wall Initiative by 2030 and undertake: a) restoration of landscapes and ecosystems within the GGW corridor; b) development of capacitie.