RESTORE+ represented at key meeting of the Convention of Biological Diversity
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Approaches and early results from the RESTORE+ project were presented to participants during a side event at the 23rd meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which took place in Montreal, Canada, 25-29 November 2019.
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Photo by IISD/ENB | Mike Muzurakis
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The theme of the side event, held on Tuesday, 26 November, was “Restoring ecosystems to support climate change adaptation and mitigation”. It placed the project in the context of ongoing discussions over the role of restoration in the CBD’s new framework of targets for the period 2021-2030, as well as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
A key message from the event is that in order to bring restoration efforts to the required scale, they should be designed to meet multiple goals. This message was reiterated in scene-setting presentations from the UN Environment Programme and the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Internationally agreed goals to which restoration can contribute include climate change adaptation and mitigation, the conservation of biodiversity, halting and reversing land degradation, as well as elements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to human health, nutrition and poverty reduction.
As was shown in the presentation by RESTORE+ partner UNEP-WCMC, multidisciplinary analyses of the potential impacts of different policy scenarios, like those carried out under RESTORE+ for Brazil and Indonesia, can help to identify those options which are likely to support restoration efforts that have a range of positive effects, including for biodiversity.
The importance of linking restoration efforts to multiple policy agendas was also highlighted in the ensuing discussion, with participants emphasizing the value of inter-sectoral collaboration, and the opportunities presented by the increased focus on Nature-based Solutions under international policy processes, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Another consideration raised was the need to agree on the use of terms, as different stakeholders mean different things when they speak about ‘restoration’, and the identification of restoration targets and methods can strongly influence outcomes. Clarity over restoration targets is particularly important in the context of climate change, which will alter habitat conditions and possible target states for restored ecosystems.
A key message from the event is that in order to bring restoration efforts to the required scale, they should be designed to meet multiple goals. This message was reiterated in scene-setting presentations from the UN Environment Programme and the Secretariat of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification. Internationally agreed goals to which restoration can contribute include climate change adaptation and mitigation, the conservation of biodiversity, halting and reversing land degradation, as well as elements of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) related to human health, nutrition and poverty reduction.
As was shown in the presentation by RESTORE+ partner UNEP-WCMC, multidisciplinary analyses of the potential impacts of different policy scenarios, like those carried out under RESTORE+ for Brazil and Indonesia, can help to identify those options which are likely to support restoration efforts that have a range of positive effects, including for biodiversity.
The importance of linking restoration efforts to multiple policy agendas was also highlighted in the ensuing discussion, with participants emphasizing the value of inter-sectoral collaboration, and the opportunities presented by the increased focus on Nature-based Solutions under international policy processes, including the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Another consideration raised was the need to agree on the use of terms, as different stakeholders mean different things when they speak about ‘restoration’, and the identification of restoration targets and methods can strongly influence outcomes. Clarity over restoration targets is particularly important in the context of climate change, which will alter habitat conditions and possible target states for restored ecosystems.
