Standards of practice to guide ecosystem restoration

Nature will continue to be a critical issue for businesses in 2024. More and more companies are responding to calls to set nature targets and increase the dissemination of nature-related information, particularly in the run-up to COP16 on nature in Colombia in October. As momentum for nature-positive strategies grows, it is also predicted that "nature intelligence" will become a key area of focus as businesses strive to acquire the right nature-related insights and data to inform decision-making.

The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 recognizes the critical need to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of the world's ecosystems. Effective restoration of degraded ecosystems is of paramount importance for the recovery of biodiversity, ecosystem health and integrity, ecosystem goods and services, climate change mitigation, and human health and well-being.

The UN Decade partners, through a consultative process, offered 10 principles for ecosystem restoration to create a shared vision and increase the likelihood of achieving the highest possible level of recovery. To facilitate the application of these principles to restoration projects, the Standards of Practice to Guide Restoration provide key recommendations for the entire restoration process, which can be applicable across sectors of society, land or sea uses, ecosystems. and regions, and the wide range of ecosystem restoration activities within the framework of the United Nations Decade. The purpose of this document is to provide an overview of the standards of practice.