WCC 2020 Res 035 - Progress Report

I. Principles for Ecosystem Restoration

Description of involvement: CEM ERTG, in partnership with FAO and SER, led the development of principles for ecosystem restoration, as a product of the Best Practices Task Force of the UN Decade. Cara Nelson of CEM’s ERTG was the lead organizer and author of the principles; other CEM authors are Angela Andrade, Liette Vasseur, and Emmanuelle Cohen-Shacham.

Citation: FAO, IUCN-CEM, and SER. 2021. Principles for Ecosystem Restoration to Guide the United Nations Decade 2021–2030. Rome, FAO.

Highlights
• The principles were co-produced by the global restoration community. Inputs were provided by over 400 people from over 50 countries. In a global consultation posted on the UN Decade website, participants voted whether to approve the draft principles. Each of the nine principles included in the consultation was supported by at least 92% of respondents (one additional principle was added after the global consultation).
• The principles create a shared vision and common lexicon for the broad array of “ecosystem restoration” activities included in the Decade, which is critical for the global dialogue and negotiations for strategic targets.
• The headline principles were included in the UN Decade Launch Report
• The principles were used as criterion for assessing and scoring the 73 nominations for UN Decade Flagship Programs.

Presentations and Consultations
1. 3rd Global Forum on Ecological Restoration hosted by CEM and SER (invited-expert consultation, virtual; April 2021)
2. UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration Launch Event (virtual presentation; June 2021)
3. Society for Ecological Restoration 9th World Conference on Ecological Restoration (virtual presentation; June 2021)
4. Global consultation through UN Decade on Ecosystem Website (open consultation; June-July 2021)
5. IUCN CEM Ecosystem Restoration Thematic Group Webinar (virtual presentation; July 2021)
6. IUCN World Conservation Conference (two presentations, France; September 2021)

II. Standards of Practice to Guide Ecosystem Restoration

Description of involvement: CEM ERTG, in partnership with FAO and SER, is leading the development of standards of practice to aid in the application of the published principles for ecosystem restoration, as a product of the Best Practices Task Force of the UN Decade. Jim Hallett of SER is the lead organizer; Cara Nelson of CEM’s ERTG and Andrea Romero of FAO are co-leads. Other CEM authors are Angela Andrade, Liette Vasseur, Emmanuelle Cohen-Shacham, and Emanuela Weidlich. A Summary Report has been published; however, the publication of the complete version was delayed to allow adequate time for a consultative process led by FAO’s Indigenous Peoples Working Group. The final version is anticipated to be published in September 2023 and launched at SER’s 10th World Conference on Ecological Restoration (Darwin, Australia). A tool to aid practitioners in using the standards of practice is under development.

Citation: FAO, SER & IUCN CEM. 2023. Standards of Practice to Guide Ecosystem Restoration. A Contribution to the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. Summary Report. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/ cc5223en.

Highlights
• The standards of practice were developed from a stocktaking of 129 published standards and guidelines for specific types of restorative activities.
• The standards of practice include over 300 practices that can assist restoration projects in achieving netgain for nature and people.
• The global community provided over 2000 comments on the standards, each of which was considered for inclusion.
• A targeted consultation led by Indigenous Peoples groups resulted in important inputs and feedback.

Presentations and Consultations
1. Special Global Forum on Ecological Restoration hosted by CEM and SER (invited-expert consultation, virtual; March-April 2022)
2. World Forestry Congress (consultation, Seoul, Korea; May 2022)
3. IUCN CEM Ecosystem Restoration Thematic Group Webinar (virtual presentation; July 2022)
4. Global consultation through UN Decade on Ecosystem Website (open consultation; September –October 2022)
5. Society for Ecological Restoration Europe Chapter, European Conference on Ecological Restoration (consultation, Alicante, Spain; September 2022)
6. FAO Committee on Forestry (COFO) (presentation, Rome, Italy; October 2022)
7. UN Convention on Biodiversity COP 15 (presentation, Montreal, Canada; December 2022)
8. Society for Ecological Restoration Webinar Series (virtual presentation; February 2023)
9. FAO Indigenous Peoples Working Group (targeted consultation; February 2023)
10. FAO North America Webinar Series (virtual presentation; June 2023)

III. Other Activities
• CEM ERTG has actively participated on the Best Practices Task Force and provided feedback on the Global Capacity Needs Assessment and the Action Plan, including facilitating a discussion group on the action plan at SER European Conference (Spain, 2022).
• CEM ERTG participated in evaluating the projects nominated as Flagships for the UN Decade.
• CEM ERTG is participating on the Monitoring and Science Task Forces of the UN Decade.
• CEM ERTG has featured the work of the Decade in its Ecosystem Restoration Webinar Series, including presentations by the leads of 4 of the 5 task forces (Best Practices, Science, Monitoring, and Finance); the 5th task Force (Youth) has been repeatedly

IV. Secretariat activities
- Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring: The IUCN Secretariat (Forest and Grasslands Team) has remained in dialogues with FAO to identify ways to collaborate on restoration monitoring using the Restoration Barometer. This coordination continues.
- Selection of the first generation of UN Decade Flagships: The IUCN Secretariat, as coordinator of the Science Task Force for the Decade, contributed to the development of the criteria for the selection of the flagships. Members of CEM participated as reviewers of the nominations submitted.