Resource Database

Recovery trajectories following the reduction of urban nutrient inputs along the eutrophication gradient in French Mediterranean lagoons

French Mediterranean coastal lagoons have been subject to huge inputs of urban nutrients for decades leading to their eutrophication. In response to new environmental regulations, some of the lagoons have recently been the subject of large-scale management actions targeting the waste water treatment systems located on their watersheds. To assess the rapidity and the extent of the effect of the remediation actions, we analysed data from a 14-year time series resulting from the monitoring of nutrients, biomass and the abundance of phytoplankton in the water of French Mediterranean coastal lagoons covering the whole anthropogenic eutrophication gradient. Following a 50% to 80% reduction in total phosphorus (TP) and total nitrogen (TN) urban loadings from the watershed of hypertrophic and eutrophic ecosystems, our results evidenced a rapid response (1 to 3 years) and an almost complete recovery, suggesting no hysteresis for the eutrophic lagoon. However, our findings also show that recovery patterns depend on the eutrophication status before remediation and may include feedback responses. The different responses revealed by our results should help stakeholders prioritise remediation actions and identify appropriate restoration goals.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The different responses revealed by our results should help stakeholders prioritise remediation actions and identify appropriate restoration goals, especially in light of the targets of the Water Framework Directive (WFD).

Communicating Hydrological Hazard-Prone Areas in Italy With Geospatial Probability Maps

The present work illustrates for the first time downscaled spatial pattern probabilities of erosive density to identify damaging hydrological hazard-prone areas in Italy. The hydrological hazard was estimated from the erosivity density exceeded the threshold of 3 MJ ha⁻¹ h⁻¹ in Italy. To this end, a lognormal kriging (LNPK) provided a soft description of the erosivity density in terms of exceedance probabilities at a spatial resolution of 10 km, which is a way to mitigate the uncertainties associated with the spatial classification of damaging hydrological hazards. Hazard-prone areas cover 65% of the Italian territory in the month of August, followed by September and October with 50 and 30% of the territory, respectively. The geospatial probability maps elaborated with this method achieved an improved spatial forecast, which may contribute to better land-use planning and civil protection both in Italy and potentially in Europe.

Restoring Streambank Stability to Achieve MS4 Water Quality Objectives: An Overview of Chesapeake Bay TMDL Experiences

Josh Running, the National Technical Lead for Stantec’s Ecosystems Restoration Team, talks about stream restoration as a cost-effective way to reduce sediment and nutrient loads in the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

The Future of Urban Natural Area Land Management

Presented by SER Northwest. This talk by City of Portland ecologist Toby Query explores creative new approaches to urban natural areas management to increase the resilience of urban systems in the face of present and future challenges.

Bring the Salmon Home: Protecting Tribal Trust Resources on the Klamath

Presented jointly by SER and SERCAL. Michael Belchik, Senior Water Policy Analyst for the Yurok Tribe, discusses the Klamath Dam Removal project, the largest dam removal and river restoration project in U.S. history.

Creating High-Function, Low-Maintenance Ecosystems in Urban Environments

Presented by SER Northwest. Joshua Eldridge, Senior Ecologist and Mountain Regional Director for Great Ecology, discusses strategies and solutions for creating high-functioning ecosystems in urban settings.

Terrestrial Rapid BioAssessment: How Heterocerids are used to assess the ecologic complexity of land – a new assessment tool

Blaine Rothauser showcases a restoration case study to highlight how a moth survey can translate into a quantitative baseline used as an objective measure to provide restoration recommendations.

Bombs Away: Militarization, Conservation, and Ecological Restoration

In this webinar, author David Havlick examines how military activities, conservation goals, and ecological restoration efforts work together to create new kinds of places and new conceptions of place.

Coral Reef Restoration

Ian McLeod from James Cook University and Andrew Taylor from Blue Corner Marine Research discuss a variety of coral restoration methods and results, with recent case studies from Australia and Bali.

Great Lakes Coastal Dynamics

Presenter: Guy Meadows (Michigan Technological University) and Richard Norton (University of Michigan)

An International Collaborative and Adaptive Management Framework to Manage Invasive Phragmites in the Great Lakes Basin: IERQC Webinar

Topic: An International Collaborative and Adaptive Management Framework to Manage Invasive Phragmites in the Great Lakes Basin

Presenter: Kurt Kowalski,  US Geological Survey

The “Biggest”, the “Baddest”, and the “Bestest” – Coastal Restoration Cajun Style: IERQC Webinar

Topic: The “Biggest”, the “Baddest”, and the “Bestest” – Coastal Restoration Cajun Style

Presenter: Kris Thoemke and Greg Grandy, Coastal Engineering Consultants, Inc

International standards for the practice of ecological restoration, 2nd edition

The second edition of the International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration was released on September 27, 2019, in Cape Town, South Africa at SER’s 8^th World Conference on Ecological Restoration. This groundbreaking publication provides updated and expanded guidance on the practice of ecological restoration, clarifies the breadth of ecological restoration and allied environmental repair activities, and includes ideas and input from a diverse international group of restoration scientists and practitioners.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The Standards provide information on the planning, implementation, monitoring and maintenance of ecological restoration projects in all types of ecosystems worldwide, providing key guidance for Groups of activities C and D. This resource stresses the importance of early, genuine and active engagement with stakeholders and emphasizes the use of appropriate native species in line with activity C1. Guidance can also be applied to allied restorative activities, including a wide array of nature-based solutions, in line with C2. Section 3 outlines a series of steps used to develop clear objectives and tasks for each step of a plan, in line with activities, C3 and C4. An appendix provides information on the selection of seeds and other propagules in the context of fragmentation and climate change, helpful for activity C2. The Standards also contain guidance for the monitoring of restoration projects. This guidance includes a tiered system from 1 to 5 stars to evaluate progress of a restoration project (D1) along a trajectory toward a reference model by assessing six key ecological attributes: species composition, structural diversity, ecosystem function, external exchanges, absence of threats, and physical conditions. An ‘ecological recovery wheel’, available online and as an Android app provides a framework to communicate restoration progress (D3). The SER Standards also provide a sample 'Social Benefits Wheel' to help assess and communicate the delivery of ecosystem services by restoration projects, in line with activities D1 and D3.

UNCCD Knowledge Hub

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is a key global authority on scientific and technical knowledge in the areas of desertification, land degradation and drought (DLDD), and on the negative effects of DLDD on productive land and relevant ecosystems. Through its Knowledge Hub, the UNCCD provides a framework for organizing scientific and technical information around these topics as well as access to best practices relevant to Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) and Sustainable Land Management (SLM).

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
Reports, such as Achieving Land Degradation Neutrality at the Country Level, outline the steps needed to assess land degradation (A1) and identify the key drivers of degradation (A6). The SLM section also includes guidance and best practices relevant to assessing sustainable productive practices in activity A6. The Country Information section includes National commitments to LDN, in line with activities A5 and B6, and National Action Programmes, which may add additional information. The Global Land Outlook (GLO) Regional Reports discuss stakeholder engagement (A3), legal, policy and financial frameworks (B1), land tenure (B2), and safeguarding measures for indigenous peoples and local communities (B5), among other topics relevant to restoration.

World Database on Key Biodiversity Areas

The World Database of Key Biodiversity Areas hosts data on Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). This database can support strategic decisions on protected areas by governments, business and civil society towards achieving global biodiversity targets. It also guides the identification of sites under international environmental conventions and in the setting of private sector policies and standards. The database is managed by BirdLife International on behalf of the KBA Partnership, which comprises 13 partners and is served by the KBA secretariat hosted jointly by BirdLife International and IUCN. Data on KBAs from the database are made freely available through the KBA website.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The planning of restoration interventions and their location can also draw on assessments of areas of global importance for biodiversity such as Key Biodiversity Areas. Map data can be used in combination with other data for GIS analysis to identify and prioritize areas for restoration (A2).

IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

The IUCN Red List provides regularly updated assessments of conservation status of many species as well as geographic range maps for each of them. It provides the  world’s most comprehensive information source on the global conservation status of animal, fungi and plant species.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
Planning of restoration interventions and their location can draw on spatially explicit information on areas of importance for threatened species, such as those provided here. Range maps can be downloaded for further GIS analysis, and used to prioritize essential areas for restoration based, in line with activity A2.

UN-REDD Programme

The UN-REDD Programme supports countries to apply the UNFCCC’s safeguards, and to conduct land-use planning for REDD+ to deliver multiple environmental and social benefits while reducing risk. REDD+ activities, as defined by the UNFCCC, includes the enhancement of forest carbon stocks, which may be implemented through restoration interventions.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The UN-REDD website contains resources on stakeholder engagement and gender balance (A3), forest governance (A4), and tenure security (B2). The Multiple Benefits webpage of the UN-REDD Programme contains a number of national and subnational scale spatial analyses of the potential for REDD+ implementation to deliver multiple benefits, which include the conservation of biodiversity, in line with activity A4. Several mapping tutorials and a GIS toolbox are also available to support REDD+ planning and secure multiple benefits.

Asia-Pacific Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) Repository

Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in the context of REDD+ continues to be a challenging concept. There is no single internationally agreed definition. Neither is there a single way to implement FPIC. It varies across regions, countries, contexts, peoples and communities. There is, however, a growing body of practitioners, be it UN-REDD Programme partner countries, or REDD+ project developers, who have taken the discussion beyond the realm of the rhetoric into actual demonstration. This repository aims to facilitate and encourage knowledge and experience exchange among practitioners as well as those interested to embark on FPIC within the Asia-Pacific region.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This is a repository for information on a safeguarding system that can be used to engage stakeholders and protect their fundamental rights (A3).

REDD+ Social and Environmental Standards

The REDD+ Social & Environmental Standards provide a comprehensive framework of principles, criteria, and indicators along with Guidelines for their use through a participatory and transparent approach at country level. The Standards and the accompanying Guidelines were developed by the REDD+ SES Initiative through an inclusive participatory process from 2009 to provide a best-practice framework that can be used on a voluntary basis as appropriate and relevant to the country context.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This is a source for safeguarding systems that can be used to engage stakeholders and protect their fundamental rights (A3).

National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs)

National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) optimally contain information on geographical areas where restoration would contribute most significantly to achieving national level targets contributing to the Aichi Biodiversity Targets.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
These plans are particularly relevant to activities B1 and B6 as they provide frameworks for nations to align national biodiversity targets, restoration targets and ecosystem-based climate mitigation and adaptation targets.

The International Land and Tenure Facility

The International Land and Forest Tenure Facility is the first and only international, multi-stakeholder financial mechanism exclusively focused on securing land and forest rights for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. It provides grants to implement tenure rights under existing law and policy and shares the knowledge, innovations and tools that emerge. Launched in 2014 by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), the Tenure Facility is dedicated to scaling up recognition of collective land and forest rights globally.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This resource proposes a framework for countries to coordinate existing national law and policy with indigenous or collective land rights in accordance with activity B2.

Global Landscapes Forum (GLF)

The Global Landscapes Forum (GLF) provides a platform for sharing information on sustainable land use, including restoration, with a focus on connecting, sharing, learning and acting. The Forum is dedicated to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and Paris Climate Agreement. The Forum takes a holistic approach to create sustainable landscapes that are productive, prosperous, equitable and resilient and considers five cohesive themes of food and livelihood initiatives, landscape restoration, rights, finance and measuring progress. It is led by the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), in collaboration with its co-founders UN Environment and the World Bank and Charter Members.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The GLF is of relevance to activity B3, under which educational systems should be employed to share information about restoration activities to raise awareness and connect people to restoration efforts in their communities.

Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES)

The Wealth Accounting and the Valuation of Ecosystem Services (WAVES) partnership aims to promote sustainable development by ensuring that natural resources are mainstreamed into development planning and national economic accounts. It has published a series of policy briefs on the topic.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
A major step towards the adoption of accounting for natural capital was the adoption by the UN Statistical Commission of the System for Environmental and Economic Accounts (SEEA) in 2012. This provides an internationally agreed method to account for material natural resources like minerals, timber and fisheries, relevant to activity B7.

Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network (GFFFN)

Through its Global Forest Financing Facilitation Network (GFFFN), the UN Forum on Forests provides financing to promote the design of national forest financing strategies to mobilize resources for sustainable forest management, facilitate access to existing and emerging financing mechanisms, including the Global Environment Facility and the Green Climate Fund. The GFFFN serves as a clearing house on financing opportunities and as a tool for sharing lessons learned from successful projects.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This resource builds an innovative network to provide financing for restoration efforts while also creating a space to share lessons learned, which is in line with activity B9.

Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund

The UN Convention to Combat Desertification has launched the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund, an impact investment fund blending resources from the public, private and philanthropic sectors in support of achieving LDN through sustainable land management and land restoration projects undertaken by the private sector worldwide. The LDN Fund offers financing for the rehabilitation of degraded land and for sustainable business models on land undergoing or at risk of degradation.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The Fund blends the needs identified in activity B8 with the recommended action in activity B9, leveraging public, private, and philanthropic financial resources to mobilize restoration efforts.

ResTOOL

Bioversity International and a number of collaborators in Colombia produced ResTOOL, an innovative online tool to select climate ready trees and seed sources for tropical dry forest restoration. ResTOOL also takes into account climate change when choosing appropriate material, and includes information about the propagation of more than 300 tree species.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This resource is relevant for the implementation of activity C1 in that it provides a tool for selecting the appropriate tree species and seed sources for tropical dry forest restoration in Colombia. Furthermore, it aids the selection of tree species that would be best considering predicted environmental and climate changes, in line with activity C2.

Atlas of Living Australia

The Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) is a collaborative, digital, open infrastructure that pulls together Australian biodiversity data from multiple sources, making it accessible and reusable. The ALA helps to create a more detailed picture of Australia’s biodiversity for scientists, policy makers, environmental planners and land managers, industry and the general public, and enables them to work more efficiently.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The Atlas of Living Australia website can be used together with the Climate Change in Australia website to identify potential tolerance of species used in restoration to future conditions, in line with activity C2.

Climate Change in Australia website

Climate Change in Australia (CCIA) is a comprehensive website and suite of reports providing information about climate change projections for Australia. This body of work updates the previous CCIA research published in 2007.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The Climate Change in Australia website can be used together with the Atlas of Living Australia website to identify potential tolerance of species used in restoration to future conditions, in line with activity C2.

Seedlot Selection Tool

In North America, web-based tools to identify whether species at sites will still be suited to future climate conditions include the Seedlot Selection Tool, produced by a collaboration between the US Forest Service, Oregon State University, and the Conservation Biology Institute.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
This tool is in line with activity C2.

Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens

Botanic Gardens Conservation International hosts the Ecological Restoration Alliance of Botanic Gardens (ERA), through which members share the skills, resources and plant materials of Botanic Gardens to scale up restoration activities around the world.

Relevance for the Short Term Action Plan for Ecosystem Restoration:
The ERA website contains many resources relevant to Group of activities C. Of particular importance for activity C1 are an expertise directory, helpful in identifying appropriate measures for restoration, and the Species Recovery Manual, which can be used to boost plant biodiversity within restoration projects. Project descriptions provide many examples of restoration implementation (C5), and contribute to sharing lessons learned, in line with activity D3.