A restoration handbook

Humanity currently faces multiple, interlinked existential crises. The catastrophic consequences of climate change, ecological degradation, and biodiversity loss have cascading knock-on effects on human health and well-being. As the UNCCD recognises, food supply disruptions will become more frequent and food insecurity will rise if land degradation is not immediately reversed by careful restoration practice.  By reversing the threats to soil, biodiversity, water, and other ecosystem services, we can deliver benefits both for the planet and people. However, planning and implementing ecological restoration requires careful planning and executing meaningful partnerships. Even though there are various global efforts towards ecological restoration, the progress has been slow and disparate due to financial, institutional and governance bottlenecks towards implementing ecological restoration.

Given this challenge, the Alliance for Reversing Ecosystem Services Threats (AREST) came together to catalyse convergence, collaboration and cooperation at multiple levels, embracing socio-ecological complexities and gendered aspirations.Through years of on-field research, novel analysis, as well as engagement with experts, we have developed a restoration handbook that will guide practitioners, policymakers, and the civil society towards ecologically and socially responsible restoration. This restoration handbook will focus on semi-arid and sub-humid areas in India. It addresses questions about identifying land for restoration, building partnerships, co-designing interventions, mobilising finance, and finally, scaling up restoration practices.