ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION OF EARTH'S ECOSYSTEM AND THE DECADE OF ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION

Abstract

Restoration ecology has demonstrated an astounding growth as a new discipline of applied science, since its emergence in the past decades. Future-aimed restoration should acknowledge the changing and unpredictable environment of the future, assume the dynamic nature of ecological communities with multiple trajectories, and connect landscape elements for improving ecosystem functions and structures. Ecosystem loss is depriving the world of carbon sinks, like forests and wetlands, at a time when humanity can least afford it. Ecosystem restoration aims to repair some damage done to the environment and regain ecological functionality. The United Nations (UN) recently declared 2021 to 2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration- a global mission to revive billions of hectares, from forests to farmlands, from the top of mountains to the depth of the sea. The path to a more sustainable use of ecosystems must begin with the development of inclusive wealth measures which capture natural, social, human and manufactured capital and are thus more accurate ways to measure economic progress.