UN restoration goal: at least 1 billion hectares, and three ways in

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs from 2021 to 2030, has set the figure a climate office usually needs: the Ecosystem Restoration Hub is there to help reach a global goal of restoring at least 1 billion hectares of degraded ecosystems, on every continent and in every ocean, by 2030. The Decade’s stated aim is to prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation. The hub, run by the Decade under the banner Generation Restoration, is the digital meeting place that connects people, organisations and initiatives and tracks their progress.

Who can join, and on what terms

The hub lists three routes, and they are not the same.

A referring partner is an organisation that already supports work on the ground. It must already be an official partner of the UN Decade, and it must sit in one of these categories: lead agencies, collaborating agencies, funding partners, global partners or supporting partners. From there it can show its network and bring initiatives onto the hub. That kind of account is opened by writing to restorationdecade@un.org.

An implementer is a person or a group actually carrying out restoration. They create a user account and upload the initiative so others can find it. The initiative has to be endorsed by a referring partner first. After registration it goes through a check before it is approved and published. Implementers can then connect with other projects and exchange what they have learned.

The hub profile is a short public card and a way to make contact. The Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring is the separate scientific record, with maps of where work is happening and which areas are covered. A project not yet in the Decade’s network can write to restorationdecade@un.org.

A supporter is anyone who wants to take part without running a project. No user account is required. Supporters look through initiatives and opportunities.