The Yarra Yarra Biodiversity Corridor Project in Western Australia aims to link existing nature reserves by restoring land to create a 200-kilometer corridor. Since 2008, more than 30 million trees and shrubs indigenous to the region have been planted on 14,000 hectares. Over 90 percent of the restored area was cleared in the 1900s and is no longer suitable for traditional agriculture. Pictured above is restoration in progress from one of their earliest plantings. With active management, shrubs and grasses will gradually return to join the overstory trees. Techniques to encourage concurrent seedling and understory growth are being implemented in newer sites, including more dense and close row spacing, curved and contoured row alignment, and full-time removal of sheep.
Credit: Russell OrdDegraded Land Restoration
Restoring land to health can sequester large amounts of atmospheric carbon in the soil, support millions of people, improve wildlife habitat, and make water more abundant.
Today, 25 percent of all land on earth exists in degraded condition, impacting approximately two billion people, most of whom live in poverty. When land degrades, it loses its natural capacity to provide sustenance for humans and healthy habitats for wildlife. Sources of land degradation include soil erosion, deforestation, agricultural chemicals, monocropped industrial agriculture, land clearing, mining, invasive species, overgrazing by livestock, and the effects of climate change. If unchecked, degradation can become a permanent condition. Restoration methods can be implemented by individuals, groups, and communities. They can take place on a few acres or hundreds of thousands. Many restoration practices involve regenerative agriculture, including agroforestry, and originate from Indigenous peoples and traditional communities. The United Nations has declared 2021–2030 the Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. Restoring degraded land is pivotal to ending the climate crisis and sustainably feeding a growing global population.
Action Items
Individuals
Learn how land becomes degraded and practices that restore it. Land is considered degraded when its long-term biological health and ecological integrity are damaged or in decline due to human activity. One of the most frequent causes is soil erosion, which begins when vegetation or other protective organic cover is removed, exposing soil to the erosive power of wind and water. Vegetation loss is often due to deforestation, overgrazing, and industrial farming. If not reversed it can lead to severe and permanent degradation. See the Desertification Nexus for more details. Degraded land can damage ecosystem services, which are the essential services that nature provides to humans, such as nutritious food, clean water, pollination of crops, pollution removal, carbon sequestration, and recreational, cultural, and spiritual benefits. See Pollinators Nexus, Wetlands Nexus, Keystone Species Nexus, Peatlands Nexus, Freshwater Nexus, and Tropical Forests Nexus. Practices that restore degraded land include:
- Agroecology is a nature-based food production system that uses regenerative farming practices and views agricultural areas as ecosystems. It combines Indigenous and traditional agriculture with modern technology, all of which can applied at many levels to restore degraded land (see Agroecology Nexus).
- Planting trees as part of agroforestry enterprises can stabilize eroding fields and stream banks. So can encouraging native vegetation to regrow, as farmers are doing in Niger (see Agroforestry Nexus).
- Regenerative agriculture builds soil carbon stocks and can stop erosion. Gabe Brown restored his degraded farm in North Dakota by switching to regenerative agriculture. There are multiple benefits to regenerative agriculture (see Regenerative Agriculture Nexus).
- Riparian and stream restoration strategies can restore damaged water cycles on land. New Mexico–based riparian specialist Bill Zeedyk has refined a restoration process he calls “letting the water do the work.” Oklahoma State University has produced a series of videos on stream restoration.
- Reforestation and forest protection heal damaged land and slow erosion. This interactive map by Reforestation Canada shows where deforestation is happening around the world. South Korea has successfully implemented a multidecade strategy of reforestation across the peninsula to reverse erosion. In Central America, efforts are underway to reforest 500,000 hectares of tropical forest. Forest protection has many benefits, including its role in drawing down atmospheric carbon dioxide.
- Wetland restoration provides multiple ecological benefits, including improved water quality and wildlife habitat. Here is a list of principles that can guide wetland restoration projects (see Wetlands Nexus).
- Rehabilitation of degraded patches of land, such as former mines, can reduce sources of soil erosion and sediment transport downstream.
- Boosting the small water cycle can increase localized rainfall, providing water to communities, agriculture, wildlife, and improve degraded land restoration projects (see Rainmakers Nexus).
- Native plants, crop diversity, and heritage crops have important roles to play in reviving degraded soils (see Plant Diversity Nexus).
Find a volunteer opportunity on a local restoration project. Many conservation groups in the U.S. have ongoing restoration projects, such as the Coastal Prarie Conservancy in Texas, the Borderlands Restoration Network in southern Arizona, which has a focus on wild pollinator habitat, and the Clark Fork Coalition in Montana. Native plant societies have volunteer projects, such as the Point Lobos Patrol crew in California and the Native Plant Trust in New England. Here is a sample of international projects:
- Planting mangrove trees to restore Lake Nokoue in West Africa (see Mangroves Nexus).
- Restoring a section of the Amazon in Peru in cooperation with local and indigenous communities to reestablish forest connectivity.
- Planting one million trees to prevent fires in peatlands in Borneo and restore a portion of a national park (see Afforestation Nexus).
- Woodland restoration in Blacka Moor, near Sheffield, UK.
- Rainforest protection in Brazil in cooperation with the Yawanawan people and other Indigenous communities (see Tropical Forests Nexus).
- Reestablishing native plants in areas burned by the bushfires of 2019–2020 in New South Wales, Australia (see Fire Ecology Nexus).
- Mexico’s National Forestry Commission led the effort to restore degraded land across the nation with the help of landowners.
- A coffee agroforestry system in El Salvador supports farmers while they restore wildlife corridors.
- Caledonian forest restoration in Scotland, focusing on planting a range of native broadleaf species.
- Bog restoration in Poland’s Slowinski National Park, one of ten bog projects across Eastern Europe.
- Grassland restoration on the Tibetan Plateau uses livestock herders to reverse soil degradation, improving the habitat for snow leopards.
- Over one hundred thousand farmers in Tanzania are regenerating six million trees on their farms using Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration, which has helped the ecosystem retain four billion liters of water annually.
- Restoring abandoned pasture and farmland to native vegetation in the Sintra region of Portugal.
- Invasive species removal on South Georgia Island.
- Wetland restoration along the Havel River region in northeast Germany, which suffered degradation due to streamside development.
Join an Ecosystem Restoration Community. This international organization was cofounded by John Liu and Ashleigh Brown. It has forty camps in twenty-eight countries, where individuals and local residents work together on innovative restoration projects, including rehabilitating degraded forests, restoring wetlands, and participating in regenerative agriculture.
Get trained and/or earn an education certificate in restoration. There are opportunities to deepen your knowledge about restoration. Programs include:
- The certification program at the University of Minnesota offers training in practical skills and knowledge necessary to undertake the most common kinds of midwestern restoration projects, including revegetation of prairies, wetlands, lakeshores, forests, and savannas.
- The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) offers a certification program for Practitioners-in-Training and experienced professionals. SER also has a Restoration Resource Center and Directory that has publications, recorded presentations, and local experts and companies that specialize in restoration.
- If you live in Australia, become a case study in regenerative agriculture.
Support restoration projects on public lands. Federal agencies, such as the Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management in the U.S., need to hear from citizens about the necessity of restoration activity. You can contact the agency directly or work through a conservation organization such as the Nature Conservancy or the Sierra Club.
Speak up. Write an op-ed to a newspaper or social media site advocating restoration work as a climate change solution. Consider writing longer pieces for online sites such as Medium, like this one about ecological restoration. Join a protest or campaign, such as these focused on the destruction of the Amazon:
- The Rainforest Action Network runs a variety of campaigns, including corporate accountability, environmental justice, and palm oil protests.
- Rainforest Rescue runs petition campaigns.
Join a social media site run by an advocate for land protection and restoration. A sampling of social media sites:
Join a restoration network. Scientists, activists, landowners, and others can join networks such as Restor, which serve as hubs for efforts around the world, connecting practitioners with research data, funding, and contacts. There are Facebook group sites, such as the Texas Society for Ecological Restoration, and there are X accounts for students and professionals. Nature Canada offers information about degraded land restoration projects and a toolkit for individuals and municipalities.
Groups
Farmers, Ranchers, and Other Landowners
Adopt regenerative agriculture practices that restore depleted stocks of soil carbon, a key to reversing land degradation. Primers on regenerative agriculture include Gabe Brown’s book Dirt to Soil and his workshop Treating the Farm as an Ecosystem; Mark Shepard’s book Restoration Agriculture about growing perennial food crops, and its companion Water for Any Farm. The USDA provides a list of publications and resources on soil health. There are also scientific papers (such as this one) and research journals that can help farmers and ranchers decide on appropriate practices. See Regenerative Agriculture Nexus, Plant Diversity Nexus, and Hemp Nexus.
- Organic no-till is a combination of chemical-free and no-tillage agriculture, often achieved with the use of cover crops.
- Conservation tillage falls between no-till and full-till and usually involves cover crops.
- Cover crops keep the ground covered using a wide variety of plants in order to protect the soil and build organic matter.
- Polycultures and food forests traditionally employ two or more food types grown together, often utilizing trees in a multistory system.
- Agroforestry is the integration of trees and shrubs into crop and animal farming systems. It has been practiced around the world for centuries.
- Composting is the aerobic decomposition of carbon-rich material, such as wood, manure, and food waste, into a soil-enriching amendment (see Compost Nexus).
- Silvopasture is the integration of trees and grazing livestock on the same land, managed intensively for both forest products and forage (see Silvopasture Nexus).
- Pasture cropping is the intercropping of an annual crop within a perennial pasture and usually includes livestock grazing.
- Perennial crops are trees and vegetables that grow every year without seeding, including olives, asparagus, rhubarb, and globe artichokes (see Perennial Crops Nexus).
- Integration of livestock into cropping is the deliberate use of grazing animals as part of annual crop production (see Animal Integration Nexus).
- Biochar is a supercharged charcoal traditionally used as a method to boost the fertility of soils and capture water (see Biochar Nexus).
- Biological fertilizers are created by earthworms and microbes that break down carbon and minerals naturally in the soils for plants to use.
- Multispecies grazing, such as combining cattle and sheep into a single herd, can deliver multiple ecological and economic benefits.
- Keyline and permaculture use landforms and natural processes, such as water flow, as part of a design process for farming and regeneration.
Join a collaborative restoration effort or a watershed group that is doing restoration work. There are regional, multistakeholder groups in the U.S. that include or feature agricultural producers in restoration activities, such as the Western Landowners Alliance, Sustainable Northwest, the Quivira Coalition, the Sage Grouse Initiative, and Rural Voice for Conservation Coalition. There are localized groups, including the Salmon Falls watershed collaborative in New Hampshire and the Blackfoot Challenge in Montana. See Beavers Nexus, Rewilding Nexus, Grasslands Nexus, and Wildlife Corridors Nexus.
Consult with land restoration experts. The Rodale Institute, a leader in organic and regenerative farming in the U.S., has a consulting guide for landowners. The Savory Network links progressive ranchers around the world. There are many individual consultants who work with landowners to improve their land and/or teach workshops and seminars, such as the Soil Health Academy, the Land Stewardship Project, and Rhizoterra. The Society for Ecological Restoration has a Directory where you can find local experts and companies that specialize in restoration.
Work with marketing, research, and entrepreneurial businesses that promote regenerative practices. The Rodale Institute has developed a certification for an organic regenerative standard that is used by companies. Commonland works with landowners in South Africa, Australia, Spain, and the Netherlands, employing social, natural, and financial capital. Here is a research article that estimates the size and impact of the restoration economy.
Remove exotic and invasive trees and vegetation and replace them with native species. Invasive species are a global problem and contribute to land degradation as well as insect and bird species decline. Solutions include fitting the correct native species to the soil type and vegetation class appropriate to local conditions. In arid lands, consider planting willows and cottonwoods or other drought-tolerant species.
Companies
Support regenerative agricultural practices that reverse land degradation as part of the supply chain. Some food corporations, such as General Mills and Danone, are beginning to embrace regenerative agriculture. Stay in touch to be sure the companies are implementing complete and authentic regenerative practices. A coalition of companies, including Mars and Nestlé, have formed the One Planet Business for Biodiversity (OP2B) coalition to improve global biodiversity with agriculture. Other businesses that focus on soil carbon and regenerative agriculture include:
- Zero Foodprint (which supports farmers directly)
- Epic Provisions (100 percent grass-fed meat snack bars)
- Alter Eco Foods (organic chocolate)
- Maple Hill Dairy (100 percent grass-fed dairy)
- Dr. Bronner’s (health care)
- Patagonia Provisions (organic regenerative food)
- Annie’s (organic and regenerative food)
- Lundberg Family Farms (organic grain)
- Nature’s Path (certified regenerative organic instant oatmeal)
Include natural capital and ecosystem services in business plans. An economic case for land restoration can be made based on the value of nature and the ecosystem services it provides, such as clean water. For example, a study in the Thukela basin of South Africa concluded that the benefits of land restoration outweighed the costs. Researchers found that restoring large areas of grassland by removing invasive plants, addressing soil erosion by replanting trees, and other practices would improve the basin’s ability to store carbon, lead to higher stocks of wild foods and medicines, and create more productive rangelands.
- Ceres, a nonprofit that works with the business community, provides an investors’ guide to Deforestation and Climate Change.
- Dendra Systems is a company that assists local communities in developing plans for ecosystem restoration.
Support conservation projects through private capital. Financial partnerships between investors, nonprofits, private companies, and the public sector can help meet climate challenges faced by vulnerable communities. Blue Forest’s Forest Resilience Bond supports the Yuba reforestation project in Northern California. Another example is Terraformation, which provides private capital for restoration projects.
Partner with conservation organizations to implement natural climate solutions. Apple is partnering with Conservation International to protect and restore the 27,000-acre mangrove forest in Cispatá Bay, Colombia, which is expected to sequester one million metric tons of CO2 over its lifetime. Unilever is creating a $1 billion Climate and Nature Fund to support landscape restoration, reforestation, and carbon sequestration.
Governance
Pass healthy soil initiatives and other legislation that supports restoration and regeneration. State legislatures that have passed initiatives to improve soil health include California, Vermont, Illinois, Nebraska, and New Mexico. These bills can be the foundation for restoring degraded land. At the federal level, ask members of Congress to support bills such as H.R. 8057, the Healthy Soil and Resilient Farmer Act of 2020, and S. 1356, the Healthy Soil and Healthy Climate Act of 2021.
- In the UK, the government has introduced a law to sanction companies that are linked to rainforest destruction and degradation.
Finance restoration projects. Governments can directly finance, or other otherwise financially support land restoration projects, such as China’s large-scale work on the Loess Plateau and the multination Regreening Africa. In nations with public lands, government agencies can take the lead on restoration projects, such as the implementation of prescribed fires in U.S. national forests and wetlands restoration in national parks.
- In 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration announced financial support for twenty-one ecosystem restoration projects in the American West.
Adopt land restoration policies and objectives. Government agencies usually require policies to be enacted before they undertake projects. For example, the U.S. Forest Service conducts restoration work on its land under an Ecosystem Restoration Policy issued in 2016. Write to your representative and ask them to support restoration policies.
- In Guatemala, the government is assisting farmers in farmland and forest ecosystem restoration.
Protect land from further degradation. Nations have administrative tools or legislative processes that can permanently protect land from degradation, including the creation of national parks and monuments, wilderness designation, and conservation reserves. In the U.S., threatened land can be purchased by the government through a fund that received a boost with the passage of the Great American Outdoors Act, signed into law in 2020. Citizens can apply pressure for further action.
- In Europe, ambitious policy goals to create new protected areas, restore ecosystems, rewild landscapes, and facilitate nature-based solutions to climate change are being implemented across the continent.
Enter into partnerships with universities, NGOs, landowners, and private businesses to facilitate restoration work. Multistakeholder alliances are often enhanced with governmental partnerships, such as has happened in Canada. The government there went a step further and contributed to the Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Fund, an investment fund initiated by the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) to support sustainable land management and land restoration in the Global South. These partnerships often are the result of public pressure campaigns.
Respect traditional knowledge and implement traditional practices on public lands. Indigenous experience with fire management has influenced policy and practices on U.S. Forest Service lands. It can influence private conservation efforts as well, such as native plant restoration projects. Pressure from citizens and tribal members will encourage more policy changes.
Key Players
Organizations that Support Land Restoration and Regeneration
Society for Ecological Restoration, an international organization working on the science, practice, and policy of ecological restoration.
Restore Our Planet supports projects in the U.K. and other locations around the world.
Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union is one of the oldest environmental groups in Germany. Its 820,000 members are dedicated to the conservation of threatened habitats, flora, and fauna, as well as climate protection and energy policy.
Forest Carbon Partnership is a global partnership of governments, businesses, civil society, and Indigenous people’s organizations focused on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation.
Soil Association (UK) is an advocacy organization for regenerative agriculture, agroforestry, soil, health, and climate action.
Conservation International is a global conservation organization that combines fieldwork with policy, science, and finance.
EU Organic provides news about the European Union’s organic food markets, including rules and regulations.
Fair for Life is a certification program for fair trade in agriculture, trade, and manufacturing.
World Wildlife Fund is an international conservation organization dedicated to protection of endangered species and other wildlife.
Landcare Australia is an organization of volunteers who work to protect, restore, and maintain natural landscapes on behalf of local communities.
Rainforest Alliance builds alliances of people in over 60 countries to conserve forests and support sustainable livelihoods.
African Forest Landscape Restoration Initiative is a country-led effort to restore 100 million hectares of land in Africa by 2030.
International Center for Tropical Agriculture is employing scientific research at the intersection of nutrition, agriculture, and the environment.
Kiss the Ground is an educational nonprofit focused carbon sequestration in soils, regenerative agriculture, and healthy food.
Regeneration International is a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the implementation of regenerative agriculture around the world.
American Farmland Trust is an organization focused on conservation agriculture, protecting farmland, and keeping farmers on the land.
Food Tank, a “think tank” for food, spotlighting sustainable ways of alleviating hunger, obesity, and poverty through food system change.
One Percent for the Planet is a global philanthropic network of businesses, individuals, and organizations.
Ecological Restoration Institute/Northern Arizona University focuses on scientific research and adaptation strategies for land restoration.
Trout Unlimited is a conservation organization dedicated to care and recovery of streams for native trout and salmon.
Ducks Unlimited is a conservation organization that protects, restores, and manages wetlands for waterfowl.
The Wetlands Initiative restores wetlands, employing collaboration and science to improve water quality and habitat for plants and wildlife.
Rodale Institute is a founder of the modern organic movement and a leader in regenerative agriculture for over seventy years.
Commonland has a mission is to transform large-scale degraded landscapes into thriving ecosystems.
Xerces Society is a nonprofit conservation organization dedicated to protecting and restoring pollinators and their habitat.
United Nations Environment Programme promotes the implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development goals within the United Nations system, including restoration.
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) leads the UN’s effort to defeat hunger, achieve food security, and ensure people have access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature is a global authority on the status of the natural world and the measures needed to safeguard it.
USDA/Natural Resource Conservation Service provides assistance to farmers and ranchers in order to put conservation on the ground in the U.S.
CGIAR is delivering critical science and innovation to transform the world’s food, land, and water systems in a climate crisis.
REDD+ (a UN agency) reduces emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries.
The Convention on Biological Diversity promotes sustainable development.
Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) was established to strengthen the science-policy interface for biodiversity and ecosystem services for conservation and sustainable use.
WeForest works in threatened and degraded tropical and sub-tropical forests and landscapes to create locally-led reforestation projects.
Leaders
Gabe Brown and Ray Archuleta are regenerative agriculture specialists.
Elaine Ingrahm is a soil scientist and consultant.
Jill Clapperton is a soil scientist and consultant.
John Liu is filmmaker and restoration advocate.
Dave Rosgen is a stream restoration specialist.
Data Providers and Online Tools
NatureMap.Earth shows maps of natural resources, including a global map of potential natural vegetation and habitat types.
AgEvidence is a database of nearly three hundred peer-reviewed research papers with more than twenty-two thousand data points showing all positive cases of regenerative agriculture.
Landpotential.org provides data portals and mobile phone apps for crowdsourcing the ground data collection and serving estimates of land potential.
FAO’s Soil carbon sequestration map shows estimates of potential increase in soil carbon associated with changes in conservation agriculture.
Global Forest Watch has data, technology, and tools to help people around the planet protect forests.
WRI’s ResourceWatch has hundreds of data sets available on people and natural resources.
Google Earth Timelapse is a global, scalable video website that shows how the Earth has changed over the past four decades.
Learn
Watch
Stop soil erosion, keep soil where it belongs! by FAO (2 mins.)
Land Degradation by NCDI Kenya (20 mins.)
Land Degradation Neutrality. Why it matters, how it's done. by UNCCD (15 mins.)
Healing the Earth by John D. Liu / Studium General Delft (96 mins.)
The Great Work of Our Time by John D Liu / Deigo Footer (46 mins.)
Green Gold - Documentary by John D. Liu / International Permaculture Day (48 mins.)
IPBES Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment by IPBES Secretariat (7 mins.)
Land Restoration for Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by the International Resource Panel (3 mins.)
Habitat Restoration Fundamentals by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (79 mins.)
Restoring the Earth: Drylands by Link TV (13 mins.)
Read
Dirt: the Erosion of Civilizations, With a New Preface (2nd ed.) by David Montgomery / University of California Press
Growing a Revolution: Bringing Our Soil Back to Life by David Montgomery / W. W. Norton & Company
Dirt to Soil: One Family's Journey into Regenerative Agriculture by Gabe Brown / Chelsea Green Publishing
The Soil Will Save Us: How Scientists, Farmers, and Foodies Are Healing the Soil to Save the Planet by Kirstin Ohlson / Rodale Books
The Farm as Ecosystem: Tapping Nature's Reservoir ─ Biology, Geology, Diversity by Jerry Brunetti / Acres U.S.A.
The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture by Wendell Berry / Counterpoint Press
Holistic Management: A Commonsense Revolution to Restore Our Environment (3rd ed.) by Allan Savory / Island Press
Call of the Reed Warbler: A New Agriculture, A New Earth by Charles Massy / Chelsea Green Publishing
Cows Save the Planet: And Other Improbable Ways of Restoring Soil to Heal the Earth by Judith Schwartz / Chelsea Green Publishing
For the Love of Soil: Strategies to Regenerate Our Food Production Systems by Nicole Masters / Printable Reality
Restoration Ecology, a journal from Wiley Online Library
"Soil Erosion 101" by Keith Mulvihill / NRDC
Listen
Reversing Soil Degradation with Dwayne Beck by the Regenerative Agriculture Podcast (75 mins.)
Changing the Dynamics of Land Degradation in Latin America by the World Resources Institute Podcast (115 mins.)
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