The Ecosystem Restoration Playbook is a practical guide created to help people take meaningful action to restore damaged ecosystems. It was developed for World Environment Day 2021 to support the launch of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030, a global movement calling on individuals, communities, businesses, farmers, governments, schools, organisations and land managers to help prevent, halt and reverse ecosystem degradation.
At its heart, the playbook is a hopeful document. It recognises that the Earth is under enormous pressure from climate change, biodiversity loss, pollution, deforestation, soil degradation, overfishing, wetland drainage and unsustainable land use. But it also makes one thing very clear: degradation is not inevitable. With the right knowledge, collective action and long-term commitment, ecosystems can recover.
For those involved in regenerative farming, agroecology, permaculture, conservation or land stewardship, the Ecosystem Restoration Playbook is especially useful. It gives a simple framework for understanding what restoration means, why ecosystems matter, and how people can contribute through practical action, better choices and stronger voices.
It is not a technical manual for ecologists only. It is a call to action for everyone.
Ecosystem restoration means helping damaged, degraded or destroyed ecosystems recover. This might involve restoring forests, rivers, wetlands, grasslands, farmlands, peatlands, coasts, urban green spaces or mountain landscapes.
Restoration can look very different depending on the place. On a farm, it might mean rebuilding soil health, planting hedgerows, restoring ponds, reducing chemical inputs, increasing plant diversity, using rotational grazing or reconnecting wildlife habitats. In a town, it might mean planting trees, creating pollinator corridors, restoring waterways or turning unused spaces into wildlife-friendly areas. In a wetland, it might mean blocking drainage channels, rewetting peat, protecting water quality and allowing native vegetation to return.
The Ecosystem Restoration Playbook explains that restoring ecosystems is not only about bringing back plants and wildlife. It is also about helping ecosystems provide benefits for people and nature. Healthy ecosystems give us food, clean water, breathable air, stable climates, flood protection, materials, medicines, cultural identity, beauty, wellbeing and resilience.
In regenerative farming terms, ecosystem restoration is about working with natural processes rather than constantly fighting against them. It means asking: how can this landscape become healthier, more diverse, more resilient and more alive?
The playbook was created as part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which runs from 2021 to 2030. This decade was launched because the world is facing several connected crises at once: climate change, biodiversity loss, soil degradation, water pollution, food insecurity and the decline of natural habitats.
The playbook describes this decade as urgent. Ten years may sound like a long time, but in ecological terms it is a sprint. By 2030, the world needs to make major progress on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, protecting biodiversity, restoring degraded land and meeting the Sustainable Development Goals.
The guide was designed to help people move from concern into action. Many people care deeply about nature but do not always know where to begin. The playbook gives practical routes into restoration, whether someone has a garden, a farm, a school, a business, a community group, a local river, a degraded field, or simply a voice they can use to influence change.
Its message is simple: restoration is too big for one person, one organisation or one government to solve alone. It takes a movement.
An ecosystem is made up of living organisms and the relationships between them and their surroundings. Ecosystems exist at every scale, from a teaspoon of soil to a rainforest, a pond, a farm, a coastline, a city park or the whole planet.
The playbook describes ecosystems as the “web of life” on Earth. They include forests, rivers, lakes, wetlands, grasslands, estuaries, reefs, farmlands, cities and many other living systems. These ecosystems provide the foundations for human life.
Healthy ecosystems:
For farmers and growers, this is not abstract. Farming depends on ecosystem function. Without healthy soil, water cycles, insects, fungi, bacteria, plants, birds and animals, food production becomes more fragile and more dependent on external inputs.
A degraded ecosystem may still look productive for a while, but the underlying foundations are weakened. Soil loses structure. Water runs off instead of soaking in. Pollinators decline. Pest problems increase. Livestock forage becomes less diverse. Rivers carry more sediment and nutrients. The land becomes less resilient to drought, flooding and extreme weather.
Restoration is therefore not just a conservation issue. It is a food, farming, climate and community issue.
One of the most useful ideas in the Ecosystem Restoration Playbook is that everyone can contribute through three main pathways: actions, choices and voices.
Actions are practical, on-the-ground efforts to restore ecosystems. This could include starting a restoration project, joining an existing conservation effort, planting trees in the right place, cleaning up a river, restoring a pond, creating habitat corridors, improving soil health or volunteering with a local group.
For farmers, actions might include:
These practical actions help nature recover directly.
Choices are about changing what we buy, consume and support. The playbook makes the point that our collective environmental footprint contributes to ecosystem degradation. Restoration is not only about fixing damage; it is also about reducing the pressure that causes damage in the first place.
This can include choosing sustainable products, reducing waste, eating more locally and seasonally, reducing unnecessary consumption, supporting credible restoration projects, and avoiding goods linked to deforestation, pollution or habitat destruction.
For regenerative farming, this pathway is especially relevant because consumer choices shape food systems. When people choose food from farms that care for soil, biodiversity, animal welfare and water quality, they help shift the market toward restoration.
Voices are about speaking up for nature. The playbook encourages people to raise awareness, join conversations, influence decision-makers, support better policies, organise campaigns, share restoration stories and help others understand why healthy ecosystems matter.
This matters because many of the causes of degradation are systemic. Individual actions are powerful, but some problems require policy change, business change, better land-use planning and public investment.
Farmers, growers and land stewards have an important voice in this conversation. They understand the realities of working with land. They can show how restoration and food production can support each other when done thoughtfully.
The playbook wisely advises people to get informed before jumping into restoration. This is an important point. Not every well-meaning action is automatically beneficial.
For example, planting trees can be wonderful in the right place, but harmful if it damages species-rich grassland, peatland or open habitat. Creating a pond can be fantastic, but it needs to be sited carefully. Rewilding an area may be appropriate in one landscape, while active grazing management may be needed in another.
The playbook suggests three things to understand first.
What kind of ecosystem are you working with? Is it woodland, grassland, wetland, farmland, river, coast, peatland, orchard, scrub, meadow or urban green space?
On farms, it is worth looking at old maps, soil type, hydrology, existing vegetation, old hedgerows, veteran trees, field names and local wildlife records. Talking to neighbours and older members of the community can also reveal how the land has changed.
Before restoring an ecosystem, understand why it became degraded. Is the issue overgrazing, compaction, drainage, pollution, erosion, nutrient overload, invasive species, loss of hedgerows, excessive mowing, lack of tree cover, poor water management or market pressure?
If the underlying cause is not addressed, restoration may fail.
Once you understand the ecosystem and the causes of decline, you can begin to identify realistic solutions. This might involve practical habitat work, changes in management, policy support, community involvement, funding, monitoring, or partnership with conservation organisations.
In other words, restoration begins with observation, not assumption.
The Ecosystem Restoration Playbook outlines several simple but important principles for restoration action.
Restoration works best when the people affected by a project are involved from the beginning. Farmers, landowners, tenants, local residents, Indigenous communities, community groups, businesses, schools and local authorities may all have knowledge, concerns and ideas.
This is especially important in farming landscapes, where land has social, economic, cultural and ecological value. Restoration should not be imposed from above. It should be built with the people who live and work in the landscape.
Good restoration needs clear goals. What are you trying to restore? Soil health? Pollinator numbers? Water quality? Tree cover? Grassland diversity? Flood resilience? Carbon storage? Bird habitat?
Once goals are clear, progress can be measured. This might include soil tests, fixed-point photos, species counts, water monitoring, earthworm counts, vegetation surveys or grazing records.
Monitoring helps you learn what is working and what needs to change.
This is one of the strongest messages in the playbook. Restoration is not about controlling every detail. It is about supporting natural processes.
Where possible, restoration should prioritise native species, natural regeneration, nutrient cycling, soil biology, water function and ecological relationships. Sometimes the best action is to remove the pressure that is stopping recovery, then allow nature to respond.
For example, if young trees are already regenerating in a field corner, the best intervention may be to protect them from browsing rather than plant new trees. If a wet area wants to become a pond or marsh, the best action may be to stop draining it. If a hedgerow is trying to expand, cutting it less often may allow it to flower, fruit and provide better habitat.
The playbook explores restoration across several major ecosystem types, including forests, rivers, cities, coasts, farmlands, grasslands, mountains and peatlands.
For a regenerative farming website, the most relevant sections are often farmlands and grasslands, rivers and lakes, forests and trees, and peatlands.
The playbook describes farmlands and grasslands as some of our most vital ecosystems. They provide food, fibre and fodder, while also supporting birds, bats, beetles, worms, pollinators and many other organisms.
However, intensive ploughing, monocultures, overgrazing, agrochemicals, hedge removal and soil degradation can exhaust these landscapes.
Restoration options include reducing tillage, using organic fertilisers and natural pest control, growing more trees, increasing crop diversity, integrating livestock, planting flowers along field borders, protecting grasslands from conversion, grazing sustainably, restoring native vegetation and bringing back indigenous species where appropriate.
This is where regenerative farming and ecosystem restoration meet beautifully. A farm can produce food while also restoring soil, biodiversity and water cycles.
Freshwater ecosystems provide water, food, energy, flood protection and habitat. But they are often degraded by pollution, sewage, chemicals, plastics, over-extraction, canalisation, dams and wetland drainage.
On farms, river and lake restoration might include planting riparian buffers, fencing livestock away from banks, reducing runoff, creating ponds, restoring wetlands, managing nutrients carefully and allowing rivers more natural space.
Forests and trees provide clean air, water, carbon storage, biodiversity, food, fuel, fodder and materials. But forests are under pressure from logging, land conversion, invasive species, pollution and climate change.
The playbook highlights tree planting, assisted natural regeneration and forest landscape restoration. For farms, this could include hedgerows, shelterbelts, silvopasture, orchards, riparian woodland, in-field trees and agroforestry.
The key is planting the right tree in the right place for the right reason.
Peatlands cover a small proportion of the world’s land area but store enormous amounts of carbon. They also regulate water, reduce floods and droughts, and support unique plants and animals.
Restoration often involves protecting peatlands from drainage, blocking drains, slowing water flow, rewetting peat and restoring peatland vegetation. This is particularly important in climate terms because damaged peatlands can release stored carbon.
The Ecosystem Restoration Playbook matters because it gives farmers and land stewards a broader context for their work. Regenerative farming is not only about improving yields or reducing inputs. It is part of a much larger movement to restore the living systems that support life.
A regenerative farm can become a restoration landscape.
That might mean:
Food production that works with nature, not against it
The playbook helps show that farms are not separate from ecosystems. They are ecosystems.
For farmers or landowners wanting to apply the ideas, a simple restoration process could look like this:
First, observe the land across the seasons. Notice wet areas, compacted areas, wildlife corridors, existing habitats, erosion, bare soil, old trees, hedges, ponds and field margins.
Second, identify what is already valuable. Protect existing hedgerows, veteran trees, species-rich grassland, ponds, wetlands and woodland edges.
Third, understand what is causing damage. Look at grazing pressure, soil management, drainage, chemical use, runoff, mowing, cultivation, habitat fragmentation and water flow.
Fourth, choose practical restoration actions. These could include cover crops, herbal leys, hedgerow restoration, agroforestry, pond creation, riparian buffers, reduced tillage, rotational grazing or wildflower margins.
Fifth, monitor progress. Use fixed-point photos, soil tests, species lists, earthworm counts, water observations and grazing records.
Finally, adapt. Restoration is not a one-off project. It is a long-term relationship with land.
The Ecosystem Restoration Playbook is more than a guide. It is an invitation.
It invites us to see degraded land not as failed land, but as land with the potential to recover. It invites farmers, communities, businesses, schools, governments and individuals to become part of a global restoration movement. It reminds us that every ecosystem matters, from forests and peatlands to farms, gardens, rivers, grasslands and city streets.
For regenerative farming, its message is especially powerful: restoring ecosystems is not separate from growing food. It is the foundation of a resilient food future.
Healthy ecosystems give us soil, water, pollination, climate stability, wildlife, beauty and nourishment. When we restore them, we are not only helping nature. We are restoring the conditions that allow people, farms and future generations to thrive.
The playbook’s message is clear: protecting what remains and healing what has been damaged is too big a task for any one person or organisation. It takes a movement.
And that movement can begin anywhere — with a field, a hedge, a pond, a riverbank, a garden, a community, or a farm willing to work with nature again.
