Ecosystem restoration

Ecosystem restoration is vital to reduce or reverse the impacts caused by humans to the environment,

since it can generate several benefits such as mitigating climate change, conserving biodiversity, providing ecosystem services and improving society's quality of life. Ecosystem restoration is an area of inter and transdisciplinary research, involving theoretical and practical parts, and has grown exponentially in recent years.

In our restoration projects, we seek to quantify the results and drastically reduce costs by taking advantage of the natural regeneration´s potential. However, the benefits of restoration tend to vary in relation to time and space, and so that this variation can be described spatially, we have adopted “systematic planning” methods, which minimize conflicts / costs and maximize the benefits derived from the restoration of ecosystems.

In this agenda, we have subsidized different actors and decision makers, such as the Ministry of the Environment, which commissioned the identification and mapping of priority and cost-effective areas for the native vegetation´s recovery. In response to this demand, and with the collaboration of national and international partners, we have developed an innovative algorithm, which allows the identification of priority areas for restoration, making the proposed solutions perform significantly better - at least 30% - compared to other optimization tools, making this algorithm an extremely attractive tool in decision making. Currently, the algorithm is internationally recognized, and IIS has supported the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity in this discussion, hosting the thematic consultation on ecosystem restoration for the definition of post-Aichi goals, and identifying priority areas for restoration in global scale considering all native ecosystems.

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Associação Mico-Leão-Dourado (AMLD) Conservation International Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety of Federal Republic of Germany Banco Mundial Centro de Ciências da Conservação e Sustentabilidade do Rio (CSRio) Columbia University FBDS IIASA Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro (JBRJ) Ministério do Meio Ambiente - Governo Federal (MMA) Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) Secretaria do Meio Ambiente do Estado de São Paulo - SMA/SP UNEP/WCMC Federal University of Rio de Janeiro University of Cambridge University of East Anglia World Resources Institute (WRI) Global Environment Fund Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Forest Ecosystem Restoration Initiative Convention on Biological Diversity Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio) Nature Map Agroicone Atlantic Forest Trail (CMA) Embrapa Agrobiology Fundo Brasileiro para Biodiversidade (FUNBIO) Laboratory of Vertebrates of the Biology Institute of UFRJ (LabVert) Guapiaçu Ecological Reserve (REGUA) Banco Alemão de Desenvolvimento Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz) Projeto Biodiversidade e Mudanças Climáticas na Mata Atlântica Land Innovation Fund (LIF) UKRI The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Natural Capital Project Florida State University University of Connecticut University College London Natural History Museum University of Queensland The University of Arizona Santa Fe Institute SPRING SYSTEMIQ United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Bosh Foundation re.green Renova Foundation ZSL (Zoological Society of London) Institute of Zoology University of York Stanford University Stockholm Environment Institute Pact for the Restoration of the Atlantic Forest Trade, development & the Envirionment Hub GEF Ecosystem Restoration UCL Secretaria de Meio Ambiente e Sustentabilidade do Estado do Pará (Semas l Pará) Salesforce World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) The Brazilian Center of Analysis and Planning (Cebrap) Forestry and Agricultural Management and Certification Institute (Imaflora) Opole University Opole University of Technology Swiss Re Institute AXA Research Fund Swiss Re Foundation logo Ernst & Young (EY)