Going back to basics… what precisely is ‘ecological restoration’?

In a previous newsletter article back in March this year (which you can read here), we talked about ecological restoration being about much more than simply planting trees. But if we take a step back even further, exactly what is ecological restoration and what tools are available that can help us?

In this, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, these are important things to be familiar with!

For anyone who is interested in reading a nice, concise overview of what is meant by the term ‘ecological restoration’, this story I came across recently might be of interest. It is a short, plain language overview of the general concepts involved.

Some of these principles are also nicely summarised by the diagrams below, produced by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), and sourced from their “International principles and standards for the practice of ecological restoration“. You can download a pdf of the international standards here.

Finally, for anyone looking for an equivalent tool specific to the Australian context, SER Australasia has also produced National standards. The second edition can be downloaded here, or viewed below.