UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

• It gently lands on the bare ground and sits there, exposed to the elements, until it rains.
• But, from a restoration practitioner’s point of view, it has logistical issues that can greatly limit its application at scale.

Unproven ‘game-changers’

• Numerous private companies have entered the market with revolutionary devices (mostly drones), claiming to restore ecosystems by planting billions of trees.
• This fascination with shiny technological gadgets might divert scarce resources from practical, on-the-ground solutions that will seriously affect our ability to restore degraded ecosystems globally.
• For decades, scientists and practitioners have been working on solutions to support and accelerate the recovery of degraded ecosystems.

Most seeds fail

• For a start, seeds need to reach the right place in the soil to germinate and grow.
• If seeds are scattered (seed broadcasting) on the soil surface by hand, tractor or drone, they can be blown off by the wind or eaten by animals.
• As a result, most seeds will not become a plant.
• This stopped the seed from clumping but greatly reduced the number of seeds that could be delivered on each drone flight.
• This clumping seeds issue is also common when dealing with native species, such as the grasses that inspired the design of the E-seed.

Effective, not flamboyant

• Therefore, we must approach ecosystem restoration holistically and not get carried away by the lure of shiny technologies.
• Funders with limited appreciation of restoration’s ecological and practical complexities are keen to embrace and invest in charismatic, yet often unproven technologies.
• We should focus on the most effective ways to restore native ecosystems, not the most flamboyant.

• "The impacts of HVD are all the more tragic because they are largely avoidable," said Michael Hodin, CEO of the GCOA.
• "The prevalence and incidence is growing apace with the aging of our society.
• As population aging accelerates, HVD is growing as a life-threatening health challenge and a costly drain on health systems and public budgets.
• "This should be a true partnership, empowering people to understand the disease, their treatment options, and long-term care plans."

• With this partnership, IGEL is underscoring its mission of sustainability with a commitment to planting and protecting 20,000 trees.
• "At IGEL, we navigate our mission for sustainable IT around the three R's – Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle," said Jed Ayres, CEO, IGEL.
• We are now extending our actions on this vision with a new partnership with Plant-for-the-Planet.
• The partnership with Plant-for-the-Planet is part of IGEL's comprehensive sustainability program that starts with its product offering.

• Julian Marley's song "Don't Ruin My World'' is a rallying cry for a livable world for future generations and was commissioned by Everland.
• This forest protection initiative is done under a UN-envisioned mechanism called REDD+, an acronym for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation.
• Everland represents the world's largest portfolio of high-impact forest conservation projects in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America.
• Everland brings forest communities and corporations together in a common cause to protect some of the world's most important and vulnerable forests.