13 November 2023, Zurich, Switzerland
New science from Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich underscores the importance of community-led initiatives in capturing nearly 30% of carbon drawdown goals in biodiverse forests. Restor can support and track international commitments to conserving and restoring biodiversity
Zurich, Switzerland (13. November 2023) – A new study from the research lab that founded Restor, Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich, underscores that natural, biodiverse forests are key to meeting global climate and biodiversity goals. The study revealed that the recovery of natural, biodiverse forests have the astounding potential to capture approximately 226 Gt of carbon, which equates to approximately 30% of our global carbon drawdown goals. The majority of this potential, 61%, can be realized by community-led initiatives protecting existing, natural forests. The remaining 88 Gt (39%) of carbon potential can be unlocked by community-led initiatives reconnecting fragmented forests and restoring degraded forest areas.
Importantly, the study emphasises that this forest potential cannot be achieved through monoculture tree plantations. Rather, it requires equitable development, including land-management policies that prioritize the rights and wellbeing of local communities, indigenous people and farmers that promote biodiversity around the world. This science supports Restor’s mission: to bring visibility to the hundreds of thousands of community-led projects that conserve and promote biodiversity for the well-being of the local communities who depend on it. This is the mass, bottom-up movement that will be needed to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030.
Restor translates the latest science into action, serving community-led initiatives, governments, community-based organizations, and businesses. As a testament to the platform’s capabilities, Restor has received an additional $1.9 million grant from Google.org to bolster Restor’s ability to monitor and track progress against global biodiversity targets (to be formally announced at COP28).
Local communities:
Restor is built to facilitate millions of local, community-led biodiversity initiatives across the globe. Currently, Restor provides visibility and connectivity to 130,000 projects in 140+ countries. It provides scientific data to track progress on carbon, water, and biodiversity, as well as high-resolution satellite imagery, showing change over time.
Businesses:
By supporting local initiatives across the globe, Restor also helps businesses and financial institutions to track conservation commitments and demonstrate their impact on nature. For a positive impact on nature, organizations should first look at their own supply chains to end deforestation within. Restor can help with this process by showing deforestation rates across sourcing regions. In addition, they can facilitate equitable development by investing in portfolios of community-led efforts that promote biodiversity, thousands of which can be found on the Restor network.
Governments:
Restor is also able to support governments to track and report progress on biodiversity pledges. With data sourced from its network of locally led initiatives, Restor can track climate and biodiversity targets outlined in agreements like the Paris Agreement, the Glasgow Leaders Declaration on Forests and Land Use, and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. It provides policymakers with data they need for decision-making, progress tracking, and accelerating efforts.
Planetary sustainability requires that we find a way for people and nature to thrive together.
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"Indigenous peoples steward 22% of the world's forests and protect 80% of the Earth’s biodiversity. Political and financial systems must promote and empower these stewards of nature, who are saving us all against the threats of biodiversity loss and climate change,” said Thomas Crowther, Restor Founder and senior author of the paper.
"With Restor, anyone can explore the implications of this new research for their company, country, or local environment." said Thomas Elliott, CEO of Restor. "Our mission is to connect nature’s stewards to a global network of actors who can facilitate the protection and restoration of biodiversity worldwide.”
“We all need to work together to fight the combined threats of biodiversity loss and climate change,” said Christiana Figueres, former Secretary General of the UNFCCC. “The science is clear. We must all pull together towards conserving our biodiversity and shaping a resilient and thriving future.”
"Restor has heard the unheard, reached the unreached, and we need this type of platform to express traditional knowledge," said Dr. Ng Ngashangva.
“The projects on Restor show that communities all over the world are already doing the important work to protect and restore," said Brigitte Hoyer Gosselink, Director, AI & Sustainability, Google.org. “By backing community-led projects, and leveraging technology and data to help transparently track impact, we can revolutionize the way we look at forest conservation and restoration around the world.”
“Nature is our greatest ally in the fight against rising temperatures, frequent floods, and dwindling habitats,” said Hannah Jones, CEO of the Earthshot Prize. “By recommitting ourselves to protect and restore nature, we can significantly improve quality of life in communities around the world, build our climate resilience, and significantly cut our emissions.”
“The incredible part about Restor is the connection — connecting projects even in the same country — and then the aspect of accessing sources of funding both directly and indirectly,” said Altair Rodriguez, Restor Member. “I was thrilled to find this platform and I found a small project nearby that I didn’t even know existed!”
“We are excited to be working with Restor to contribute to its important work in advancing the scientific measurability and understanding of ecosystem restoration. Better systematic monitoring of restoration efforts is a fundamental part of measuring impact and sharing best practices on a local and global scale,” said John Lotspeich, Executive Director of Trillion Trees, Restor Member. “Moving forward, we hope to help Restor evolve and develop its innovative platform at this critical time for the future of our planet.”
Visit Restor and sign up today, and view our trailer and media kit here.
Access and download the Crowther Lab report here.
About Restor
Creating a world where every action positively impacts nature. Restor is an open-data, geospatial platform that offers nature stewards access to the latest ecological science for impact storytelling. With 130,000+ sites, Restor is the largest network of community led restoration and conservation sites across the globe. Through Restor, governments, companies, impact funders and financial institutions can connect and contribute to the regenerative use of the land we all depend on. Find out more here: