What is landscape restoration?

Landscape restoration is one of many nature-based solutions to climate change that utilise natural assets and biodiversity to mitigate, adapt to, and build resilience in the face of climate change. It aims to restore the ecological characteristics and functions of a landscape using naturally regenerative techniques. A landscape is defined as a socio-ecological system that consists of multiple natural and/or human-modified ecosystems, including agricultural lands, native vegetation, and human dwellings. 

One example of landscape restoration is planting trees to restore a deforested area—but landscape restoration goes beyond replanting. Strategies used in landscape restoration include rewilding, in which areas are protected from human intervention and left undisturbed, allowing natural processes to take place, and assisted regeneration, in which techniques like these may be used to restore life to landscapes: 

Ecologically appropriate reforestation 

Appropriate reforestation means planting the suitable trees in the right places, working with local communities, and ensuring the new growth will be protected from external threats. 

Farmer-managed natural regeneration 

This is a sustainable, low-cost landscape restoration technique that involves the systematic growing and management of trees and shrubs by farmers. Developed in West Africa, this strategy uses coppicing (cutting down trees to stumps, which in some species encourages new shoots to grow) and pollarding (pruning trees’ upper branches, which promotes dense foliage growth) methods. Farmer-managed natural regeneration allows communities to grow trees continuously, providing wood fuel, building materials, and food without requiring timely and costly replanting. 

Rainwater harvesting and aquifer recharge 

Rainwater harvesting is the collection of rain from a roof or roof-like surface into a vessel that redirects its flow into a tank, cistern, deep pit, aquifer, or reservoir to replenish groundwater. Aquifers are underground layers of rock, gravel, sand, or silt that collect water, which can be extracted using a well. Rainwater harvesting can be used to restore these natural water sources. 

Agroforestry 

Agroforestry involves integrating trees and shrubs into agricultural practices. Planting trees with and around crops stabilises soil and reduces erosion, fixes nitrogen in the soil and creates more favourable conditions, provides shade for plants that need it, absorbs carbon dioxide (creating cleaner air), and improves soil moisture and fertility by dropping leaves to the ground. These trees also provide benefits to a farm’s livestock and the people working there. 

Holistic rangeland management 

Holistic rangeland management is a method of managing rangeland—the open land used for grazing by livestock or wild animals—in a way that reflects nature. This means that holistic rangeland management aims to utilise the mutualistic and symbiotic relationships found in nature, be adaptable to nature’s complexity, heal the land, and benefit wildlife (even when domesticated species use the rangeland), all while benefitting people as well. Understanding timing is a crucial factor in holistic rangeland management—including knowing how long land can be used and how long it should rest. 

Permaculture 

Permaculture is an approach to land management that involves mirroring how plants grow in nature. Land managed under permaculture principles is still designed and maintained by people—it isn’t the same as rewilding—but it aims to give land the same diversity, stability, and resilience that natural ecosystems have. One important principle of permaculture is integration, not separation—while monoculture devotes many acres to just one crop, permaculture requires us to observe the natural interactions and relationships of different species to understand how they benefit from growing beside one another. 

Regenerative farming 

Regenerative farming is a conservation-focused approach to food and agriculture. Rather than competing with nature, regenerative farming aims to partner with nature to produce food and other resources. It also aims to benefit the soil by keeping it covered and minimising disturbance. Integrating livestock, maximising crop diversity, crop rotation, composting, and maintaining living root all year round are also important aspects of regenerative farming. 

Due to the wide variety of techniques involved, landscape restoration requires expertise in fields like plant soil, and fire ecology, invasive plant management; livestock management; pollinator conservation; ecological restoration; data management; and spatial modelling. It is also necessary to engage all types of stakeholders—including community members, governments, and businesses—and support participatory governance. When landscape restoration is tailored to a local context and draws on traditional and/or Indigenous knowledge, it can restore multiple functions of the land and benefit various stakeholder groups. Ultimately, the goal should be to create long-term resilience that benefits everyone. 

Benefits of landscape restoration 

Why do we need to restore landscapes? Unfortunately, natural ecosystems around the world have become degraded due to biological invasions (i.e. invasive and/or introduced species), human development (including urbanisation, agriculture, and industrialisation), disasters like earthquakes and extreme weather events, and human conflict (such as war and civil unrest). There are more than 2 billion hectares (5 billion acres) of deforested and degraded land around the world. 

The natural world isn’t just nice to look at; it also provides crucial resources and ecosystem services like food, water, building materials, medicine, shade, and oxygen—and it’s home to all the animals we love. In addition, nature is one of our most significant assets in the fight against climate change. 

Thanks to regenerative approaches and techniques, landscape restoration can deliver multiple benefits for nature, people and the climate. Landscape restoration can: 

• Support the restoration of biodiversity, as it restores habitats of many animal species and provides diverse plant species for forage 
• Help sequester carbon in plants, soils, and animals, which is crucial for combating climate change 
• Reduce other forms of pollution, which provides clean air to people and animals as well as mitigating climate change 
• Increase soil water and organic content, which continues to benefit agriculture 
• Increase the availability and quality of water 
• Make ecosystems more resilient, an important task in the face of a changing climate, as more severe and unpredictable weathers continue to shock communities and ecosystems around the world 
• Support the development of sustainable livelihoods by providing means of income from nature-based enterprises that benefit nature rather than harm it 

Protecting and restoring nature isn’t just for nature’s sake—it’s necessary for people, animals, and the planet we call home. Landscape restoration strategies are designed to meet both present and future needs, and it enables us to use land for multiple purposes over time. It doesn’t mean we can’t touch nature and use it for our benefit. It means that we can coexist with nature, fostering growth and biodiversity while also reaping its rewards. 

Landscape restoration has its challenges, including participation by local communities, governance, funding, and sustainability. But by taking a tailored approach and engaging stakeholders in the process, landscape restoration can ultimately benefit everyone, because we all need ecosystem services. 

Our work

IFAW supports landscape restoration as a nature-based climate solution and a means of protecting our planet’s precious biodiversity. 

In Kenya, wild animals compete with humans and livestock for space and resources, often resulting in human-wildlife conflict. Funded by USAID and in collaboration with project partners Big Life Foundation and Tsavo Trust, IFAW is helping 55 local wildlife conservancies to engage in sustainable resource management and landscape restoration. 

The Horn of Africa region is suffering from prolonged drought, which has reduced the resources available to people and animals. To combat droughts, IFAW has implemented a tree-based restoration project in Tsavo, Kenya, to rehabilitate water catchment areas, in conjunction with the Taita Taveta Wildlife Conservancies Association (TTWCA). The Chawia Farmers community-based organisation now manages fruit trees, runs an indigenous tree nursery, and practices beekeeping to help restore the landscape. 

In Australia, landscapes are frequently ravaged by bushfires. IFAW works with local partners to restore habitats so they can once again be safe homes for wildlife. We help landholders identify the various animal species that live on their properties and co-implement solutions that enhance habitat suitability—for example, by installing nest boxes. Our Northern Rivers project in New South Wales involves restoring a wildlife and climate corridors by planting trees, which allows safe passage for koalas and other animals through the landscape and provides food sources to birds, squirrel gliders, possums, and bats.