Need of transdisciplinary research for accelerating land restoration during the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Abstract

The United Nations has declared 2021–2030 as the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration to gear up the restoration of degraded ecosystems worldwide and thereby facilitating the timely realization of the UN-SDGs and post-2020 biodiversity targets. The UN Decade will also further the targets of the Bonn Challenge and several other ongoing restoration initiatives. While restoration is often viewed as a branch of applied ecology, transdisciplinarity is essential for implementing restoration on the ground successfully. The present article is therefore aimed to propose a transdisciplinary framework consisting of three defined phases -such as (1) the problem identification phase, (2) its analysis, and (3) finally the integration and application of transdisciplinary approaches for effective land restoration. This integrated framework would help in drawing strategic measures by crossing various disciplinary boundaries to accelerate land restoration efforts globally while deriving co-benefits during restoration for maintaining the continuity of the restoration drive. We conclude that the implementation of the proposed framework along with due consideration of the regional and location-specific attributes, management strategies as well as the successful involvement of various stakeholders will lead to a successful restoration Decade. © 2021 Society for Ecological Restoration.