This background report investigates two key challenges in scaling up investments in ecosystem restoration (ESR) — financing and coordination — and provides recommendations on how they might be addressed. Scaling up ESR investments features a significant increase in inputs, labour and the capacity for restoration and rehabilitation of ecosystems and their services, meaning ESR projects become larger and more numerous.
ESR can reduce both ecosystem degradation and smallholder1 vulnerability, providing local benefits in terms of food security and enhanced smallholder resilience. At the same time, ESR generates regional benefits, such as improved water management, and global benefits, including biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation — altogether making ESR a promising approach for reaching the Sustainable Development Goals. While the number of restoration projects is on the rise, significant scaling up of restoration activities does not seem to be taking place.