The European Union (EU) adopted in 2020 a new Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. Nature restoration is a key element of the strategy. The European Commission has stated that, subject to the results of an impact assessment, it will put forward “legally binding EU nature restoration targets… to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the most potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters”, to be proposed within new restoration legislation (European Commission, 2020). The main focus of the impact assessment is likely to be the potential for reversing biodiversity losses and addressing climate change, including an economic cost-benefit analysis, but other benefits may also be considered if feasible (European Commission, 2020). This provides an opportunity to inform the EU with evidence on the further benefits of ecosystem restoration.

 

The aim of this review therefore was to produce an authoritative, evidence-based assessment of the multiple benefits that can be achieved by the restoration of ecosystems, to be used in informing development of the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. This was to be achieved by reviewing the evidence for the benefits of restoration across marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems in Europe and providing quantitative summaries of these benefits. Through this process, the review also aimed to identify the extent to which published research has focused on measuring different kinds of benefits and in doing so, highlight where there are evidence gaps.