RESTORATION OF ECOSYSTEM

RESTORATION OF ECOSYSTEM :

Ecological restoration, the process of repairing sites in nature whose biological communities
(that is, interacting groups of various species in a common location) and ecosystems have
been degraded or destroyed. In many ecosystems, humans have altered local native
populations of plants and animals, introduced invasive species, converted natural
communities to extractive use (such as agriculture or mining), fouled waters, and degraded
soil resources. Ecological restoration focuses on repairing the damage human activities have
caused to natural ecosystems and seeks to return them to an earlier state or to another
state that is closely related to one unaltered by human activities.
Environmental degradation is the disintegration of the earth or deterioration of the
environment through the consumption of assets, for example, air, water and soil; the
destruction of environments and the eradication of wildlife. It is characterized as any change
or aggravation to nature’s turf seen to be pernicious or undesirable. It is created by the
consolidation of an effectively substantial and expanding human populace, constantly
expanding monetary development or per capita fortune and the application of asset
exhausting and polluting technology.
An ecosystem is a geographic area where plants, animals, and other organisms, as well
as weather and landscape, work together to form a bubble of life. Ecosystems contain biotic
or living, parts, as well as abiotic factors, or non-living parts. Biotic factors include plants,
animals, and other organisms. Abiotic factors include rocks, temperature, and humidity.
Restoration is a corrective step that involves eliminating or modifying causes of ecological
degradation and re-establishing the natural processes — like natural fires, floods, or
predator-prey relationships — that sustain and renew ecosystems over. Some of the
activities are :-.
 Afforestation: It refers to growing forests on a piece of land that wasn’t a forest
before. Forests are not only beautiful and help biodiversity thrive but are also
extremely important for the physical environment like the water table, soil,
atmosphere etc. Trees and plants help control soil erosion and promote water
percolation helping recharge the water tables. Forests are also a great way to
combat climate change and global warming.
 Renewable Energy or Waste-to-Energy: Waste-to-Energy & renewable energy are
both great ways to help keep the environment clean while getting cheaper energy.
 Climate Change Adaptation Methods and Mitigation Strategies : Climate
change and global warming is one of the biggest environmental issues faced by
humanity. Restoring ecosystems can play a huge part in controlling further global
warming and climate change, thus adopting Climate Change adaptation methods

and mitigation strategies is the need of the hour. These will help in ecosystem
restoration, while ecosystem restoration in return will help in mitigating climate
change.

Restoration initiatives can be launched by almost anyone, from governments and
development agencies to businesses, communities and individuals. That is because the
causes of degradation are many and varied, and can have an impact at different scales. To
encourage the revival of ecosystems everywhere, UNEP has published a practical guide to
ecosystem restoration. Released at the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration
2021-2030, the Ecosystem Restoration Playbook provides an introduction to the range of
actions that can slow and halt the degradation of ecosystems and foster their recovery.
Example:
• The Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 established in India to conservation parks and
other protected areas throughout India and banned the hunting of endangered
indigenous species.
• The Chipko Movement (chipko is Hindi and translates to hug) was a woman-led
movement to combat deforestation in the Himalayas in the state of Uttrakhand,
India in 1973. The women of the community joined together to hug trees and sing
songs, preventing the Simon Company from cutting down the areas ash trees and
thus, they protected the tress.
Restoration generates a wide range of benefits–not only forest quantity and quality, but
enhanced food security, improved air and water quality, climate change resilience, job
creation, and more. Restoring ecosystems large and small protects and improves the
livelihoods of people who depend on them. It also helps to regulate disease and reduce the
risk of natural disasters. In fact, restoration can help us achieve all of the Sustainable
Development Goals. Restoration could also remove 13 to 26 gigatons of greenhouse gases
from the atmosphere. Ecological restoration has the potential to improve air quality, reverse
forest clearance and desertification, slow biodiversity loss, enhance urban environments
and perhaps improve human livelihoods and humanity’s relationships within nature.
Restoration objectives can be targeted to focus on achieving these various benefits, which
can help secure greater investment and full community participation.
We can’t make people quite for the things uses in our daily life bases that damage the
ecosystem. We can take step by step to awake them and make them aware of damage, they
cause intentionally or unintentionally to the ecosystem in which we resides. Ecosystem
provides us with food, clothes and shelter. In order to make restoration successful, we also
need support from government, NGOs, conservationists, scientist, urban people or planner
etc.
Atlast,
“The Earth is what we all have in common.”
—Wendell Berry