All around the world, on land and in the oceans, crashing populations of plants, animals and insects have sparked fears that planet Earth is entering its sixth mass extinction, with catastrophic consequences for both people and nature.
One million of the world’s estimated 8 million species are threatened with extinction. Ecosystem services essential for human wellbeing, including the provision of food and freshwater and protection from disasters and disease, are eroding in many places.
But hope is not lost. Under the umbrella of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, efforts are underway to revive battered terrestrial and marine habitats, from mountains and mangroves to forests and farmlands.
As well as supplying critical benefits for people, restored ecosystems are a refuge for many endangered species. Here are six threatened mammals, reptiles and birds stepping back from the brink of extinction with help from restoration.
Saiga stepping up
A goat-sized antelope with a comically big nose, saiga once roamed in the millions across grasslands from Europe to China. But overhunting, the loss of habitat and migration routes, and outbreaks of disease have cut them down to remnant populations in Kazakhstan, Russia and Mongolia.
Restoration efforts, including the Altyn Dala Conservation Initiative in Kazakhstan, are protecting and revitalizing some 7.5 million ha of steppe, semi-desert and desert and are already seeing results. Despite the mass die-off of 200,000 saigas in 2015, the Kazakh population has bounced back from fewer than 50,000 animals in 2006 to over 1.3 million today.
Gorillas climbing
Confined to two misty forests in central Africa, there are only about 1,000 mountain gorillas in the wild. Yet that figure represents a steady increase since the 1980s and a reward for consequent protection and restoration work that is resulting in tourism revenue for protected area authorities and communities.
Half of the remaining gorillas inhabit the volcano-dotted Virunga Massif, whose tripartite protected area straddles the borders of Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Threats, including insecurity as well as climate change and disease, mean the great apes remain endangered.
Restoration work in the region has included the rehabilitation of more than 1,000 hectares in Uganda’s Mgahinga Gorilla National Park with the removal of exotic trees so that native forest species can return, and there are plans to restore much more in the region.
More spotted Jaguar
While the need to preserve the Amazon draws deserved attention, a focus for restoration falls on its less-well-known neighbour the Atlantic Forest. More than 80 per cent of the vast forest that stretched along the Brazilian coast and into Paraguay and Argentina has been lost to things like agriculture, logging and infrastructure.
Wide-ranging restoration efforts are underway to counter the severe fragmentation of this biodiversity hotspot. They include the regeneration of forest on abandoned land and the creation of wildlife corridors between protected areas, strategies that are helping preserve predators like near-threatened jaguars and margays.
The world’s most southerly population of jaguars roams the Upper Paraná region of the Atlantic Forest straddling the borders between Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. Here, reduced deforestation and the restoration of thousands of hectares of former forest land have helped the jaguar population rise by an estimated 160 per cent since 2005.
Keeping the Dugong grazing
Restoring ecosystems is just as important in the water as on the land. In the ocean, vital habitats that have suffered destruction and degradation include seagrass meadows, which are essential for marine species, including dugong as well as the fish that support coastal communities around the globe.
Dolphin-like dugongs, whose gentle expression and liking for shallow water may lie behind old tales of mermaids, have vanished from much of their once-vast range due to hunting, entanglement in fishing gear and the loss of the seagrass on which they feed.
But restoration and protection in the last few strongholds – which include Australia, Mozambique and the Arabian Gulf – offer hope that the ocean’s only herbivorous mammal can avoid extinction. In the United Arab Emirates, for instance, Abu Dhabi plans to restore another 12,000 hectares of mangroves, coral reefs and seagrass meadows on top of 7,500 hectares already revived.
Accelerating Racers
Animals and plants unique to islands and archipelagos are especially vulnerable to extinction, like the giant wingless moas of New Zealand or the dark flying fox of Mauritius and Reunion. But islands are also fertile ground for the ecological restoration of endangered species.
The Antiguan racer is a harmless snake endemic to the twin-island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. Non-native mongooses introduced in the 1890s to control rats feasted on the snakes and their lizard prey with the result that, by 1995, only about 50 racers survived on a single offshore islet.
Restoration efforts have since cleared several islands of invasive predators, moving their ecosystems back toward a natural state, and the racers now number more than 1,100 individuals spread across four sites. Bird colonies on the islands have also made spectacular recoveries thanks to the removal of predators.
Bitterns booming
In the United Kingdom, restoring natural processes in degraded wetlands and at former industrial landscapes has revived an iconic waterbird as well as providing opportunities for rest and recreation to people in nearby urban centres.
The bittern’s booming call again sounds across the lakes and reedbeds of many wetlands in England, including at former coal mines and gravel pits converted to nature reserves. It’s quite a turnaround for a bird that 20 years ago was on the brink of extinction in the United Kingdom.
Worldwide, wetlands are the most heavily degraded ecosystem type. Another 35 per cent of natural wetlands have been lost since 1970 and of the 18,000 inland wetland-dependent species assessed for the IUCN Red List, about a quarter are globally threatened.
About the UN Biodiversity Conference (CBD COP15): Healthy, biodiverse ecosystems sustain life on Earth. Despite the value nature provides, it is deteriorating worldwide – a decline projected to worsen under business-as-usual scenarios. From December 7-19, the world will gather for the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal to strike a landmark agreement to guide global actions on biodiversity through 2030. The framework will need to lay out an ambitious plan that implements broad-based action across sectors addressing the key drivers of nature loss and ensure that by 2050, the shared vision of living in harmony with nature is fulfilled.
About the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration: The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) aims to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems on every continent and in every ocean. It can help to end poverty, combat climate change and prevent a mass extinction. It will only succeed if everyone plays a part. Find out more about what you can do to be part of #GenerationRestoration
