Repairing Damaged Ecosystems
Yvonne Lui
Repairing damaged ecosystems is called restoration, and it’s both a science and an art that requires understanding how ecosystems function, how people live on the land, and how to bring new life back to areas where it’s been destroyed. Due to the rapidly deteriorating state of our planet, restoration is becoming an increasingly critical area of work.
In recognition of this, Lui-Walton Innovation Fellow Nikola Alexandre joined Conservation International ("CI") to build up the organization’s Restoration Strategy. As a result of this strategy, CI has launched new partnerships to restore some of the most important ecosystems of the world. These partnerships include Apple’s support of savanna restoration in Kenya and Mastercard’s Priceless Planet Coalition’s commitment to regrow 100 million trees around the world.
Nikola is now supporting tropical countries all over the world to repair their damaged ecosystems. The goal is to remove massive amounts of carbon from the atmosphere by locking it away in new vegetation, increase critical habitat for biodiversity, and strengthen the resilience of rural communities. In the areas Conservation International has restored, endangered species have come back, people are living healthier lives, and renewed forests are helping to mitigate global warming. These areas are working as models to the global community to show that there is hope for our planet, if we use science, indigenous knowledge, political will, and proper investments to reverse the damage we have caused.
