Dr Nagabhatla will also deliver a presentation titled ‘Can UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration better the integration of Ecosystem Services into Environmental Governance?’

Abstract:

Post the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005), the scholarship on ES progressed significantly, including the launch of the Ecosystem Services Partnership (2008) to create a dynamic network of regional and global experts and institutions. ES-focused theoretical and conceptual models, analyses, and assessments point to its integration of larger multi-level environmental governance agendas and provide a rich discourse for the scientific community. However, the policy lobby and the practitioner’s efforts to translate this evolving set of knowledge into sector-specific policies and actions to support communities and stakeholders have remained limited. Post-2015, after the launch of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the ES links were made explicitly, in SDG targets 14.7 (increasing economic benefits from the sustainable use of marine resources), or indirectly SDG 8.9 (policies to promote sustainable tourism), and in the sectoral context in SDG 6 ( improve water quality and restore water landscapes/wetlands) and SDG3 with health and well-being (good quality of life) targets. Concurrently, the efforts, of The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) repositioned the ES focus via regional, global and thematic (land degradation, pollination, values of nature, etc..) assessments. Recently, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) is committing to preventing, halting, and reversing the degradation of ecosystems worldwide working together with states, resource managers, and practitioners. As an expert directly involved with the above-stated mandates, this synthesis will highlight three points: (a) gaps and challenges in ES transition from theory to practice (focus on the water sector; (b) IPBES ES-focused regional and global assessments –opportunities and challenges it presented in widening the sectoral ES discourse (focus on the global seaweed industry); (c) progress in the implementation of the UN Decade showcasing two key documents -capacity needs assessment report and the set of 10 principles underpinning the shared vision of ecosystem restoration.