Ecosystem Restoration and Drought
Drought is an increasingly impactful threat to human wellbeing. Droughts are exacerbated by climate change and unsustainable land use practices, and they are occurring globally more frequently and with greater severity than ever before. Projections affirm that these impacts are likely to worsen in the coming decades as climate change continues to affect average temperatures and precipitation while compounding existing ecological and socioeconomic stressors. Nature-based Solutions (NbS), including ecosystem restoration, are integral to effective drought management strategies, supporting prevention, mitigation, and adaptation.
KEY MESSAGES
- Drought is a profound global threat affecting people, wildlife, and landscapes. Ecosystem integrity and functioning are changed by drought, while biodiversity generally experiences negative effects, resulting in greater pressure on species and habitats. Ecosystem services are in turn affected, compromising food, water, and economic security for people.
- The socioeconomic and geopolitical costs of drought are rapidly intensifying and accelerating. Drought is a major source of economic loss and damage, particularly in the agricultural sector. In addition to direct human health impacts, such as increases in heat-related deaths and food and water insecurity, drought can acutely accelerate conflict over natural resources, leading to violence, displacement, migration, and associated rippling effects beyond local communities or specific regions.
- Ecosystem restoration is an essential Nature-based Solution (NbS) for drought mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. Restoration actions can mitigate and reverse land degradation and desertification, support the ability of human and ecological communities to adapt to drought conditions, and increase resilience in the face of climate change, including through sustainable livelihood development.
- Restoration should be performed in conjunction with, not as a replacement for, ecosystem conservation and protection. Ecosystem restoration is most effective when performed in synergy with other conservation measures, but it should not be treated by decisionmakers as a substitution for maintaining ecosystem integrity where it still exists. Rather, restoration is an essential intervention in landscapes which are already degraded or disturbed.
- To effectively restore ecosystems at scale, ambition and investment must increase. Ecosystem restoration is an effective tool with myriad co-benefits which should be employed in drought management strategies, but it must receive sufficient investment at international, national, and subnational levels to be effective. Ultimately, restoration has significant return on investment, and is an intervention which reaps benefits across sectors, contexts, and scales, most optimally when supplemented by enabling policy environments.
Drought is an increasingly impactful threat to human wellbeing. Droughts are exacerbated by climate…
Drought is an increasingly impactful threat to human wellbeing. Droughts are exacerbated by climate…
