Restoration Agenda Workshop

Advancing Ecological Restoration in Canada: Setting the Agenda

May 30-31, 2022 
Ottawa, ON

The workshop was motivated by awareness that Canada’s role in advancing restoration requires clarity and support. Over the past few decades, Canadians led the development of the first national-level principles and guidelines for ecological restoration in the world, incorporating restoration science and practice into protected areas management, hosted major international meetings, and played critical leadership roles in the International Society for Ecological Restoration. With the dawn of the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration, the question arose: Has Canada lost momentum in expanding the science, practice, and policy of restoration? What can be done to regain and enhance a leading role? The workshop brought together thirty specialists from government agencies, civil society organizations, industry, and universities to discuss what has been accomplished, where might we go, and how best to get there. There was unanimous agreement that a major push is needed to live up to the promise the UN Decade, and that over the next year focused effort will aim to increase capacity and effectiveness of the Canada’s restoration leadership. Future outcomes should respect diversity in practice and honour and advance commitments to Indigenous reconciliation.