This month’s Sustainable Development Goal the Local Peace Economy is working on are threes: Goal 13 Climate change to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts on the other two SDGs; 14 Life Below Water, to conserve and sustainably use the world’s ocean, seas and marine resources and 15 Life on Land, to sustainably manage forests, combat desertification, halt and reverse land degradation, and halt biodiversity loss. The oceans and the forest make the Earth habitable for humankind. Human activities: overfishing, deforestation, pollution, and climate change – pose major challenges to sustainable development and have affected the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Investing in sustainable management practices is critical for improving livelihoods and reducing risks for the economy.

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By Jonathan Groveman, NRCS, California May 19, 2023            Photo by Jonathan Groveman, NRCS.

This Friday visit City Slicker Farms in Oakland, California. Since its beginning in 2001, City Slicker Farms has been a force for good. The farm is made up of a network of 500 mini farms, backyards, and food-growing sites across California’s East Bay. As part of the rapidly growing world of urban agriculture, this farm is a haven for food justice and nourishment for an impoverished community. Since founded in 2001, City Slicker Farms has been a force for good in Oakland, California.

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The Earth’s land and the ocean serve as natural carbon sinks, absorbing large amounts of greenhouse gas emissions. Conserving and restoring natural spaces, and the biodiversity they contain, is essential for limiting emissions and adapting to climate impacts. Biological diversity — or biodiversity — is the variety of life on Earth, in all its forms, from genes and bacteria to entire ecosystems such as forests or coral reefs. The biodiversity we see today is the result of 4.5 billion years of evolution, increasingly influenced by humans. Biodiversity forms the web of life that we depend on for so many things – food, water, medicine, a stable climate, economic growth, among others. Over half of global GDP is dependent on nature. More than 1 billion people rely on forests for their livelihoods. And land and the ocean absorb more than half of all carbon emissions.

UN News: Photo by UNEP/ Lisa Murra

It’s a phrase that’s been on the lips of scientists, officials and environmental activists a lot in the last few months: ecosystem restoration. This year, 5 June, World Environment Day, marks the official launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a 10-year push to halt and reverse the  decline of the natural world.

You might be wondering: what exactly is an ecosystem and how do you restore one? To answer the first question an ecosystem is a place where plants, animals and other organisms, in conjunction with the landscape around them, come together to form the web of life.

Ecosystems can be large, like a forest, or small, like a pond. Many are crucial to human societies, providing people with water, food, building materials and a host of other essentials. They also provide planet-wide benefits like climate protection and biodiversity conservation. But in recent decades, humanity’s hunger for resources has pushed many ecosystems to the breaking point.

Here are the eight main types of ecosystem and some of the things that can be done to revive them. For more ideas on how to boost your local ecosystems and join #GenerationRestoration, see the UN Decade’s Eosystem Restoration Playbook – a practical guide to restoring the planet.

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5 Anti-drone Activists Arrested April 19, including 3 Veterans, while Blockading the Main Gate to Holloman Air Force Base

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