Restore, repair or reinvent: Options for sustainable landscapes in a changing climate

Globally, land use and land cover changes to provide resources for human society have led to loss of biodiversity and declines in ecosystem services. Climate change will compound these impacts. Ecological restoration can reverse environmental degradation and is starting to restore ecological services, as well as help mitigate climate change. Although this may be an anathema to some, we must systematically assess and proactively redesign and manage the landscapes we inhabit so they can continue to provide ecosystem services essential for all species, including humans. We define three restoration pathways based largely on existing land use and the degree of modification: restoration for areas of natural ecosystems; repair for production landscapes; and reinvention for urban areas. Challenges and research priorities include understanding: the effects of mean climate change and climate extremes on species’ distribution and ecosystem composition; how restoration can be used for carbon sequestration; the effects of proximate and endogenous drivers on landscape change; how to better bio-design landscapes for multiple functions; integration of different scales of restoration planning and design; and the establishment of long-term monitoring and adaptive management.