Abstract
Ecosystem degradation is a key issue facing the world. Rapid economic development has been achieved at the cost of degradation and environmental pollution, which has affected human well-being, particularly in fragile ecosystems. To achieve the United Nations sustainable development goals, it is essential to develop technologies to control degradation and restore ecosystems. However, a comprehensive assessment of the different types of degradation, of the methods used in different regions, and of the differences between regions has not been carried out. In this study, we examined databases of international organizations, interviewed experts to evaluate existing methods based on five dimensions, identified restoration technologies (hereinafter referred to as RTs) suitable for different types of degradation, and summarized the restoration effectiveness in different regions. We found 101 RTs around the world and found that the same technology can be applied in different regions. The RTs were dominated by engineering and biological RTs, accounting for 19.2–26.7% and 33.4–34.7% of the total, respectively. 45, 30, and 26 RTs were suitable for controlling soil erosion, sandy desertification, and degraded ecosystem, respectively. The average evaluation index of RTs for controlling these degradation problems are 0.81, 0.78, and 0.73, respectively meaning RTs used to fight soil erosion are more effective. The potential to transfer a technology to other regions and the readiness of the technologies were low for degraded ecosystems, and the ease of use was high for sandy desertification RTs. Although a given technology could be applied to different regions or degradation types, results varied. Our study will help ecosystem managers to deal with specific degradation issues, phases, and severities, and will support the transfer of RTs among regions.
Highlights
The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is committed to increasing the restoration of degraded and damaged ecosystems from 2021 to 2030
We revealed a total of 101 RTs that have been applied in typical ecologically fragile regions around the world (Figure 1), these include 45 soil erosion
We found 14 African RTs, of which agricultural RTs accounted for the largest number (5, including agroforestry and conservation tillage), followed by biological RTs (3, including plant breeding and protective/buffer forests), engineering RTs (3, including terraces and check dams), and management RTs
Summary
The United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration is committed to increasing the restoration of degraded and damaged ecosystems from 2021 to 2030. Sustainability 2021, 13, 13290 unsustainable, The land area prone to desertification has been estimated to be 57–65% of the total land area of dryland ecosystems worldwide [3,4,5], and the total area affected by soil erosion, desertification, and karst desertification constitutes at least 25% of the global land area [6], among which, areas that are affected by soil erosion and sandy desertification are 2052.15 × 104 km and 2474.08 × 104 km , respectively, occupying 43.88% and 52.89%. In some ecological sensitive countries like the US, China, and India, the land and ecosystem degradation situation is severe, in the United States and Europe alone, poor land management practices cause an estimated 970 million tons of soil loss due to erosion each year [8]. India hosts 18% of the world’s population and 15% of its livestock but has only 2.4% of the world’s land area, high population density has been a major pressure causing land degradation since the 1700s [8]
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