Abstract
The UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration is poised to trigger the recovery of ecosystem services and transform structural injustices across the world in a way unparalleled in human history. The inclusion of diverse Indigenous and local communities to co-create robust native seed supply systems is the backbone to achieve the goals for the Decade. Here we show how community-based organizations have co-developed native seed supply strategies for landscape restoration from the bottom-up. We draw on the interconnections over two decades of seed networks in Brazil and the emerging Indigenous participation in native seed production in Australia. From an environmental justice perspective, we provide a participatory seed supply approach for local engagement, noting local geographical, social and cultural contexts. Meeting large-scale restoration goals requires the connection between local seed production and collaborative platforms to negotiate roles, rights and responsibilities between stakeholders. An enduring native seed supply must include a diversity of voices and autonomy of community groups that builds equitable participation in social, economic, and environmental benefits.
Highlights
Global policies and commitments are driving multiple incentives to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of degraded lands by 2030 (Chazdon et al 2017)
A key impediment in achieving the local to global restoration opportunity is the shortage of highquality native seeds (Merritt and Dixon 2011; Jalonen et al 2017)
Local knowledge and engagement are considered key components to achieving successful projects, millions of Indigenous and local communities are commonly left behind in negotiations and planning of large-scale restoration programs across the globe (Erbaugh et al 2020). These critical barriers accentuate the global use of tree planting as the surrogate for ‘ecosystem restoration’ where species are limited in diversity that focuses on a few, often non-native commercial varieties where the supply chain is dominated by a few large companies (Lewis et al 2019)
Summary
Global policies and commitments are driving multiple incentives to restore hundreds of millions of hectares of degraded lands by 2030 (Chazdon et al 2017). Local knowledge and engagement are considered key components to achieving successful projects, millions of Indigenous and local communities are commonly left behind in negotiations and planning of large-scale restoration programs across the globe (Erbaugh et al 2020). These critical barriers accentuate the global use of tree planting as the surrogate for ‘ecosystem restoration’ where species are limited in diversity that focuses on a few, often non-native commercial varieties where the supply chain is dominated by a few large companies (Lewis et al 2019). We provide guidelines to community-based native seed supply, taking into account region-specific conditions and focusing on two decades of activities of the Brazilian seed networks operated through Indigenous and rural collectors in the Amazon, Cerrado, and Atlantic Forest, and emerging Aboriginal engagement with native seed production in Australia
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