Ecosystems, economy and society: how large-scale restoration can stimulate sustainable development

Under the patronage of the US National Academy of Sciences

May 29-30, 2014
Academy of Sciences, Washington DC, USA.
Biodiversity and natural resources

For the 7th edition of its Future Environmental Trends Conference Program, the Veolia Institute and its partners brought together 700 participants at the US National Academy of Sciences. The ambition of this high-level forum was to analyze how large-scale restoration can stimulate sustainable development.

400 participants

7 out of 10 attendees are American

52 speakers from 15 different countries

A comprehensive and pultidisciplinary approach

Biodiversity underpins humanity by a myriad of ways, including provision of food, freshwater, clean air and disease control. However continued population growth, uncontrolled over consumption of natural resources, increasing pollution and climate change are likely to put additional pressure on ecosystems.

At the same time, there is a growing consensus that restoring ecosystem functionalities contributes not only to preserve biodiversity but also to secure livelihoods, to combating
desertification and to both climate-change mitigation and adaptation. Furthermore, ecological restoration could open new economic avenues.

There is a need for enriched scientific data, at the first stage, but also context-based practices that facilitate the understanding of highly complex challenges and the emergence of solutions.

“The Conference has collected and promoted innovative ideas and tools on how to implement effectively restoration projects at a large-scale.”

Promising initiatives

During two days, the Conference offered a platform for discussion to scientists, practitioners, NGOs, business leaders and policymakers from both the South and the North. They discussed remarkable case studies, best practices and shared better insights on the potential of large-scale ecosystem restoration towards sustainable development. Those initiatives combine unprecedented levels of scientific and technical expertise, collaboration among a plurality of actors - public, private and civil society – new forms of collaborative governance and diversified funds and resources.

"The objectif of The Conference - to share better insights on the potentials of large-scale ecosysteme retoration towards sustainable development - was fully achieved."

With experiences on: