SER updates ecological restoration standards to support climate and biodiversity goals

The Society for Ecological Restoration has released the third edition of its International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration, aiming to give governments, funders and practitioners clearer guidance for measuring outcomes. The update arrives as demand grows for restoration that can prove its value for biodiversity, climate resilience and economic risk reduction.

Why it matters: - The updated standards are meant to make ecological restoration more measurable, comparable and trustworthy for people, nature and investors. - More than half of global GDP is moderately or highly dependent on nature, raising the stakes for restoration that can show real outcomes. - The new guidance is designed to support climate adaptation, biodiversity recovery and human health benefits at scale.

What happened: - The Society for Ecological Restoration published the third edition of its International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration on June 23, 2026. - SER says the standards are a foundation for ecological restoration across planning, implementation, monitoring and verification. - George Gann, lead author of the standards and SER’s Global Policy Lead, said the focus has shifted from why restoration is needed to how to deliver results and measure success.

The details: - The third edition expands guidance across five project components: assessment, planning and design, implementation, ongoing management, and monitoring and evaluation. - SER says the update will help certification of restoration projects by improving transparency and comparability. - The standards are intended to strengthen monitoring, reporting and verification, or MRV, to better manage risk. - The document remains a living standard, with updates to the 2019 second edition developed with experts, partners and contributors. - Updated definitions align with international policy efforts, including guidance for Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and standards developed for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. - SER says restoration of degraded landscapes and seascapes can deliver social, cultural and health benefits for local communities and Indigenous Peoples. - Broad societal engagement and multiple forms of knowledge are emphasized as essential to effective restoration. - The Restorative Continuum has been updated to cover all restoration activities and to reflect flexibility across inland waters, coastal and marine ecosystems. - Fangyuan Hua, a co-author and conservation ecologist at Peking University, said the standards are deliberately flexible across sectors, ecosystems, countries and cultural contexts. - Bethanie Walder, SER’s executive director and a co-author, said the standards are the basis for SER’s REVIVE initiative, a six-part strategy focused on scaling restoration.

Between the lines: - SER is positioning restoration standards as infrastructure for the wider nature economy, not just a technical reference for ecologists. - The new edition leans into finance, insurance and disclosure frameworks, signaling that restoration now needs to satisfy investors as well as conservation goals. - The emphasis on Indigenous Peoples, local communities and mixed knowledge systems suggests that social legitimacy is increasingly part of restoration success. - The standards also reflect a push to treat restoration as a global market with rules, benchmarks and risk controls.

What's next: - SER says the standards will help mobilize incentives tied to policy, disclosure, carbon and biodiversity credits, and insurance solutions. - The organization expects the revised framework to support more projects that can be monitored, certified and compared across regions. - SER’s REVIVE initiative will use the standards as a core tool to push restoration toward global targets and larger-scale adoption.

The bottom line: - SER’s third-edition standards aim to turn ecological restoration from a broad ambition into a measurable, financeable and scalable practice.