From Barren to Bountiful Australia's Path to Biodiversity Restoration Leadership.
Australia is presented with a unique chance to halt and reverse biodiversity loss through ambitious law and policy reform. The federal government is currently in the process of rewriting the national environmental laws and updating the Strategy for Nature. The revised strategy will include goals for the restoration of degraded areas. This reform is partly driven by the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, a 2022 United Nations treaty signed by almost 200 countries committing to address the biodiversity crisis. It includes a pledge to achieve 30% of degraded land, water, coastal and marine ecosystems “under effective restoration” by 2030.
The global framework contains 23 targets, to be “initiated immediately and completed by 2030”. The restoration target obliges countries to ensure that by 2030 at least 30% of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration. This is to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity. However, this restoration target is open to interpretation at the domestic level. Some responses could be very ambitious, while others would barely shift us from the status quo. Australia has an opportunity to lead here. We can show the world how to restore land and water for the benefit of all.
Australia has signed the framework and is currently considering how to implement it domestically. If Australia decides to interpret the restoration target broadly and commit to restoring larger areas of land and water through more ambitious standards, there will be other issues to contend with. For example, one study identified a lack of funding and complex legal requirements as barriers to upscaling restoration in marine and coastal areas. In particular, having to apply for numerous government permits for restoration can slow progress and lead people to scale back their plans. To meet the 30% target, the government will need to reconsider how to fund restoration and streamline legal processes.
Ultimately, we argue countries should have discretion over how and where to implement restoration based on their individual circumstances. But we also think the global framework could be supplemented by standardized terminology and metrics to allow genuine comparison of countries’ progress towards the global targets. Australia has an opportunity to take a leading role in this area and reverse our legacy of biodiversity loss. Interpreting the 30% restoration target broadly and ambitiously would set us on a path towards achieving meaningful outcomes for biodiversity and make Australia a world leader in restoration.
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