Two special issues from SER2014 Conference were completed. Karel Prach and Anne Tolvanen put together the one entitled ‘ How can we restore biodiversity and ecosystem services in mining and industrial sites?’ for Environment Science and Pollution Research volume 23 number 14, containing 16 articles, and Anne Tolvanen and James Aronson coordinated ‘Ecological Restoration, ecosystem services and land use’ for Ecology and Society 21, containing 12 articles.