The Sixth IPCC Assessment Report highlighted that the rise in weather and climate extremes has led to some irreversible impacts as natural and human systems are being pushed beyond their ability to adapt. Restoration of degraded ecosystems is key to mitigate the impacts of climate change, as healthy and resilient ecosystems are essential to our well-being, prosperity and security. Recognizing this principle, also brought up by the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the European Commission proposed in 2022 a new EU Regulation on Nature Restoration to restore nature and reverse biodiversity loss across the EU territory.

EO products and services may be instrumental to assess the conditions of ecosystems and to support restoration plans and reports. Pioneering new Earth Observation information products and applications, the ESA EO Science4Society element enables international responses to global societal challenges in consultation with stakeholders.

The main purpose of this open Information and Consultation Day is to address civil society organisations  (CSOs)/ non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with ESA presentations on the potential of EO in support to ecosystems restoration and conservation. Open questions from the participants will close the event. Following the Information and Consultation Day, a questionnaire will be circulated to participants to capture their priorities in terms of :

• High-priority ecosystems for conservation / restoration actions.
• Monitoring of specific ecosystem degradation drivers.
• High-priority aspects linked to biodiversity, specifically on habitats and species.
• Needs in relation to enabling the financing mechanisms for nature restoration and nature capital valuation.
• Needs for capacity building in the organizations on specific EO topics

The 3 hours event will take place on 14 October 2022 @ 9:30 Rome/Berlin/Paris Time Zone and will be fully online.