“Forest restoration alone has the potential to cut approximately 30% of carbon emissions and prevent approximately 60% of forecast biodiversity loss, all while improving food security for over one billion people across the world,” says Restor’s CEO Clara Rowe.
Founded in 2021, Restor is a science-based open data platform created to support and connect the global movement of organisations and people working for nature restoration.
Thanks to the use of high-quality satellites, monitoring instruments, and data analysis, the Swiss non-profit aims to create a transparent and collaborative system, bringing together the various operators in the sector working for ecosystem conservation and recovery.
Designed as a sort of Google Maps for nature, Restor aims to show global forest restoration potential through a system of maps that monitor parameters ranging from precipitation to soil carbon storage capacity and even the species that could grow in a certain area. Upon opening a map on the platform and selecting an area of land anywhere on the planet, the site shows the data for tree cover lost over time, the amount of carbon stored in the soil, and how much more could potentially be added if the area were restored.
The map also highlights tens of thousands of ongoing restoration projects, from forests to prairies and coastal habitats. Thus, it is also a tool for connecting ecosystem restoration organisations with one another and with potential sources of funding and volunteers.
A finalist in the 2021 Earthshot Prize and official partner of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, Restor was founded within the Crowther Lab at Zurich Polytechnic and developed by a network of scientists with the help of Google.
Web site:
Sector:
Mapping and networking
Pros:
High-resolution monitoring of all environmental restoration and conservation actions, such as tree planting and agroforestry
Features:
Open and transparent data platform for the global ecosystem restoration movement
This article is also available in Italian / Questo articolo è disponibile anche in italiano
Cover image: Bruno Melo, Unsplash