Seeing Restoration in the Landscape

Sometimes the best way to understand restoration is to leave the conference room and see a landscape for yourself. Today provided exactly that opportunity. I had the opportunity to visit Hustai National Park, where the focus was on ecosystem restoration and the ecological significance of the return of the Przewalski’s horse, a species once extinct in the wild.

After several days of listening to discussions about policies, finance, legislation and restoration targets, seeing restoration through the lens of an actual landscape offered a different perspective. Ecosystems are interconnected. Restoration is not simply about planting trees or increasing the number of hectares under management. It is about ecological functions, relationships between species and the ability of landscapes to sustain life. The story of the Przewalski’s horse illustrates how restoring a species can also contribute to restoring broader ecological functions.

For someone working in agriculture and technology, this was a valuable reminder that human systems are ultimately embedded within ecological systems. Our farms, food systems and economies do not exist separately from nature.

Later in the day, the conversation returned to the global policy landscape through the High-Level Ministerial Dialogue: “From Ambition to Action: Delivering Rio Synergies across the Triple COP Year.” The discussion explored how political momentum across climate, biodiversity and land can be translated into practical action. This idea of Rio Synergies is particularly important.

Climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation are often discussed through separate international processes. But on the ground, they do not arrive separately. A farmer experiencing drought may simultaneously face declining soil health, biodiversity loss and changing weather patterns. A community restoring a degraded landscape may improve biodiversity while strengthening climate resilience and food security.

The boundaries between these challenges exist in institutions and conventions; but not necessarily in landscapes. That is why greater cooperation across the three Rio Conventions matters. Today also connected closely with the conversations I have been having throughout COP17 about youth. Young people are often described as the “next generation.” But walking through landscapes and listening to policy discussions today reinforced another reality; young people are already part of the generation responsible for restoration.

We are already building businesses, researching technologies, working with communities and developing new approaches to climate and land challenges. The question is how institutions can create meaningful pathways for that work to connect with larger systems. As the sun began to settle over the Mongolian landscape, I found myself thinking about the difference between reading about restoration and seeing it. A policy document can describe ambition. A dataset can demonstrate progress. A photograph can capture change. But a landscape can tell the story in its own language. Today, Hustai reminded me that ultimately, restoration is about bringing ecological relationships back to life. And that is something no document can fully capture.