On June 5^th the global community observes World Environment Day , an event coordinated by the UN Environment Program, which is this year hosted by Pakistan. The theme for 2021 is “Reimagine, Recover, Restore” a positive and empowering message highlighting ways that we can help to repair important parts of the ecosystem, and is accompanied by the inspiring hashtag #generationrestoration. This also marks the start of a UN initiative called the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, a 10 year program to halt and reverse the decline of the natural world. For more information and inspiration for ways to get involved, see the UN’s Beginner’s Guide to Ecosystem Restoration.

The core of this year’s message is an educational campaign explaining the different types of ecosystem, ways they can be restored, and the sometimes surprising benefits restoration can bring. For example, did you know that restoring the water flow to peatlands to natural levels restores their ability to prevent stored carbon from reaching the atmosphere? Or that integrating permeable sidewalks and wetlands into urban areas can protect against flooding and pollution?

Each year the UN selects a different theme and host country for World Environment Day to raise awareness of environmental issues, helping to focus governmental as well as corporate policies to drive meaningful change. Previous World Environment Days with themes such as ozone layer depletion, melting polar icecaps, and the illegal wildlife trade, have helped to galvanise international support to tackle complex transnational problems.

Elsevier has been inspired by the UN’s drive for action on sustainability, setting up its Special issues | Sustainable Development Goals – Resource Centre (relx.com) to highlight powerful Elsevier journal and book content that addresses the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Elsevier also provides a wealth of book chapters addressing this year’s World Environment Day theme “Reimagine, Recover, Restore”, here are just a few of them which we have made freely accessible to honor this year’s World Environment Day:

Click here to access the complete issue collection.

World Environment Day 2021 | Sustainable Development Goals – Resource Centre (relx.com)

Nanomaterials for Soil Remediation
9780128228913
Chapter 12 – Soil contamination, risk assessment and nanobioremediation
By Rajadesingu Suriyaprakash, Mohammed Junaid Hussain Dowlath, Sathish Kumar Karuppannan and Kantha D. Arunachalam

As every method has its own benefits and setbacks, the integration of remediation methods could be thought of as a solution to tackle remediation problems. Nanobioremediation is one of such methods which has received a lot of attention in the past few years. Nanobioremediation exploits the benefits of nanotechnology together with the advantages of bioremediation. This chapter provides a brief account of nanotechnology and the use is reported of a variety of nanostructured materials for removing organic and inorganic contaminants from environmental matrices, followed by detailed description of the nanobioremediation technique, its application processes, and methods.

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Biodiversity and Climate Change Adaptation in Tropical Islands
9780128130643
Chapter 27 – Marine Biodiversity – Strategies for Conservation, Management and Ecological Restoration
By Cheruvathoor Linoy Libini, K.A.Albert Idu, C.C.Manjumol, Vasant Kripa, and Kolliyil Sunil Mohamed

Biodiversity is the fundamental subject of ecology, and its knowledge becomes an integral part for the assessment and conservation of any type of biota, maintains a healthy biosphere and provides direct and indirect value to human beings. Marine environment basically consists of many important biodiversity-rich ecological units. Human beings are highly depending on flora and fauna of the marine ecosystem for the various needs in their life. However, human activities have destroyed the biodiversity in these ecosystems and are mostly responsible for the degradation of all resources directly or indirectly in the earth. Reduction of a single species can affect the energy flow in the various trophic levels and resulted in reduction of biodiversity which might have some serious and long-term effects on the biosphere. To cater the increasing demand for animal protein in the world, catch of fish species are inevitable and leads to overexploitation. Sustainable use of all these resources along with effective execution of strategies and resources management techniques is essential for the conservation of biodiversity marine realm.

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Wildfire Hazards, Risks, and Disasters
9780124104341
Chapter 12 – Postfire Ecosystem Restoration
By V. Ramon Vallejo and J. Antonio Alloza

Postfire restoration is meant to mitigate or reverse negative fire impacts. Impacts are related to fire regime and its interactions with ecosystem fire resilience. In the case of severe fire regimes, the main ecological impacts affect nutrient budget, soil-erosion risk, and the reduction of biodiversity. Planning postfire restoration requires the identification of the specific degradation processes triggered by fire, including their time and spatial dimensions, and vulnerable ecosystems. Restoration should address identified vulnerable areas, and mitigate soil erosion and runoff risk in the short term, and the recovery of nutrient cycling and keystone plant species in the longer term. We present the approach developed for assessing postfire restoration in the Mediterranean basin based on the prediction of soil-erosion risk and vegetation vulnerability.

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Land Restoration
9780128012314
Chapter 4.8 – A Continuing Inquiry into Ecosystem Restoration: Examples from China’s Loess Plateau and Locations Worldwide and Their Emerging Implications
By John D.Liu and Bradley T.Hiller

Hundreds to even thousands of years of environmental destruction left the Chinese Loess Plateau a virtual “moonscape.” However, strategic restoration efforts combining satellite technology and community involvement led to recovery of the vegetation cover, and even though areas of agricultural production were reduced, productivity has since increased. A strong call for replication of this process in other parts of the world emerged from this experience, as well as a paradigm shift in economic thinking, putting the emphasis on ecological function rather than on what is extracted from nature. This approach is essential to safeguard a sustainable relationship with the environment.

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