Strategic approaches to restoring ecosystems can triple conservation gains and halve costs.

International commitments for ecosystem restoration add up to one-quarter of the world's arable land. Fulfilling them would ease global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity decline but could displace food production and impose financial costs on farmers. Here, we present a restoration prioritization approach capable of revealing these synergies and trade-offs, incorporating ecological and economic efficiencies of scale and modelling specific policy options. Using an actual large-scale restoration target of the Atlantic Forest hotspot, we show that our approach can deliver an eightfold increase in cost-effectiveness for biodiversity conservation compared with a baseline of non-systematic restoration. A compromise solution avoids 26% of the biome's current extinction debt of 2,864 plant and animal species (an increase of 257% compared with the baseline). Moreover, this solution sequesters 1 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent (a 105% increase) while reducing costs by US$28 billion (a 57% decrease). Seizing similar opportunities elsewhere would offer substantial contributions to some of the greatest challenges for humankind

Flora and ecology of Itararé grasslands, São Paulo, Brazil

(Cartografia morfopedológica e de ocupação das terras como subsídio à avaliação ecológica: o caso dos campos de planalto em Itararé, SP). Duas abordagens cartográficas pouco utilizadas no Brasil, morfopedológica e de ocupação das terras, foram aplicadas como parte de um projeto de análise florística, fitogeográfica, ecológica e de conservação dos remanescentes de campos de planalto, na porção sul do município de Itararé, São Paulo (escala 1:50.000). As duas abordagens traduzem em termos ecológicos a paisagem. A carta morfopedológica mapeia unidades cuja evolução, estrutura e problemática sejam correlacionadas, correspondendo a interações específicas entre o material, o modelado, a morfogênese e a pedogênese sob condições climáticas precisas; a carta de ocupação das terras mapeia uma combinação entre as formações vegetais e a influência humana em um território. Ambas as abordagens têm um potencial pouco explorado na gestão da paisagem e no ordenamento territorial no Brasil. (Análise florística e fitogeográfica dos campos de Itararé, São Paulo). A região de Itararé, no sudoeste do estado de São Paulo, junto à divisa do estado do Paraná, possui uma considerável diversidade climática, geológica, pedológica, florística e paisagística, onde ainda podem ser encontrados remanescentes significativos e bem preservados de campos de planalto, uma formação singular e pouco conhecida no estado de São Paulo. Como um primeiro passo para estudar a ecologia dos campos de planalto de Itararé e subsidiar um plano para sua conservação, a flora dos campos foi analisada. Um intensivo levantamento possibilitou a preparação de uma lista florística com 1.000 espécies em 120 famílias, dentre as quais 23 espécies são novas ocorrências para o estado de São Paulo, 71 são consideradas espécies vulneráveis e 22 em perigo, segundo a lista de plantas ameaçadas do estado de São Paulo. As oito famílias que mais contribuem para a riqueza de espécies são: Asteraceae (17,8 %); Poaceae (9,7 %); Fabaceae (7,0 %); Myrtaceae (4,1 %); Cyperaceae (3,9 %); Melastomataceae (3,9 %); Rubiaceae (3,2 %) e Apocynaceae (2,9 %). Uma análise de agrupamento foi efetuda para avaliar o posicionamento fitogeográfico dos campos de planalto de Itararé entre 47 listas florísticas disponíveis para localidades das regiões Sul e Sudeste e dos estados da Bahia, Goiás e Distrito Federal. Uma análise de correspondência canônica indicou as variáveis isotermalidade, sazonalidade térmica e precipitação do mês mais úmido como as mais correlacionadas com a distribuição das espécies dos campos. (Estrutura dos campos e suas relações com o ambiente em Itararé, SP). A estrutura ecológica dos campos na região sul de Itararé, sudoeste do estado de São Paulo, Brasil, foi estudada em uma área de 32.697 ha. Esses fragmentos de campo ainda estão relativamente preservados. O objetivo deste trabalho é diferenciar os tipos de campos existentes na região de Itararé e caracterizar suas relações com variáveis ecológicas. Foi empregada a estratégia de amostragem estratificada aleatória. O critério de estratificação da paisagem foi produzido por meio da interseção do mapa morfopedológico com zonas de influência microclimáticas. A composição florística e sua abundância/cobertura, junto com descritores sobre o meio físico e a estrutura da vegetação, foram obtidos em 115 levantamentos distribuídos pelas unidades de amostragem. Através da aplicação de métodos de estatística multivariada (análise de agrupamentos, de espécies indicadoras e ordenações) foram identificados 4 tipos de campos com suas respectivas espécies indicadoras. O gradiente mais importante presente na matriz de dados está relacionado com o fator umidade.Two cartographic approaches little used in Brazil, morphopedologic and land occupation, have been applied as part of a project to analyze the flora, phytogeography, ecology and conservation of grassland fragments of the southern portion of the Itararé county in São Paulo State. Both approaches translate the landscape in ecological terms. The morphopedologic theme maps units whose evolution, structure and problematic are correlated, corresponding to specific interactions between the material, the relief, morphogenesis and pedogenesis under precise climatic conditions. The land occupation theme maps the combination between the plant formations and the human influence in a territory. Both approaches have a potential little explored in landscape management and in land zoning in Brazil. ¶ (Floristic and phytogeography of the grasslands of Itararé, São Paulo). The region of Itararé, in southwestern of São Paulo state, at the border with the state of the Paraná, has a considerable climatic, geologic, pedologic, floristic and landscape diversity, where it\'s possible to find significative and well preserved grassland fragments, a singular and little known vegetation type in state of São Paulo. As a first step to study the ecology of the Itararé grasslands and to underpin a conservation plan, the flora of the fields was analyzed. An intensive survey made possible to prepare a floristic list with 1.000 species in 120 families, amongst them 23 new records for the State of São Paulo, 71 vulnerable and 22 endangered species according the Red List of São Paulo State. The eight families with major contributions to the species richness are: Asteraceae (17,8 %); Poaceae (9,7 %); Fabaceae (7,0 %); Myrtaceae (4,1 %); Cyperaceae (3,9 %); Melastomataceae (3,9 %); Rubiaceae (3,2 %) and Apocynaceae (2,9 %). A cluster analysis was performed to evaluate the phytogeographic position of the Itararé grasslands among 47 floristic lists available for South and Southeastern Brazil, as well for the states of Bahia, Goiás and Federal District. A canonical correspondence analysis indicated the climatic variables isothermality, temperature seasonality and precipitation of wettest month as the most correlated with species distribution of grasslands.¶ (Grasslands structure and relations with environment in Itararé, SP). The ecological structure of the grassland in the South region of Itararé, located in southwest of São Paulo state, Brazil, was studied over an area of 32.697 ha. These grassland fragments are still relatively well preserved. The goal of this paper is to distinguish the types of grassland present in the Itararé region and to characterize their relationship with ecological variables. A stratified random sampling strategy was used and the landscape stratification criterion was produced by an intersection of the morphopedologic map with a microclimatic zones layer. Species composition and cover/abundance, together with structural and abiotic parameters were recorded in 115 relevés distributed throughout the sampling units. By the application of multivariate statistical analysis methods - such as cluster analysis, indicator species analyses, and ordination techniques - four grasslands vegetation types were identified with its diagnostic species. The most important ecological gradient present in the data matrix is related with humidity

Water and the Environment: 8th World Water Forum Results and Discussions

The Regulatory Agency for Water, Energy and Sanitation of the Federal Dis- trict - ADASA, in partnership with the National Water and Sanitation Agency (ANA), and the World Water Council (WWC), had the honor of organizing the largest event on water and sanitation ever held on the planet, the 8th World Water Forum, with participation from more than 120,000 individuals from 172 countries. This Forum took place in Brasília, from March 18th to March 23th, 2018 under the theme “Sharing Water”. Experts consider the Forum to be much more than an event that takes place every 3 years. It is a permanent process of reflection and discussion of issues related to water and its different dimensions: technical, political, social, eco- nomic, cultural, environmental, spiritual, development-related, among others. In keeping with the Forum’s spirit of sharing, ADASA, through the publication of this document, seeks to systematize the results and discussions stemming from the 8th World Water Forum as a means of contributing to the sequence of discussions and fostering the necessary advances in water and sanitation sectors worldwide. This publication is the result of a study coordinated by ADASA providing an extensive analysis of the discussions and documents generated during the Forum and is divided into three major thematic perspectives: “Water and the Environment”, “Water and Development”, and “Water and Society”. Studies focusing on each of these themes generated three publications/volumes on the 8th World Water Forum: Results and Discussions. As part of these efforts, after the systematization of the audio and reports for the approximately 300 sessions that took place during the event (more than 400 hours of recordings), a single methodology was established for the analysis and identification of the main sessions to be assessed as part of each of the studies. Different working groups subsequently reviewed the sessions and analyzed doc- uments in order to identify initiatives, ideas, comments, and experiences that would guide discussions and indicate trends and recommendations in relation to the proposed themes. In this first volume, which deals with the theme “Water and the Environment”, the main messages on three selected key topics were extracted, summarized and indicated: climate change, nature-based solutions (NbS), and the financing of the NbS. We hope that the results of the effort made as part of these publications can contribute to the continuous improvement of initiatives implemented by the sectors involved, not only with regards to ADASA’s activities, but to those insti- tutions and actors working in the areas of water resources and basic sanitation in other parts of the world as well

Author Correction: Strategic approaches to restoring ecosystems can triple conservation gains and halve costs (Nature Ecology & Evolution, (2019), 3, 1, (62-70), 10.1038/s41559-018-0743-8)

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper