Today is World Environment Day. Celebrated every year on June 5th, it’s the United Nations’ main way to encourage awareness and action for the protection of the environment. This year the theme is Ecosystem Restoration. This can take many forms. It means helping natural environments that have been degraded or destroyed to recover, and it also means protecting the animals and plants that keep them healthy.

One key way to keep ecosystems healthy in Africa, argue Anja Gassner, Philip Dobie and Terry Sunderland, is to involve farmers and farming land in conservation efforts. Efforts shouldn’t just focus on protected areas.

Some plants are particularly useful to ecosystems, and their protection or restoration is paramount. For instance, as seen in Gabon, large trees can store huge amounts of carbon. John Poulsen identified areas with lots of them and lays out what needs to be done to better protect them. Sea grasses are another important carbon sink. Found in our oceans, they’re also a source of food and shelter for many organisms. Lillian Daudi reveals that many of Kenya’s sea grass meadows have been damaged, but there are efforts to ensure not all is lost.

There are also various animals – which all play a part in keeping their ecosystem healthy – that are under threat because of our encroachment into their rangelands, and all the challenges that brings. But there are various ways they can be protected and their numbers restored. Robin Whytock and Fiona Maisels reveal how two big decisions made earlier this year on African elephants will help to address the specific threats elephants face. Meanwhile, Monica Bond offers clues to how people and giraffes can thrive together and Femke Broekhuis explains how cheetahs can be better protected from tourists in Kenya’s Maasai Mara.

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