Prioritize grassland restoration to bend the curve of biodiversity loss

Abstract

In times of unprecedented climate change, ecological restoration efforts have a strong focus on forests for the purpose of carbonsequestration. Grasslands, in contrast, remain relatively neglected in global restoration policies. Concurrently, we are in themidst of a biodiversity crisis—it is estimated that 1 million species are globally threatened with extinction. Here, we present ana-lyses from central Europe and southern Brazil that show that the majority of our endangered plant species are in fact found inopen ecosystems. Using Germany as an example, we show that we could reduce plant extinction risk by up to 82% if we restoreopen, grassy ecosystems. This also holds true for southern Brazil, where grassland species constitute the single largest share ofendangered species, but where grassy ecosystems continue to be systematically neglected by restoration policies. We furtherexpand on our biodiversity argument to include the role that grassland restoration can play in mitigating climate change.We posit that ramping up grassland restoration efforts may not only be our best bet to bend the curve of biodiversity loss,but it will also make a critical contribution to the resilience of ecosystems in the dynamic decades to come. It is time for grass-land restoration to receive higher priority in global restoration efforts and policy.