On 23 June, the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER) published the third edition of its International Principles and Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration, widely recognised as the most comprehensive global guidance for restoration practice.
The publication marks an important moment for the restoration sector. As governments, businesses, funders, insurers, and project developers increasingly look to restoration as a route to addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and social resilience, there is a growing need for clear, science-based methods that can support credible implementation and measurable outcomes.
The Global Biodiversity Standard (TGBS) welcomes the publication of the 3rd Edition. TGBS uses the SER Standards as a core foundation of its assessment methodology, translating the principles and standards of ecological restoration into a practical field-based assessment process for evaluating biodiversity outcomes in restoration projects.
TGBS is also pleased to have contributed to the development of the updated SER Standards. Dr David Bartholomew, CEO of The Global Biodiversity Standard, contributed as a co-author, alongside Amarizni Mosyaftiani and George Gann, who are also authors of The Global Biodiversity Standard: Manual for Assessment and Best Practices. George Gann, senior author of the TGBS Manual, is the lead author of the 3rd Edition of the SER Standards.
From restoration ambition to measurable outcomes
The 3rd Edition responds to accelerating demand for measurable climate and biodiversity action. The updated Standards strengthen guidance on how restoration projects are assessed, planned, implemented, managed, monitored, and evaluated. This is especially important as restoration is increasingly expected to deliver measurable outcomes for biodiversity, climate, and communities, while also reducing risk for funders, regulators, insurers, and investors.
As George Gann, lead author of the Standards and SER Global Policy Lead, said:
“There has been an important shift in the conversation; the question is no longer about why we need to restore, but about how we measure and deliver the best results.”
This shift is central to the work of TGBS. Restoration projects are now being asked not only to demonstrate that activities have taken place, but that they are delivering meaningful recovery for ecosystems and benefits for people. TGBS was developed to support this transition by providing a robust, practical, and outcome-based framework for assessing restoration quality.
Stronger measurement and the Five-star System
One of the most significant updates in the 3rd Edition is the strengthening of measurement. The updated Standards include more rigorous quantitative thresholds, expanded Social Benefits and Ecological Recovery measurement tools, and new zero-star baselines to describe highly degraded systems.
The further development of the Five-star System is particularly relevant to TGBS. The Five-star System is central to how restoration progress can be assessed against a reference model and tracked over time. TGBS has applied and tested this approach through its assessment methodology, helping to translate global restoration principles into a practical tool for field-based evaluation.
By combining ecological recovery indicators with assessment of social benefits, protection, monitoring, and adaptive management, TGBS supports a more complete understanding of project quality. This is essential for ensuring that restoration projects are not assessed only by inputs or activities, but by the outcomes they achieve.
Supporting certification, investment, and trust
The 3rd Edition also provides enhanced guidance across the full restoration project cycle: assessment, planning and design, implementation, ongoing management, and monitoring and evaluation. This expanded guidance is important for project certification because it helps create a clearer and more comparable basis for assessing restoration quality.
For TGBS, this is a critical development. Certification depends on trust. Funders, buyers, policymakers, and local communities need confidence that restoration projects are scientifically grounded, locally appropriate, and capable of delivering positive outcomes for biodiversity and people.
The updated SER Standards strengthen the enabling environment for credible certification by supporting more transparent monitoring, reporting, and verification. They also provide new guidance for mobilising restoration finance, including through mechanisms linked to nature-related financial disclosures, resilient supply chains, carbon and biodiversity credits, and risk reduction.
This alignment between restoration science, finance, and certification is central to the role of TGBS. By providing independent assessment of biodiversity outcomes, TGBS helps project developers, investors, and partners understand whether restoration projects are on a credible pathway towards high-quality ecological recovery.
Alignment with global policy
The 3rd Edition aligns with Target 2 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, which calls for at least 30% of degraded terrestrial, inland water, coastal, and marine ecosystems to be under effective restoration by 2030.
The Standards also strengthen emphasis on societal engagement, Indigenous Knowledge, Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, and the participation of interested and affected parties. These elements are fundamental to effective and equitable restoration and are reflected in the TGBS assessment framework, including its focus on stakeholder engagement and social benefits in criterion 3 of the TGBS methodology.
A practical foundation for the next phase of restoration
The updated SER Standards clarify that ecological restoration aims to recover native ecosystems, informed by reference models. They also set out eight Principles that help practitioners define, guide, and measure restoration projects, and include an updated Restorative Continuum to show how different restorative activities relate to one another across ecosystems and social contexts.
For TGBS, the publication of the 3rd Edition reinforces the importance of converting global restoration guidance into practical, field-based assessment. As the restoration sector grows, robust standards and credible certification will be essential for reducing risk, improving practice, and ensuring that restoration contributes meaningfully to biodiversity recovery, climate resilience, and human wellbeing.
TGBS will continue working with partners, hubs, assessors, and restoration practitioners to apply these principles in practice and support projects to deliver measurable, transparent, and biodiversity-positive outcomes.
The SER Standards are published open access as a special issue of Restoration Ecology: www.ser.org/SERStandards
