ECOSYSTEM RESTORATION
DESIGN

• Presenter: John D. Liu, Ecosystem Restoration Camps

The first module is looking at how to restore natural forests in temperate and tropical biomes in the first two lessons. These lessons are given by practitioners with decades of experience in this work, and they talk the students through every step they took in restoring these forest ecosystems, looking at tackling invasive species, collecting seeds, creating a nursery, species reintroduction, tree planting, tree maintenance, managing grazing, fencing, as well as the social and cultural factors that accelerate and also inhibit this work.

The third and fourth lessons of module 1 of the course look at restoration in Deserts and the Ocean. The desert lesson looks at the causes of desertification, both natural and human-made, and how the teacher restored a desert in Saudi Arabia, both ecologically, socially, culturally and politically. The fourth lesson on Oceans looks at how to use art to regrow coral reefs and all of the challenges associated with doing this work.

• Week 1: Restoring Temperate Forests
  • Presenter: Allan Watson Featherstone, Trees For Life
• Week 2: Restoring Tropical Forests
  • Presenter: John Button
• Week 3: Restoring Deserts
  • Presenter: Neal Spackman, Al Baydha
• Week 4: Restoring Oceans
  • Presenter: Celia Gregory, Marine Foundation
  • Presenter: Delphine Robb, Gili Eco Trust

This module is all about rehabilitating agricultural ecosystems. The first lesson is about Agroforestry, and why it is so needed around the world, how agroforestry systems can be created and maintained, and why agroforestry isn’t more mainstream. The second, on Holistic Grazing, focuses on how to restore grasslands using cattle, with examples from across Africa. The third lesson looks at how permaculture can be used to rehabilitate land and grow food to support food security, with an example of how this was done in Jordan. And the last lesson in this module looks at regenerative agriculture in the sea, with seaweed farming as an example. Joost talks about why seaweed farming is an important solution, how the seaweeds are grown, which species of seaweed are grown and why, and what the challenges are regarding seaweed farming and how they can be overcome.

• Week 5: Restoring Degraded Land with Agroforestry
  • Presenter: Patrick Worms, World Agroforestry Centre
• Week 6: Restoring Grasslands Through Holistic Grazing
  • Presenter: Precious Phiri, Savory Institute
• Week 7: Restoring Arid Land with Permaculture
  • Presenter: Rhamis Kent, Permaculture Research Institute
• Week 8: Regenerating the Ocean with Seaweed Farming
  • Presenter: Joost Wouters, The Seaweed Company

Module 3 looks at ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation in urban contexts. The first lesson in this module looks at how to use floating, bioremediating, water based ecosystems to clean urban waterways. In this lesson you will learn how to create these floating ecosystems, as well as the challenges involved in implementing them. The second lesson looks at how to create tiny, natural, biodiverse forests in cities, where you’ll look at how to fund, plan, design and implement the planting of a tiny forest, using the Dutch city of Utrecht as an example.

The third lesson looks at urban food growing in Los Angeles and how to acquire urban land, what to do to restore it, including soil building for urban contexts, and some ideas for how to make urban gardens profitable. The fourth lesson looks at how to build regenerative housing that runs off of the rain, the sun and the wind, capturing energy flows through the houses and using them to restore the degraded land around them, with an example of such a project in Mexico. The students learn why the land in Mexico is degraded, how these houses work, what materials they’re made of, how they are built, what the challenges are that arise when trying to build such homes in terms of legal barriers concerning planning etc.

• Week 9: Restoring Urban Waterways
  • Presenter: Lisa Shaw, Biomatrix Water
• Week 10: Rewilding Urban Land With Tiny Forests
  • Presenter: Daan Bleichrocht, IVN
• Week 11: Urban Regenerative Food Growing & Community Building
  • Presenter: Rishi Kumar, Kiss the Ground
• Week 12: Regenerative Settlements
  • Presenter: Daniel Valdiviezo, Navi Village

The fourth module looks at business models for ecosystem restoration and rehabilitation. The first lesson is given by the Commonland Foundation, where they run you through their 4 Returns model, and their Regenerative Business Model Canvas and how it works as a tool for planning and mapping out a business idea to fund an ecosystem restoration/rehabilitation project. They then interview a dutch regenerative landscape business as an example, and go through the business model canvas with them. The second and third lessons give you two examples of regenerative businesses, as their founders go through the ins and outs of how their business were set up, why they were set up, how their businesses work in terms of the everyday operations, the legal entities they’re registered as, how they raised initial investment, what the challenges have been in running such businesses, and how they are overcoming these challenges. The final lesson of the course is by Ecosystem Restoration Camps, where the ERC staff run through why regenerative businesses are needed, how to raise funds as a charity, an introduction to impact investment, and the business models that the camps use to fund their restoration activities.

Week 13: Introduction to Regenerative Business Models – Commonland

• • Presenter: Simon Moolenaar, Commonland
• Week 14: Old Tree – a Regenerative Business Case Study
  • Presenter: Thomas O’Daniel, Old Tree
• Week 15: Tree Range Chicken – a Regenerative Business Case Study
  • Presenter: Wil Crombie, Tree Range Chicken
• Week 16: Business Models to Support Ecosystem Restoration Camps
  • Presenter: Ashleigh Brown, Ecosystem Restoration Camps

The fifth module gives you the chance to form a team with the other course students and together you will learn how to create a design for your restoration project, and how to create a business model canvas for your project as well. At the end of the course, you will have created connections with the other students and you may even have the opportunity to gain support for your restoration project from the other course students after the course is over.

• Presenter: Oliver Goshey, Ecosystem Restoration Camps