In 2022, some camps are organising camp experiences for you to participate in. We are hopeful that they will be able to go ahead. Camps will follow the local conditions closely, and may have to cancel activities if the local COVID-19 situation forces them to do so. If you have already signed up for a camp-activity you will be informed when this happens. We will update the website also, when such decisions are taken. Please check your own local authority travel advisory to see if you can travel to or return from the camp after the activity. At all times, when at camps, please observe it’s COVID-19 policy (such as wearing masks, social distancing, washing hands, etc).
How it works
Ecosystem restoration has a positive and direct impact on all our lives
We empower ordinary, everyday people to take the lead in restoring the earth, working together to change the broken system ourselves, rather than waiting for others to take action. We are a network of people and projects doing people-centered productive restoration to increase and build back the ecosystem functionality of degraded landscapes. The Ecosystem Restoration Camps movement offers solutions, eases eco anxiety and inspires people through positive impact stories, learning opportunities and hands-on experiences.
The restoration work at camps draws carbon down and cools the surface temperature of the earth, thereby fighting climate change. Restoring degraded land also increases local biodiversity, restores water-systems, and improves food-security and local livelihoods. It is empowering to know that you, as an individual, can have such a significant impact through the simple act of working together to build biologically diverse, life-supporting ecosystems.
Restoring ecosystems creates a world of abundance, with more than enough natural and financial health and wealth for us all.
We enable ecosystem restoration to happen at a planetary scale
In 2017, the first Ecosystem Restoration Camp was established in Spain. The movement now comprises more than 50 camps in around 30 countries across six continents. Our big goal is to have one million people come together by 2030 to reverse ecological destruction and restore biodiversity in 100 camps around the world.
The ecosystem restoration camps function as collaborative, living labs where locals and global campers not only take on restoration, but also innovate, learn from their practices, refine them, and share their learnings with the world. These local living labs collectively form a large, global living lab that is contributing to a knowledge base on how to create abundant and thriving regenerative practices. The camps are developing the proof-of-concept in local landscapes that will inspire and attract all who live there to join the worldwide effort to restore ecosystems and introduce regenerative practices that will make it possible for humanity to survive on this planet.
Camps are able to support their neighbours in adopting these regenerative practices, by sharing their resources of knowledge and campers who can physically undertake the restoration work.
Camps learn from each other through the global knowledge exchange platform, where other restorers around the world who are dealing with similar issues can share their successes and failures, and learn from experts in the field of restoration. Through this platform, all camps become better at what they do.
The camps are also places where everyday people can go to learn about restoration and make a positive impact by physically taking part in bringing land back to life. Camps provide a meaningful, empowering experience that changes the way participants see their relationship with earth. It is this changed attitude of people – as they start to see themselves as part of nature and not separate from it – that will enable a personal transformation and build the strong foundation for our sustainable success.
The camps are positively affecting the lives of people in degraded places
By rehabilitating damaged and degraded forest and wetland ecosystems and practising regenerative agriculture, Ecosystem Restoration Camps are restoring the natural function to the land. This leads to an increase in soil fertility; a reduction in soil erosion, floods and drought; and the re-establishment of entire food webs. Restoring the earth brings about a significant reduction in poverty through the return of sustainable livelihoods in degraded areas. And, the most empowering part of this is that at camps it is the local people themselves who bring about this change, working hand-in-hand with a global community committed to supporting them to create a healthy, sustainable future for our planet.
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What you must do to ensure your own safety at an Ecosystem Restoration Camp
Your safety is very important to us. Most camps are in locations that are completely safe for you to travel to. Some camps are in locations where there is civil unrest, higher levels of crime, or in areas where there could be severe nature events (earthquakes, tornados, vulcanic eruptions). We strongly advise you to check with your national authority’s travel advisory service to see if there are specific travel advisories for the region you are travelling to. We strongly advise you to comply with that travel advisory. If there is a negative travel advisory for the area you plan to go to, we want to impress on you that it is your decision to not heed the warnings and go. ERC can then not be liable in that situation if something happens to you.
Work at camps is usually safe. The camp coordinators make your safety their highest priority too. But you will be working with tools and sometimes even (heavy) machinery. Sometimes the terrain can be slightly treacherous. Heat or cold can become a problem for people at work that do not take the necessary measures to prevent injury from weather conditions. Especially in remote locations, all people at an Ecosystem Restoration Camp will need to watch out for eachother’s safety. For this reason we ask you to also sign our Code of Conduct, through which you commit to contributing to a safe environment at camps for all that are there with you. Take yours and all other camper’s safety seriously! Together, while watching over eachother, we can restore our ecosystems safely and successfully.
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