Ecological restoration

Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) from Indigenous Peoples demonstrates how restoration ecology is a historical field, lived out by humans for thousands of years. Indigenous people have acquired ecological knowledge through observation, experience, and management of the natural resources and the environment around them. In the past, they managed their environment and changed the structure of the vegetation to not only meet their basic needs (food, water, shelter, medicines) but also to improve desired characteristics and even increasing the populations and biodiversity. In that way, they achieved a close relationship with the environment and learned lessons that indigenous people keep in their culture.

This means there is much that could be learned from local people indigenous to the ecosystem being restored because of the deep connection and biocultural and linguistic diversity of place. The use of natural resources by indigenous people considers many cultural, social, and environmental aspects, since they have always had an intimate connection with the animals and plants around them over centuries since they obtained their livelihood from the environment around them.

Restoration ecologists must consider that TEK is place dependent due to intimate connection and thus when engaging Indigenous Peoples to include knowledge for restoration purposes, respect and care must be taken to avoid appropriation of the TEK. Successful ecological restoration which includes Indigenous Peoples must be led by Indigenous Peoples to ensure non-indigenous people acknowledge the unequal relationship of power. One way of doing so is using the "walking on two legs" framework created by Secwépemc elder Chief Dr. Ronald E. Ignice, which states that TEK and Western knowledge are two legs that should be driven by Indigenous minds.

For example, the California Indians have a rigid and complex harvesting, management and production practice, largely typical horticultural techniques and concentrated forest burning. The California Indians had a rich knowledge of ecology and natural techniques to understand burn patterns, plant material, cultivation, pruning, digging; what was edible vs. what was not. This knowledge extends into wildlife management – how abundant, where the distribution was, and how diverse the large mammal population was. While the United States has counteracted the degradation, fragmentation and loss of habitat through land set aside from all human influence, indigenous practices could inform ecosystem restoration and wildlife management.

Ecological restoration, or ecosystem restoration, is the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, destroyed or transformed. It is distinct from conservation in that it attempts to retroactively repair already damaged ecosystems rather than take preventative measures. Ecological restoration can help to reverse biodiversity loss, combat climate change, support the provision of ecosystem services and support local economies. The United Nations has named 2021–2030 the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.