Good news stories about nature: it’s too easy to get stuck in tales of failure

Résumé détaillé

But around the world, restoration is happening at record scale. According to a United Nations report last month, about 252 million hectares are under restoration in 149 countries…

You don’t have to give a damn about nature to read the Climate Change Advisory Council’s annual biodiversity review, published last week, and feel concerned. It says we’re more exposed and vulnerable to floods, droughts, storms and wildfires because of the poor state of Ireland’s biodiversity. Nearly all of our protected habitats are, essentially, failing, and decades of draining peatlands and degrading wetlands have weakened the natural defences. Local communities lose protections as habitats deteriorate.

It feels like we’ll need to fasten our seat belts for what’s ahead. With just 9 per cent of our protected habitats improving, it’s easy to be stuck in stories of failure. But around the world, restoration is happening at record scale. According to a United Nations report last month, about 252 million hectares are under restoration in 149 countries – the largest effort of its kind to date. The UN’s flagship restoration projects alone have created more than a million jobs, and more than 1.2 million people have been trained. Here are a few good news stories.

Salmon are returning to Canadian rivers. For the past 16 years, Parks Canada has restored 65,000 hectares of land in river catchments and 22km of salmon rivers and streams across seven national parks, working closely with indigenous and local communities. Salmon returns have increased at six of the seven sites, and the work has created more than 100 jobs.

Restored peatland is slowing wildfires. In April last year, Natural Resources Wales reported that at Llyn Gorast in mid-Wales, where part of the peatland was rewetted in 2023, sphagnum pools acted as firebreaks during wildfires. In March 2026 the UK’s department for environment, food and rural affairs told parliament that sites in the Peak District, including The Roaches and Dove Stone, have become more resilient to wildfires as a result of restoration.

Mangroves are growing again. A study in Science, published in June, used four decades of satellite data and found…

Début de l'article, extrait de The Irish Times. Pour lire la suite, ouvrez l'article chez le média.