In September 2027, Lisbon will host the 12th World Conference on Ecological Restoration (SER2027), the largest and most important conference in the world dedicated to ecosystem restoration. For the first time in Portugal, the event will bring together more than a thousand participants from around the world, including researchers, policy makers, entrepreneurs, non-governmental organisations and members of civil society. The national bid was spearheaded by a consortium led by CE3C researcher Alice Nunes on behalf of the University of Lisbon, the Portuguese Society of Ecology (SPECO) and the European delegation of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER-Europe).
After Darwin, Australia (2023) and Denver, United States (2025), the world's largest conference dedicated to the restoration of degraded ecosystems will be hosted in the Portuguese capital. The announcement was made in Denver earlier this month, before a large audience of delegates from around the world. It was received with ‘visible enthusiasm by the large audience and immediately received expressions of support from several prominent international entities, foreshadowing the success of the meeting,’ as revealed by researcher Alice Nunes, responsible for the presentation and for the consortium that built the ambitious and competitive global bid.
The choice of Lisbon reflects not only the scientific quality of the bid, but also Portugal's growing role in the field of ecological restoration. The country is distinguished by the diversity of its ecosystems – from the montados and steppes of the Alentejo to the mountains of Serra da Estrela, from the wetlands of the Tagus, Ria Formosa and Ria de Aveiro to the patches of Laurissilva forest in the Azores, as well as innovative solutions in urban areas – where landmark projects are underway for habitat recovery, combating desertification, climate change resilience, post-fire restoration and the protection of endangered species.
The conference will go beyond the scientific component, establishing itself as a global forum for meeting and sharing experiences. With the motto Restoration in Motion: From Land to Sea, Knowledge to Action, SER2027 will be a space for dialogue between science and practice, bringing together academic knowledge and the knowledge of local communities, the vision of companies and technological innovation, and civil society and policy makers, with a view to more effective and robust public policies. The event will take place in the middle of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) and at a time when the European Nature Restoration Law and national efforts should begin to show their first concrete results.
Alice Nunes is a researcher at the Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Change (CE3C) at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, and at the CHANGE Associated Laboratory. She is also coordinator of the SPECO Ecological Restoration Network, representative of the Knowledge Network for Nature Restoration in the Working Group dedicated to the development of the National Restoration Plan, under the coordination of the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF), and Vice-President of SER-Europe. The organisation also includes researchers Cristina Branquinho (also from the CHANGE Associated Laboratory) and Patricia Rodríguez-González, both from the University of Lisbon, and already has several institutional supporters. These include international support from the African, Ibero-American and Caribbean delegations, and from Australasia SER, and national support from the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the Regional Government of the Azores, ICNF and Lisbon City Council.
Text by: Rúben Sousa de Oliveira, CE3C Communication Office