News published: 15 April 2026

Restoration is scaling fast. But planting trees or reporting hectares is not the same as restoring biodiversity.

On 23 March 2026, conservation and restoration experts have published a peer-reviewed open letter in Plants, People, Planet, calling on funders, policymakers and investors to require independent biodiversity certification as a condition of financing restoration projects.

The letter highlights the need for credible, site-based verification of biodiversity outcomes and identifies The Global Biodiversity Standard (TGBS) as an existing framework designed to provide that independent assessment.

TGBS CEO Dr David Bartholomew commented on the implications for the restoration sector:

“The next phase of restoration must be defined not by scale alone, but by credible ecological outcomes. The challenge now is to ensure that biodiversity is not assumed, but demonstrated.”