The 15th European Conference on Ecological Restoration (SERE 2026) is taking place in Brest, France, from 24 to 28 August 2026.
The BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub is organising a special session on Thursday 27 August 2026 on how to support NRR implementation through restoration knowledge hubs (SS2), addressing implementation challenges such as governance bottlenecks, delivery capacity, monitoring and adaptive management, social trade-offs, risk management, and financing. This session will also explore key obstacles and strategic recommendations for translating the EU Nature Restoration Regulation into ambitious, credible, well-funded and socially legitimate National Restoration Plans (NRPs), linking research needs with practical implementation and promoting cross-border learning and collaboration.
The session draws directly on the work of the BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub, which plays a central role in connecting science with policy and practice. Its mission is to cluster, synthesise, and translate research into outputs that support effective restoration on the ground. By consolidating the collective knowledge of 22 BiodivRestore projects, Biodiversa+ is transforming scientific evidence into actionable policy inputs, advancing the EU’s ambition for large-scale, resilient nature restoration.
Three of the session’s four coordinators are members of the BiodivRestore Knowledge Hub:
- Vito Emanuele Cambria (Botanic Garden of Rome, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy), who recently presented the Hub’s activities to support the NRP drafting process at the conference “The Nature Restoration Law: Technical Pathways for Developing the National Restoration Plan” in Rome
- Katalin Török (HUN-REN Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Vácrátót, Hungary)
- Tuula Larmola (Natural Resources Institute Finland, Luke, Helsinki)
- Philip Corrigan, co-coordinator of the session
Program
Five presentations are given during the session:
- 9:30-9:45 CEST: From ambition to implementation: Mapping urgent restoration knowledge gaps and missing tools
- 9:45-10:00 CEST: Rethinking Adaptive Management for ecosystem restoration: from blueprint ideals to real-world practice
- 10:00-10:15 CEST: Urgent need for EU regulation and nursery accreditation schemes to prevent spread of introduced invasive plant pathogens via restoration activities
- 10:15-10:30 CEST: Challenges in securing native seeds for sustainable nature restoration
- 10:30-10:45 CEST: What knowledge and tools are needed most urgently for restoring wetlands and inland waters?
