Presentation short abstract

This paper develops the foundations for a "future oriented" vision of ecosystem restoration, grounded in the values, lived experiences, and aspirations of people living in landscapes being targeted for restoration.

Presentation long abstract

Ecosystem restoration has emerged as a global environmental priority, with potential to support more sustainable and thriving landscapes around the world. Despite this, dominant narratives often frame restoration as the recovery of ecosystem functionality, and thus offer limited guidance for navigating the broader societal ends toward which restoration should be pursued. In this paper, we lay the foundation for a future-oriented vision of restoration: one grounded in the values, lived experiences, and aspirations of people and societies. We ask: Toward which future should we restore? We discuss the institutional and epistemic factors that constrain future-oriented restoration action, and we identify principles that can help expand imagination toward potential transformations. Finally, we discuss how these insights can shape policy and practice by informing arrangements for governance, enhancing inclusive knowledge systems, and through more creative planning and design. A futures lens, we argue, can illuminate trade-offs among competing values, help identify positive feedbacks between ecosystem functionality and human well-being, and catalyze transformative action toward long-term social and environmental goals.