Presentation short abstract

We propose "Restoration to Thrive," a prospective framework for restoring 1 million hectares in the Eastern Himalaya. By integrating watershed approach, livelihoods, and One Health, we aim to build adaptive capacity that enables co-evolving social-ecological systems to flourish amidst future shifts.

Presentation long abstract

he Eastern Himalaya is a globally unique biodiversity hotspot and co-evolved bio-cultural landscape, now facing compounding threats from climate change and intensifying land-use changes driven by proposed major infrastructure projects. In this fragile context, the ambitious target to restore 1 million hectares risks becoming a reductive exercise in "green accounting" if divorced from local realities. Moving beyond static ecological baselines, we propose "Restoration for Resilience to Thrive," a strategic framework utilizing a prospective Complex Adaptive Social Ecological Systems (CASES) lens. We argue that restoration must serve as a generative pathway—one that not only mitigates shocks like wildfires and droughts and sustains vital biodiversity, but actively advances community aspirations for a landscape where human societies and nature do not merely coexist, but thrive.

Central to this approach is enhancing the capacity of complex adaptive social-ecological systems to self-organize, adapt, and learn. Rather than adhering to historical reference systems, our strategy envisions a framework that enables ecological systems to respond to anticipated socio-economic and biophysical shifts, building resilience to these changes while seizing new opportunities for growth. Grounded in the foundational principles of "do no harm" and "respect for community sovereignty," we operationalize this by carefully integrating watershed approaches with livelihood and One Health frameworks. This anchors the 1-million-hectare initiative in a model that prioritizes not just tree survival, but the flourishing of complex co-evolving social-ecological systems that help communities and biodiversity thrive.