NatuRISE is integrating ecological, land-use and socio-economic analysis to help decision-makers understand the wider impacts of nature restoration, compare options and make better-informed choices.
Nature restoration decisions can have consequences that extend well beyond the ecosystem being restored. They may affect biodiversity, water, land use, economic activities and people’s livelihoods, with benefits and costs distributed differently across places and groups. Understanding these connections is essential when deciding which restoration options to pursue, where to prioritise action and how to account for competing objectives.
For policymakers, public authorities, land managers and restoration practitioners, the challenge is to translate scientific evidence into assessments that reflect these interconnected effects. This requires approaches that bring different types of knowledge together and help users compare restoration options in a transparent and systematic way.
Connecting models to understand wider impacts
NatuRISE – Nature Restoration Impact Assessment for Socio-Economic and Ecological Benefits – is working to strengthen the analysis of nature restoration by connecting ecological, land-use and socio-economic perspectives.
By enhancing models and analytical approaches, the project aims to capture a broader range of restoration impacts and better understand how changes in ecosystems interact with land use, economic activities and societal outcomes. This integrated perspective can help reveal connections that may be missed when impacts are assessed separately.
Linking European assessments with real-world contexts
Restoration pathways can produce different outcomes depending on where they are implemented and the wider conditions in which they take place. NatuRISE will connect assessments at the European scale with four case studies, examining how restoration options may generate benefits, costs, trade-offs and synergies across locations, sectors and groups.
This multi-scale approach is intended to help users understand both the broader implications of restoration pathways and the ways their effects may vary in particular contexts. It can also support closer examination of who benefits, who bears costs and where competing objectives may need to be addressed.
Co-developing a tool to compare restoration options
Evidence becomes more useful for decision-making when it helps users explore alternatives and understand their implications. NatuRISE will therefore work with stakeholders to co-develop a decision-support tool combining cost-benefit analysis and multi-criteria analysis.
These complementary approaches can help users consider economic costs and benefits alongside a wider set of ecological, social and other relevant criteria. The tool is intended to support comparisons between restoration options, making it easier to explore trade-offs and synergies and to understand how different priorities can influence decisions.
Stakeholder involvement is important to ensure that the tool responds to practical decision-making needs and that the evidence it brings together is relevant to the people who may use it.
From integrated evidence to better-informed decisions
Connecting enhanced models, European-scale assessments, case studies and stakeholder knowledge will help NatuRISE develop a more comprehensive picture of the wider impacts of nature restoration. The intended outcome is evidence and decision-support that can inform restoration policy, planning and implementation.
The project does not directly implement restoration measures. Its contribution is to strengthen the assessment approaches and decision-support available to those shaping and delivering restoration, helping them compare options and consider ecological, economic and societal implications more systematically.
By connecting research with practical decision-making needs, NatuRISE aims to make evidence on restoration impacts more accessible and useful — supporting choices that take account of the wider consequences of restoring nature. Read more about our upcoming Results & Resources
Read more about the NatuRISE approach: Explore how NatuRISE connects data and indicators, modelling, integrated impact assessment and decision support to understand the wider impacts of nature restoration.
Explore the upcoming evidence, datasets, methods and tools.
Discover how NatuRISE can support policymakers, practitioners and researchers.
Related news
- NatuRISE has officially started — introducing the project’s aims, approach and consortium.
- Why nature restoration needs a fuller impact assessment — exploring why restoration benefits, costs and wider effects need to be considered together.
- Nature restoration does not happen in isolation — explaining how restoration decisions can affect ecosystems, land use, livelihoods and communities.
- Building the evidence base for better nature restoration decisions — describing how NatuRISE will develop evidence, data, indicators and assessment methods to support impact assessment.