Nature-based Solutions Master List – Global Earth Repair Convergence 2026

The goal of the Convergence is to compile the world’s most up-to-date and comprehensive overview of natural solutions which can stabilize the climate and regenerate the Earth’s ecosystems. Solutions based on soils, plants, animals and water. Here is a list of the 130 solutions that we have compiled so far. Some are techniques, others are strategies or ecosystem processes/functions, others are animals and plants. How we further add to, subdivide or group these categories is a work in progress. Future editions will keep growing as people add nominations. We invite people to send nominations for other solutions to add to this list. Email to [email protected].

The planet is a giant carbon sink waiting for human cooperation – The Global Earth Repair Convergence will bring together many of the world’s leading experts on ecosystem repair. People who understand how soil/plant/water interactions can heal the planet. The Convergence can be thought of as a giant think-tank. Note: This list is focused on ecological processes rather than human social systems, which needs another whole set of solutions. Many lists of social solutions have been made elsewhere. Social solutions will also be discussed at the Convergence and a list of those solutions will be forthcoming from us.

Climate Solutions

• Protect primary forests and least-disturbed ecosystems. Anastassia Makarieva has
  cautioned that restoring ecosystems is no substitute for retaining what’s left.
• Increase the planet’s green cover.
• Stop clearcutting as a forestry practice. Use restoration forestry systems like
  single-tree and small-group selection.
• Gradually convert even-aged monoculture forests into natural forests.
• Reinvigorate the Biotic Pump mechanisms of the planet.
• Enhance the small water cycle = increase moisture recycling/precipitation
  recycling
• Store more “Green Water” in the soil = Water held in soils that feeds plants in wild
  ecosystems and non-irrigated crops.
• Increase bioaerosol production (biological aerosols). Particles released by plants,
  fungi, phytoplankton, and seaweed which become nuclei for rain to form. Their role
  in rainfall and climate.
• Boreal forests’ roles in the global climate

Plant Solutions

• Ecological forest stewardship to increase primary forests and reduce wildfires.
• Reforestation and Afforestation.
• Agroforestry
• Windbreaks, hedgerows and shelterbelts
• Pollinator gardens, hedges and landscapes
• Miyawaki Forests, other pocket forests
• Food forests,
• Medicinal forests
• Halophyte plants
• Rooftop and wall gardens
• Bamboo’s roles in carbon sequestration, erosion control and resource production.
• Lichens’ roles in the biosphere and how to increase them.

Soil Solutions

• Build soils and the soil sponge worldwide.
• Role of soils in planetary carbon. How to double and triple carbon stored in world
  soils as quickly as possible.
• Soil Remineralization’s role in planetary regeneration.
• Blue-green algae’s roles in natural ecosystems and in agriculture. How to
  propagate and encourage them.
• Indigenous microorganisms. (IMO)
• Fungi and myco-remediation. Roles of fungi in the biosphere. Enhancing the
  amount and biodiversity of fungi
• No-till farming/gardening systems
• Keyline plow sub-soiling.
• Biochar
• Mulch
• Ramial chipped wood.
• Rock mulch
• Cover Crops
• Hugelkulturs
• Cryptobiotic crusts (biological crusts, biocrusts, cryptogams) are vital living skins
  covering the earth’s surface in drylands. Formed by cyanobacteria, algae, fungi,
  lichens and mosses that bind soil particles, prevent erosion, fix nitrogen, and create
  habitats for other organisms. How can they be restored?

Water Solutions

• Rainwater harvesting
• Bringing back the beavers. How beavers rehydrate landscapes and sequester
  carbon.
• Beaver dam analogs
• Induced meandering for restoring incised streams.
• Zeedyk structures
• River restoration
• Aquifer replenishment
• Wetlands restoration
• Keyline Soil & Water Design
• EcoOasis/Eco-machines to clean polluted water and reduce eutrophication.
• Greywater use.
• Waste water use,
• Dam removal/de-commissioning. Elwha River dam removal and restoration will
  be featured.
• Azolla’s roles in natural ecosystems and agriculture and propagation Where has it
  been banned.? And why?
• Fog nets and establishing plants that can comb the fog.

Earthworks Solutions: “Slow the flow”

• Swales
• Diversion channels.
• Bunds
• Rock lines
• Terracing
• Ponds, Johads,
• Chinampas
• Erosion Control
• Managed Aquifer Recharge Infiltration basins (MAR basins);
• Bio-film sand infiltration pits (to remove pollutants and sediment from urban
  stormwater runoff and infiltrate clean water to ground water).
• Soil Pitting
• Zai holes
• Half-moons,
• Gully-stuffing
• Check dams
• Gabions
• Grassed waterways
• Fascines
• Live-staking
• Qanat restoration

Regenerative Farming Solutions

• Syntropic Agriculture
• FMNR, Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration
• Organic farming
• Agroecology
• Permaculture
• Polycultures
• Jadam
• Korean Natural Farming
• Natural Farming – Fukuoka
• Biodynamic Agriculture
• Grow Biodynamic
• Zero Budget Natural Farming
• Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming
• Holistic Management
• Nature-positive Farming Techniques
• Regrarian Agriculture

Ocean Solutions:

• Marine Protected areas.
• Stop overfishing and destructive fishing practices.
• Phytoplankton. Their roles in oceanic and planetary biospheres and climate. How
  to increase them.
• Ocean mineralization
• Whales and their roles in ocean ecosystems and how to revitalize their
  populations.
• Coral reefs’ roles in the oceans and maintaining coral refugia until the climate
  cools down.
• Enhancing seaweed in the oceans
• Mangrove forest restoration. State-of-the Art and next steps.
• Oyster Reef Restoration.
• Mollusks’ roles in the ocean. Oyster reefs. “When the tide is out, the table is set” is a
  Salish Sea saying.

Animal Solutions:

• ReWilding
• Wildlife corridors,
• Habitat enhancement
• Holistic Management grazing. Grazing animals and grasslands sequestering
  carbon. Regenerating drylands with ecological grazing practices.
• Reduce CAFOs and bring meat production back to farms. This will reduce methane
  emissions and pollution.
• Livestock integration into cropping systems.
• Small catchment pans to create subterranean mini-watering holes in drylands.
• Burrowing animals’ roles in the biosphere and how to revitalize their populations.
• Amphibians’ roles in the biosphere and how to revitalize their populations.
• Reptiles’ roles in the biosphere and how to revitalize their populations.
• Birds roles in the biosphere and how to revitalize their populations.
• Insects roles in the biosphere and how to revitalize their populations.
• Bats roles in the biosphere and how to revitalize their populations.
• Large predators’ roles in the ecosystem
• We could make a much longer list by adding spiders, arthropods, crustaceans, etc,
  etc. but wanted to keep this first list small. Basically we want to increase the
  amounts and biodiversity of all wild species.

Indigenous Peoples Solutions:

• Ethnoecology
• Traditional Ecological Knowledge
• Re-Indigenizing Landscapes
• Salmon protocols and fishing practices.
• Hunting protocols and practices.
• Root digging as gardening
• Indigenous agricultural practices
• Hawaiian Ahupua`a and Kona systems.
• Swidden farming rotations, Milpa.
• Indigenous agroforestry systems worldwide
• Traditional pastoralism done sustainably.
• Forms of Governance

Real world projects.

• Our aim is to compile a list of the most successful earth repair
  movements/projects in the world thus far. Here is a small start.
• FMNR, Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration. Millions of hectares in the Sahel.
• Andhra Pradesh Community Managed Natural Farming currently involving
  1,200,000 farmers in India.
• Tarun Bharat Sangh, Rajendra Singh. TBS helped build over 8,600 johads and other
  water conservation structures to collect rainwater for the dry seasons, has brought
  water back to over 1,000 villages and revived seven rivers in Rajasthan,
• Land Care, Australia
• Conservation Districts, USA.
• Loess Hills restoration, China.
• Savory Institute
• Ecosystem Restoration Communities/Camps

Any one of these solutions alone will not turn the tide, but all of them working together can.

Every one of these solutions has its champions. People who know deeply about the topic and have dedicated their lives to it. Some champions have gained more notoriety/fame than others. The Convergence provides a place for people knowledgeable about particular topics to meet, compare notes and build further collaborations. It remains to be seen how many of these solutions will have a presentation on it’s role in the overall scheme of things or how many will have enough experts attending that we can put together a panel. Time will tell. We will provide a form so that all participants (in-person and online) can list the solutions they are involved with/interested in. We will have hundreds of experts on these solutions at the Global Earth Repair Convergence in-person and online. There will be solo presentations on many of these topics by presenters. There will be panels on some topics. Every part of the globe can contribute to Earth repair. We can sequester more carbon on every parcel of land that humans manage: gardens, yards, farms, forests, etc. Every bit of degraded land. Every city. All landscapes. All oceans.

The world is a giant carbon sink waiting for human cooperation – Nature knows how to do it and now, so do we. Maximizing life maximizes carbon drawdown. Putting that pesky, extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere somewhere where it can do some good. We need carbon in soils, in living biomass and in grand old forests. We need carbon sinking to the bottoms of oceans. It wouldn’t take that long to draw-down the atmospheric carbon dioxide to a pre-industrial level. 25 years is what the most respected experts I know say. In 25 years I believe we could have worldwide food security based on local food production. This is not an idle guess. I have been a serious student of regenerative agriculture, permaculture, agroforestry, agroecology and horticulture for 50 years and have been a small-scale farmer since 1972, mostly with hand tools. So I know what is possible with low-mechanized farming. We can feed the world without industrialized, monoculture farming. Earth repair is already a global movement with millions of people involved in efforts within their local ecosystems and cultures. Not everything will be done in our lifetime, but the Global Earth Convergence aims to advance the science, advance the sharing of best practices, and contribute to spreading these practices.  Nature always has healing practices underway. Humans can hinder or assist these natural processes. The science of how the earth heals itself is well established. The Global Earth Repair Convergence coalesces these grassroots efforts, empowering the participants to learn more and implement solutions in their own ecosystems and cultures.

More earth repair trends are happening around the world. Some places in the world have turned the corner and are building up their ecosystems. Most places are still going downhill. Healing the land is a process like that of healing a person. Things are going downhill but then you make some positive interventions and the patient starts getting better. This happens year by year. Every year the patient gets better. The healing process has begun. This is similar to ecosystems. We are working towards earth repair becoming the biggest and best-funded grass-roots movement in the world. We can all be part of the solution. Viva la Earth Repair!

We plan 7 iterations of this solutions list:

1) Solution titles, (what you have in front of you)
2) + names of Convergence presenters who can address each topic.
3) + names of other notable people in the field.
4) + a several paragraph description of the solution.
5) + major references (books, videos, case studies, etc).
6) + Post Convergence proceedings, videos, recordings and transcripts.
7) Create a living document online which keeps adding to the above.

• Some people know a lot about one of these solutions.
• A few people know a lot about many of these solutions (for instance Dr. Tom Goreau).
• Some people know a little about many of these solutions.

Between all the people at the Convergence there will be few of these solutions with no expertise in the crowd. I put this initial list together from the knowledge gained from my 50 years of study (and practice). I haven’t seen this extensive of a list anywhere else. Please let me know of other noteworthy lists. Paul Hawken’s book Drawdown covers less solutions but does it more elegantly and in-depth. This list will shortly be expanded upon once all the Convergence presenters have added their nominations and it gets more public comment. Humans have reduced the amount of carbon in landscapes globally by about 50% through deforestation, tilling the carbon out of farm soils, erosion and overgrazing. Most of that carbon has gone into the atmosphere and oceans. This list of solutions points the way towards sequestering the excess atmospheric CO2 into living systems and long-term storage, as well as regenerating the biosphere, and improving human quality of life. Humanity’s window of opportunity to put these solutions into action at scale is short before ecological and social collapse. Many of these solutions will still be useful at the local level if the global civilization collapses.