Land Degradation & Restoration Opportunity - 50% of the land in Badwani district is unproductive due to water erosion, reflecting a widespread issue across India [1] - India has 100 million hectares (247 million acres) of land suitable for restoration through forest protection and landscape restoration [3] - Restoration has the potential to improve incomes for 700 million people in India who depend on the land [3][17] - Restoration could sequester 3 to 42 billion tons of above-ground carbon by 2040, aiding India in meeting its NDC commitments [3][17] Restoration Approach & Implementation - Restoration involves landscape principles, topography, and geology, considering both development and conservation [4] - Interventions should be community-driven and locally led, adapting to each village's unique challenges and ecology [6][5] - An integrated approach to restoration includes soil moisture conservation, water holding structures, tree-based interventions, and sustainable agriculture [7] - The "right place, right use, right species" mantra guides the selection of forestry plantations (slopes > 25%), horticulture (slopes 10-15%), riparian restoration, open grasslands, and agroforestry [8] - Local wisdom, knowledge, leaders, self-help groups, and farmer producer organizations are crucial for driving implementation [9] Scaling Restoration Efforts - Simplifying landscape restoration plans, codifying them, and making them accessible to local institutions is necessary [13] - Leveraging technology, including geospatial technologies and citizen science tools, is essential for measuring improvements in biodiversity, soil health, and carbon capture [14] - Unlocking working capital and low-interest debt for small enterprises can spur local economies [15]

The Trump administration is launching a $700 million pilot program to help farmers more easily adopt “regenerative” practices that improve the health of soil and water. https://t.co/DTKrjfn1vy ...

My name is Robert Quinn Holland. I'm a brother, a son, a friend, a boyfriend, a two-time MSU alum, and the co-founder of New Tracks, a company that is helping agriculture take market share from healthcare. I'm here tonight because your health is important to me.Man is what he eats. According to the CDC, chronic disease costs the United States approximately $4.4% trillion annually. Yet, the World Health Organization tells us that about 80% of that is preventable with food and exercise alone, though mostly nu ...

How do we care for the land. Really care for the land [snorts] as a way to prepare for the extremes such as fires, droughts, and more. In 2018, my family and I moved to Altadena into a home nestled at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.After learning what it meant to live in a high fire risk zone, I began to imagine what would it look like if fire were to come towards us from those mountains. What kind of landscape might prevent the loss of our home. So, we began to landscape by harvesting water.We built ...

Core Argument - The document advocates for a shift from defending against nature to embracing living systems to build resilience against disasters like fires [9] - It emphasizes the importance of restoring connections between soil, water, and plants to create conditions that resist disaster and nurture life [9] - The document promotes "whole system design," permaculture, and regenerative practices as ways to work with the land rather than against it [15] Practical Application & Design Principles - The document highlights the effectiveness of landscaping in relationship with the land, including water harvesting, composting, and planting native and fire-adapted species [2] - It contrasts this approach with "zone zero defensible space policies" that advocate for stripping vegetation, arguing that healthy plants can protect homes [10] - The document suggests that everyday landscapes like parkways, medians, and front yards can become living classrooms to reconnect people with nature [17] Resilience & Community Impact - The document presents a personal story of a home lost to fire, but a garden that persisted, as evidence that resilience is possible and born from relationship [8] - It envisions reimagining vulnerable communities with interconnected healthy living soil that harvests water to support life [14] - The document frames resilience not as fireproofing, but as remembering how to live with the land, fostering a sense of belonging and community [12][18]