ABSTRACT
There is an urgent need for restoration of degraded habitats worldwide to secure the sustainable provision of ecosystem services and support resilient societies. Healthy and biodiverse ecosystems can only thrive in ecologically well-functioning and well-connected landscapes. Habitat restoration, although often still focusing on individual habitat patches, needs to take into account the crucial role of landscape-scale processes. This chapter outlines why restoration needs to focus on landscapes and summarizes the landscape ecological aspects that are relevant for successful restoration. I give an overview of landscape restoration, discuss the role of landscape structure and composition and the importance of species pools and small landscape elements, and provide ecological background on the restoration of landscape-scale dispersal and ecological interactions. In the coming years, the relevance of landscape-scale restoration will increase, and the focus will be put on restoration activities that help achieve global goals. However, it is necessary to stress that objectives and means for successful restoration cannot be set globally. First and foremost, landscape restoration is a local action that needs to be designed and applied in full recognition and appreciation of natural and socio-economic conditions in any given landscape.
