On the morning of 2 October, SER2025 will open with a high-level plenary panel exploring the enabling conditions needed to accelerate restoration at the midpoint of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Theme: Exploring the enabling conditions for accelerating restoration at the midpoint of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Discussions will focus on critical issues such as barriers to restoration and how to overcome them, practical steps to move from commitment to action, the role of standards-based restoration in achieving global targets, and key innovations in governance, technology, society, and finance that can help accelerate progress in the second half of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

Session Moderator

Anita Diederichsen – Global Lead, Forest Landscape Restoration at WWF and Chair of the Global Partnership on Forest Landscape Restoration

Panelists

Format

Each panelist will offer short prepared remarks (5–7 minutes), followed by a dynamic, interactive discussion moderated by Anita Diederichsen. The conversation will include guiding questions, opportunities for panelists to engage with one another, and conclude with time for audience participation.

This session will provide delegates with diverse perspectives and practical insights to help drive restoration forward at a critical moment for global action.

Key Questions for Discussion

Panelist Biographies

Ana Lucía Maya-Aguirre

Ana Lucía Maya-Aguirre is the Director and Co-founder of the Center for Marine Justice. Lawyer and specialist in constitutional law from the National University of Colombia. She holds a master’s degree in environmental and energy law from Tulane University, which she completed with the support of a J. William Fulbright scholarship. She was a visiting professor in the Environmental Constitutionalism program at the Global Scholar-in-Residence at Delaware Law School, Widener University. She was a fellow at the Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide (ELAW).

More than 19 years of experience working on: advocacy in legislative and environmental public policy; research and university teaching; and building capacity of coastal and insular communities). She coordinated the Law and Displacement Network, made up of 14 Colombian universities with programs to assist populations displaced by violence, a project supported by UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council. Author of publications on: environmental constitutionalism, environmental governance and international law.

Beth Lambert

Beth Lambert is the Director of the Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration (DER), a US state agency dedicated to the restoration of rivers, wetlands, and watersheds for the benefit of people and nature. DER works with landowners, communities, non-profit organizations, and agencies to remove aging dams, replace undersized culverts, restore salt marshes, and rewild wetlands.

Since 2018, Beth has led an expansion of DER’s staffing, funding, and support for partners, accelerating river and wetland restoration across the state, and more than doubling the numbers of towns and NGOs leading restoration at the local level. A fluvial geomorphologist by training, Beth has over twenty-five years of experience in community-based restoration in the Pacific Northwest and New England. She has a BA from Carleton College and an MS from Oregon State University. She is passionate about scaling up ecological restoration to help people and nature adapt to climate change.

Christophe Besacier

Christophe Besacier is a Senior Forestry Officer and currently coordinating the Forest and Landscape Restoration Mechanism (FLRM) at FAO, where he is providing technical assistance and implementing restoration projects in more than twenty countries. He is involved in major international restoration initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge, the GPFLR and the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

He is acting as co-lead of the Task Force on Best Practices in the context of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. From 2009 to 2014 he was in charge of the Committee on Mediterranean Forestry Questions- Silva Mediterranea. From 2000 to 2009, he worked as regional advisor for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Sahel and the Congo Basin regions.

James Rattling Leaf

James Rattling Leaf, Sr. is a trusted leader and guide at the forefront of integrating Indigenous Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) with Western science to advance environmental stewardship and climate resilience. An enrolled member of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, James brings over 25 years of experience building partnerships between tribal nations, academic institutions, and federal agencies.

He is the principal of Wolakota Lab, LLC and serves as a Tribal Advisor at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Through his leadership, he creates pathways for Indigenous knowledge systems to inform policy, research, and resource management. James is a respected voice on national advisory boards for NOAA, NASA, and the ESA, where he champions ethical engagement and Indigenous data sovereignty. With deep cultural insight and a gift for facilitation, he supports intergenerational knowledge sharing and community-driven solutions rooted in respect, relationship, and the sacred responsibility to protect the Earth for future generations.

Maia Reed

Maia Reed currently serves as Global Climate Data Lead at Mars Petcare. She comes to Mars after nearly a decade spent working at the nexus of climate, agriculture, and sustainability. She began her career engaged with food and farming nonprofits before earning her Master’s degree in Environmental Management from University of Colorado Boulder. From there, she pivoted to the private sector, gaining broad corporate ESG exposure while working in sustainability consulting.

Maia ultimately found her way back to food when moved into an in-house role leading the dairy carbon reduction strategy at Danone North America. At Mars, she now uses her technical expertise in carbon accounting, data management, and LCA to facilitate climate smart agriculture projects and drive progress towards ecological resiliency.