We live in unprecedented times of global ecosystem disruption, with anthropogenic climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution altering environmental conditions faster than plants and animals are able to adapt to them (Weinstein & Daszak 2021). As a result, many organisms are undergoing dramatic shifts in abundance, distribution and natural history, fundamentally altering their ecology. Extinction rates are currently 1000 times the natural background rate (Pimm et al. Reference Pimm, Jenkins, Abell, Brooks, Gittleman and Joppa2014), contributing to the picture of a new human-dominated epoch in the geological history of our planet: the Anthropocene (Lewis & Maslin Reference Lewis and Maslin2015). These planetary, regional and local-level environmental changes alter the interactions between ecosystem health and human health in ways that are often detrimental, contributing to acute and chronic conditions related to all body systems (Stanhope et al. Reference Stanhope, Maric, Rothmore and Weinstein2021). In addition to these direct impacts is a range of less obvious health outcomes, such as the mental health problems associated with nature deprivation (Tomasso et al. Reference Tomasso, Yin, Cedeño Laurent, Chen, Catalano and Spengler2021) or the potential immunoregulatory disruption from altered environmental microbiome exposures (Stanhope & Weinstein Reference Stanhope and Weinstein2023). The literature in this field has been growing dramatically in the last decade or two, as illustrated by the emergence of multiple systematic and umbrella reviews (e.g., see Rocque et al. Reference Rocque, Beaudoin, Ndjaboue, Cameron, Poirier-Bergeron and Poulin-Rheault2021).

What is less well documented in the current literature is the potential to arrest or reverse these effects through conservation and ecological restoration initiatives. This question was posed already some 20 years ago (Weinstein Reference Weinstein2005) in the context of the seminal Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MAE 2005), and it is now at the forefront of thinking about conservation, ecological restoration and related initiatives (Aronson et al. Reference Aronson, Goodwin, Orlando, Eisenberg and Cross2020), particularly in urban areas (Spotswood et al. Reference Spotswood, Aronson, Bazo, Beller, Brown and Dronova2025). Unfortunately, most of the study designs in this area provide low levels of evidence (natural experiments or observational studies), and the results are often mixed (Spotswood et al. Reference Spotswood, Aronson, Bazo, Beller, Brown and Dronova2025). More robust study designs are required to develop a solid evidence base in the field, ideally including a temporal component to establish at what point in the restoration process health effects begin to become apparent. Importantly, even though the majority of the evidence tends to suggest a range of benefits from exposure to nature, there may also be negative outcomes associated with green space exposure, such as a potentially increased risk of vector-borne disease or negative effects from biogenic volatile organic compounds (Spotswood et al. Reference Spotswood, Aronson, Bazo, Beller, Brown and Dronova2025). Only with an improved evidence base will it be possible to balance the trade-offs in restoring ecosystems for the benefit of both the environment and human health through a much better understanding of the quality of green space, the nature and intensity of relevant exposures and the types of human health outcomes of interest. This kind of conceptual framework would then allow conservationists, restoration ecologists and health professionals to advocate for how conservation and ecological restoration can contribute to public health outcomes.

In addition to the potential health effects for the general community exposed to the outcomes of conservation and ecological restoration activities, there may also be effects on individuals participating directly in these activities. Such participation not only provides opportunities for people to engage with nature (including direct exposure to its organic and inorganic constituents), but also provides opportunities to increase physical activity, social interaction and engagement in meaningful activities – all of which may affect health (Chen et al. Reference Chen, Chen, Huang and Loh2022). Indeed, allied health professionals are already using nature-based activities with their patients and clients to take advantage of such potential benefits (Stanhope et al. Reference Stanhope, Foley, Butler, Boddy, Clanchy and George2025). However, systematic reviews conducted over a decade ago (e.g., Husk et al. Reference Husk, Lovell, Cooper, Stahl-Timmins and Garside2016) found little evidence of any such effect, with many of the included studies having issues with internal validity or reporting mixed results (i.e., positive, negative and no effect). We are currently conducting a systematic review of intervention studies to examine the human health effects of participating in conservation and restoration activities (Stanhope et al., in prep., https://osf.io/ge7sw) to inform the evidence base from which policy should be developed.

To establish the necessary evidence base in this multidisciplinary area, the Editor-in-Chief of Environmental Conservation has called for a special series of papers under the title Conservation and Restoration for Healthy Environments and People. In collaboration with the Ecological Health Network (www.ecohealthglobal.org) – an organisation that supports work in this area through its Healthy Ecosystems, Healthy People Initiative – the journal now invites multidisciplinary contributions to the special series in the following areas:

• Original thinking in the interdisciplinary science of conservation and restoration for health;

• Overcoming the barriers and encouraging the enablers of ecology–health collaborations in the context of conservation and restoration;

• Practical examples of ecosystem conservation and restoration projects that focus on improving the health of both ecosystems and the people who are dependent upon them;

• Identification of future opportunities for ecosystem conservation and restoration that would improve the health of both ecosystems and the people who are dependent upon them;

• Successes, failures and perspectives that inform our understanding and implementation of such conservation and restoration projects.

We thank you in advance for supporting this special series and the aim of improving our understanding of ecological restoration–health interactions, to which your papers will be contributing. The deadline for the submission of relevant manuscripts to the journal (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/envcon ) is 31 July 2026.