Many degraded ecosystems need active restoration to conserve biodiversity and re‐establish ecosystem function, both highlighted targets of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the proposed EU Nature restoration law. Soil translocation, where both plant propagules and their associated soil biota are co‐introduced, has increasingly been proposed as a powerful restoration technique for terrestrial ecosystems. However, a synthesis of the effectiveness of this method across ecosystems is lacking. To address how soil translocation affects restoration success, we performed a meta‐analysis synthesizing data from 46 field experiments and their respective reference ecosystems in 17 countries across four continents. In each experiment, vegetation composition was recorded in response to soil translocation treatments and the resultant vegetational changes (diversity and composition) were quantified. We found that soil translocation leads to plant community development further away from the control and more towards the reference plant communities compared with treatments where only plant propagules were introduced. However, the variability of effect sizes among experiments was large, suggesting strong dependence of restoration success on restoration context. We found that restoration success was more likely on loamy soils and when translocation treatments were implemented over larger spatial areas (>180 m2). Furthermore, we found that restoration success either consistently increased or decreased over time depending on the experiment. Not only is this congruent with positive feedbacks between plant and soil communities driving plant community development, but it also suggests that the composition of the translocated plant and soil communities, and initial starting conditions, are critical for long‐term restoration success. Synthesis and applications. Our analysis highlights soil translocation can be a successful restoration method across a broad range of ecosystems. However, its implementation needs to depend on a thorough evaluation of local conditions and the potential added value. Further refinement of soil translocation techniques is needed to increase success rates.

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In 2020 a nationwide analysis was carried out of the effectiveness of ecological restoration measures on biodiversity. The study was carried out for the second Reflexive Evaluation of the Nature Pact by Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and Wageningen University & Research. The results of the analysis were not entirely in line with expectations. In view of the scale and complexity of this first nationwide analysis, certain aspects of the method could possibly be improved. To identify points for improvement, an in-depth study was carried out in which the results of the nationwide analysis for six protected areas were discussed with the relevant conservation managers. It was concluded that improvements can be made to the maps of restoration measures and biodiversity and in the analysis of the link between restoration measures and biodiversity. The maps of restoration measures are not always complete and may contain sites where no restoration measures have been carried out. The biodiversity maps for breeding birds and vascular plants do not always match the local knowledge of the conservation managers, and the species groups selected in the analysis are sometimes too limited. The analyses of the link between restoration measures and biodiversity trends can more accurately take account of the timing of the implementation of restoration measures and the collection of biodiversity data, while also ensuring that the management types (ecosystem types or biotopes for which a specific conservation management regime and objectives apply) are up to date.

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