Rethinking Nature Restoration: Listening to Communities for Lasting Change
Restoration Story by Rina Tsubaki, Gabriele Colombo and Gesche Schifferdecker
If you’re working on nature restoration projects within a public authority, you’ve probably encountered this scenario: A well-intended initiative rolls out, yet local communities push back, reluctant to support your nature-positive solution. Policymakers scratch their heads, wondering why citizens aren’t happy to support the initiatives. Then, they turn to a quick fix, spending a lot of money on communication campaigns. The result? These campaigns face a lot of backlash, being criticized as manipulative or ineffective.
Many of these tensions stem from a disconnect, a failure to pay enough attention to the historical context and power relations that public authorities have built with communities. As the gap widens, meaningful collaboration becomes even more difficult.
So, how do we bridge this divide? One place to start is by listening to the conversations within the community. One approach is to go into the field and engage directly. Another way is to dive into the ocean of narratives shared on social media. Under SUPERB, we have done much of this work, looking into online platforms to see what themes are being brought up by whom and exchanging ideas and opinions with local partners implementing forest restoration actions. But for the first time, we have presented public narratives from online platforms to both policy implementers and stakeholders to examine and reconstruct public debates and perceptions.
Turning our focus to ‘people’ for nature
On 31 January 2025, the Italian SUPERB demo partners and EFI co-organised a Public Engagement Workshop with research colleagues from Politecnico di Milano’s Density Design. The primary goal was to gain insight into how citizens in Milan perceive and discuss different nature restoration projects implemented by the local public authorities.
Ten public authority representatives, media influencers, and communication and stakeholder engagement experts gathered at Parco Nord Milano to explore and delve deep into the narratives surrounding Forestami (a local project that supports tree planting and distributes information regarding the benefits derived from urban forestry) and the grass-cutting initiative launched by the local authorities. The goal was to understand and reflect on what people in Milan see, feel, care about, and worry about.
Gabriele Colombo and Alessandra Facchin from Density Design kicked off the workshop by sharing their research on social media conversations around urban biodiversity and forest restoration projects in Milan. The workshop then shifted into action with a “talking back to the map” exercise. Participants paired up to analyze real social media comments about Milan’s reforestation initiatives, working with a specially designed deck of cards. Each card featured a different perspective – from practical concerns about park maintenance to broader questions about green space ownership in the city.
Their task was straightforward but powerful: respond to these comments while identifying information gaps and key themes that should be included in future communication strategies. This exercise helped reveal the complex layers of public perception surrounding initiatives like Forestami and park maintenance, touching on concerns ranging from allergies and mosquitoes to the urban center-periphery divide.
Moving from knowing to acting
This collaborative social media reading demonstrated that effective public engagement isn’t just about pushing out information – it’s about understanding and addressing the everyday concerns that shape how communities perceive and interact with restoration projects. Resistance often stems from practical concerns about urban life rather than opposition to nature itself.
Participants with communication backgrounds shared practical solutions to improve public authorities’ communication and public engagement actions.
Mattia Iannantuoni, a climate content creator who collaborates with the main digital magazines in Italy, e.g. with Will Media (main digital-first information, 1.7mln on IG) and LifeGate (main sustainability outlet, 677k on IG), emphasized the need to move away from a narrative that just tells us tree planting is good. One way is to use more active wording like “Let’s save ourselves in the summer (from heat)” or “Let’s make the city fresher” to show the direct link between tree planting and residents. For that, public authorities need to “communicate in the way people understand why it is important to them”.
One effective way we started to see at the cafeterias is to present vegetarian and vegan options, not as vegans and vegetarians but as “fresh from our garden” or “from the farm”. So forest restoration actions should not just focus on communicating about trees. Instead, we need to think of the target groups first to get a better sense of where they are coming from and what is important to them. “Many people come from different layers of society (…) As a communicator, it’s important to have the time to bring that piece on the table useful for the conversation.”
Another participant, Sophia Pasotto, a climate activist and EU Climate Pact Ambassador with almost 70K followers on TikTok, echoed the need to explore different points of view. She highlighted the importance of involving and representing diverse perspectives to make long-lasting societal changes. “I think this kind of workshop helps to brainstorm and put together different people with different ideas for solutions”, said the social media influencer.
Poet and social activist Demetrio Marra pointed out the inseparable link between nature conservation and the economy, that the debates need to address foundational issues that are deeply interwoven in our economic and social systems. “When we talk about ecology and sustainability, we must talk about the systematic (aspects of) economy. The problem with acceptance around the reintroduction of forests is linked with the fear people have around life outside capitalism”, said Demetrio. In today’s capitalist world, forests are not just wilderness. The protection of nature often means a loss of economic opportunity. Demetrio stated that when people are confronted with something they don’t know or feel is too big, they tend to avoid thinking about it. This could be the fundamental issue that makes some of us overlook details.
Michel Saini, the SUPERB demo project manager in Italy, said, “The workshop was a superb opportunity also for the local demo: for starters, it was a good way to refresh the bonds between stakeholders, and second, it was a good way to connect directly with media actors who have a comprehensive understanding of the project. Since the devil is often in the details in communication, facilitating the information exchange between technicians and media is effective. Also, we collected valuable input from the participants in both presentations.”
Future workshops could be based on considering these underlying barriers. Overall, social media has ignited engaging exchanges between public authorities and communication experts.
For more information about the research projects implemented by Density Design, see Forestami and High grass.
