With a mandate by the United Nations General Assembly resolution 73/284, the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 was successfully launched on World Environment Day, 5 June 2021. Its partner network has grown to over 80 entities ready to ‘prevent, halt, and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide’ and put the UN Decade’s strategy further into concrete action, and strengthen a global #generationrestoration movement. As outlined in the strategy which had been developed based on an open, inclusive, and transparent process with over 2,500 comments received, Restoration Flagship Initiatives of this UN Decade will be identified as the first, best, or most promising examples of large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration in a country or region, embodying the 10 Restoration Principles of the UN Decade. Flagship Initiatives will be instrumental to inspire others to undertake or accelerate restoration at significant scale. Selected Flagships will act as a basis for joint learning across the world and help move commitments to concrete, inspiring restoration action across the globe.