Restoration ecology is the scientific study and practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human intervention and action. Restoration ecology emerged as a separate field in ecology in the 1980s.

The Society for Ecological Restoration defines ecological restoration as an "intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the recovery of an ecosystem with respect to its health, integrity and sustainability." The practice of ecological restoration includes wide scope of projects including: erosion control, reforestation, the use of genetically local native species, removal of non-native species and weeds, revegetation of disturbed areas, daylighting streams, reintroduction of native species, as well as habitat and range improvement for targeted species. The term ecological restoration refers to the practice of the discipline of restoration ecology.

The term restoration ecology is used for the academic study of the process, whereas ecological restoration is the term used for the actual project or process. The process of ecological restoration is unique in land management perspectives, in that the goal is to restore the original or historic native ecosystem of a site, utilizing local native plant species, excluding exotic plants, and to restore the ecosystem to a self-sustainable state, within a certain amount of time.

In the view of biologist E. O. Wilson, "Here is the means to end the great extinction spasm. The next century will, I believe, be the era of restoration in ecology."