Humanity’s expanding demands for resources is driving global biodiversity into rapid decline. Landscape-scale ecological restoration is increasingly recognised as vital for the conservation of biodiversity. In recent years, there has been an upsurge in grand restoration endeavours with high aspirations for conservation. Restoration interventions offer the opportunity to lessen anthropogenic environmental change including habitat degradation and climate change. However, there are still significant gaps of knowledge in the design, planning, implementation, and evaluation of landscape-scale restoration to effectively achieve conservation outcomes. My thesis explores core questions of the role of ecological restoration to effectively achieve biodiversity conservation goals. This thesis is composed of three core research chapters. Firstly, I explore the need for restoration to achieve a conservation goal, Aichi Target 11 (Chapter 2). The target was to conserve 17% of terrestrial environments through ecologically representative systems of protected areas by 2020. I investigate whether there is sufficient intact habitat for the representation of conservation of biodiversity, and if not, where do we fail and how much is the shortfall? Where should restoration efforts be prioritised to close the gap? Secondly, I explore the progress and impact of a large global restoration initiative, the Bonn Challenge (Chapter 3). The initiative aimed to restore 150 million hectares of degraded land by 2020. I ask what is considered restoration under the Bonn Challenge and what progress has been made to 2020? What impact has it had on halting biodiversity loss and mitigating climate change? Thirdly, I explore how to implement and budget restoration to achieve a conservation goal (Chapter 4). Where should restoration actions be located to achieve 30% cover for every Australian terrestrial ecosystem across the continent while maintaining agricultural production? How much would it cost and how much carbon revenue and abatement would be achieved? My research into ecological restoration planning finds shortcomings with global strategies (Chapter 2 and 3) and encouraging prospects for action (Chapter 4). I discover that current levels of anthropogenic degradation necessitate substantial restoration to meet conservation targets, and accordingly, bigger conservation area targets need to be balanced with additional restoration (Chapter 2, Mappin et al., 2019). This work provides a global map of the priority regions that require urgent targeted restoration and draws attention to the dire state of both the Indomalayan realm and the tropical and subtropical dry broadleaf forest biome. In Chapter 3, I reveal flaws with the Bonn Challenge’s inclusivity of intervention types and poor impact measurement. The countries that have opted into the initiative continue to convert their natural forests and have only achieved 30% of the 2020 goal. I recommend changes to the initiative’s implementation including a requirement to protect restored areas for at least two decades and excluding some of the restoration types being included in the initiative. Furthermore, to improve measurability over the 2021-2030 “Decade on Ecosystem Restoration”, I recommend changes to the Bonn Challenge’s biodiversity monitoring and carbon accounting. In Chapter 4, I create a nationwide blueprint for Australia to restore its degraded ecosystems to reduce the rate of species loss and sequester carbon through incentivised restoration on marginal farming land. This research shows that the expected cost to restore degraded ecosystems in Australia can be offset by revenue from its carbon co-benefits (Mappin et al., 2021). I map where restoration actions are ideally located in Australia to achieve 30% vegetation cover by ecosystem and a pathway to achieve that goal.Through the discoveries in this thesis, I demonstrate the importance of sound ecological restoration planning practices for effective conservation of biodiversity. Current global restoration targets and strategies are insufficient. Restoration efforts need to be accelerated and further restrictions placed upon the conversion of residual habitats. As ecosystems deteriorate further, the task of restoring the functionality of the degraded ecosystems progressively becomes more challenging, expensive, and time consuming. Ecosystems with minimal intact coverage remaining should be prioritised with natural regeneration methods being favoured to optimise benefits and reduce costs. Conservation efforts can be supported with the diversification of agricultural landscapes through incentivised native vegetation plantings and agroforestry which could be funded through carbon or other ecosystem service markets.