Seattle Parks and Recreation says the Green Seattle Partnership has been honored by the United Nations as a World Restoration Flagship, bringing international attention to the city's long-running effort to restore urban ecosystems.

The recognition lands on work that often fades into the background because it unfolds incrementally across the city. Seattle's parks, wetlands, wooded ravines, shorelines, and other green spaces need ongoing care to stay healthy, all the more in a dense city where natural areas face constant pressure.

The partnership is centered on restoring those landscapes so they can keep doing the practical work residents rely on, from supporting habitat to helping manage water and maintaining tree cover. The city's description of the program emphasizes steady, intentional care rather than isolated improvements.

That framing also fits how restoration usually works in Seattle: over many seasons, through repeated maintenance and ecological recovery in parks and open spaces across the city. The UN designation gives that local work a broader stage, but its effects remain most visible on the ground in the health of the places woven into daily life across Seattle.