Restor Privacy Policy

Restor Eco AG (“Restor”) respects the privacy of our visitors and users and recognizes the importance of protecting the information you share with us.

This Privacy Policy tells you how Restor (“we,” or “us”) handles information collected about you through our websites and applications (collectively, the “Services”). By using our websites or by providing information to us through the Services, you acknowledge the terms of this Privacy Policy and the collection and use of such information as described in this Privacy Policy.

Restor is based in Zürich (Switzerland) and 100% owned by a Swiss charitable Foundation, with the purpose to restore, preserve and maintain global ecosystems and their biodiversity. Information that we collect through the Services, including personal information, may be transferred to our Switzerland office to permit us to comply with our legal and contractual obligations, to provide information and services, and to perform related business activities. In addition, we may work with third-party service providers in Switzerland and in other countries to support our business activities. Thus, personal information may be transferred to, stored on servers in, and accessed from Switzerland and countries other than the country in which the information was initially collected. In all such instances, we use, transfer, and disclose personal information solely for the purposes described in this Privacy Policy.

• User name
• Email address
• Name of Organization
• Geofile (polygon) of the restoration site(s)
• Site status
• Intervention type
• Should site be publicly visible?
• Year established
• User specified site name
• Stakeholder types
• Land tenure
• Number of direct + indirect beneficiaries
• Website URL
• Social media links
• Plain text site description
• Header photo
• Other scientific project site data (e.g. tree inventory data, soil quality data)
• Other miscellaneous data you may want to share with Restor and / or its community of users.

The Restor.eco platform accesses Google User Data for the purposes of authenticating to the platform (using OAuth2), but Restor may look to add other authentication options in the future. This authentication data is stored in Firebase (the email address) and in the Restor database (username and avatar, if available). This data is used to link organizations, collections and sites to a specific authenticated user. Email addresses are not shared outside the platform and the display name (which can be changed by the user) and avatar photo are shared through a public API.

You provide us with these data through your use of the Services. For the purposes of this policy, and in accordance with international standards, we refer only to information that we collect from you which identifies you as “Personal Data”, such as your username and avatar, the name of the organization you work for, your name, your email address, your password and Usage Information about your use of the Services (see below).

We may also collect “Usage Information” through your use of the Services, which includes but is not limited to: browser information, hardware model, operating system, IP address, the time you access the Services, and type of content you view or engage with while using the Services.

Collectively, all Personal Data and Usage Information are referred to as “Information.”

We collect information about you to help make the Services more useful to you. This includes:

• Administering and improving the Services
• Personalizing your experience with the Services
• Promoting safety and security of the Services
• Contacting you about the Services
• Generating new scientific insights and refining existing science models

We may share your Information as follows:

• Third Party Service Providers. We may share your Information with third party service providers and contractors working on behalf of Restor who assist us in providing the Services. These service providers are only authorized to use your Information to provide services to us and to help us provide the Services to you. We do not sell or otherwise share your Information with such third parties for their direct marketing purposes.
• As Required or Permitted by Law. We may share your Information with courts, government agencies and other third parties as required or permitted by applicable law, to comply with a subpoena or similar legal request, to enforce our policies, or to protect our or others' rights, property, or safety.
• Performance Reporting. We may share aggregated, anonymized Information with our donors and partners to report on the utility and performance of the Services.
• Science. We may share anonymized nformation with the Crowther Lab at ETH Zurich and scientific partners of the Crowther Lab for the purpose of studying and improving restoration science.
• Other Parties In Connection With A Corporate Transaction. We may disclose or share your Information in the event that we purchase, sell, finance, transfer, or acquire all or a portion of a business or assets, such as in connection with a merger, or in the event of a bankruptcy reorganization or liquidation.

We have implemented commercially-reasonable, technical, administrative and physical safeguards to protect your Information. Unfortunately, no data transmission over the internet or data storage system can be guaranteed to be 100% secure. However, if you have reason to believe that your use of the Services is no longer secure (e.g., username and password have been compromised), please contact us immediately at community@restor.eco.

All other information other than Personal Data and Usage Information is referred to as “Data”.

As noted above, we do not sell or otherwise share your Personal Data or Usage Information with third parties for their direct marketing purposes.

When you use the Services, we, along with our third-party service providers may use Usage Information to more effectively understand how the Services are used and improve the usability of our Services.

We use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google, Inc. (“Google”). Google uses cookies to help us analyze how visitors use our Services. The information generated by the cookie about your use of our Services is generally transmitted to and stored on a Google server in the United States. Google will use this information for evaluating your use of the Services, compiling reports on website activity, and providing us with other analytic services relating to our Services. Google will not associate your IP address with any other data held by Google.

You may manage and opt out of Google’s use of cookies by visiting Google’s Ads settings and selecting the appropriate settings in your browser. Please note that if you do so, you may not be able to use the full functionality of our Services. Alternatively, you can prevent Google’s collection and use of data by downloading and installing the browser plugin available at: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout and/or opt out by visiting www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ or www.youronlinechoices.com. For further information on Google’s terms of use and data protection/privacy, please seehttps://www.google.com/policies/privacy/, https://www.google.com/analytics/terms/us.html and https://www.google.com/analytics/learn/index.html.

When you use the Services, we may place a text file (“Cookie”) in the browser of your computer. Cookies collect information such as the type of search engine used, the sections of the website(s) visited, and other website usage information. Cookies allow the Services to function by tracking the application state and authenticating you on each page on the Services. You can refuse Cookies by disabling them in your Internet browser settings, typically under the sections “Help” or “Internet Options” or to www.networkadvertising.org/choices/ or www.youronlinechoices.com. However, the Services may not function properly if Cookies are disabled.

The Personal Data we collect from you may be transferred out of the UK or European Economic Area (EEA) to the types of entities described in the 'Who We Share Your Information With' section above.

We want to make sure that the Personal Data we collect from you is stored and transferred in a way which is secure. We will therefore only transfer data outside of the EEA where it is compliant with data protection law and the means of transfer provides adequate safeguards in relation to your data, for example by way of a data transfer agreement with a third party, in each case incorporating the current standard contractual clauses adopted by the UK Information Commissioner's Office or the European Commission.

Where we transfer your personal data to a third party outside the EEA, as applicable, and where the country or territory in question does not maintain adequate data protection standards, we will take all reasonable steps to ensure that your data is treated securely and in accordance with this Privacy Policy.

We encourage you to promptly update your Personal Data if it changes. You may correct, update, amend, remove, or ask to have your Personal Data removed by making the change on your user account settings page, if applicable, or by contacting us as detailed below.

In addition, you exercise any of the following actions at any time:

• You may opt out of receiving Restor communications by using the unsubscribe link within each email.
• You may object to or restrict our processing of the Personal Data that we collect from you, in which case we will stop this processing unless we can demonstrate compelling legitimate grounds which overrides your interests or if the processing is necessary for the establishment, exercise or defence of legal claims.
• You may request information about, access to and a copy of, the Personal Data that we collect from you. However, you should be aware that where we are legally permitted to do so, we may refuse your request. If we refuse your request, we will always tell you the reasons for doing so.
• You may request that we rectify any inaccurate or incomplete Personal Data that we collect from you.
• You may ask questions or make complaints about our privacy and data security practices with regard to your Personal Data using the contact information below. You also have the right to make a complaint to your local supervisory authority. The privacy regulators for the UK and EU Member States are listed (along with contact details) on the following website: ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/
• You may request that we delete Personal Data that we have collected about you. We would only be entitled to refuse to comply with your request for erasure in limited circumstances and we will always tell you our reason for doing so.
• You may request that we transfer Personal Data that we collect from you to another service provider.
• Where we have obtained your consent to process Personal Data that we collect from you for certain activities, you may withdraw this consent at any time.

To exercise any of these options or for additional information about our privacy practices, contact us at community@restor.eco.

We will retain your Personal Data for as long as needed to provide you the Services. We will try to comply with requests under this section as soon as reasonably practicable as required by applicable law. However, we may need to retain and use certain information for record-keeping purposes, to complete any prior request, as necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, enforce our agreements, or for other purposes as required or permitted by applicable law.

There are a number of different ways that we are lawfully able to process Personal Data that we collect from you. We have set these out below.

• Where using your Personal Data is in our legitimate interests: We are allowed to use the Personal Data we collect from you where it is in our interests to do so, and those interests are not outweighed by any potential prejudice to you. We believe that our use of your Personal Data is within a number of our legitimate interests, including but not limited to the reasons as to why we process your Personal Data as set out above.
• Where processing is necessary for us to carry out our contractual obligations: We are allowed to use Personal Data we collect from you when it necessary to do so for the performance of a contract with you.
• Where processing is necessary for us to carry out our legal obligations: We also have other legal obligations that we need to comply with, and we are allowed to use the Personal Data we collect from you when we need to in order to comply with those other legal obligations.
• Where you give us your consent to use your Personal Data: We are allowed to use the Personal Data we collect from you where you have specifically consented. We do not currently seek your consent for any processing activities under this Privacy Policy as we rely on the other legal bases described in this section. If we require your consent for anything in the future, we will provide you with sufficient information so that you can decide whether or not you wish to consent. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

From time to time, we may revise the Privacy Policy to reflect changes in the law, our information collection and use practices or to detail new features provided through the Services. If we make any material changes we will notify you by email (sent to the email address specified in your account) or by means of a prominent notice through the Services.

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy or our privacy practices, please contact us at:

[1] Ecological Restoration includes (but is not limited to) Conservation, Sustainable Forest Management, Natural Regeneration, Planted Forests for Conservation, Planted Forests for Harvesting, Agroforestry, Silvopasture, Climate-Smart Agriculture (Source: UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration).

Last updated: October 27 2022