Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Ecological restoration as a project
for global society
Jim A. Harris and Rudy van Diggelen
1.1 Restoration ecology and ecological
restoration
Economy
1.1.1 Is there a problem?
Growth
Efficiency
Stability
We rely on the integrity of the Earth system for our
continued existence as a species, along with many
others.
Sustainability
has therefore become an increas-
ingly important issue in thinking about the future.
As early as the 1970s Meadows
et al
. (1972) realized
that there are limits to (economic) growth but it was
not until 1987 that the so-called Brundtland report
(WCED 1987) put sustainability firmly on the polit-
ical agenda. The idea was accepted as a political goal
at the conferences of Rio de Janeiro (1992) and its
successor in Johannesburg in 2002 (Arrow
et al
.
1995). Central to the idea of sustainability is the
notion that long-term thinking is essential to ensur-
ing that the world remains a suitable place to live for
future generations. This is not restricted to environ-
mental conditions alone but also has social and econ-
omical components. Jepma and Munasinghe (1998)
showed the relations between these three fields in a
triangle diagram (Fig. 1.1).
Economic sustainability
is based on the concept
of maximizing income while at least maintaining the
capital. The
social
component of sustainability seeks
to maintain the resilience of social and cultural sys-
tems and their capacity to withstand shocks. The
environmental
component focuses on the resilience
of biological and physical systems.
Poverty
Institutions/Inclusion
Consultation/Empowerment
Biodiversity/Resilience
Natural resources
Pollution
Society
Environment
Fig. 1.1
The relationship between social, economical
and environmental sustainability (after Jepma &
Munasinghe 1998). Reproduced by permission of
Cambridge University Press.
However, despite sustainability being well-developed
as a theory and a political goal in many countries,
a practical implementation is still far from a reality
(McMichael
et al
. 2003). As social and economic
injustice prevails, many of the fundamental functions
and features of the ecosystems of the Earth are either
at or beyond breaking point. The practice of eco-
logical restoration and the science of restoration ecology
3
