Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
17
Challenges for the practice of
ecological restoration
James Aronson and Ramón Vallejo
17.1 Introduction
bio- and socio-complexity, and time. These issues have
been discussed in previous chapters in specific con-
texts. Here we identify some of the key theoretical issues
and methodological aspects that need special atten-
tion, giving special emphasis to the need to balance
and integrate ecological and socio-economic criteria,
constraints and desiderata within both the planning
and evaluation techniques. Specifically, we discuss
further the issues related to references, and the need
to conduct ecological restoration with an integrated
landscape perspective and awareness of the enorm-
ous ecological and environmental problems facing us.
When we say us, once again, we refer to each coun-
try and region in the European Union (EU), and
throughout the rest of our global society as well. The
notions of natural capital, socio-economic ecological
systems and emerging ecosystems, all of which were
introduced in Chapter 16, will come into discussion
here as well.
In preceding chapters, a wide range of ecological con-
texts and problems have been encountered, representing
most of the major ecoregions of Europe. One import-
ant context, however, has not been treated, that of
spreading peri-urban areas growing like fractal fairy
rings around big towns and cities all across Europe
and, indeed, around the world. A compelling need
clearly exists for concerted conservation, management
and restoration (CMR) programmes specifically for
the peri-urban areas where so many different needs
and actors come into play. In this chapter we shall
illustrate the context of peri-urban demands for
restoration, and CMR, through the example of a
study carried out in conjunction with massive urban-
ization and engineering actions undertaken in a river
delta near to Barcelona. This case is a good example
of the effects of intensive urban development creating
pressure on the remaining natural or semi-natural
ecosystems in close proximity to urban centres. For
the development of new human ecological paradigms,
such settings are instructive and useful.
Additionally, a very different setting or situation
will be considered in this chapter, that of compliance
with international conventions developed to protect
environmental and social services derived from nat-
ural capital.
In this chapter we will also address the challenge
to develop integrative techniques for diagnosis, mon-
itoring, evaluating and adjustments or so-called fine-
tuning of projects undertaken in various scales of space,
17.2 Emerging demands for restoration
In the coming years, two distinctly different contexts
will emerge for most of the societal demand for
ecological restoration in Europe. The first category is
one of relatively small-scale, high-resolution settings,
where land and other resources have huge socio-
economic value and are used evermore intensively.
Ecological transformation, including unequivocal
degradation in some portions of these areas, has been
severe, and ecological restoration and rehabilitation
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