Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
EDITORS' INTRODUCTION
opportunities for restoration, locally. There is a clear
need to respect the conditions for negotiations and con-
sensual decision making including all the major stake-
holders. This requires several steps: (1) identify the
causes of degradation in an historic perspective, based
on understanding of social and biophysical processes,
(2) negotiate among stakeholders to achieve agree-
ment on the level of ambition in terms of common
values, goals and trajectories, recognizing the available
resources (e.g. fi nancial, labour and seed sources), (3)
identify and design the technologies to be applied, (4)
arrange long-term management and monitoring to
evaluate progress and, if necessary, adapt and fi ne - tune
the strategy chosen in light of changing conditions and
(5) initiate research alongside the restoration pro-
gramme to improve the understanding of the results.
As compared to the fi rst edition, all three chapters in
Part 4 are new. We are indebted to Mirijam Gaertner,
Patricia Holmes and David Richardson for contributing
a chapter on problems related to biological invasions,
in which they explore the concept of resilience in rela-
tion to ecological restoration (Chapter 20). We also
thank Katharine Suding and Elizabeth Leger for their
chapter on shifting baselines in a changing world,
focusing on the dynamics of evolutionary changes in
biotic communities (Chapter 21). We call the reader's
attention to their statement that 'although many
future changes may not have historical analogues, a
historical perspective can help design or steer emerging
systems to encompass a greater spectrum of natural
variability inherent in the system or under future
climate change ' .
Finally, we, the initiators and editors of this multi-
author topic, fi nish off the journey in our Chapter 22,
where we refl ect together on all that has been pre-
sented thus far. We view ecological restoration as a
critical part in society's search for sustainability, at
national, regional and international scales. We ask
specifi cally 'How can our current knowledge and
insights in restoration ecology help fi nd the way
towards sustainable use, development, conservation
and restoration of terrestrial, aquatic and coastal eco-
systems? ' Onward.
We started this topic on restoration ecology with Part
1, intended to set the scene for a long discussion and
voyage of discover. We asked: 'Where do we start, and
with what unifying concepts?', 'How do we cope with
uncertainty and unpredictability, in view of climate
change and other big issues?' And, 'What are some
tried and proven options for planning and implement-
ing successful restoration projects, at the local scale,
and restoration programmes at the regional scale?'
In Part 2 we explored fundamental ecological know-
ledge in search of conceptual and methodological
tools and insights from this specifi c branch of science
that could be useful for the transdisciplinary science
and practice of ecological restoration. The chapters in
Part 3 illustrated, biome by biome, how ecologists
working in the fi eld have learned what is - or could be
- effective ecological restoration, collating input from
past and ongoing experiments and experiences around
the world.
Now, in Part 4, it's time to explicitly address future
scenarios and perspectives, in which restoration ecolo-
gists will be working together with professional and
amateur practitioners, and all the stakeholders who
make up a restoration project. This means looking
squarely at the ongoing processes of biological inva-
sions by alien species in ecosystems around the Earth,
the effects of climate change on ecosystem and socio-
ecological system development, emerging markets and
mechanisms for rewarding resource and land manag-
ers for rendering ecosystem services and, fi nally, the
various ways in which some nations and NGOs have
begun to search for sustainability. Here, in what can be
called sustainability science, the landscape, ecosystems
and biodiversity perspectives to ecological restoration
all meet and merge.
Some of the take-home lessons readers should have
retained from Part 3 concern general recommenda-
tions and guidelines for projects and programmes of
ecological restoration to be successful. To wit, there is
always and everywhere a need to translate general
insights into applications that 'fi t' the constraints and
