Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
challenges for restoration by altering public confidence in restoration planning, par-
ticularly when they involve efforts to incorporate new approaches based on climate
science. New information (e.g., new observations, advancements in scientific inquiry)
may aid restorationists and restoration planners in terms of convincing the public and
public officials about the need for flexible restoration approaches because it will pro-
vide a better understanding of the risks involved. New information, for example,
might move certain effects or complex feedbacks from the realm of ignorance into the
realm of uncertainty, and may even provide probabilistic estimates of risk that can be
calculated and quantified. As we learn more about complex biophysical responses to
climate change, the range of possible future conditions changes, decreasing igno-
rance, although increasing uncertainty about the implications of the newly acquired
knowledge. For example, some new pests, invasive plants, and other cascading effects
enter the realm of possible challenges for restoration projects that would not have oc-
curred but for climate change, while the probabilities of these effects and their conse-
quences remain unknown. Including the possible human adaptive and mitigating re-
sponses does not make the effort to predict probabilistic future scenarios any easier.
Demand for Restoration
Climate change is likely to reduce or impair critical habitat, ecosystem services, spe-
cies, populations, and ecosystems. As a result, restoration practitioners will be impor-
tant members of conservation efforts to maintain or improve this changing environ-
ment. Climate change will play a role in reducing the availability of certain habitat
types that are already scarce, such as salmon habitat. This, in turn, will increase the
demand for habitat restoration but under less suitable conditions and, therefore, with
a greater risk of failure (Battin et al. 2007).
One important role for restoration projects is to maintain and strengthen the avail-
ability of biodiversity. The range of potential future conditions under climate change,
for specific sites as well as generally, requires a diverse set of available plant and animal
species to ensure continuity of functional ecosystems. Restoration projects no longer
need simply to be sustainable under stable conditions; they must also be resilient to
changing conditions over the long term. Climate change increases the demand for ge-
netic diversity in restoration projects, particularly for species capable of surviving un-
der expected future climatological, ecological, and socioeconomic conditions.
Certain ecological functions are uniquely capable of protecting societies and
economies from extreme storm, flood, and fire events—all of which are expected to
increase in frequency and severity under climate change (e.g., Westerling 2006; Parry
et al. 2007). Restoration projects can buffer coastal communities from future storm
events, for example, by expanding coastal wetlands as has been proposed near New
Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (Farley et al. 2007). Analogous motivations
can underlie restoration of functional floodplains, wetlands, and marshes so that they
are able to absorb storm surges elsewhere. Similarly, restoration efforts are needed
worldwide to make forests less prone to catastrophic wildfire. Many crucial ecosystem
services, such as water supply, are already at scarce levels due to human degradation
