Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
be increasingly useful, if not necessary, to justify restoration projects. While in the
short term these benefits typically do not constitute high priorities for most restoration
education efforts, climate change relevance will increasingly be a driver for the polit-
ical and financial success of future projects. To highlight the climate mitigation and
climate adaptation benefits of future projects, restoration project managers and plan-
ners should do the following:
• Understand the potential regional contributions to carbon sequestration
• Identify the ecological threats changes in climate pose for the region
• Determine the socioeconomic importance of these threats
• Identify the potential ecological structures and processes that can buffer these
threats
• Determine the socioeconomic importance of these structures and processes
• Design projects that are resilient to climate change and make the surrounding
human communities more resilient to climate change
• Select implementation and management approaches that are flexible and fre-
quently incorporate new research and observations about changing climatic
and ecological conditions
• Communicate the future risks and uncertainties and how the restoration proj-
ect can address them
Climate change presents new risks and uncertainties for efforts to restore ecosys-
tems, as well as expanding the costs and benefits for these efforts (fig. 13.2). The out-
comes of restoration efforts are less predictable due to changing conditions while the
costs of achieving desired ecological outcomes are increasing. Nevertheless, the value
and importance of successful restoration outcomes are also increasing. Ecological res-
toration efforts face new demands to provide resilient conditions to support ecosys-
tems, social systems, and economic systems.
FIGURE 13.2.
Climate change introduces new risks and uncertainties for restoration projects.
In addition, as research reveals likely outcomes, climate change increasingly presents new
costs and benefits for restoration efforts. Generally, costs increase and benefit uncertainty in-
creases. At the same time, demand for restoration outcomes increases and the value of suc-
cessful projects rises.
