Barriers to ecological restoration in Europe: expert perspectives

Abstract

Ecological restoration is key to counteracting anthropogenic degradation of biodiversity and to reducing disaster risk. However, there is limited knowledge of barriers hindering the wider implementation of restoration practices, despite high-level political priority to halt the loss of biodiversity. In Europe, progress on ecological restoration has been slow and insufficient to meet international agreements and comply with European Union Nature Directives. We assessed European restoration experts' perceptions on barriers to restoration in Europe, and their relative importance, through a multiple expert consultation using a Delphi process. We found that experts share a common multi-dimensional concept of ecological restoration. Experts identified a large number of barriers (33) to the advancement of ecological restoration in Europe. Major barriers pertained to the socio-economic, not the environmental, domain. The three most important being insufficient funding, conflicting interests among different stakeholders, and low political priority given to restoration. Our results emphasize the need to increase political commitment at all levels, comply with existing nature laws, and optimize the use of financial resources by increasing funds for ecological restoration and eradicate environmentally harmful subsidies. The experts also call for the integration of ecological restoration into land-use planning and facilitating stakeholders' collaboration. Our study identifies key barriers, discusses ways to overcome the main barriers to ER in Europe, and contributes knowledge to support the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, and the EU 2030 Restoration Plan in particular.

We Can Better Manage Ecosystems by Connecting Solutions to Constraints: Learning from Wetland Plant Invasions

“…Social constraints to improving invasive plant management may be more important than ecological constraints (Ntshotsho et al, 2015;Cortina-Segarra et al, 2021), yet their implications are comparatively under-researched (Shackleton et al, 2019c). Here we describe institutional, governance, and policy constraints that often limit the incorporation of science-based approaches to effective invasive wetland plant management and the restoration of invaded wetlands.…”

“…Social, economic, and institutional constraints often limit successful invasive plant management, even when the ecology of a particular invader is well understood (Cortina-Segarra et al, 2021). Although the critical limitations to management vary from case to case, several recurring constraints are central (Figure 1).…”

“…Although the economic benefits are well-described (BenDor et al, 2015a;BenDor et al, 2015b), management and restoration-and the agencies that conduct such work-are typically underfunded to conduct their missions (Smiley, 2008;Perring et al, 2015;Rohr et al, 2018;Cortina-Segarra et al, 2021). For invasive wetland plant management, this funding gap reflects both an underestimation of urgency and the costliness of revegetation remedies (Seabloom and van der Valk, 2003;Galatowitsch and Richardson, 2005;Kettenring and Tarsa, 2020).…”

“…Community stakeholders are essential for building enthusiasm for, raising awareness about, garnering political support for, raising credibility and legitimacy of, and increasing financial resources for invasive species management (Howell et al, 2012;Shackleton et al, 2019aShackleton et al, , 2019b. However, strong and sometimes opposing opinions about invaders and management actions within the stakeholder community also represent potential constraints to successful invader management (Howell et al, 2012;Shackleton et al, 2019c;Carter et al, 2021;Cortina-Segarra et al, 2021). Some community stakeholders may view a wetland invader in a positive light that conflicts with its negative ecosystem impacts and motivation for management.…”

“…For wetland and non-wetland systems alike, constraints to effective invasive species management are social and ecological (Cortina-Segarra et al, 2021). Such constraints may especially hinder management of plant invasions in wetlands because of their unique landscape distribution and hydrological niche.…”