The relationship between ecological restoration and the ecosystem services concept

Alexander, Sasha; Aronson, James; Whaley, Oliver Q.; Lamb, David

doi:10.5751/es-08288-210134

Cited by 105 publications

(71 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Restoration practitioners have failed at selling the idea of restoration as a 'worthwhile investment for society', despite the evidence in favor of taking action (ELD Initiative 2013;ELD Initiative and UNEP 2015;Nkonya et al 2016). Fortunately, there has been a sizable effort in recent years to link ecological restoration with ecosystem services (Alexander et al 2016;Turner et al 2016), livelihoods (Reed et al 2015) and the sustainable development goals (Nkonya et al 2016). The Economics of Land Degradation Initiative (ELD), tries to bring together the dispersed knowledge available about the overall cost of land degradation and the overall benefits of land restoration in order to quantify the real TEV of land degradation action and inaction; the initiative also aims at closing the gap between economic estimations at the local level and macro-economic estimates, particularly in Africa.…”

Section: Economic Costs Of Dryland Rehabilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Yirdaw¹,

Tigabu²,

Monge³

2017

Silva Fenn.

114

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Highlights• The prospect of restoring degraded drylands is technically promising.• The forest landscape restoration concept can be used as the overarching rehabilitation framework.• Development of process-based models that forecast rehabilitation outcomes is needed.• Rehabilitation methodologies developed for moist areas are not necessarily suitable for drylands.• More data is needed on cost-benefit analysis of rehabilitation interventions. AbstractLand degradation is widespread and a serious threat affecting the livelihoods of 1.5 billion people worldwide of which one sixth or 250 million people reside in drylands. Globally, it is estimated that 10-20% of drylands are already degraded and about 12 million ha are degraded each year. Driven by unsustainable land use practices, adverse climatic conditions and population increase, land degradation has led to decline in provision of ecosystem services, food insecurity, social and political instability and reduction in the ecosystem's resilience to natural climate variability. Several global initiatives have been launched to combat land degradation, including rehabilitation of degraded drylands. This review aimed at collating the current state-of-knowledge about rehabilitation of degraded drylands. It was found that the prospect of restoring degraded drylands is technically promising using a suite of passive (e.g. area exclosure, assisted natural regeneration, rotational grazing) and active (e.g. mixed-species planting, framework species, maximum diversity, and use of nurse tree) rehabilitation measures. Advances in soil reclamation using biological, chemical and physical measures have been made. Despite technical advances, the scale of rehabilitation intervention is small and lacks holistic approach. Development of processbased models that forecast outcomes of the various rehabilitation activities will be useful tools for researchers and practitioners. The concept of forest landscape restoration approach, which operates at landscape-level, could also be adopted as the overarching framework for rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems. The review identified a data gap in cost-benefit analysis of rehabilitation interventions. However, the cost of rehabilitation and sustainable management of drylands is opined to be lower than the losses that accrue from inaction, depending on the degree of degradation. Thus, local communities' participation, incorporation of traditional ecological knowledge, clear division of tasks and benefits, strengthening local institutions are crucial not only for cost-sharing, but also for the long-term success of rehabilitation activities.

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Section: Economic Costs Of Dryland Rehabilitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Yirdaw¹,

Tigabu²,

Monge³

2017

Silva Fenn.

114

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“…The recognition of the important role that ecosystem services (ES) play in human well-being and economy has led to increased investment in the protection, sustainable management, and restoration of natural ecosystems worldwide (Alexander, Aronson, Whaley, & Lamb, 2016;Constanza et al, 2017; The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, 2010). Through payments for ecosystem services (PES) schemes, many environmental programs have received extra and decisive economic support for covering their costs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synergism Between Payments for Water-Related Ecosystem Services, Ecological Restoration, and Landscape Connectivity Within the Atlantic Forest Hotspot

Viani

Braga

Ribeiro

et al. 2018

Tropical Conservation Science

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Restoration projects designed to promote one ecosystem service may have synergistic benefits to other services. Therefore, bundling them can be an effective way to maximize the return to the investments in programs of payments for ecosystem services (PES). Here, we investigated the additional gain of restoration actions-which were implemented as part of a PES program to protect a key watershed for water supply-on increasing functional landscape connectivity in the Atlantic Forest region of southeastern Brazil. Using a landscape ecology approach, we estimated the amount of forest cover before (2006) and after (2012) restoration activities by the PES program and changes in structural and functional landscape connectivity for birds with varying gap-crossing capabilities. Forest cover increased from 42.5 to 86.1 ha after the implementation of restoration projects by the PES program. In the simulated scenarios of landscape connectivity, the mean patch size of functionally connected forest increased by 1,034%, 392%, 248%, and 94% for species with gap-crossing capabilities of 0, 20, 40, and 60 m, respectively. Our results highlight the potential for incorporating biodiversity conservation objectives into PES projects primarily designed to enhance water-related ecosystem services.

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“…Unimpaired and diverse ecosystems conserve biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services, while being more resilient when natural and anthropogenic disasters occur (Alexander et al 2016). Unimpaired and diverse ecosystems conserve biodiversity and provide essential ecosystem services, while being more resilient when natural and anthropogenic disasters occur (Alexander et al 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Sustainable Environmental Quality: Priority Research Questions for the Australasian Region of Oceania

Gaw

Harford

Pettigrove

et al. 2019

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Environmental challenges persist across the world, including the Australasian region of Oceania, where biodiversity hotspots and unique ecosystems such as the Great Barrier Reef are common. These systems are routinely affected by multiple stressors from anthropogenic activities, and increasingly influenced by global megatrends (e.g., the food–energy–water nexus, demographic transitions to cities) and climate change. Here we report priority research questions from the Global Horizon Scanning Project, which aimed to identify, prioritize, and advance environmental quality research needs from an Australasian perspective, within a global context. We employed a transparent and inclusive process of soliciting key questions from Australasian members of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry. Following submission of 78 questions, 20 priority research questions were identified during an expert workshop in Nelson, New Zealand. These research questions covered a range of issues of global relevance, including research needed to more closely integrate ecotoxicology and ecology for the protection of ecosystems, increase flexibility for prioritizing chemical substances currently in commerce, understand the impacts of complex mixtures and multiple stressors, and define environmental quality and ecosystem integrity of temporary waters. Some questions have specific relevance to Australasia, particularly the uncertainties associated with using toxicity data from exotic species to protect unique indigenous species. Several related priority questions deal with the theme of how widely international ecotoxicological data and databases can be applied to regional ecosystems. Other timely questions, which focus on improving predictive chemistry and toxicology tools and techniques, will be important to answer several of the priority questions identified here. Another important question raised was how to protect local cultural and social values and maintain indigenous engagement during problem formulation and identification of ecosystem protection goals. Addressing these questions will be challenging, but doing so promises to advance environmental sustainability in Oceania and globally.

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The relationship between ecological restoration and the ecosystem services concept

Cited by 105 publications

References 43 publications

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Rehabilitation of degraded dryland ecosystems – review

Synergism Between Payments for Water-Related Ecosystem Services, Ecological Restoration, and Landscape Connectivity Within the Atlantic Forest Hotspot

Towards Sustainable Environmental Quality: Priority Research Questions for the Australasian Region of Oceania

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