Resource Database

Performance and biomass: Carbon sequestration of rehabilitated mangroves in Myanmar and Vietnam

Mangroves provide vital ecosystem services for livelihoods and sustainable development in tropical coastal communities, but they have been deforested in many nations. A common approach for restoring mangrove ecosystems in severely degraded areas or areas requiring rapid re-establishment is planting seedlings. Thousands of hectares of mangrove plantations have been established over the last several decades in Vietnam and Myanmar. Examination of mangrove plantation performance and factors influencing growth is important for developing management options for successful mangrove restoration. We surveyed 220 mangrove plantations in Vietnam and 216 in Myanmar. Growth data, environmental parameters, and management practice information were collected. We used boosted regression tree models to evaluate the most influential variables on plantation performance. Our results reveal that management and environmental factors play similar roles (35% vs 40%) in the success of Vietnam’s restoration plantations, while unplanned disturbances, e.g. illegal cutting, were the major threat (70%) to Myanmar’s plantation establishment. The results imply that silvicultural practices are less influential than mangrove protection on plantation success. Biomass growth of different mangrove species were modelled for forecasting carbon sequestration in both countries. Without major disturbances, most plantations had lower aboveground biomass growth rate than naturally regenerating stands (e.g. biomass of 8-year-old plantations was 39 Mg ha^-1 while biomass of 9-year-old regenerating stands was 70 Mg ha^-1 in Myanmar). At later successional stages (e.g. plantations older than 35 years), undisturbed plantations had similar biomass and species composition to adjacent mangroves that naturally regenerated (120 Mg ha^-1 vs 135 Mg ha^-1).

A preliminary study on aquatic vegetation restoration in the northwestern Arabian Gulf

This paper presents an approach to evaluate the potential area and economic benefit of Sargassum bed restoration. The approach was applied to Kuwait’s highly turbid waters where rapid coastal development causes marine ecosystem degradation. The case study showed that water depth was a primary environmental factor governing Sargassum distribution in the study sites. The relationship between Sargassum coverage and water depth indicated optimal water depths where the maximum coverage was observed. Notably, the optimal depths were different among the sites due to different turbidity levels at each site. In addition, the availability of stable hard substrate was another key factor responsible for the local sporadic distribution of Sargassum beds. Based on the optimal depths, we estimated the potential area for Sargassum beds restoration where optimum growth of Sargassum is expected. The results showed that a total area of 4.26 km² was potentially inhabitable for Sargassum in terms of light availability (depth) but was not currently vegetated mainly due to the absence of a hard substrate. This estimated potential area is comparable to as much as twofold of existing Sargassum area (2.19 km²). Furthermore, we estimated potential economic return generated by Sargassum bed restoration in the potential area in terms of production of a commercially important shrimp. The economic return was estimated to be annually 12.8 million USD or approximately 3.02 USD per unit area (m²). This study offers beneficial information for decision-makers to assess the feasibility of the habitat restoration as a part of mitigation in coastal development plans.

A thorough and accessible method for restoration site selection: A coastal case study using seagrass

Communities and non-profit organizations are playing a greater role in ecosystem restoration, particularly in nearshore habitats such as seagrass. Seagrass restoration success rates are variable, partly due to challenges with site selection. These challenges are greater for small organizations with limited resources. We summarize a seagrass restoration site selection method used by a Canadian non-profit organization, and a case study in Sechelt Inlet in southern British Columbia to analyze its utility. The site selection method includes assessments of socio-political, economic, ecological and physical criteria, with required and optional considerations. Socio-political factors relate to local support and absence of incompatible activities. Economic factors include time and budget. Ecological factors include local seagrass presence, lack of stressors, and a need for active restoration. Physical factors include suitable substrate, slope, depth and exposure. This selection method was applied to eight sites, of which three were rejected due to continued stressors, lack of local seagrass, or lack of support. Seagrass was transplanted at the remaining five sites and monitored for up to 4 years. Of these transplants, three were considered successful based on areal extent and density relative to reference beds. The remaining two were unsuccessful due to insufficient understanding of particular required criteria. This site selection method enables a clear understanding of biological, physical, and social contexts to enable site prioritization and selection. It also enables a thorough assessment of the reasons for restoration success or failure. This method can be adapted for restoration site selection in other marine and terrestrial ecosystems.

Diagnostic phytoplankton pigments as indicators for measuring restoration success in coastal waters

The coastal zones are where more than half the world’s human population lives and this percentage continues to increase. Given the increasing pressure on coastal ecosystems, accelerated by human activity, restoration is needed where ecosystem services have declined, together with the conservation of healthy sites. As key primary producers, phytoplankton are the first link in the conversion of nutrients and sunlight into biomass, and they reflect immediate effects of changes in the input of nutrients in coastal ecosystems. They are therefore excellent indicators of water quality, marine ecosystem change, and the effectiveness of restoration efforts. In this work, we use phytopigments that are diagnostic of phytoplankton functional groups to develop a new phytoplankton composition index (PPCI). PPCI is a multimetric index that integrates group-specific chemotaxonomic indicators (carotenoids) that respond to pressures. The index was initially developed in Mediterranean coastal waters where well-known reference conditions deliver a baseline against which other phytoplankton variables can be anchored. Being very sensitive to human pressures, PPCI detects the effects of anthropogenic disturbances on both quantitative and qualitative phytoplankton community structure over different spatial and temporal scales. PPCI is therefore a useful tool for assessing long-term effects of restoration measures and benefits of nutrient reduction strategies. PPCI is transferable over a broad range of coastal zones (e.g. French Atlantic coastal waters). PPCI is easily implemented, which enables it to be used by environment managers who are not experts in phytoplankton taxonomy. An example of phytoplankton recovery after aquaculture closure is presented.

Community participative eco-restoration of degraded sacred groves in the Western Ghats, a global biodiversity hotspot in Southern India

Sacred groves are important ecological sites that are conserved by indigenous communities as biodiversity repositories. Kodagu in South India lies in Western Ghats, a World Heritage site and biodiversity hotspot. Kodagu is watershed of river Kaveri and home to many wildlife sanctuaries. Kodagu has a long tradition of conserving sacred groves and has over 1200 sacred groves covering 2% of its area. However, these repositories face anthropogenic pressures like diversion to commercial uses, fragmentation, over-exploitation resulting in degradation. Only 40% area remains intact in 1991 as compared to 1904. Many groves are impacted by invasive alien species like Lantana camera and Senna spectabilis. Forest First Samithi (www.forestfirstsamithi.org ), a grassroots ecological restoration non-profit, has been working for the last ten years on restoring degraded groves through a community-participative model. A diversity-maximisation methodology is practiced where over 150 indigenous species are introduced after removal of Lantana. Species selection is based on biological importance, keystone characteristics, threat status, medicinal value and riverine-ecosystem criticality. Contour trenches are dug along slopes to ensure soil moisture retention and prevention of rainwater run-off. Activities like nursery management, mulching provide livelihoods. All projects are initiated jointly with community involvement through Kodagu Model Forest Trust (www.kmft.org) and with temple committees pledging their support. Key outcomes are improved custodianship of their ecology, livelihoods, revival of traditional ecological knowledge and creation of local stakeholder capacity, which are in line with IUCN principles. Ecologically restored groves provide for a germplasm of floral diversity with potential for propagation to nearby forests.

Cultivating camas connections

Camassia quamash (common camas) is a facultative wetland hydrophyte with significant cultural ties to many tribes and first nations across western North America. It was particularly important due to its edibility and abundance. Historically, camas harvests were an opportunity for indigenous peoples to trade and interact, both within and between different indigenous groups. Camas remains culturally significant with many groups still digging, harvesting, and baking bulbs and incorporating the plant in traditional diets and cultural practices. Camas requires specific habitat characteristics to ensure a suitably wet growing season. In the 19th century, federal land policies removed many tribes and nations from their ancestral homelands and transferred ownership of those lands to settlers. Ultimately, agricultural land use proved destructive to wetland prairies. The decline of these camas prairies was not only a loss of valuable ecosystem function, but also reduced and degraded a culturally significant landscape. The focus of this work is the Weippe Prairie, an important traditional harvest site for the Nez Perce people. Prior to its designation as a site of Nez Perce National Historical Park, a unit of the National Park Service, agricultural conversion and associated land use practices significantly altered and degraded Weippe Prairie’s wetland characteristics. I will present site specific strategies to increase success of camas-focused restoration projects, advance landscape restoration goals, and reassert cultural presence on the landscape. Research and management strategies are driven by the significance of this plant and its unique ability to connect people across backgrounds, cultures, research subjects, and disciplines.

Towards ethical water management: Piloting an ethics methodology on the Cape Flats Aquifer in the Philippi Horticultural Area

Water policy and legislation in South Africa was welcomed as ground-breaking by the international community shortly after the advent of democracy. However, despite the progressive nature of the National Water Act and the principles of Integrated Water Resource Management it adopted, it has failed to bring about sustained transformation in water management. This paper argues that it has failed because policymakers assumed the existence of social cohesion and shared values in divided communities, and that communities were ready to engage in multi-stakeholder platforms on water management where diverse values were prioritised and negotiated. Using the contested Philippi Horticultural Area located on the Cape Flats Aquifer in Cape Town as a case study, this paper introduces an ethics methodology involving individual interviews, multi-stakeholder feedback workshops, and a proposed set of joint interventions. The methodology requires community members to identify their core values around development and water, jointly prioritise what this means to them in terms of community development, and then move towards a preliminary action plan to build social cohesion and improved water management in their particular context. It is proposed that if communities move towards future solutions, after deep reflection on jointly shared core values, they are better able to live with past conflict and opposing points of view. The paper documents the ethics methodology process undertaken and evaluates its potential for developing a supplementary bottom-up approach to water management that would improve community engagement in government-led water policy and legislation processes in South Africa.

Restoration, projectality and the projectization of local development

The Bonn Challenge, WRI’s AFR100, the UN Decade for Deserts, the Great Green Wall initiative, and the like, reflect the traction being gained globally by the land restoration movement.  However, the political and socio-economic dimensions of the “movement” tend to be under-analyzed.  Using conservation techniques (“zai”), and farmer managed natural regeneration (FMNR) as examples of local indigenous technology adaptation particularly in West Africa, this paper hopes to lay out some concerns about the underlying processes and assumptions of the movement.  Local communities, reacting to pressures and drivers, indigenously innovate and adapt (partially through technologies mentioned above).  When these innovations are “discovered” by exogenous actors (including research centers and NGOs) they enter a process of projectization where they are standardized, made quantifiable, subject to “value-addition”, and made legible to the exogenous actors.  We introduce the concepts of projectality and green projectality to help describe and understand this process.  Local development may be projectized, co-opted and fed back to the communities through “extension”, training and other activities.  Pre-existing local adaptation techniques and practices are re-packaged as projects of “expert technological innovations” so that the communities who developed them must now be trained and formed to adopt them.  The incentive to projectize is strong as exogenous actors are able to capture funds, visibility and business through projects.  This process seems to ultimately co-opt local knowledge and adaptation capacity, and may re-enforce dependency, which in turn can become reliant on projectization.

Positioning scientists as relevant and respectful partners in forest restoration

Scientists can play different roles as collaborative partners in the process of ecological restoration, two of which are building knowledge of ecological dynamics and developing tools to support land stewards’ decision-making. In each role, the positionality and mode of engagement between scientists and stakeholders will shape the outcomes of the process. We describe an ongoing collaboration between an interdisciplinary team of scientists and a group of stakeholders who are all stewards of globally rare Maritime Live Oak (MLO) forests in the southeastern United States yet have different stances on the appropriateness of various forest restoration strategies.  Invoking principles from structured decision-making (SDM) and participatory action research (PAR), we focus on our methodologies for appreciating stewards’ perspectives and values, which were adopted to strengthen the relevance of our contributions while also avoiding a hegemonic position in the partnership. We have used interviews, workshops, and field research partnerships to engage stakeholders as sources, co-producers, and target recipients of ecological knowledge. To build a decision-support tool for MLO forest restoration, we first sought to understand stewards’ multiple restoration objectives and specific decision contexts to help ensure that the tool would deliver the kind of information and support they would value. With that established, together we compiled a suite of foreseeable management options and assessed the data needs and uncertainties associated with each. SDM and PAR offer complementary notions for building relevant and respectful partnerships, yet require creativity, humility, and intentionality on the part of scientists in crafting engagement activities with stakeholders.

Southern African cities in a changing climate – investigating the transformative adaptation potential of the Sihlanzimvelo stream management programme

Transforming cities in the global South to deal with the social, economic, environmental and political complexity exacerbating climate vulnerability is becoming increasingly urgent. ‘Transformative adaptation’ (TA) is a relatively new concept that is widely used, but poorly explored and understood in the climate change field. The aim of this research is to better understand the pathways to TA in water management in southern African cities. An initial literature review recognized six criteria for achieving TA. Stakeholders from potentially transformative water management projects in Durban assisted in the co-exploration of TA with the research team, and collectively identified case studies with TA potential in the City. The TA potential and pathway of the case studies were investigated through focus groups, interviews, and three learning engagements. One of the case studies is the Sihlanzimvelo Programme – a municipal-driven, community-based waterway restoration and management programme in high density public land. This Community Ecosystem Based Adaptation programme is regarded as potentially transformative due to its green engineering solutions; socio-economic, environmental and social benefits; climate change adaptation; and reduced costs to the municipality by protecting infrastructure from flood and stormwater surge damage. Enablers of TA include: sustainable implementation and changes; sustainable fundamental changes in thinking and doing; economic empowerment and ownership; holistic, complex system thinking in addressing issues; proof of concept; and the possibility to upscale to be more inclusive. Limitations inhibiting the programme from reaching full transformative potential include rigidity in approach, top-down decision-making, political interference and limited buy-in from important actors.

Restoration and stepping-stone corridor building in Cape Town: A school-node based, collaborative approach

Cape Town is a biodiversity hotspot where high levels of inequality and an Apartheid past maintain the landscape as socially isolated bubbles perpetuated by social, spatial and mobile divisions. Therefore, Cape Town is characterised by high ecological and social Beta diversity where location specificity and sensitivity makes movement of humans, plants, and animals between areas highly complex. Small isolated reservations of remaining vegetation within the city are vulnerable to degradation but strategically key because they host locally endemic species not hosted elsewhere (Fletcher 2018, Fahrig 2018). Presently, they require connectivity to other populations for sustainable long-term conservation. Pauw and Louw (2012) suggest that schools are key to building sunbird stepping-stone corridors that restore pollen flow between isolated remnants of vegetation. Public spaces and garden biodiversity are key to insect-scale connectivity. Working across sensitive differences in the social and ecological context of Cape Town required a novel approach to corridor building where schools act as social nodes for initial social integration across social divides, and from there expand into a network that builds up into an eco-corridor. In this cooperative approach across multiple local community groups and NPOs, schools are used as key centres of biodiversity restoration. This is further expanded by incorporating the restoration of surrounding public open spaces and private gardens. Schools are points of call for knowledge exchange and innovation. Surrounding public spaces are areas for sharing and expanding that biodiversity resource, building, developing and deepening restorative relationships between peoples and between people, plants and animals.

SER2019 Keynote: The UN Decade on Ecological Restoration: Rising to the Challenge

This plenary panel “The UN Decade on Ecological Restoration: Rising to the Challenge” is from the SER2019 World Conference. Speakers are Musonda Mumba (head of the UN Environment’s Terrestrial Ecosystems Team), Bob Scholes (a Professor of Systems Ecology at the University of the Witwatersrand), Bernardo Strassburg (founder and executive director of the International Institute for Sustainability and Assistant Professor at the Pontifical Catholic University), and George Gann (Chief Conservation Strategist and Chair of the Board of The Institute for Regional Conservation, and Policy Lead and Chair Emeritus of the Society for Ecological Restoration); Dr. Cara Nelson (University of Montana) is the panel moderator.

The capacity of urban restored forests to support native birds: Ecological or social restoration?

Urban restoration can perform the dual role of creating refugia for native flora and fauna, and greenspaces where city residents can benefit from daily interaction with nature. Our research combines ecological and social science to evaluate the contribution that restored native forests in New Zealand cities can make to native bird conservation and reconnecting urbanites with nature. Birds were monitored at 43 sites in two New Zealand cities. Sites represented three types of urban forest: unrestored (n = 6), restored (n = 26), remnant (n = 6), and rural forest remnants nearest to each city (n = 6). Restored sites formed an age gradient of 1 to 73 years since initial planting. Using qualitative interviews, we explored city residents’ experiences of urban nature in parks and gardens. Results reveal that native bird species’ richness and diversity increases with time since restoration. Avian communities shift from being dominated by introduced finches to supporting a greater number of native birds as the forest matures. Results suggest that habitat is a primary limiting factor for native birds, demonstrating the potential of restoration to increase bird numbers in cities. The social study findings suggest that we cannot rely on urban gardens to support native biodiversity in the short-term and stress the need for local authorities to invest more time and resources in urban restoration. As the number of people living in cities continues to rise, our research offers renewed evidence for the importance of reserving a space for nature in cities.

Vegetative purification of Oman oil field byproduct water: A case study of the world’s largest constructed wetland and its beneficial ecological offsets

The oilfields of Oman, along with others in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, produce large amounts of ground water as a byproduct of the oil extraction process. This oil contaminated water is often dealt with by return to the deep oil field aquifers. Petroleum Development Oman has established the largest constructed wetland in the world by engaging a German environmental consultant to design and construct a vegetated wetland to purify the oil-laden water to avoid the use of fossil fuel power sources to pump the contaminated water deep underground. The volumes of water are enormous, and the success of the project is demonstrated not only by the water purity of the wetland outfall but also by the wetland supporting extensive wildlife that otherwise would not be present and to offset habitat loss in other migratory zones.

This presentation will demonstrate the science and engineering bought together by specialists from around the world to develop an environmentally responsible solution and provide an example of the power of constructed natural processes to address water pollution challenges. The presentation will include the latest staged addition to the wetland, involving the propagation of wetland species endemic to Oman in a collaboration between international wetland scientists and plant propagation specialists.

Creek restoration to support riparian habitat and extended flow

The South Platte River Basin (Colorado, USA) accounts for over half of Colorado’s economic activity, contains seven of the top ten agricultural producing counties in the state, and includes many areas for recreation. Water flows in tributaries in the South Platte River Basin are variable and ephemeral, with many reaches dry for large portions of the year. Historical channelization has exacerbated this problem, creating steeper banks and more incised channels. With less water getting onto the banks, the flood plain and available riparian habitat are reduced. In 2015 we initiated a watershed improvement project in the lower portion of the South Platte River Basin at Denver Botanic Gardens Chatfield Farms. Partnering with six other organizations and agencies, using a mix of federal, state, county, and private funds, we installed three in-stream structures to re-wet historical oxbows, improving hydrology from historical stream channelization. In addition to improved plant and animal habitat, restoring flows provides longer water storage in the system and increases the duration of flow in the creek. In our third season post-installation, water was flowing in the creek a month longer than what would have been available from just upstream sources. We also planted over 1,000 willows, cottonwoods, and other native riparian species and initiated a long-term monitoring program for vegetation and water quality. We have seen extended channel flow and increased animal use in restored areas. Based on the success of this minimally invasive technique, we aim to expand to other areas in the South Platte River Basin.

Hand weeding after direct seeding overcomes competition from high weed loads in riparian zones

Riparian zones are vulnerable to high levels of weed invasion by a wide diversity of species, due to their location in the landscape and the impacts of human activities. Restoring indigenous vegetation communities is challenging in riparian sites dominated by weed species. We asked whether intensive pre-sowing weed control was sufficient to protect establishing native seedlings from weed competition, and if not, what technique of post-sowing weed control was most effective. At several sites in south-eastern Australia we tested management techniques to promote direct seeding outcomes in riparian zones with high weed loads. Our study found that intensive pre-sowing weed control, involving multiple herbicide applications and physical removal of weeds, was insufficient to protect native seedlings from weed competition during establishment. At one site, native plant numbers were four times lower in plots receiving pre-sowing weed control only than in plots which received pre-sowing and post-sowing weed control. At two other sites, hand weeding in the months immediately after sowing was more effective than spraying a broad-spectrum herbicide at the same frequency, with twice as many native plants establishing in the hand weeded plots. Despite the high cost of manual labour, it may be more cost-effective to hand weed than to not hand weed after direct seeding, due to the higher rates of plant establishment. These results indicate that direct seeding in riparian zones with high weed loads can be successful, but only if effective post-sowing weed control is undertaken.

Restoring abandoned salt pans as waterbird habitat

Southern African estuaries and saltpans function as important areas for many waterbirds, including Palearctic migratory bird species. The Swartkops Estuary and adjacent saltpans near Port Elizabeth, a Global Important Bird Area (IBA), largely owes its diversity and abundance of waterbirds to the presence of extensive artificial saltworks. The saltpans here are one of the most important mainland breeding sites for seabirds in the region. However, these saltpans have been abandoned due to theft and vandalism of the pump stations, leaving behind four large dry and salinized concentration pans. Consequently, the number and diversity of waterbirds in the IBA has decreased. To restore this important waterbird habitat, estuarine water is to be pumped into the dry pans on a seasonal basis. They will be filled in winter to provide safe nesting sites (i.e. islands in the pans) for the birds and allowed to dry again over summer to provide feeding areas. A restoration plan is presented as well as details of the monitoring necessary to determine the success of the restoration. Baseline data were collected before the pans were filled, including biotic characteristics such as bird abundance, and abiotic features including sediment (electrical conductivity, moisture content, organic content and grain size) and groundwater characteristics (depth to groundwater and salinity). These variables were measured again after the pans had been filled to monitor the success of the management objective. Although the conservation of waterbirds is a global issue, this needs to be addressed locally through management and conservation of wetland habitats.

Engaging vulnerable groups in peatland restoration projects

For a long time, peatlands were considered a “storehouse of resources” for humans; their ecosystem services provided a steady income to local residents. Due to peat development cessation and closure of enterprises, local residents have lost their jobs and interest in peatlands. As a result, abundant peat cut fields became fire-hazards. A sociological study was undertaken in order to identify which groups of local residents could benefit from peatland restoration. The study was conducted in four pilot regions of Russia as part of the project “Restoring peatlands in Russia” (PeatRus), funded by the International Climate Initiative with German-Russian cooperation. The vulnerable groups of the population (the older generation, women, people with disabilities, and people with low financial income) were addressed first. For the considered pilot regions, ecological restoration projects had become drivers of socio-economic development and gave a start not only for restoration of peatland ecosystem functions, but also for developing the economic potential of the territory and the local community. In the course of the PeatRus implementation we developed a unique method for interaction with different stakeholders, including especially vulnerable ones. The presentation describes an example of a completed project in the Kameshkovsky district, Vladimir region. The applied method of stakeholder involvement will be replicated in other areas. Therefore, the ecological restoration projects allow reduction of the fire hazard, launches ecosystem restoration processes, as well as to identifying new opportunities for the use of peatlands’ ecosystem services for the sake of the local community’s sustainable development.

Paludiculture – A way to restore ecosystem services of peatlands with continued productive use for economic benefits

Climate-smart land use with close-to-surface groundwater levels (paludiculture) could restore ecosystem functioning and reduce GHG emissions, and thus contribute considerably to reaching restoration and climate mitigation targets. However, adapting peatland agriculture to higher water levels is a challenging task for society. This talk will highlight examples in Europe including which plant cultures are used and how paludiculture delivers synergies between land use with economic benefit and restoration targets with environmental benefit. It needs to be incorporated into national and regional strategies to steer spatial and rural development planning, including delineation of target areas of organic soils to create common understanding for all affected stakeholders (farmers, but also water management, conservation, tourism and others) and authorities. As a basis, updated peatland distribution data is used, which can be merged in GIS and other planning data. Biomass is either used to substitute fossil materials (construction, insulation, horticultural substrates, etc.) or for generating renewable energy for heating and electricity. Environmental benefits are GHG emission reduction, nutrient and water retention, local cooling, and biodiversity, which depends on habitat management. Review of research for the benefits is presented and how it can be implemented into national and international policy frameworks.

When restoration contradicts the traditional land use

The peatlands of Mongolia used to cover 2% of the country and are rapidly vanishing. Peatlands provide unique ecosystem services. Peatlands protect permafrost – the largest current water storage in the country — from thawing. They store water and carbon and provide habitats for wetland species and productive pastures. The latest assessment (2017) evidenced that peatlands were reduced by 50% during the last 50 years. The carbon emission caused by peatland degradation in Mongolia is estimated at up to 45 million tons per year, which makes Mongolia the seventh largest global emitter of CO2 from degrading peatlands. Mongolia considers including peatland restoration in the NDCs. That demands good pilots which could show the positive effect of restoration. The experiment on mire restoration in Khashat began in 2017 and involved fencing springs, construction of small dams on the flows – natural and originating from cattle paths, and reparation and fencing of the large dam in order to create an alternative source of water for cattle. Restoration is followed by monitoring. In the first years the restoration measures were opposed by a large part of the local community. Traditional land use does not recognise fencing and includes free unlimited grazing, using springs as water sources. The dramatic increase of cattle makes it impossible to maintain this approach. Peatland restoration benefits are not clear for local communities and costs include serious limitations in cattle density and access to water sources. The clear cost benefit analysis is needed to move ahead with ecological restoration projects.

Peatland restoration support from local to national level – case studies from South Africa

Peatland conservation is not only vital to effective biodiversity conservation but also in mitigating climate change as peatlands are earth’s greatest natural carbon store among natural ecosystems. They are therefore cross cutting areas of natural and social interests where the real costs and benefits of peatland restoration often support local growth points for local economies or have strong impacts on them. While wetlands are globally regarded as one of the most important life support systems, they are in South Africa the most threatened ecosystem type with 62% classified as critically endangered and only 15% in near-natural ecological condition. The Working for Wetlands, a South African government programme, mandated with protection, promotion of wise-use, and rehabilitation of wetlands is often faced with the challenge of prioritising catchments and wetland systems due to financial resource constraints. The programme’s current planning system is based on catchment priorities that have potential for high biodiversity and functional value return, as well as potential for partnerships. Prioritising wetlands of high conservation value such as peatlands in a drier landscape must be weighed up against the restoration of more common drier wetland types. It is imperative therefore that peatland restoration projects must be based on clear formulation of objectives and costs-benefit analyses. This presentation focuses on the ecological and socioeconomic outcomes of a local community-based peatland restoration project compared to that of regional incentive from a national programme.

Resilience as a background principle of ecosystem restoration projects

Background resilience is an extremely important component to understand for any restoration project. The key to being able to assess resilience, loss of resilience, and future impacts affecting resilience requires a comprehensive understanding of local ecosystem functions and any external impacts effecting the project area. All sites have tell-tale signs of their resilience, that is their ability to regenerate naturally, or through assisted restoration techniques. To establish the site regeneration potential there are many individual components that need to be considered. These include but are not limited to:

• Stored resilience in the soil through a seed bank
• Connectivity to areas of high resilience
• Changes in hydrology
• Ongoing degrading impacts
• Remnant vegetation
• Ongoing human usage

Once the assessment has been made of the site’s resilience, it is then critical to select the correct restoration techniques to ensure that maximum benefits are gained from the retained site resilience. It is also important to understand that there is potential to reduce the sites resilience through the incorrect implementation of restoration techniques or their order of application. A good understanding of your site’s resilience and knowledge on how to best use it can often mean a large saving in restoration costs. A poor understanding of resilience in planning stages can focus on fabrication of an ecosystem, which is very costly. The first priority is to always to protect existing site resilience.

Partnerships in peatland restoration projects

Ecological restoration projects demand an integrative approach that includes the ecological and socio-economic aspects. Usually these projects involve nongovernmental, volunteer and governmental organisations, dealing with science or environment, and to a lesser extent – business. At the same time, the social and environmental policy is becoming a distinctive feature of leading industrial companies. The presentation aims to demonstrate the case studies within the project “Restoring peatlands in Russia” and several projects in the Russian Arctic when both local communities and business had been involved. The involvement of the local communities gives opportunity to meet the regional concerns. The involvement of the companies brings additional funding to restoration projects as well as gives a pathway for sustainable development of the area and creates a positive image of the entire company. The involvement of both actors demands clear incentives which should be communicated to the stakeholders. The presentation includes a description of the method for identification of specific stakeholder benefits gained from the ecosystem restoration. The identified benefits for a wide range of stakeholders are presented for three restoration pilots, including one where one of the beneficiaries was the key investor.

Integrated watershed based restoration of degraded ecosystems

Degraded ecosystems are deficient in both biotic and abiotic elements, including soil and hydrologic elements. These ecosystems have low vegetation cover and high soil exposure, leading to poor soil quality and water absorption capability. Water run-off during monsoons causes soil erosion and loss of topsoil impacts plant recruitment. This adverse cycle impacts resilience of the overall ecosystem and makes natural recovery difficult. This presentation discusses a watershed management approach to address these issues, implemented over the last five years in a scrub forest ecosystem adjacent to a major tiger reserve in South India. The project site covers 100 ha with a mix of hilly terrain and valleys, characterised by low vegetation cover, high soil erosion, and annual rainfall below 900 mm. Restoration objectives were to arrest and reverse soil erosion, improve water holding capacity, and revive grass and shrub cover. Mapping of the watershed at the landscape level helped to understand hydrological flows. Erosion control measures included gully plugs and contour trenches. Additional ground water enhancement was through check dams across streams. Innovative methods included saucers for grass revival and short trenches for naturally recruited juvenile plants. Seed dispersal and sapling plantings were also conducted. Main outcomes are a reversal of erosion, increase in grass and shrub cover, and revival of pioneer tree species. Vegetation monitoring is done against reference plots. Soil analyses indicate improvement in quality. Insect and bird surveys and monitoring of other fauna indicate good rewilding success. Involvement of indigenous community members enhanced project success significantly.

Opportunities and challenges for the gain of scale on restoration activities in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest

The Atlantic Forest (AF) is a tropical ecoregional complex distributed throughout the Brazilian coast, reaching Argentina and Paraguay territories. It presents high species endemism and severe loss of forest cover, currently estimated at 85%. Restoration is necessary in order to retain biodiversity and crucial ecosystem services provided by its remnants. Despite this, large-scale initiatives are still lacking, and information about projects remains diffuse. To make a gap analysis of opportunities and challenges in AF restoration, we collected data about restoration initiatives from 24 institutions and interviewed six Brazilian specialists. Altogether, 81 initiatives were mapped, of which 66% focus in small-scale restoration and 56% in restoration supply production. Fewer projects address economics of restoration and compliance with environmental liabilities. Paper and pulp industries are strategic stakeholders to promote gain of scale in restoration initiatives in the AF, since companies are compelled to protect and restore native forests due to legal compliances. Over 70% of the initiatives are placed in the South and Southeast regions, depicting the lack of restoration investments in the Northeastern AF. Specialists mention key themes for the gain of scale in AF restoration: i) Financing for forest restoration projects; ii) Incentives and financial mechanisms to reduce costs of forest restoration projects; and iii) Regulation of political forecasts; and agreeing that sustainable landscape planning is an opportunity for scaling up restoration. Also, restoration technical capacity building, alignment to international climate change commitments, and incentives to enhance natural regeneration processes were detected as gaps and opportunities to restore the AF.

All roads lead to Rome: Convergence in the woody community assembly of different tropical forest restoration systems after 20 years

The capacity of planted species for promoting the natural regeneration of native species during restoration of tropical forests has been emphasized in many studies over the last few decades. It is believed that differences in the composition and structure of the canopy will lead to different assembly trajectories in the regenerating community by changing biotic and abiotic filters. We compared the woody vegetation (trees, shrubs and lianas) colonizing seven different active restoration systems (ranging from 5-40 tree species being planted), in two sites with contrasting soil fertility and landscape characteristics, established 20 years before. A reference forest fragment near each experimental site was also surveyed. We included all individuals with DBH (diameter at breast height) ≤ 5 cm for trees and ≤ 3 cm for climbers.  After 20 years, the restoration system and sites showed differences in forest structure, yield, and species diversity for the canopy species. Nevertheless, restoration systems had no effect in the structure and composition of the natural regeneration community, either for bush/tree species and lianas. The number of tree species regenerating within the plots ranged from 93 to 126, plus 40 species of lianas.  We found remarkable differences for trees and lianas only between sites and between restored x reference forests. We concluded that site and landscape effects are stronger than restoration design for community assembly, and planted trees might have a major role in changing abiotic filters. These findings have implications for the design of restoration systems for tropical regions that might accomplish multiple services.

Multiple feedbacks can create resilient degraded states and stall restoration

Invasive plants are often removed without plans for follow-up management, be it further clearing or active restoration. However, most ecosystems have multiple rather than single plant invaders, which can lead to one species taking over after another is removed. There is a need for general principles regarding invader interactions across varying environmental conditions, so that secondary invasions can be predicted, and managers can allocate resources towards pre-treatment or post-removal actions. By reviewing removal experiments conducted in three Hawaiian ecosystems, we evaluate the roles of environmental harshness, priority effects, productivity potential, and species interactions in influencing secondary invasions. We generate a conceptual model with a “surprise index” to describe whether long-term plant invader composition and dominance is predictable versus stochastic after a system perturbation. Under extremely low resource availability, the surprise index is low, while under intermediate-level resource environments, invader dominance is more stochastic, and the surprise index is high. At high resource levels, the surprise index is intermediate: invaders are likely abundant in the environment, but their response to a perturbation is more predictable than at intermediate resource levels. We suggest further testing across environmental gradients to determine key variables that dictate the predictability of post-removal, invader composition.

Bringing research and catchment restoration planning and management into conversation with rural development

The preceding talks in this symposium all aim at widening the usual “science-management” (technocratic) power nexus. This entails additional linkages that effectively engage the “rest of society” beyond scientists and managers.  While these extensions should not be overbearing, there is growing recognition of the need for collaborative polycentric governance. Projects reflected in this symposium have engaged in various ways more deeply than before with a range of user and client groups, right through to catchment residents, in various potentially empowering ways, including a focus on livelihoods. Building on these specific examples, this presentation will discuss more generally our experiences with trust-building, co-production of goals and knowledge, and the move towards appropriate levels of joint decision-making, or at least meaningful joint recommendations with a high likelihood of implementation. These projects all fall in the domain of landscape or catchment rehabilitation/restoration. During the trust-building and collaborative phases of these projects with “wider society”, especially in the poorer regions in southern Africa, many other developmental needs surface – say needs for healthcare, education, or security – often more pressing than the locally expressed immediate need for restoration.  Whilst poorer communities generally opt for participation in any such restoration initiatives, this situation has led us to reflect on (a) whether restoration is done, as we increasingly try to carry it out, in a developmental framing; and (b) how the bigger picture of expressed local needs and top-down developmental plans could best play out, with restoration as a socially and economically beneficial contribution to this.

Designing back from practice: Keeping the Olifants River and benefits flowing through systemic, collective action approaches during the worst drought on record

This paper describes the use of systemic, collective approaches to keeping the Olifants River flowing during the worst three-year drought on record. Without this, flows in the lower catchment would have failed, impacting livelihoods and ecosystems both locally and downstream into the Kruger National Park and Mozambique. This success is described through the evolution of a resilience-building programme known as RESILIM-Olifants. For a number of years AWARD and partners have sought to support systemic, tenable governance arrangements reinforced by appropriate tools for Integrated Water Resources Management. The approach was initiated through a focus on ‘real-world’, practice-based needs of water resources managers and designing back from these to develop appropriate institutional and technological arrangements. Importantly the work is catalyzed by the implementation needs, rather than a research focus. The entry point was one of supporting the policy requirements for water resources protection whilst at the same time recognizing the practical needs of managers to allocate water in a stressed catchment and to monitor both status and water use against legislated benchmarks. This recognises that within South Africa, as in many countries, there is a commitment to environmental water requirements. Whilst methods for their determination are well-developed, implementation measures are still weak. Constraints to this such as institutional uncertainty, weak capacity, and inappropriate tools are discussed. We describe testing such an approach to sustain flows in the Olifants River and explore the benefits of doing so. We conclude by exploring both strengths and risks for such a system in the longer-term.

Decolonization and democratization of livelihoods: Restoring human-land relations through co-management of natural resources

Learning processes in environmental management are often oriented to change and transformation and frequently involve the emergence of new forms of human activity. Nevertheless, little is known about how such change can be supported, especially in non-formal learning processes. We report on insights from the natural resource management (NRM) resilience building project in the highly biodiverse Legalameetse nature reserve in Limpopo province, South Africa. The paper explores how the use of cultural historic activity theory (CHAT) can mediate transformative learning for supporting co-management of protected areas. This paper reveals how deep historic injustices such as colonization and apartheid regimes have eroded the custodianship of NRM from local land users and communities in South Africa. The investigative question was how can the use of CHAT, in an expansive learning process support people to collectively (re)conceptualize and address the intricate interplay of social, economic, political, and cultural factors that drive environmental degradation? Guided by systemic thinking and sociocultural traditions of CHAT, the paper shares novel ways of mediating learning processes with communities that have successfully (re)claimed their land and that are learning to co-manage it with government agencies for conservation and livelihood benefits. In conclusion, the paper argues for developing and using mediation tools that recognize deep socio-cultural and historical knowledge as key drivers in developing sustainable NRM practices for resilient landscapes and livelihoods. Furthermore, developing and using mediation tools should be conceived not only as an interpretive process, but also as collaborative authoring of events and frameworks for understanding socio-ecological complexity.