Resource Database

Getting to know the river: Experiences of a citizen technician from the Tsitsa River Catchment, Eastern Cape, South Africa

The Tsitsa River catchment is located in the northern Eastern Cape, South Africa. The catchment is characterised by degraded grasslands, materially poor rural communities with uncertain livelihoods, extreme climatic conditions, and high sediment yields. The Tsitsa Project was initiated by the Department of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries (DEFF) to reduce soil erosion, improve equitable access to natural resources, and sustain land-based livelihoods. Grace Saunders is a prominent community member who lives near the Tsitsa River. She has partnered with the Tsitsa project since December 2015, capturing sub-daily river level and water clarity information and collecting water samples to provide suspended sediment concentration data (as an indication of catchment erosion). Grace’s work contributes directly to catchment research that aims to guide catchment restoration and sustainable land management. Grace has become a community champion for the environment, both through her active role in the restoration project and through her engagement with policy makers for sustainable land management based on personal experience. Grace describes her daily routine, including the main observations related to rainfall, land degradation, and river dynamics, and shares the ways in which this has influenced the way she views land degradation and restoration. Grace also shares the challenges and benefits that she has experienced as a result of engaging with the river monitoring work.

Engaging local citizens in scientific monitoring for catchment restoration: Benefits and recommendations for optimising their involvement

The Tsitsa Project operates in the Mzimvubu catchment in the former Transkei homelands in South Africa, a poverty-stricken area with limited development opportunities and highly erodible soils. The project aims at rehabilitating degraded areas and limiting further degradation in a way that promotes local livelihoods. Environmental monitoring, a form of citizen science, delivers scientific data and also creates environmental awareness and custodianship. Local monitors have collected water samples for studying sediment transportation since 2015 and are paid per sample as the most feasible model. Until recently, limited research has been done on the potential and actual benefits for the scientific host organisation and none on the potential and actual costs and benefits for environmental monitors. The recent research reported here used document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and participant observations in a realist framing. A key finding was that the income earned plays a big role in the monitors’ lives, but further than that they gained new knowledge, environmental awareness, and confidence. Mutual respect between the monitors and the coordinator was a significant enabling factor. A preliminary conclusion is that monitors want more involvement than just the data collection. Recommendations for how to achieve this will be shared in the presentation.

Benthic infauna abundances are driven by sediment organic content and impacted by benthic restoration via dredging

Estuaries worldwide are plagued by the accumulation of organic sediments from eutrophication. High levels of organic sediments smother benthic life, foster anoxia, and flux nutrients into the water column. One mitigation approach is legacy organic sediment removal via ecologically-focused dredging. Dredging for navigational purposes is common, but environmental dredging impacts are not well known. This study reports on three years of benthic population data in association with environmental dredging, including a baseline, pre-dredging period and continuing for a year after the cessation of dredging. The study estuary is the Indian River Lagoon (Florida), a diverse shallow subtropical estuary. Organisms tracked include invertebrates collected in benthic grabs. Sites sampled include stations within dredging areas, immediately adjacent, and away. Sediment organic content had inverse correlations with species richness (R²=0.74), diversity (R²=0.80) and overall densities (R²=0.72). Considering major taxa separately, population densities of crustaceans (R²=0.55), molluscs (R²=0.64), and polychaetes (R²=0.60) had inverse correlations with sediment organic content. Organic content correlates closely with silt-clay (R²=0.93) and porosity (R²=0.88), and the dissolved oxygen of the water column immediately above the sediments (R²=0.54). All correlations had significance of p<0.001, except polychaetes, p<0.016. Organisms absent from muck prior to dredging, but appearing in dredged sites during or afterwards, included polychaetes (Glycera americana, Alitta succinea, Pectinaria gouldii, Paradiopatra hispanica, Ctenodrilus serratus, and Hypereteone heteropoda) and amphipods (Cymadusa compta, Cerapus tubularis, Corophium sp., andGrandidierella bonnieroides). Environmental dredging improves conditions for benthic infauna when muck is removed, but the benefits of removing intermediate organic sediments are less clear.

Can intraspecific cooperation enhance restoration success and help meet multiple human goals?

Globally, ecosystems are being degraded at an alarming rate. Rather than purely focusing on the conservation of existing habitats, attention in recent decades has turned to restoration science as a viable strategy for reestablishing habitats that have been lost. However, restoration is not always successful, and even when it is it is often expensive. Recent work has shown that maximizing positive species interactions in marine systems, rather than simply limiting species competition, as is the convention in terrestrial restoration, can enhance restoration success at no added cost. Furthermore, incorporating coastal habitat restoration into infrastructure schemes is a way to use restoration to meet multiple human priorities. Here, we present case studies from the USA and the Netherlands investigating species interactions between oysters and saltmarsh and mussels and seagrass, respectively. The first study demonstrates that the restoration of saltmarsh and oyster reefs together as a shoreline stabilization strategy in North Carolina, USA, enhances coastal resilience and the delivery of other important ecosystem services more significantly than saltmarsh restoration alone. The second study is a manipulative field experiment testing whether the presence of reef building mussels, which are habitat modifiers in the Netherlands, can create more optimal conditions for the establishment of planted seagrass. If restoration is to become a viable strategy for maintaining coastal ecosystems, we need to investigate every avenue for enhancing success, including more research on the costs and benefits of incorporating intraspecific facilitation in different contexts and with different species.

A standardized UAV coastal inventory protocol for consistent restoration project planning

Rising water levels and increased frequency of extreme weather events are rapidly eroding coastlines around the world. Despite the challenges posed by ongoing climate change, restoration projects have the potential to mitigate the negative consequences of climate change in coastal communities. Using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) as the method for documenting coastal restoration projects and natural disasters is becoming more popular as UAV technology is becoming cheaper and more user friendly. Global efforts are underway to restore coastal ecosystem services that lessen the impact of natural disasters and promote native biodiversity, but the integration of UAV acquired coastal inventory data is lacking consistency. I examined case studies from a diverse group of restoration projects using UAV derived data for best practices to create a standardized UAV coastal inventory protocol. I tested the proposed UAV coastal inventory protocol on a green infrastructure project on the southern coast of Lake Superior in Marquette, Michigan, United States. Lake Superior is experiencing record wave heights and water levels, intensifying coastal erosion and the need for restoration project monitoring. I propose standardizing coastal inventory data collection to allow for consistency in the comparison of future coastal restoration project results. The implications of comparative photographic analysis derived from the standardized UAV coastal inventory protocol will allow project funders to compare past project results with increased transparency. This standardized protocol will also help coastal restoration planners compare strategies during the planning process of projects to inform decision making and local policy change.

Cap and trade funded coastal wetland restoration-carbon sequestration projects: Examples from California and the northeastern United States

There are two active carbon markets in the United States – the California market and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cooperative program between ten northeastern states. Both cap and trade programs are providing funding for coupled coastal wetland restoration – carbon sequestration projects. In California eligible projects have included coastal wetland and mountain meadow restoration, while RGGI-supported projects vary across states. Using case studies from California and New Jersey, this presentation will discuss how funding from these programs is linked with restoration projects. This presentation will cover the stoichiometry between carbon sequestration and the emission of other greenhouse gases in coastal wetlands, identify synergies between restoration and carbon sequestration opportunities, and discuss how permanency issues are being addressed.

An assessment of restoration efforts in South African estuaries and a socio-ecological approach to sustaining ecosystem services

South African estuaries are essential biodiversity hotspots. At the same time, they serve as foci for development, tourism, and recreation, and their biological resources support subsistence and commercial fisheries. Human activities have caused the health and provision of ecosystem services in several estuaries to decline. This study assessed efforts to restore normal functioning in degraded estuarine lakes (St Lucia and Nhlabane) and temporarily closed estuaries (Mdloti and Mhlanga). These systems have been impacted by reduced freshwater inflow and the effects of urban, industrial, agricultural, and mining activities. Restorative efforts included breaching the estuary mouth, using artificial structures to restore tidal action (Zandvlei), and constructing canals to re-establish water flows (Isipingo, Zeekoevlei). The success of these efforts has been varied. In a few cases (Great Brak, Zandvlei), restoration removed negative pressures and the estuary recovered but, in most cases (e.g. Isipingo and Siyaya), restoration efforts failed. The assessment highlights the importance of identifying and addressing the root causes of deterioration instead of focusing on measures to fix the symptoms. For example, frequent artificial breaching of small closed estuaries can exacerbate poor health by causing sedimentation and shallowing. Restoring normal freshwater inflow is a more effective solution. This critical assessment showed that most rehabilitation attempts have been unsuccessful and a coordinated national effort supported by appropriate human and financial resourcing is needed.  A socio-ecological systems approach for the restoration of estuaries and delivery of multiple ecosystem services is outlined that provides opportunities for job creation and contribution to the blue economy.

Coastal bank and salt marsh restoration: Examples of low impact and soft engineering strategies

This paper describes soil bioengineering techniques, living shoreline construction, and coastal marsh restoration techniques to stabilize eroding coastal shorelines and marshes.  Although the examples provided are from North America, the innovative techniques described may be used to restore coastal shorelines worldwide. The use of native vegetation to stabilize eroded shorelines, in concert with soil bioengineering techniques, is well adapted to withstand sea level rise and high-intensity storm events, while allowing landward migration of coastal vegetation and the critical habitat it supports. We describe new methods and innovative uses of soil bioengineering installation to restore coastal shorelines, coastal dunes, and salt marshes. The case studies described in this presentation demonstrate that after 20 years of installation, the use of soft engineering and native vegetation may be considered a long-term solution for addressing coastal erosion without the use of stone armour, revetments, or other hard structures and the negative environmental impacts associated with traditional hard armouring of shorelines. Strategies such as high-density coconut fiber rolls and geo-lifts are proving to be adaptation design strategies to stabilize our coasts, which are facing increased rates of erosion due to sea level rise and more frequent storm events.

Assessment of estuary pressures and health key to the prioritisation of restoration activities on a national scale

Globally estuarine ecosystems’ abilities to sustain functionality and productivity are rapidly deteriorating owing to increasing human pressures. Unless policy-makers and managers intervene, this valuable natural capital will be lost to society. For interventions to be effective, knowledge on the extent of human pressures on estuaries is critical. This study systematically identified and assessed anthropogenic pressures on South African estuaries and their associated impact on ecosystem health. The outcome of the assessment revealed that a third of the country’s freshwater flow no longer reaches the coast, severely impacting at least 20% of estuaries. Wastewater discharges into estuaries amounts to about 840 million litres per day with 33% of estuaries severely affected by pollution-related activities. More than 3 730 tonnes of fish are caught annually in estuaries, severely impacting at least 20% of systems. Destruction of estuarine habitat results in severe impacts in at least 29% of estuaries, with agricultural activities contributing to 10% of change. About 15% of estuary inlets are artificially manipulated which, when combined, affects more than 60% of estuarine area. Alien vegetation has infested at least 40% of estuaries and severely impacted 6% of systems. The assessment provides a useful framework for the prioritisation of restoration actions. Arresting the decline in health on a national scale requires strategic, cross-sectoral resource-use planning and restoration that addresses the allocation of freshwater, wastewater management, fisheries, and urban, mining and agricultural development. Estuaries prioritized for restoration, particularly for water quality improvement, will provide some quick wins for increasing estuary health.

Perception of stakeholders on the posting of reclamation bonds in the small-scale mining sector in Ghana: A case study of Prestea Huni-Valley District, Ghana

The small-scale mining sector in Ghana contributes greatly to the country’s economy, yet it is also associated with negative environmental impacts, such as land degradation and water pollution. Most miners in the sector have shifted from the mining methods used during colonial time, which involved the use of simple or hand-held equipment, to the use of high technological equipment for the extraction of the mineral. Reclamation bonds have been continuously deployed in the large-scale sector to promote sustainability and ensure reclamation of mined site in their operation. Introduction of reclamation bonds at the small-scale mining sector would help curb the extensive degradation caused by these activities. Based on these issues, this study assessed the perception of stakeholders on the introduction of reclamation bonds in the small-scale mining sector from three communities in Prestea Huni-Valley District, Ghana. Based on interviews with concession owners, representatives of regulatory institutions, and miners’ associations in the district, introducing reclamation bonds would ensure compliance in the sector, enforce miners to practice concurrent reclamation sustainably, and mitigate some negative environmental impacts. Findings suggest that, reclamation bond fees must be moderated when introduced to enable miners to comply. Additionally, payment of the bond must not be full payment at the initial stage of operation but rather as the mine progresses. To achieve this, miners must be well trained and educated about reclamation bonds. There is a need for government assurance to the miners on how funds will be refunded to them after a successful reclamation.

Biodiversity responses to restoration of linear features associated with oil and gas exploration in boreal peatlands of western Canada

Exploration of Alberta’s oilsands has fragmented much of the boreal forest in the Province, with thousands of kilometers of linear features (mainly seismic lines) constructed. Seismic line restoration has become important for the oil and gas industry, with treatments mostly focused on reducing line use and access. Mounding and tree planting is a commonly used treatment in peatlands, as mounds provide higher ground, improving seedling establishment/survival, increasing topography, and reducing wildlife and human traffic. Mounding/planting has broader implications on local recovery and ecological properties than those related to functional restoration, which can be useful to assess restoration success. We evaluated habitat conditions and biodiversity (ground invertebrates and plants) three years post-treatment application in relation to untreated lines and the adjacent forest. Results show higher ground water content on the line compared to the adjacent forest, with no differences between treated and untreated lines. However, higher natural regeneration was observed on mounds compared to untreated lines and the adjacent forest. Plant richness was similar among habitats; however, invertebrate richness was lowest on mounded sites. Invertebrate abundance and plant percent cover was lowest in mounded sites. Species composition of plants and invertebrates was different among habitats (forest, mounded vs. untreated), with mounded sites the most different. Although restoration has influenced habitat conditions relative to those of untreated lines, it is still too soon in the recovery trajectory to evaluate whether mounding improves habitat conditions compared to those in the reference forest. Thus, longer term monitoring is required to better assess restoration success.

Germination analysis of natural and ecologically-restored sites in phosphate mining fields in Zin Valley, Israel

Phosphate mining occurs over 200 km² of the Negev desert, Israel. However, the effects of the ongoing restoration efforts of the mines have not been studied. Plants and their seed banks have a major role in ecosystem processes, hence requiring major consideration in studying ecological restoration. I focused on three mining sites restored in different years at Zin valley and compared plots. I hypothesized that: (1) there is a lack of seed bank in the restored plots; (2) the altered soil composition at the restored plots inhibits germination. I set up two greenhouse experiments using soil samples collected from the different mining sites: (1) comparison between natural and restored areas treated with planting mixture or vermiculite; (2) addition of native seeds to test their germination potential on restored soil. Results indicated that the lack of a seed bank was the major limiting factor for restoring the plant community and that soil composition did not hinder germination. For two mining sites, abundance was significantly lower in restored plots compared to natural plots and their community composition differed significantly. For the third mining site, no significant differences in abundance or community composition were found. When comparing restored plots of various restoration years, community composition differed significantly. My results indicate that restoration efforts in our area should focus on preserving the seed bank to allow better dispersal of seeds in restored plots. Active seeding in restored plots offers an approach towards vegetation reestablishment.

Understanding changes in biological soil crust’s bacterial communities in rehabilitated sites of phosphate mines in the Negev Desert

In the Negev Desert, phosphate mining has been practiced for over 60 years, destroying local habitats and fragmenting the landscape. Since the biological soil crust (BSC) layer is a pivotal contributor to desert ecosystem function, it is imperative to evaluate its health following severe disturbances. We have monitored BSCs in four phosphate mining sites and investigated the bacterial communities over spatial (between rehabilitated and undisturbed plots) and temporal (various restoration years between 2007-2015) scales. We hypothesized that BSC communities vary in community attributes on both scales, according to a successional sequence. Forty-eight composited BSC samples were collected and their physicochemical properties and bacterial community composition evaluated using qPCR and deep sequencing of the 16S rDNA. Our results suggest that bacterial total abundance, richness, and diversity in undisturbed plots are significantly higher than in rehabilitated plots across all sampling sites, regardless of their time of restoration. Community composition also varies between undisturbed and rehabilitated plots; whereas the dominant phyla in undisturbed BSC are Cyanobacteria and Chloroflexi, rehabilitated plots are dominated by Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria. We also found a consistent pattern of significantly higher total and relative abundances of Cyanobacteria in undisturbed plots. Along the temporal gradient, we found no significant differences in richness, diversity, or community composition; BSC communities differ significantly from undisturbed areas even 12 years following restoration. These results indicate that BSC communities are altered following the mining disturbance and have slow recovery times with possible ramifications to entire ecosystem health and a need for active BSC restoration measures. 

Integrative restoration protocols for temperate mesophotic reefs: The case of the Mediterranean coralligenous habitats

The temperate coralligenous habitats are considered hotspots of Mediterranean marine biodiversity. These coralligenous bioconcretions are built primarily by the accumulation of encrusting coralline algae growing at low irradiance levels that host numerous long-lived macroinvertebrates with prominent ecological roles. Several pressures, such as fishing activities, invasive species, and recurrent warming-induced mass mortalities, affect coralligenous assemblages and lead to dramatic loss of habitat complexity and biodiversity. One aim of the EU-funded project MERCES, dedicated to marine ecosystems restoration, was to develop innovative active restoration protocols with a focus on coralligenous habitat-forming macroinvertebrates from three key taxonomic groups: Cnidaria/Anthozoa, Porifera/Demospongiae and Bryozoa. These protocols combined transplants from donor organisms and recruitment-enhancing devices, taking into account the life-history traits, population dynamics, and genetics of targeted habitat-formers. Our results show that transplantations require low initial effort due to high survival of transplants, but decades will be needed to fully recover habitat complexity because targeted species are slow-growing. In order to speed up recovery, we explored the potential influence of facilitation processes, i.e. positive species interactions. In order to guide the choice of transplant donors, we also aimed to identify thermo-resistant populations and specimens. We thus combined a transregional common garden and whole-genome sequencing to unravel the eco-evolutionary processes driving the differential responses to thermal stress. The outcomes of these works will implement the EU directives and contribute to the strategic planning of restoration initiatives for temperate marine ecosystems in the context of global change.

New global guidelines for shellfish reef restoration

When The Nature Conservancy and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration first published a practitioner’s guide in 2006, shellfish reef restoration was still in its infancy and practiced largely in the United States. Over the past decade, restoration has expanded and matured with small and large-scale projects throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, and the Americas. With this expansion, a host of different environmental and logistical challenges face practitioners, yet expansion also provides new opportunities for innovative research and shared learning. Colleagues from around the globe have collaborated to produce an updated Guide drawing on experiences and lessons learned. The key objectives of the Guide include: aligning, where practicable, restoration approaches and terminology with the International Standards for Ecological Restoration; capturing the latest research and experiences; and communicating practice for a global audience. The Guide includes information on making the case for restoration and identifying potential funding, feasibility studies, and project planning, restoration in practice, biosecurity and permitting, monitoring and public engagement, innovation such as mussel reefs, as well as guidance on how to scale up restoration efforts. The Guide has contributing authors from New Zealand, Australia, Hong Kong/China, USA, and Europe. Here we officially launch the Restoration Guidelines for Shellfish Reef Restoration to SER conference delegates and discuss the process of collaboration and content of the guide.

Coastal reef restoration in temperate waters: Counteracting fish habitat loss with the construction of artificial stone reefs

Coastal marine ecosystems are facing increasing levels of degradation worldwide as a consequence of anthropogenic activities. The extraction of marine substrate is particularly damaging as it permanently alters the seabed structure, and recovery is unlikely to occur without human intervention. In Denmark, large-scaled extraction of marine boulders occurred for over a century until it was banned in 2010. Since then, a number of restoration projects have been initiated in an attempt to recover this important habitat type and its functions. In this study, we restored a series of coastal stone reefs in Flensborg Fjord, South Denmark. Field sites were monitored with the use of remote underwater video stations (RUVS) in a before-after control-impact (BACI) experimental design. Artificial reefs were constructed either as a large dense reef or as multiple scattered reefs in an attempt to address the ongoing “Single Large or Several Small” (SLOSS) debate in conservation biology. Our results show that the reef restoration efforts had a significant positive effect on total fish abundance. Species richness was also higher on artificial reefs compared to control sites. In terms of reef design, the single dense reefs promoted the abundance of commercially important species, e.g. codfishes (Gadidae), whereas overall species diversity was higher on scattered reefs. Our study provides pertinent information for future marine habitat assessments and emphasizes the importance of considering reef design when constructing artificial reefs. Efforts to recover important fish habitat worldwide are increasing, highlighting the need for effective restoration methodologies.

Native oyster restoration in Europe: Background, progress, and best practice

Oysters provide a multitude of ecosystem services: they are primary reef-builders and increase biodiversity. Today, temperate biogenic reefs are among the most threatened habitats globally, as much of the continental shelf and coastal waters have been homogenized by bottom trawling and dredging. In Europe the native oyster, Ostrea edulis, is an endangered species and functionally extinct in several ecoregions. Reintroduction and restoration of this ecological key-player in European seas contributes to nature conservation objectives such as the OSPAR Convention on Protection of the Seas, the EU Flora–Fauna–Habitat Directive and the Marine Strategy Framework Directive. In general, several constraints to restoration have to be considered, e.g., lack of broodstock; degraded habitats, which are probably less suitable for recruitment; diseases and biosecurity; as well as the potential lack of suitable, protected restoration sites. The presentation will provide an update on the background and progress of oyster restoration in Europe, focusing on:

• best practice as formulated by the Native Oyster Restoration Alliance (NORA) in the Berlin Oyster Recommendation
• restoration in sublittoral offshore waters by presenting a case study in the German Bight: Applied methods, experimental set-up and key findings
• site selection with regard to ecological history, environmental conditions and feasibility of restoration

The presentation will point out major developments, challenges, limitations, and perspectives.

Minnesota Guide for Stream Connectivity and Aquatic Organism Passage Through Culverts

This guide assists Minnesota culvert designers in identifying, selecting, and implementing appropriate designs for maintaining aquatic organism passage (AOP) and stream connectivity at road-stream intersections. It was synthesized from existing literature and culvert design documents, a survey of practitioners, research, and input from experts. Culvert designs often disrupt AOP, degrading stream health. Best practices for AOP at culverts were developed and summarized as follows:  1.) Design the culvert to be similar to the stream channel (reference reach), 2. Provide a continuous sediment bed with roughness similar to the channel 3.) Design for public safety, longevity, and resilience.

The politics of landscape restoration: Lessons from Vietnam

For many years, Vietnam was the posterchild for wartime devastation and the need for remediation in the aftermath of conflict. In the decades since the end of the war, Vietnam embarked on several ambitious restoration projects, including replanting of coastal mangroves and the expansion of inland forest cover through large-scale afforestation efforts. A Five Million Hectare Reforestation Project (5MHRP) that ran from 1998 to 2010 spent over US$1.5 billion total through state investment in seedling provision combined with land allocation to households to encourage them to plant trees. Such programs often focused on afforesting lands the state classified as “barren”, and recipient households transformed these lands into smallholder forestry plantations, ostensibly to reap both environmental and economic benefits. However, the social impacts of these restoration efforts, and the degree to which they were able to include equity and participation concerns, have not been well assessed. In our research with households involved in reforestation, there have been clear privileges afforded to richer households, and land stratification has been one result. Further, there have been negative impacts on women in particular (who often provided labor for tree planting but lost access to common lands they had used for non-timber forest product [NTFP] collection that were privatized as a result). By examining the Vietnam restoration agenda in the post-war years, through several case studies covering different parts of the country and varying ecological landscapes, this paper will note particular challenges for restoration projects championed by national governments but carried out by local households.

Equity and social inclusion in land restoration interventions in Ghana: Considering the ‘by whom’, ‘for whom’, and ‘how’

The pervasiveness of land degradation in Africa carries far reaching socio-political, economic, and ecological impacts. Land restoration interventions are therefore critical for strengthening the resilience of livelihoods and landscapes. Nonetheless, restoration interventions have far too often omitted community participation in favor of top-down approaches. Moreover, they have often narrowly concentrated on the biophysical aspects of restoration, thus diminishing the significance of socio-ecological, political and economic dimensions. This paper is based on qualitative research from 2018 and 2019 in the Talensi district in Ghana, an area with both active and completed Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) interventions. We draw on interviews, focus group discussions, and other participatory rural appraisal methods carried out in four communities in Talensi (the selected communities represent a mix of active and former project sites) to analyse how effectively FMNR interventions have incorporated equity and social inclusion in their approach to regreening. While most land restoration interventions seek to strengthen the resilience of livelihoods and landscapes, the critical questions of resilience ‘by whom’, ‘for whom’, and ‘how’ are often inadequately addressed in development projects—something that carries important implications for equity and social inclusion. We focus particularly on how former and current beneficiaries of FMNR in Talensi perceive the anticipated and/or actual distribution of benefits, costs, and risks within their communities. Our analysis of equity draws on a multidimensional framework developed by McDermott, Mahanty, and Schreckenberg (2013), which is structured around three dimensions to equity: distributive, procedural, and contextual.

Using a political ecology lens to examine forest restoration, water insecurity, and climate change in rural Bolivia

Approximately 20% of Bolivia’s population are water insecure, with most living in rural areas. Climate change is expected to exacerbate this condition. Since the 1990s, Bolivia has lost around 20% of its forest cover, mainly to agricultural production, reducing water retention. Bolivia recently committed to restore 4.5 million hectares of degraded forests by 2030, as part of their Nationally Determined Contributions stemming from the Paris Agreement and aligning with the United Nations’ Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. As such, it is critical to assess restoration interests, potential, and challenges from rural communities’ perspectives and evaluate restoration priorities at multiple scales. Our study focuses on five rural municipalities in Vallegrande, Bolivia, a semi-arid agro-ecological zone. By conducting and analyzing 30 rapid ethnographies and semi-structured interviews with community members, natural resource professionals, and other governmental and non-governmental actors, we find some level of local ecological knowledge regarding ecological conditions and the associated needs for restoration, suitable species, traditional land use patterns, and current changes. We find that some actors connect forest restoration with improved water security, although such knowledge has not been sufficiently incorporated into local restoration programs. We find that community members desire certain species for livelihood reasons, some of which are actually ill-fitted to the local water reality. These results reveal dynamic power relations within and among groups of actors regarding whose knowledge, needs, and desires are being acknowledged, considered, and acted upon. Insights from this research can be used to inform the development of equitable, inclusive, and sustainable forest restoration.

A conceptual framework for exploring social and institutional dimensions of landscape restoration: The case of four market-based approaches in Kenya

In an era where the socio-economic dimensions of landscape restoration can no longer be ignored, emphasis on equity is increasingly being placed on initiatives such as market-based conservation (MBC) schemes. Despite this emphasis, little attention has been devoted to understanding how and why the interplay between institutional and social dynamics influences the design of MBC programmes and their outcomes. This study begins to address this knowledge gap by developing a conceptual framework which guides analyses of MBC initiatives through two areas of inquiry that explore and interrogate the: i) historical and institutional contexts within which actors emerge and interact to influence equitable socio-economic outcomes, and ii) underlying factors for gender in/exclusion in such programmes. Conducted across four case studies in Kenya – two payments for ecosystem service schemes and two Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation schemes – the study adopts innovative qualitative approaches including Process Netmap, the participatory secret ballot and intra-household in-depth interviews to uncover the multi-faceted drivers and constraints associated with MBC approaches. The results reveal that: i) power imbalances condition socio-economic and environmental outcomes and are both relational and multifaceted, ii) women are excluded from equitable participation in decision-making processes and from receiving direct benefits while men incur unremunerated costs on their labour. The study therefore encourages critical reflection on the extent to which the overall neglect of non-technical aspects in market-based approaches limits their potential to address the very same socio-economic inequalities that are linked with the restoration and degradation of critical landscapes.

Stakeholders in Forest Landscape Restoration

Understanding the diversity of stakeholders involved in large scale forest restoration is essential to success. Stakeholders may be categorised in many different ways, recognising that categories hide unique differences. In forest landscape restoration, each stakeholder may understand the approach differently, engage with it in diverse ways, be motivated by different benefits, and may use it for different outcomes. The purpose of this contribution is to better understand how different stakeholders can be categorised in forest landscape restoration (FLR), and what motivates them to engage in restoration. When dealing with landscapes or large scales, stakeholders can be found at many different spatial scales, and those involved in the restoration action may not necessarily be the ones benefitting or losing the most from restoration. Tools to incentivise restoration may be employed in the short term while failing to address fundamental governance issues. Power dynamics are an essential component in decision-making related to large scale forest restoration. Exploring some of the specificities of FLR helps to better understand the full range of issues associated with stakeholders. Examples from projects led by different sets of stakeholders (private sector, NGO, government..) will be examined as a starting point to highlight some of these challenges related to FLR implementation.

How to get more inclusive restoration programs? Governance process, social engagement, and gender perspective

Landscape restoration programs should be designed not only considering theoretical and ecological aspects, but also in the social dimension, since it just makes sense through human lens and intervention. This view change implies a broad perspective of the concepts and assumptions related to restoration initiatives with consequences on how to think and conduct restoration projects. The challenge now is how to integrate this aspect in our project, especially with regard to social engagement. The Atlantic Forest restoration PACT – a multi-stakeholder coalition that brings together more than 280 members to restore 15 million hectares on the Atlantic Forest Biome by 2050 – thereby enlightening some major issues related to scale-up process. Looking through PACT’s study case, we could analyze the main mechanisms associated with governance models, tools for analysis and monitoring protocols, and influence on public policy discourse, in terms of social engagement perspectives. The foremost achievements of the working groups, beside the total amount of the projects registered in the geodatabase, and public policy advocacy, suggest that the transdisciplinary approach, with the participatory methods, during all the stages of the process, can broaden the reach of the projects and also allow advances in knowledge in the field of landscape restoration.

The role of Brazil in leading the global restoration movement

The implementation of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) in Brazil has been going on for decades, which has helped to accumulate a significant amount of science-based knowledge and experience from the several successes and failures. However, the current scale does not reflect this track record. Among the 58 national and regional commitments made to restore more than 170 million hectares of degraded lands and forests under the Bonn Challenge, Brazil is one of the most promising countries in terms of showing and reporting the implementation of its commitment of 12 million hectares. Brazil has one of the most innovative and ambitious forest laws in the world that set aside 20-80% of private lands to conservation and sustainable management practices, in addition to the preservation of land along rivers, springs, water recharge areas, and others. The country also has a national policy and plan to restore native vegetation of all ecosystems in all biomes. Because of this potential, several subnational, multi-stakeholder restoration initiatives were established during the last decade to accelerate and increase the scale of restoration. With all those enabling conditions, we will show the world how Brazil is ready to restore millions of hectares based on the best science, engaging millions of private landowners, and mobilizing public and private finance. The impact from this endeavor in the Paris Agreement and Sustainable Development Goas (SDGs) may take longer to materialize but will certainly change the way future generations protect and steward the natural capital that our lives depend on.

The 10-year journey of the Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact (PACT)

The Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact is recognized as one of the largest global coalitions in favor of the restoration of Tropical Forests. This presentation will present the main results achieved in these 10 years of existence.

Agroforestry for conservation: Building resilient landscapes in the Columbian Amazon

The Caqueta is a department located in southwest Colombia. Spanning close to 88.965 km², Caqueta is a strategic gateway from the Andes mountain ranges to the Amazon plains. This vast, beautiful and biodiverse area has been one of the most affected areas by the internal armed conflict over the last 50 years. Though the peace agreement signed in 2017 stopped the armed conflict in Caqueta, it also brought a multiplicity of competing claims on natural forest, which have led to an unprecedented increase in deforestation rates. Despite government efforts aimed at conserving forested areas, Caqueta is the highest deforestation hotspot, representing 28% of national deforestation. In addition to causing loss of biodiversity and affecting ecosystem services, conversion of forested areas to other land uses is one of the main causes of CO2 emissions in the country. In this context, it is a priority but also a great challenge for the country to base a peace building process on promoting economic development without environmental degradation. Aiming at contributing to sustainable forest management and development of the Amazon Region, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is implementing the “Agroforestry for Conservation” project. Promoting strategic multi-stakeholder arrangements that bring together local communities, governments and other influential stakeholders, TNC supports the alignment of forest conservation and restoration with sustainable production and social agendas. It contributes to consolidate resilient landscapes with increased forest and biodiversity protection and connectivity, increased carbon storage contributing to climate change mitigation, and higher productivity and profitability for local communities depending on forests.

Knowledge for restoration ecology: Floristic and functional diversity along successional trajectories of abandoned tropical pastures Caqueta, Columbia

The plant community assemblages and their space and time variation are important for understanding the fate of biodiversity under anthropogenic alterations. Understanding this pattern can help us plan ecological restoration for highly diverse ecosystems such as the Amazonian forest. It has been considered that plant attributes and their proportional changes should follow a complicated pattern of direct and indirect relationships among them across environmental gradients. We used models of trait-based community assembly to predict the probability for any species to pass through environmental filters. We suggest that such an approach is useful to refine (or to predict) the best community composition to carry out plantations for restoration. Our study was carried out in in the Amazonian Piedmont in the Caquetá-Colombia, in a disturbed and fragmented landscape. The vegetation cover is composed of a relict of humid tropical forest in different successional states. We selected a pool of plant functional traits to predict species abundance across the chronosequence. We asked if the strength of filtering changes along an age gradient and quantified the trait importance to predict species relative abundances. Preliminary results show that species abundance in the Amazonian forest was explained by leaf dry matter content and wood density. In addition, the landscape measures also explained the abundance. We are moving to use these results to select the plant composition to be used in higher level interventions to restore the humid forest in the Amazonian Piedmont in Caquetá-Colombia.

Strategies for a social construction of restoration in the Columbian Amazon

In Colombia, Amazonia represents more than 40% of the territory, however almost 20% has already been anthropogenically modified. The department of Caquetá is the third largest department with the highest annual deforestation rate in Colombian Amazon. Caquetá has also been the epicenter of the armed conflict and the war on drugs in this country. Therefore, the environmental dimension, is necessarily central in the dialogues of peace and in post-conflict development. Thus, the generation of sustainable productive alternatives is one of the main purposes of institutional goals in Caquetá.  Important actions have been conducted in this direction, such as promotion of effective participation by the different territorial actors in the landscape restoration process, seeking social understanding of the causes of ecological degradation and the development of socio-ecological alternatives. This process was organized to establish the political activation of “relationality” and show ways to deepen reflection, practices, and narratives to favor recognition of the negative consequences of current land use based on intensive agriculture and livestock grazing and visualize the importance of socio-ecological restoration. Since 2016 networks of farmers, researchers, and politicians have been developing and gaining strength, and an ambitious educational program of ecology and restoration for citizens and stakeholders was implemented. The development of restoration strategies in Caquetá with the earnest participation of the actors could build a collective learning and a common meaning about degradation and restoration. Along with the scientific knowledge generated by the Sinchi Research Institute, a social construction of restoration is on its way.

Prioritising restoration measures to protect ecosystem services in the Western Cape

The Western Cape Department of Environmental Affairs and Development Planning commissioned a study aimed at guiding investments in ecological infrastructure (EI) so that they increase social-ecological system resilience. This presentation reports on one component of this study which prioritised EI for investment in restoration and protection. Stakeholder workshops were held to identify the key EI and to prioritise the threats to the delivery of benefits from that EI, including alien plant invasions, inland water ecosystem degradation and rangeland degradation. The workshops formulated a vision for this investment: By 2040, people of the Western Cape live and organise themselves in a way that promotes healthy and resilient ecological infrastructure, so that it yields goods and services that support physical, psychological and spiritual well-being in the face of population pressure, rapid urbanisation and climate change. The prioritisation focused on the biophysical factors, identifying catchments where high yields of benefits are coupled with societal demand for those benefits and where degradation of EI places those benefits at risk. The study divided the province’s catchments into 6 clusters based on their biogeographical characteristics and how these determine the suites of benefits. A multi-criterion modelling system was used to identify priority areas for different benefits within each of the 6 clusters and for the province as a whole, with a strong emphasis on water and livelihood security.