Ecological Restoration Demands More Than Just Ecology

Let Learning Be The Path To Strategic Forest And Landscape Restoration

It was August 2017 when restoration ecology and researcher at the University of So Paulo Paula Meli was invited to join 30 other researchers in a meeting with Argentine government officials in Buenos Aires. Argentina was developing its national restoration plan, says Meli. They needed us to define forest degradation, levels of degradation, and indicators to measure levels of degradation.

It was interesting, he explains, he had never been in a situation where the government was so open to receiving information.

But what could have been a fluid meeting turned into a lengthy debate focused on a single definition. My colleagues spent several hours discussing just the term forest degradation, said Meli, who recalls officials waiting for long hours and commenting, “My God, are you going to agree on something or not?”

For Meli, this anecdote illustrates a cultural shock that is observed in Latin America and possibly in other regions of the world. Who stars in it? Restoration ecologists versus the range of professionals, leaders, and communities they now need to work with, but don’t necessarily have the expertise to do so.

It is a long list that covers many spectrums: from a family that occupies the border of a protected forest area to presidents, prime ministers, and leaders of international civil society. These are all stakeholders, with different expectations and needs regarding restoration.

Study

Multidimensional Training In Restoration Aimed At Professionals In Latin America: Needs And Opportunities

Over the past two decades, Latin American countries have committed to restoring at least 53 million hectares of degraded land by 2020, fueling the high demand for ecological restoration professionals in the region.

Although other regions of the world have also committed to restoration goals, in Latin America the commitments are considered ambitious. James Aronson, a restoration ecologist, and researcher at the Missouri Botanical Garden in the United States believes that restoration professionals from other parts of the world can learn from Latin America and the way the region handles challenges in meeting its commitments. . It is worth emphasizing that Latin America is a true incubator where people are dealing with all this complexity, he says.

From the desert to Antarctica

Latin America stretches from the arid northern border of Mexico to the Antarctic islands south of Chile. Twenty-four countries and five dependent territories make up the region, with ecological biomes as diverse as their cultures, languages, and social systems.

This means that to restore our ecosystems, we Latin Americans have to deal with complex and challenging ecological and social conditions, says Meli.

Meli and her colleagues—Daniella Schweizer in Switzerland, Pedro HS Brancalion in Brazil, Carolina Murcia in Colombia, and Manuel R. Guariguata in Peru—asked whether restoration professionals in Latin America had the necessary skills to undertake the task.

According to them, restoration professionals need multidimensional training to address the complex issues surrounding ecological restoration in the region.

And what is multidimensional training? They define it as training or education in the ecological, socioeconomic, and management dimensions of restoration.

In detail, the ecological dimension usually covers concepts and techniques for the restoration of long-term well-being and the self-sustainability of ecosystems. The socioeconomic dimension covers the technical aspects to achieve the participation of stakeholders in the project, a total cost-benefit ratio of the project, and other legal and institutional issues. It also covers topics such as social equity and conflict resolution, both of which might have been useful during that five-hour debate on the definition of forest degradation that Meli remembers. Meanwhile, the management dimension includes project planning, implementation, monitoring and documentation, disclosure and communication, and financial management.

Ecological restoration projects must be sound, both ecologically and socially. If they are only strong in one aspect or another, they are unlikely to succeed.”
Bethanie Walder, CEO of SER.

To get a sense of ecological restoration skills in the region, Meli and her colleagues disseminated an online survey (in English and Portuguese) in their national and regional restoration networks; their professional networks of researchers and practitioners; and through the World Conference on Ecological Restoration held in Brazil (SER) in September 2017.

The objective was to find out what kind of ecological restoration professionals are working in terrestrial ecosystems in Latin America, which systems are they focusing on; what kind of training have they received in the multiple dimensions of ecological restoration; and what are the obstacles they perceive, as well as the curricular needs for professional training.

The results of the survey, recently published in the journal Restoration Ecology and a CIFOR Infobrief, showed that half of the respondents work in academia at the same time as they work in or with governments and non-governmental organizations and that the majority of respondents focus on forest ecosystems. It is also evident that they have similar educational levels, and that most of them have completed postgraduate studies.

In terms of training, more than 80% of respondents received formal academic training in restoration-related fields, with the majority reporting attending interdisciplinary courses. However, their training focused more on the ecological dimension of restoration, as opposed to the socio-economic or managerial dimensions.

In terms of additional training, respondents expressed a desire for flexible opportunities in terms of time and commitment, such as short courses or intensive workshops. Plus affordable training rates, financial aid, and more choice in course locations.

For Meli, the results of the survey indicate that, although there are courses available in the different dimensions of ecological restoration in Latin America, restoration professionals feel that they need to have more training in the socioeconomic and management dimensions. But receiving training is not the only solution, Meli clarifies. Restoration professionals need to improve topics such as working with diverse teams and collaborating with other professions. We need to strengthen our interdisciplinary work, he added.

We must emphasize that if the human dimensions of restoration are not taken into account, ecological goals are likely to be missed.”
Cara R. Nelson, University of Montana.

Not just a regional trend

That most of the respondents are trained in the ecological dimension was not unexpected, considering the universe of the sample. However, Aronson stated that this is the same in many other parts of the world and that this training approach may have implications for the way restoration professionals design and implement projects.

In 2010, a group of researchers conducted a review of existing literature published from 2001 to 2008, where less than 5% of articles on ecological restoration in peer-reviewed journals dealt with socioeconomic factors, he explained.

Aronson and colleagues found clear results that restoration professionals fail to recognize the links between ecological restoration, society, and politics; and they have failed to highlight the benefits of restoration as an important investment for society.

In a more recent study, Australian researchers found that the social benefits of restoration are rarely measured in projects. A review of the literature published in 2013 showed that less than 3% of reported restoration projects included an assessment of socioeconomic aspects.

Why has it taken so long to incorporate the non-ecological dimensions of restoration? Cara R. Nelson, a professor of restoration ecology at the University of Montana, believes it comes from a historical approach to the ecological goal of restoration, which is to remove degradation and return the system to the state it would be in if it weren’t. degradation would have occurred.

This means that many restoration professionals tend to focus on the ecosystem, Nelson said. The first thing they think about is ecological goals, even though restoration has the potential to achieve strong social goals.

We must emphasize that if the human dimensions of restoration are not taken into account, ecological goals are likely to be missed, says Nelson.

However, global initiatives to restore degraded lands, such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the more recent Bonn Challenge, challenge many restoration professionals to go beyond ecological goals, being tasked with reversing land degradation. on large swaths of land affecting a diversity of people and their social structures.

It’s a complex problem to figure out how to effectively repair degraded ecosystems on large spatial scales and build social structures that support repair activities now and in the future, Nelson said.

Restoration requires diversity

So what should a young restoration ecologist do to get the right mix of training? Meli and her colleagues recommend additional preparation in multidimensional restoration and learning through collaboration with different disciplines.

It is not about having more knowledge, Meli clarifies. It is a question of vision, being multidimensional does not mean that you need three doctorates; you need the vision to interact and share information with other people, he explains, adding that it’s also about working well in interdisciplinary teams trained to collaborate with diverse groups.

The Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), an international organization based in the United States that supports the restoration professional community worldwide, recognizes the importance of directly addressing these multidimensional components, which are highlighted in an upcoming revision of its International Standards for the Practice of Ecological Restoration.

The new standards address the social components of restoration in much more meaningful ways than the first version, including additional recognition as part of a set of new principles for ecological restoration, said Bethanie Walder, executive director of SER.

Ecological restoration projects must be sound, both ecologically and socially. If they are only strong in one respect or another, they are unlikely to succeed, Walder said.

Balancing conflicting interests can be challenging, but it could also be one of the most important components in ensuring success, according to Walder.

Aronson believes that the situation is better today than it was twenty years ago. But there is still a long way to go, he says.

He considers that what the restoration field needs may not simply be more training and better teamwork. It is possible that in some way all these challenges are stimulating an evolution.

Meli and co-authors’ paper has great merit, but it should be viewed as one piece of a puzzle, Aronson said. What is needed is for restoration professionals to speak to broader audiences and redefine disciplinary boundaries.

Aronson envisions a restorative ecology that spans other disciplines and needs sciences such as sociology, engineering, design, law, diplomacy, anthropology, business, linguistics, etc. to be successful.

Hopefully, this will happen in many parts of the world and become, in 10 to 25 years, something new and beautiful.