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Ecological Restoration:
An Integral Link in Technology Transfer

UNEP defines the term technology in the broadest fashion as both hardware and software, including management systems, human resources and institutional infrastructure necessary for the successful operation of recommended or installed technology. Technology Transfer is also fairly broadly defined to include not only transfer of technologies between countries, but also dissemination of indigenous technologies and the "South-South" transfer or adaptation of technologies.

Among the many planning and management methods available to cities for directing future development is the restoration of degraded lands, making them "productive" again. We have developed an operational definition of "ecological restoration" which is very compatible with both the Sustainable Cities Programme (SCP) process of UNCHS (Habitat) as well as the mandate of IETC. This definition includes: (1) the identification of ecologically and socially desirable ecosystem values, goods, and services, as determined through a number of scientific and public-input mechanisms; (2) identification of the functional and structural elements essential to a self-sustaining system that will provide those values; and finally (3) facilitation of ecosystem recovery to a self-sustaining state by manipulation of the physical, biological, chemical, and even social elements of the system.

Under this definition, a "restored" ecosystem will not necessarily have the same make-up as a similar undisturbed site. However, we suggest that the purpose of ecological restoration, and the best that management can hope to obtain, is to provide society with a range of sustainable benefits produced by a restored ecosystem more quickly than would be possible under a natural recovery process.

Why is Ecological Restoration Needed?
Ecological restoration in support of rational utilisation of the biosphere is a critical need and a key element in "sustainable development" as defined by Agenda 21. Natural goods and services are derived from the structure, function, diversity and dynamics of ecosystems. Ecosystems produce commodities, as well as less readily visible services, including nutrient storage and cycling, wildlife habitat and climate amelioration (see table below). Trade-offs among various resources are necessary to ensure human welfare.

However, given a finite resource base, sustainable production of goods and services requires strengthened capabilities to assess and recover the environmental performance of anthropogenically disrupted ecosystems; a process which we believe can be aided through application of the Sustainable Cities planning methodology. However, deciding among the myriad choices of restoration goals remains problematic. Weighing alternatives and ultimately choosing among trade-offs is fundamental to the process of goal-setting for ecological restoration in pluralistic societies.

Many countries are beginning to adapt their existing land-use planning and management laws to take into account the need to restore lands that have been managed for particular purposes in previous times and are now required for other productive purposes. In addition, many international agreements including the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Climate Change Convention also note the importance of restoration activities as a means of providing various services to society.

Choices for Environmental Protection
When faced with the prospect of initiating an ecological restoration programme, the limits of our scientific knowledge and associated uncertainties highlight the crucial importance of interaction between science and policy. How should ecological restoration alternatives be weighted in relation to other management options? One approach is to examine the decisions involved in making a specific restoration intervention.

Decision Framework

The above chart shows one example of how a decision framework can be used to understand the fundamental information used when development options (including restoration options) are evaluated. It might also serve to identify differences among stakeholders. This decision framework can be used to understand where decision making may be information-limited and suggest priorities for research and public involvement. In general, questions arise as to: (1) the desirable outcomes of restoration; (2) the cumulative ecological impact of anthropogenic stresses and how this determines the need for restoration; (3) the best methods and technologies to employ in restoration activities; and (4) how the success or failure of restoration attempts will be judged (Wyant 1993).

Context Analysis
The Context Analysis portion of Figure 1 represents goal setting. We believe that both the ecological and socioeconomic contexts in which ecosystem restoration will occur must be considered in setting restoration project goals. First, the goals of restoration efforts must engender benefits for society (i.e. include the various stakeholder interests). Therefore, a context analysis strategy of setting goals is fast becoming an integral mode for planning international development activities.

Analysis of the ecological context includes consideration of limiting factors, such as climate, geology and natural disturbance regimes, which determine limits to ecosystem composition, structure, and function. These factors also constrain our expectations for natural goods and services that might be produced from the restored ecosystem because these possibilities are governed by the ecological context of the restoration project.

Analysis of the social context includes traditional cost-benefit studies, consideration of community goals and development of alternative visions concerning the desired outcomes of restoration efforts. Within almost any community there exists a multitude of needs, interests, and ideas about what constitutes "value" in nature and natural systems. Restoration efforts must begin with an attempt to understand and, if possible, accommodate these differences before the restoration effort is designed and implemented. A recent study assessing methodological frameworks for project evaluation concluded that public goods have various characteristics which they possess to differing degrees depending on the user group (UNEP 1993). The SCP process assesses public opinion about desired outcomes of the restoration programme, among other development goals (see also "IETC's INSIGHT", winter 1995).

Risk Assessment
After the range of ecological and social goals have been identified, it is necessary to establish priorities among the competing possibilities. One approach is to estimate the potential for loss of critical resources from the landscape due to human-caused disturbances, such as land form conversion or the introduction of pollutants. Higher priority might be given to restoration efforts that recover the sustainable production of those desired goods and services that are at greatest risk from anthropogenic stresses. Characterizing risk includes a joint analysis of the intensity of anthropogenic stresses and the likelihood that those stresses will threaten critical ecological resources.

Context Analysis and Risk Assessment are therefore two essential steps in our strategy for setting priorities among the many possible choices for ecological restoration. These procedures help us to formally identify ecological restoration efforts that are ecologically possible and reduce the risk of losing socially desirable goods and services. Once goals and priorities are established, it remains to identify and select appropriate methods and techniques for attaining chosen ends.

Management Intervention
Selection of a specific Management Intervention includes choices from the various ecological engineering techniques available for altering site conditions, execution of those techniques intended to produce desired ecological conditions, and evaluation of the success of a particular effort. Monitoring provides a feedback loop mechanism through which the combined effectiveness of risk assessment, context analysis, and management intervention is weighed. Monitoring and assessing crucial ecosystem functions will indicate whether or not changes in the restored system are progressing toward successional maturity.

Conclusions
A clear need exists to assemble a broad and objective perspective of the ecological and socioeconomic knowledge that is required to underlay a scientific approach to the problems of ecological restoration. Our current understanding of the nonequilibrial nature of ecosystems seems to preclude the selection of a return to "historic pristine" conditions as a feasible goal for any restoration effort. In the absence of a simple historical option for establishing restoration goals, we believe that restoration planning requires a value-based, goal-driven decision system. Furthermore, restoration objectives must have unambiguous operational definitions, have social and biological relevance, and be accessible to prediction or measurement. We believe that landscape and holistic ecosystem perspectives should be included as integral parts of decisions systems. (James G. Wyant, Richard A. Meganck, Sam H. Ham*)

* The authors are respectively Chief Consulting Ecologist, Decision Resource Inc., 30626 Baker Ln., Corvallis, Oregon 97333, USA; Director, International Environmental Technology Centre - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP/IETC), 2-110 Ryokuchi koen, Tsurumi-ku, Osaka 538 Japan; Professor, Resource Recreation and Tourism, College of Forestry, Wildlife and Range Sciences, University of Idaho, Moscow, Idaho 83844, USA.

The complete article, from which this version was abstracted, will be published in Environmental Management, in late1995.

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