Effective restoration of aquatic ecosystems: scaling the barriers

Abstract

The focus of ecosystem restoration has recently shifted from pure rehabilitation objectives to both improving ecological functioning and the delivery of ecosystem services. However, these different targets need to be integrated to create a unified, synergistic, and balanced restoration approach. This should be done by combining state‐of‐the‐art knowledge from natural and social sciences to create manageable units of restoration that consider both the temporal and multiple spatial scales of ecosystems, legislative units, and policy agendas. Only by considering these aspects combined can we accomplish more cost‐efficient restoration resulting in resilient ecosystems that provide a wealth of ecosystem services and the possibility for sustainable economic development in the future. We propose a novel conceptual framework that will yield more effective ecosystem restoration: the Operational Restoration Unit. This is based on scale‐dependent restoration actions that can adhere easily to the relevant environmental legislation, encompass the spatial and temporal resilience of aquatic ecosystems, and consider the sum of human pressures acting on water bodies. This opens up possibilities for an effective integration of the restoration agenda into the delivery of major policy objectives of economic growth, regional development, and human security. WIREs Water 2017, 4:e1190. doi: 10.1002/wat2.1190 This article is categorized under: Water and Life > Conservation, Management, and Awareness Human Water > Water Governance

River Continuity Restoration and Diadromous Fishes: Much More than an Ecological Issue

“…This is even more crucial as the dendritic nature of rivers implies that obstacles and restoration actions in specific sites of a catchment interact in complex ways (Fagan 2002;Labonne et al 2008;Kemp and O'Hanley 2010), and consequently, the effect of several RCR actions is not necessarily equal to the sum of individual restoration effects (Kuby et al 2005;O'Hanley and Tomberlin 2005;Palmer and Bernhardt 2006). In the light of these kinds of findings, there is clearly a need to upscale RCR for diadromous fishes from a local approach to a catchment scale thereby bringing this form of restoration in line with calls to upscale aquatic ecosystem restoration more generally (Friberg et al 2017).…”

Goals and principles for programmatic river restoration monitoring and evaluation: collaborative learning across multiple projects

“…First, instead of comparing project by project, within and beyond project boundaries, cumulative effects of multiple restoration projects and other management measures could be analyzed. This idea builds on the concept of distinguishing ORUs (Operational Restoration Units) that are based on organizational ‘landscapes’ that consider policies, stakeholder requirements, and planning agendas . The ORU idea is partly treated in our concept by integrating explanatory variables in the analyses that account for influencing factors beyond the given restoration project.…”

“…This idea builds on the concept of distinguishing ORUs (Operational Restoration Units) that are based on organizational 'landscapes' that consider policies, stakeholder requirements, and planning agendas. 30 The ORU idea is partly treated in our concept by integrating explanatory variables in the analyses that account for influencing factors beyond the given restoration project. However, addressing cumulative effects could also require specific adaptations of the sampling design.…”

“…This goal emphasizes the need for an integrated longterm perspective for ProME, considering ecological, social, and economic aspects beyond the priorities of the present day. 30,31 This necessitates the flexibility to account for unpredictable and rapid transformations (or 'surprises') including those resulting from a changing climate envelope, 32,33 shifts in environmental agendas, 34 or from alteration of institutional capacities. 22 This goal also means that ProME is seen as one type of environmental surveillance among many others, such as monitoring for nature conservation (e.g., biodiversity monitoring) or hazard prevention (e.g., flood protection).…”

Governance conditions for successful ecological restoration of estuaries: lessons from the Dutch Haringvliet case

“…The involvement of humans and their values are implicit fundamentals of ecological restoration (Shackelford et al 2013). Ecological restoration is a management strategyan intentional and practical human activitythat has the potential to recover degraded habitats and restore natural dynamics in the area (Apfelbaum and Chapman 2015;Friberg et al 2017).…”