Ecological Restoration

 
What is ecological restoration?

Ecological restoration is "the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, or destroyed" - Society for Ecological Restoration.   

Today I attended a webinar by Patricia Holmes from Botanical Society of South Africa who discusses the ecosystem restoration in South Africa. 

[Credit: University of Idaho]

Why should be restore ecosystems?

Restoring ecosystems is not only beneficial for wildlife but for humans as well. 

Clean air and water, healthy soils for crop production, and climate regulation through carbon sequestration are just some of the ways humans can benefit.   

The UN has declared 2021-2030 the Decade on Restoration. This is because we are at a critical point, where if we do not do something now, it will be too late. 

This is really put into view by the WWF living planet report 2020

• 75% of earths ice free land has been altered by humans

• More than 85% of earths wetlands have been destroyed 

• Most of the oceans are polluted

• More than a million species are threatened with extinction

• The worlds biocapacity for carbon footprint exceeded sustainable levels around 1970 and has continued to grow since

Biodiversity Intactness Index [Credit: WWF, Living Planet Report 2020]

How can we restore ecosystems?

There are several methods to restoring an ecosystem, such as afforestation, clearing of invasive species, mitigating degrading factors (e.g. drought, non-controlled wild fires, etc), and preventing more degrading factors from being added (e.g. deforestation, pollution, etc).

Afforestation is not always the best option. For example, planting trees in an area that did not historically have trees can cause more damage, and planting invasive species can cause detrimental impacts.
Whatever plants are planted should always be the species that live or historically lived in that biome.

Different levels of Degradation [Credit: Society for Ecological Restoration] 

Most restoration efforts happen between the Repairing and Initiating stages shown above. 

Some examples of restoration efforts happening currently are:

• Preventing the poaching of wild Cycads in South Africa.

• Use of Citizen Scientists to collect data on wild flowers in South Africa.

• Millennium Seed Bank Partnership which aims to collect and conserve seed from wild flora worldwide. 

• Removal of invasive species to allow native animals and plants to flourish

Conclusion

Ecological restoration has never been more important as 75% of ice-free land has been negatively altered by humans, which has caused extinction rates to rise and global biodiversity to plummet. 

Ecosystems can be restored through a number of means, such as removal of invasive species, mitigating/preventing damaging factors, afforestation, and planting native species in appropriate areas.

Large efforts are being undertaken so that in following years, this might be known as the restoration decade.

Student Reflection

I do not have a particular interest in plants but I am glad these research and conservation efforts are being undertaken as the primary producers of this world are critically important to all life.
I do not intend to specialise in plants, but they are a very important factor to consider in all conservation efforts. No matter what direction is taken, knowledge and appreciation for plants should always be present. 

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