Projects and the Professional
In this chapter we identify stakeholders and project sponsors as principals in restoration projects. Then we identify the roles and describe the responsibilities of personnel who participate in ecological restoration projects on behalf of the sponsor. We
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Projects and the Professional
In this chapter we identify stakeholders and project sponsors as principals in restoration projects. Then we identify the roles and describe the responsibilities of personnel who participate in ecological restoration projects on behalf of the sponsor. We continue with descriptions on how restoration projects are organized and administered. Finally, we describe the knowledge base and breadth of experience that competent professionals in ecological restoration share, a body of expertise that promises to become the basis for professional certification.
Stakeholders We begin with stakeholders, because they are those persons and organizational entities who are most likely to be affected by a restoration project and who would be its principal beneficiaries. They are called stakeholders because they have a personal, cultural, or economic stake in the project. Stakeholders ask if the project will fulfill their values, as described in chapter 2, or if it will produce negative consequences. Stakeholders may be local or absentee, depending upon their proximity to the restoration project site and how directly they are affected by it. Proximity is defined on a case-by-case basis. Absentee stakeholders may own property in the proximity of the project but reside elsewhere. Other absentee stakeholders may contribute to a philanthropic organization that finances restoration projects. For example, donors from an affluent nation may specify that the philanthropic foundation to which they donate shall underwrite the restoration of tropical rainforest in a nation that they may never visit. In return, they will have the satisfaction of doing their part to support the biosphere and its biodiversity. Stakeholder organizations can be public or private, for-profit or not-for-profit.
A.F. Clewell and J. Aronson, Ecological Restoration: Principles, Values, and Structure of an Emerging Profession, The Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration, DOI 10.5822/978-1-59726-323-8_11, © 2013 Andre F. Clewell and James Aronson
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ecological restoration: principles, values, and structure of an emerging profession
Commonly, stakeholders can be divided along three lines. One consists of local individuals, along with community-based organizations (CBOs) and local institutions, both private and public. Those persons who are associated with these local interests are usually united by shared cultural values. The second consists of economic entities such as corporations and agricultural interests whose resource base could be affected by a proposed ecological restoration project. Increasingly, corporations in extractive, energy, transport, or other industries, are obliged to undertake restoration as an offset for unintended or unavoidable environmental damage. Some industries are beginning to be self-governing in this respect, even in the absence of legal constraints or incentives. An example is the forest products firm that is participating in the Chilean restoration described in VFT 7. In all cases, the corporat
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