Values and Ecological Restoration
Why do we restore ecosystems? Why are people attracted to restoration as a career or as a principal focus of their professional work? Restoration is risky, complex, and frustrating long–term work that requires patience and dedication. Working conditions a
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Values and Ecological Restoration
Why do we restore ecosystems? Why are people attracted to restoration as a career or as a principal focus of their professional work? Restoration is risky, complex, and frustrating long-term work that requires patience and dedication. Working conditions at project sites can be challenging. Other professions offer steadier work and better pay. It can even be difficult for restorationists to explain what they do when others ask because the phrase ecological restoration has entered mainstream discourse as a feel-good buzzword without girding from professional standards. And even when restorationists are able to explain what they do quite clearly, they may be hard put to express succinctly why exactly they do it and what it means to them. Behind the discomfort in addressing these questions lie our values. People choose to become restorationists for a variety of reasons. Most would say it is because of the urgency of the threat to ecosystems, the environment, and the planet. They want to be part of the solution and not contribute any more than absolutely necessary to the causes of ongoing environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. Many would add that assisting ecological recovery fulfills other deep-seated values, satisfies diverse aspirations, and gives meaning to their lives. Environmentally concerned individuals who are not restoration practitioners themselves may be keenly interested in promoting ecological restoration projects that improve ecosystem services, promote environmental education, and provide recreational opportunities; or that enhance the aesthetics of natural areas, recover revered or sacred sites, and help redeem the interconnectedness of the biosphere. These are only a few of the values that ecological restoration satisfies. Some values, as we shall see, are fulfilled directly by the performance of ecological restoration. Most values are satisfied later by ecosystems after they are restored.
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_2, © 2013 Andre F. Clewell and James Aronson
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ecological restoration: principles, values, and structure of an emerging profession
COLLECTIVE
INDIVIDUAL
Some values are subjective and emotional, like improving aesthetics, while others are objective and pragmatic, like improving flows of ecosystem services. Some values satisfy individuals, like the contentment one experiences from expending effort to reverse environmental damage, while others are collective such as the social cohesiveness that develops among volunteers who work together on a community-based restoration project. In order to consider the many values accruing from ecological restoration in a holistic yet organized manner, we categorize them in a four-quadrant model for ecological restoration in figure 2.1. This model was adapted from a schematic diagram devised by contemporary philosopher Ken Wilber (2001)
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