Ecological Restoration

Restoration ecology, although a relatively new concept compared to other disciplines, has gained significant momentum in the last decade as accelerating global change becomes more apparent. It is now widely accepted by the scientific community that to avoid further devastating effects of climate change and biodiversity loss, humanity must determinedly move to protect and restore natural ecosystems. Many previous restoration efforts have been ad hoc site and situation-specific projects, but over the last decade, countries have allocated significant financial investment towards systematic restoration efforts. Indeed, activities related to the restoration of ecosystems, natural assets and biodiversity have now become a global concern. This book covers restoration ecology including grasslands, tropical rainforest conservation, effects of climate change, forest restoration, wetland restoration, urban restoration, farm-based restoration, and arid zone restorationIt is also recognised that for badly degraded areas, two or more complementary treatments, undertaken over long time frames, will be necessary. The agreed prescriptions will act to identify effective actions from ad hoc site and situation-specific projects, and to assist in the direction of resources towards evidence-based landscape-scale restoration programs, particularly when integrated with community action. Several ambitious targets for restoration activities have been set at the global level. However, without developing practical guidelines and utilising the lessons learned from evaluations of past restoration efforts into future landscape scale restoration projects, continental scale restoration efforts are unlikely to be successful. This book reviews and highlights the successful restoration stories as a set of case studies which have been conducted using the most systematic restoration ecology techniques in order to provide ecological restoration professionals of the future with state-of-the-art information.