Prioritizing sites for ecological restoration based on ecosystem services

Prioritizing sites for ecological restoration based on ecosystem services

Background

The paper recognizes that restoration for ecosystem services has to happen on large scales and because resources for restoration are relatively limited, understanding local community social values and involving them in the project is key. In response to this, the authors established an index called "Relative Aggregated Value Ecosystem Services (RAVES) index. This index in meant to be used as a tool that takes into account both social and ecological factors, including landscape heterogeneity to priortize sites for ecosystem services restoration. The study used the RAVES index in a local case study to compare three alternative restoration scenarios to enhance ecosystem services (ES) based on the availability of socio-economic resources.

Conclusions & Takeaways

The study found The optimal sites that were identified for restoration by RAVES were often in riparian areas and usually involved a combination of public and private lands that had funds for restoration. The lowest values were typically crop fields, steep slopes, and river stretches. The authors also concluded that a balance between public and private lands along with appropriate funding was critical to high RAVES value. Overall, the study demonstrates the importance of analysing the spatial heterogeneity of ES, to identify the most relevant scale, and to applying the RAVES index and to managing ES via ecological restoration

Reference: 

Comín FA, Miranda B, Sorando R, Felipe-Lucia MR, Jiménez JJ, Navarro E. Prioritizing sites for ecological restoration based on ecosystem services. Macinnis-Ng C, ed. Journal of Applied Ecology. 2018;55(3):1155 - 1163. doi:10.1111/1365-2664.13061.

Affiliation: 

  • Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Spanish National Research Council (IPE-CSIC), Zaragoza, Spain
  • Emgesa, Bogotá, Colombi
  • Aiseco, Zaragoza, Spain
  • Institut of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland
  • Instituto Pirenaico de Ecología, Spanish National Research Council (IPE-CSIC), Jaca, Spain