The Importance Of Ecological Restoration

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Ecological restoration is a system of processes developed to maintain environmental health by returning structure, function and durability to degraded ecosystems around the world (Higgs, 1995). Those involved in restoration projects include; engineers, governmental agencies, designers, corporation management, scientists, conservationist and engaged community members (Van Wieren, 2008). Motivation and reason for participating in restoration initiative vary for every individual, however, as stated by Eric Higgs there are two primary reasons; the desire to restore organism and ecosystem health for the continuation of ‘natural’ life AND/OR to absolve the guilt of continued human related environmental destruction (Higgs, 1995). Restoring the…show more content…
Therefore, conducting a guilt oriented restoration project focuses on achieving obligations set before us by government authorities, scientists and other influential personnel while ensuring the appearance of a restored environment is viable to outsiders rather than being driven by supporting ecosystem health (Clewell, 2006; Ruiz- Jaen, 2005). Restoration services are carried out to cover up initial mistakes of ecosystem degradation to improve public perception of resource extraction, habitat destruction, etc. rather than acknowledging faults within current trends in society and building towards a better future (Katz,…show more content…
This is supported in Katz (1991) as claims of restoration initiatives motivated out of guilt incorporate human design and interest to “repair and improve natural processes” rather than mimicking a naturalist approach. Higgs (1995), confirmed restoration efforts are extremely time consuming and aesthetics are the fundamental unit that entails success from public standpoints. Therefore, aesthetics is a priority for restoration initiatives as it supplements human needs for positive visual ecosystem experiences regardless of the actual degree of ‘restoredness’ in the form of ecosystem structure, function and durability (Clewell, 2006; Higgs, 1995; Katz, 1991). This idea is largely driven by the lack of negative emotions associated with environmental destruction including guilt and anger that humans refuse to acknowledge (Clewell, 2006; Katz,

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