Abstract
Ecosystems degradation represents one of the major global challenges at the present time, threating people’s livelihoods and well-being worldwide. Ecosystem restoration therefore seems no longer an option, but an imperative. Restoration challenges are such that a dialogue has begun on the need to re-shape restoration as a science. A critical aspect of that reshaping process is the acceptance that restoration science and practice needs to be coupled with socio-economic research and public engagement. This inescapably means conveying complex ecosystem’s information in a way that is accessible to the wider public. In this paper we take up this challenge with the ultimate aim of contributing to making a step change in science’s contribution to ecosystems restoration practice. Using peatlands as a paradigmatically complex ecosystem, we put in place a transdisciplinary process to articulate a description of the processes and outcomes of restoration that can be understood widely by the public. We provide evidence of the usefulness of the process and tools in addressing four key challenges relevant to restoration of any complex ecosystem: (1) how to represent restoration outcomes; (2) how to establish a restoration reference; (3) how to cope with varying restoration time-lags and (4) how to define spatial units for restoration. This evidence includes the way the process resulted in the creation of materials that are now being used by restoration practitioners for communication with the public and in other research contexts. Our main contribution is of an epistemological nature: while ecosystem services-based approaches have enhanced the integration of academic disciplines and non-specialist knowledge, this has so far only followed one direction (from the biophysical underpinning to the description of ecosystem services and their appreciation by the public). We propose that it is the mix of approaches and epistemological directions (including from the public to the biophysical parameters) what will make a definitive contribution to restoration practice.
Highlights
The Earth’s ecosystems continue to be degraded at a pace that critically compromises their capacity to deliver services that are essential for human livelihood and well-being worldwide [1, 2, 3]
It is becoming widely accepted that a greater level of public engagement in environmental management in general and ecosystems restoration in particular is needed, both as a driver for policy-making and to support restoration action on the ground [14, 15, 16], as well as to identify and manage the conflicts that might emerge between conservation targets and public preferences [17]
For the first criteria we co-constructed with a soil mapping specialist a ‘parish peat map’, in which parishes boundaries were used to define areas of high and low peatland concentration
Summary
The Earth’s ecosystems continue to be degraded at a pace that critically compromises their capacity to deliver services that are essential for human livelihood and well-being worldwide [1, 2, 3]. Scotland’s National Peatland Plan published in 2015 to support Scottish Natural Heritage’s (SNH) Peatland ACTION, a multi-million peatland restoration programme deployed since 2012 (see ), emphasises the multiple benefits of peatlands to society and highlights that the future of peatlands should be of interest to the scientific community, policy makers, developers and land managers, and tothe wider public. According to the Peatland ACTION, peatlands should be “no longer seen just as special interest habitats” and it points out that peatland restoration can offer opportunities for community involvement, education and awareness raising [32] This process needs to be facilitated by an improved understanding of perceptions held by the wider public regarding peatlands and their views and preferences regarding restoration [33], all of which are matters of social science research. Between 2013 and 2014, restoration activity has taken place in 5,580 hectares, while additional £3 million announced in June 2015 is expected to enable activity across another 3,000 hectares [32]
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