SOUTH FLORIDA: THE REALITY OF CHANGE AND THE PROSPECTS FOR SUSTAINABILITY: Adaptive learning for science-based policy: the Everglades restoration

Abstract

The Everglades ecosystem restoration is totally unprecedented. The spatial scale involves all of southern Florida and the temporal scale is decades. Although it is one of the most studied ecosystems in the world, much additional knowledge will have to be acquired for the restoration to ultimately reestablish a naturally functioning ecosystem. Additionally, political support will have to be maintained throughout the endeavor, and this will require a different form of understanding, a form useful to decision-makers and political representatives. Adaptive ecological learning embedded in an adaptive ecosystem assessment and management structure is offered as a possible supplement to the ongoing scientific learning. The goal of such an adaptive ecological learning approach is to facilitate more holistic understanding useful to decision-makers and political representatives.