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Ecological
restoration of farmland: progress and prospects.
Sustainable agricultural practices in conjunction with
ecological restoration methods can reduce the detrimental effects of
agriculture. The Society for Ecological Restoration International has
produced generic guidelines for conceiving, organizing, conducting and
assessing ecological restoration projects. Additionally, there are now good
conceptual frameworks, guidelines and practical methods for developing
ecological restoration programs that are based on sound ecological
principles and supported by empirical evidence and modeling approaches.
Restoration methods must also be technically achievable and socially
acceptable and spread over a range of locations. It is important to
reconcile differences between methods that favor conservation and those that
favor economic returns, to ensure that conservation efforts are beneficial
for both landowners and biodiversity. One option for this type of mutual
benefit is the use of agri-environmental schemes to provide financial
incentives to landholders in exchange for providing conservation services
and other benefits. However, further work is required to define and measure
the effectiveness of agri-environmental schemes. The broader potential for
ecological restoration to improve the sustainability of agricultural
production while conserving biodiversity in farm scapes and reducing
external costs is high, but there is still much to learn, particularly for
the most efficient use of agri-environmental schemes to change land use
practice.
