Premium
Monitoring the social benefits of ecological restoration
Author(s) -
Martin David M.,
Lyons James E.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
restoration ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.214
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1526-100X
pISSN - 1061-2971
DOI - 10.1111/rec.12888
Subject(s) - recreation , restoration ecology , environmental resource management , flood myth , ecological indicator , environmental restoration , environmental planning , scale (ratio) , water quality , social benefits , quality (philosophy) , environmental science , ecology , geography , ecosystem , biology , philosophy , cartography , archaeology , epistemology
Ecological restoration has traditionally been evaluated by monitoring the recovery of ecological conditions, such as species abundance and diversity, physical form, and water quality; monitoring the social benefits of restoration is uncommon. Current monitoring frameworks do not track who benefits from restoration or by how much. We investigate how ecological restoration could be monitored to provide indications of improvement in terms of social conditions. We provide suggestions for measuring several categories of social indicators, including access, beneficiaries, and quality of benefit, using information compiled from natural and social science literature. We demonstrate how to evaluate ecological and social indicators over time at a site or landscape scale using multicriteria analysis. We use flood protection and recreation as example benefits to monitor.