Is ecological restoration worth it?
It takes a lot of money to clean up damaged environments, and justifying the cost of expenditure with measurable results hasn’t always been possible. A new study published in the recent “Restoration Ecology” issue of Science quantifies the impact of ecological restoration projects on levels of biodiversity and ecosystem services in order to provide substance to cost-benefit analysis. Through survey of 89 restored environments worldwide, the study found that biodiversity can increase 44% and ecosystem services 25% through ecological restoration. Some restoration projects were more successful than others–saltwater marshes, which abound at the Freshkills Park site, fared poorly on scales of both biodiversity and ecosystem services. In a few cases, restoration was found to have negative effects on one or both measures. The study may be used to inform land management decisions about allocating resources to restoration projects.
(via Scientific American)
