Do the Principles of Ecological Restoration Cover EU LIFE Nature Cofunded Projects in Denmark?
Ecological restoration is becoming a main component in nature management; hence, its definitions and interpretations of the underlying principles are widely discussed. In Denmark, restoration has been implemented for decades, and the LIFE Nature program has contributed to several large-scale project...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Resilience Alliance
2013-12-01
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| Series: | Ecology and Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol18/iss4/art15/ |
| _version_ | 1818896645372248064 |
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| author | Jonas Morsing Sally Ida. Frandsen Henrik Vejre Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen |
| author_facet | Jonas Morsing Sally Ida. Frandsen Henrik Vejre Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen |
| author_sort | Jonas Morsing |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Ecological restoration is becoming a main component in nature management; hence, its definitions and interpretations of the underlying principles are widely discussed. In Denmark, restoration has been implemented for decades, and the LIFE Nature program has contributed to several large-scale projects. Our aim was to indicate tendencies in Danish nature policy by analyzing a representative sample of nature management projects. Using qualitative document analyses of official reports, we investigated how well 13 LIFE Nature cofinanced projects undertaken in Denmark fit with the principles of ecological restoration, as formulated in the nine attributes of the Society for Ecological Restoration's Primer on Ecological Restoration, and based on the five myths of ecological restoration.
Objectives of the analyzed projects were divided into three categories: conservation of a single or a group of species; restoration of set-aside areas, mainly on abandoned agricultural land; and habitat management of Natura 2000 areas. Despite this grouping, improvement in living conditions for certain species associated with specific nature types was in focus in all projects.
No projects considered or fulfilled all nine attributes. It seems that attributes associated with fundamental requirements for the existence of target species or habitats were more often fulfilled than attributes associated with continuity of the ecosystem as a whole, which indicated a focus on ecosystem structures rather than on processes. We found that the two assumptions of a predictable single endpoint (the myth of the Carbon Copy) and that nature is controllable (the myth of Command and Control) were notably frequent in the Danish projects. Often, the target ecosystem was associated with a semicultural landscape, and management focused on keeping the vegetation low and preventing overgrowth of colonizing trees. The results indicated that nature policy in Denmark and the LIFE Nature program are based on a control paradigm, with the focus on structures rather than on processes. Further, the results revealed that the definition and interpretation of ecological restoration is ambiguous, and according to land use history, there is a need for concepts and approaches to be clearly defined. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:03:34Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-0bad9f1423a74dca861f6b53262ff21e |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1708-3087 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-19T19:03:34Z |
| publishDate | 2013-12-01 |
| publisher | Resilience Alliance |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-0bad9f1423a74dca861f6b53262ff21e2022-12-21T20:09:29ZengResilience AllianceEcology and Society1708-30872013-12-011841510.5751/ES-05847-1804155847Do the Principles of Ecological Restoration Cover EU LIFE Nature Cofunded Projects in Denmark?Jonas Morsing0Sally Ida. Frandsen1Henrik Vejre2Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen3Department of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of CopenhagenDepartment of Geosciences and Natural Resource Management, University of CopenhagenEcological restoration is becoming a main component in nature management; hence, its definitions and interpretations of the underlying principles are widely discussed. In Denmark, restoration has been implemented for decades, and the LIFE Nature program has contributed to several large-scale projects. Our aim was to indicate tendencies in Danish nature policy by analyzing a representative sample of nature management projects. Using qualitative document analyses of official reports, we investigated how well 13 LIFE Nature cofinanced projects undertaken in Denmark fit with the principles of ecological restoration, as formulated in the nine attributes of the Society for Ecological Restoration's Primer on Ecological Restoration, and based on the five myths of ecological restoration. Objectives of the analyzed projects were divided into three categories: conservation of a single or a group of species; restoration of set-aside areas, mainly on abandoned agricultural land; and habitat management of Natura 2000 areas. Despite this grouping, improvement in living conditions for certain species associated with specific nature types was in focus in all projects. No projects considered or fulfilled all nine attributes. It seems that attributes associated with fundamental requirements for the existence of target species or habitats were more often fulfilled than attributes associated with continuity of the ecosystem as a whole, which indicated a focus on ecosystem structures rather than on processes. We found that the two assumptions of a predictable single endpoint (the myth of the Carbon Copy) and that nature is controllable (the myth of Command and Control) were notably frequent in the Danish projects. Often, the target ecosystem was associated with a semicultural landscape, and management focused on keeping the vegetation low and preventing overgrowth of colonizing trees. The results indicated that nature policy in Denmark and the LIFE Nature program are based on a control paradigm, with the focus on structures rather than on processes. Further, the results revealed that the definition and interpretation of ecological restoration is ambiguous, and according to land use history, there is a need for concepts and approaches to be clearly defined.http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol18/iss4/art15/benchmarkecological restorationhuman impactLIFE NatureNatura 2000nature policysemicultural landscapesSER attributes |
| spellingShingle | Jonas Morsing Sally Ida. Frandsen Henrik Vejre Karsten Raulund-Rasmussen Do the Principles of Ecological Restoration Cover EU LIFE Nature Cofunded Projects in Denmark? Ecology and Society benchmark ecological restoration human impact LIFE Nature Natura 2000 nature policy semicultural landscapes SER attributes |
| title | Do the Principles of Ecological Restoration Cover EU LIFE Nature Cofunded Projects in Denmark? |
| title_full | Do the Principles of Ecological Restoration Cover EU LIFE Nature Cofunded Projects in Denmark? |
| title_fullStr | Do the Principles of Ecological Restoration Cover EU LIFE Nature Cofunded Projects in Denmark? |
| title_full_unstemmed | Do the Principles of Ecological Restoration Cover EU LIFE Nature Cofunded Projects in Denmark? |
| title_short | Do the Principles of Ecological Restoration Cover EU LIFE Nature Cofunded Projects in Denmark? |
| title_sort | do the principles of ecological restoration cover eu life nature cofunded projects in denmark |
| topic | benchmark ecological restoration human impact LIFE Nature Natura 2000 nature policy semicultural landscapes SER attributes |
| url | http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol18/iss4/art15/ |
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