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Ecological restoration as precaution and not as restitutional compensation

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Abstract

Ecological restoration has become a major issue in environmental management. To overcome the backward orientation of the restoration concept (focusing on reference states and natural ecosystems) the introduction of a precautionary principle is proposed. The principle has been developed for decision-making under high uncertainty about the probability and severity of an environmental damage. Meanwhile, it has been accepted in many countries of the world as a guiding principle for environmental legislation. Likewise it is the basis for international conventions aiming at the conservation of biodiversity. Nevertheless, biodiversity is still neglected in large reclamation projects. Several links between precaution and restoration are described. Restoration can be used to prevent future damage. Otherwise restoration is plagued by uncertainty about the outcome of the measures and may have negative effects or even fail. An analysis of common evaluation methods of restoration projects shows that most approaches focus on comparison of restoration results with a reference state, and are thus useless in a precautionary context. Other methods (e.g. comparing restored with unrestored sites) require data gathered by long-term observation (monitoring) of socio-economically defined desired states (Leitbild). Two large-scale restoration projects are analyzed, coastal land reclamation in Korea and open cast mining reclamation in Germany. Both projects had or have honorific aims and are legally admissible. However, they violate both international law based on precaution and simple rules of prudence or wise use. Costly post hoc ‘restoration’ measures are the usual consequence.

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Notes

  1. European Commision. Environment. http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/index_en.htm.

  2. Cites. 2012. http://www.cites.org/eng/disc/what.php.

  3. Convention on Biodiversity. 2012. http://www.cbd.int/.

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Acknowledgments

The paper was written during a sabbatical stay of G. W. in Korea. We thank the University of Incheon, Incheon for financial support. We thank R.H. Kim (Auckland, NZ) for valuable discussions about the precautionary principle.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of General Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences and Process Engineering, Brandenburgische Technische Universität Cottbus-Senftenberg, PO Box 101344, 03013, Cottbus, Germany

    Gerhard Wiegleb, Udo Bröring & Kamalaporn Kanongdate

  2. School of Urban and Environmental Engineering, University of Incheon, #5-509, Building A 12-1 Songdo-Dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-772, South Korea

    Gyewoon Choi

  3. Department of Life Science, College of Natural Science, Sangmyung University, 7 Hongji-Dong, Seoul, 110-743, South Korea

    Hans-Uwe Dahms

  4. Department of Integrated Ecological and Environmental Engineering, Graduate School of Sangmyung University, S-416, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Building, 7 Hongji-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, 110-743, South Korea

    Chan-Woo Byeon

  5. International Centre for Urban Water Hydroinformatics Research and Innovations (ICUH), Rm 104, Rand Center University of Incheon, 7-46 Songdo-dong Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, 406-840, South Korea

    Lian Guey Ler

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  1. Gerhard Wiegleb
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Correspondence to Gerhard Wiegleb or Hans-Uwe Dahms.

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Wiegleb, G., Bröring, U., Choi, G. et al. Ecological restoration as precaution and not as restitutional compensation. Biodivers Conserv 22, 1931–1948 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-013-0518-0

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