|
Ecosystem Restoration
Your community's sustainable revitalization
program should eventually encompass--or
at least collaborate with--the renewal of your
entire region, for maximum effectiveness. But, it
can start with a primary focus on any of the
12 sectors of restorable assets, at any scale.
Ecosystem restoration can be a great
starting point for community revitalization if you have
a wealth of restorable natural assets. Many times,
distressed conservation areas come back to life in a
spectacular manner simply by restoring their connections
to other natural areas. Reconnecting existing
protected areas can be far less expensive than setting
aside new protected areas, and less expensive that
restoring the protected areas themselves. Efforts
to reestablish natural flows of water, migrating
wildlife, etc. provide a logical starting
point for regional efforts.
If you've already got a strong
ecosystem restoration organization, it could be an ideal
sponsor for your community's
Real
Revitalization Program.
Is this organization trusted and effective? Does it wish to
take an even larger, longer-term role in the community's
future? If so, sponsoring the Real Revitalization
Program
is also the best way to help it create (or become) a
revitalization forum.
A revitalization forum is a
permanent public-private organization that supports an
ongoing revitalization program. [Note:
Readers of
reWealth (McGraw-Hill, 2008) will recognize
this type of organization as what that book technically
referred to as a "renewal engine". It was revealed as
the key factor behind the most dramatic urban
regeneration success stories documented in
reWealth.]
Definition &
overview: The short definition of ecosystem
restoration is "Ecological restoration is an
intentional activity that initiates or accelerates the
recovery of an ecosystem with respect to its health,
integrity and sustainability".
For a more
comprehensive definition of ecosystem restoration, as
well as an excellent primer on the subject, read the
Primer on Ecological Restoration published by
the Society
for Ecological Restoration International.
|
