TY - JOUR
T1 - A Review of Ecological Restoration Research in the Global South and North to Promote Knowledge Dialogue
AU - Ballari, Sebastián
AU - Roulier, Catherine
AU - Nielsen, Erik
AU - Pizarro, J.
AU - Anderson, Christopher
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was conducted with the support of NSF-CONICET International Cooperation Grant #RD5166/15 to CBA and EAN. CR was supported by a doctoral scholarship from CONICET-UNTDF. The authors thank the Grupo Socio-Eco, particularly M. Dicenta for conversations regarding the historical and conceptual context of the Global South-North typology.
Funding Information:
Copyright: © Ballari et al. 2020. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use and distribution of the article, provided the original work is cited. Published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow, Mumbai | Managed and supported by the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore. For reprints contact: reprints@medknow.com
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 Ballari et al.
PY - 2020/7/1
Y1 - 2020/7/1
N2 - To determine global trends in ecological restoration (ER) research, we conducted a geographically-explicit English-language literature review. We assessed a representative sample (n=603) of publications that use the ER concept (n=8,678). Only 19.2% (n=118) were explicit ER studies, and these were evaluated to determine geographic location, research framework, ER paradigm, journal disciplinary orientation, article type, disturbance factor studied, and ER-response measurements. The Global North produced 2x more studies than the South, and ecological research frameworks predominated overall. However, significantly more Southern studies operated under a postmodern paradigm (i.e., addressing ecosystem processes, functions and health) than in the North, where more studies sought to reconstitute pre-disturbance biotic assemblages (i.e., classical paradigm). Both regions published mostly in natural science journals, but significantly more in the North; in the South, there were significantly more publications in engineering journals. An incipient socio-ecological research framework was detected in the North (23.1%) and South (32.5%), but social science studies were only found in the North (11.5%). Plus, the North had significantly more conceptual publications. Opportunities exist in both regions to enhance a holistic ER perspective. Southern scientists and practitioners could pay attention to context-specific concepts and approaches. Understanding global and regional ER research trends can contribute to improving theoretical, practical and ethical outcomes.
AB - To determine global trends in ecological restoration (ER) research, we conducted a geographically-explicit English-language literature review. We assessed a representative sample (n=603) of publications that use the ER concept (n=8,678). Only 19.2% (n=118) were explicit ER studies, and these were evaluated to determine geographic location, research framework, ER paradigm, journal disciplinary orientation, article type, disturbance factor studied, and ER-response measurements. The Global North produced 2x more studies than the South, and ecological research frameworks predominated overall. However, significantly more Southern studies operated under a postmodern paradigm (i.e., addressing ecosystem processes, functions and health) than in the North, where more studies sought to reconstitute pre-disturbance biotic assemblages (i.e., classical paradigm). Both regions published mostly in natural science journals, but significantly more in the North; in the South, there were significantly more publications in engineering journals. An incipient socio-ecological research framework was detected in the North (23.1%) and South (32.5%), but social science studies were only found in the North (11.5%). Plus, the North had significantly more conceptual publications. Opportunities exist in both regions to enhance a holistic ER perspective. Southern scientists and practitioners could pay attention to context-specific concepts and approaches. Understanding global and regional ER research trends can contribute to improving theoretical, practical and ethical outcomes.
KW - Ecosystem services
KW - ecological restoration
KW - environmental degradation
KW - remediation
KW - restoration ecology
KW - socio-ecological systems
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U2 - 10.4103/cs.cs_19_91
DO - 10.4103/cs.cs_19_91
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:85092524018
SN - 0972-4923
VL - 18
SP - 298
EP - 310
JO - Conservation and Society
JF - Conservation and Society
IS - 3
ER -