best practice. Once the restoration project has been implemented, monitoring of
outcomes should iteratively feed back into improving restoration actions, possibly
using a quantitative systems modelling approach as advocated by James and
Carrick (2016).
Stakeholders must be engaged early in planning to identify issues of concern that
may compromise the ecological restoration goals (Metzger et al. 2017; Reyers et al.
2009; Urgenson et al. 2013). Ignoring such concerns could result in challenges to, or
failure of, the project. For example, an alien species may provide an important
resource for certain stakeholders and its removal could undermine their livelihoods
(Kull et al. 2011). Engaging with such stakeholders may result in the project
proceeding, provided that some alternative, non-invasive species resource is provided as part of the restoration project.
The Robust Offsetting restoration planning tool (RobOff) was applied to a large
community reforestation project at a landfill site in Durban, to examine different
restoration goals for the buffer zone (former sugar cane fields supporting invasive
alien plants, with patches of native forest and grassland; Mugwedi et al. 2017). These
goals included carbon storage, biodiversity and employment across a mosaic of
habitats with varying levels of degradation and a limited budget (Mugwedi et al.
2018). The current restoration action was compared to three restoration intervention
alternatives—spontaneous regeneration, carbon action and biodiversity action.
RobOff indicated “biodiversity action” as the most beneficial in maximising the
three goals, and that investing in biodiversity action would be preferable to the status
quo (Mugwedi et al. 2018). Challenges included an increase in invasive alien plants,
and alien control was included as a necessary restoration intervention (Mugwedi
et al. 2017). Results from tools such as RobOff can help to inform stakeholder
planning workshops of potential costs and benefits of different restoration interventions. In landscape-scale restoration projects, social and political processes may be
more important to long-term success than ecological factors, therefore it is key to
include multi-party stakeholders and specialists from the beginning (Aronson et al.
2017).
23.4.1 Ecological Restoration Goals
It has been argued that to become effective, adaptive and able to compete with other
projects for resources, ecological restoration must become evidence-based
(Ntshotsho et al. 2011). The three criteria required as evidence are baseline information, clearly defined goals, and monitoring. In a review of ten South African
restoration programmes, Ntshotsho et al. (2011) found that of these three criteria
only one, baseline information, was adequately addressed. Although both ecological
and socioeconomic goals were set, these were found to be insufficiently clear. There
was little monitoring of programme outcomes and monitoring of ecological indicators was inconsistent. To learn from early restoration attempts, it is important to
define clear goals based on measurable parameters at the planning stage. These goals
23 Biological Invasions and Ecological Restoration in South Africa
675
outcomes should iteratively feed back into improving restoration actions, possibly
using a quantitative systems modelling approach as advocated by James and
Carrick (2016).
Stakeholders must be engaged early in planning to identify issues of concern that
may compromise the ecological restoration goals (Metzger et al. 2017; Reyers et al.
2009; Urgenson et al. 2013). Ignoring such concerns could result in challenges to, or
failure of, the project. For example, an alien species may provide an important
resource for certain stakeholders and its removal could undermine their livelihoods
(Kull et al. 2011). Engaging with such stakeholders may result in the project
proceeding, provided that some alternative, non-invasive species resource is provided as part of the restoration project.
The Robust Offsetting restoration planning tool (RobOff) was applied to a large
community reforestation project at a landfill site in Durban, to examine different
restoration goals for the buffer zone (former sugar cane fields supporting invasive
alien plants, with patches of native forest and grassland; Mugwedi et al. 2017). These
goals included carbon storage, biodiversity and employment across a mosaic of
habitats with varying levels of degradation and a limited budget (Mugwedi et al.
2018). The current restoration action was compared to three restoration intervention
alternatives—spontaneous regeneration, carbon action and biodiversity action.
RobOff indicated “biodiversity action” as the most beneficial in maximising the
three goals, and that investing in biodiversity action would be preferable to the status
quo (Mugwedi et al. 2018). Challenges included an increase in invasive alien plants,
and alien control was included as a necessary restoration intervention (Mugwedi
et al. 2017). Results from tools such as RobOff can help to inform stakeholder
planning workshops of potential costs and benefits of different restoration interventions. In landscape-scale restoration projects, social and political processes may be
more important to long-term success than ecological factors, therefore it is key to
include multi-party stakeholders and specialists from the beginning (Aronson et al.
2017).
23.4.1 Ecological Restoration Goals
It has been argued that to become effective, adaptive and able to compete with other
projects for resources, ecological restoration must become evidence-based
(Ntshotsho et al. 2011). The three criteria required as evidence are baseline information, clearly defined goals, and monitoring. In a review of ten South African
restoration programmes, Ntshotsho et al. (2011) found that of these three criteria
only one, baseline information, was adequately addressed. Although both ecological
and socioeconomic goals were set, these were found to be insufficiently clear. There
was little monitoring of programme outcomes and monitoring of ecological indicators was inconsistent. To learn from early restoration attempts, it is important to
define clear goals based on measurable parameters at the planning stage. These goals
23 Biological Invasions and Ecological Restoration in South Africa
675