Greifswald Conference Declaration

The Greifswald Statement on Ecological Restoration

The 5^th European Conference on Ecological Restoration[1] (Greifswald, 21– 25 August 2006) convened to explore the challenges of land use changes by exchanging knowledge and experience on the ecological, economical, and ethical dimensions of Ecological Restoration. The Conference was attended by over 400 experts from 47 countries and 5 continents.

We, the Conference delegates, concur with the conclusions of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment 2005, which states:

Over the past 50 years, humans have changed ecosystems more rapidly and extensively than in any comparable period of time in human history. These changes have contributed to substantial net gains in human well-being and economic development, but these gains have been achieved at growing costs in the form of the degradation of many ecosystem services, increased risks of nonlinear changes, and the exacerbation of poverty for some groups of people. These problems, unless addressed, will substantially diminish the benefits that future generations obtain from ecosystems and increase conflict potential.

More and more the factor restraining economic development is remaining natural capital, not manufactured capital as it used to be. Economic logic says to invest in the limiting factor.

We are convinced that the only way to realize sustainable economic development and to enhance the well-being of people is to reverse the process of degradation and ensuing loss in ecosystem goods and services through the investment in the restoration of natural capital. This includes

§       the restoration/rehabilitation of degraded natural and anthropogenic ecosystems and their capacity to provide useful goods and services,

§       the implementation of ecologically sustainable utilization of natural resources, and

§       appropriate investments to capture long-term economic returns.

Increasing socio-economic demands for energy, water, food, raw material, and recreation, may lead to new and increasing ecosystem degradation. Our experience shows that the restoration of degraded ecosystems is often difficult, slow, costly and sometimes impossible. Therefore, all efforts should be made to prevent further ecosystem degradation.

Moreover, the restoration of existing degraded ecosystems will augment natural capital and enable safeguarding of future societal needs. Restoration[2] should

§       consider all forms of scientific, indigenous and local knowledge and experience

§       treat the causes rather than the symptoms

§       recognize the linkages within the larger landscape

§       emphasize process repair over structural replacement

§       allow sufficient time for self-generating processes to resume

§       take existing values (incl. archeological and cultural values) into account

§       include short-term evaluation and long-term monitoring to allow adaptive management and to acquire new knowledge.

Our experience also shows that the success of ecosystem restoration often depends more on social, economic, and cultural constraints than on eco-technical know-how. This implies to

§       inform all stakeholders on the full range of alternatives, opportunities, costs and benefits offered by restoration. Scientists have a duty to inform and educate

§       empower all stakeholders in planning, decision making, implementation, evaluation and monitoring

§       take a pro-poor approach in developing countries to break through the vicious cycle of social-environmental degradation

§       provide short-term benefits leading to the acceptance of longer-term objectives

§       involve imagination to capture the public heart

§       bring about a cultural shift by embedding restoration into daily cultural practices.

Key problems that require the integration of social, economic and environmental aspects into restoration practice include peatland degradation of Southeast-Asia, desertification in Central Asia, transformation in Central and Eastern Europe, and rural developments in Western Europe. It is essential to invest more in interdisciplinary approaches

The collaboration between economists and ecologists is a prerequisite to incorporate knowledge and awareness of the value of natural capital into daily activities. We urge ecologists to learn from economists, and economists from ecologists.

Finance mechanisms (such as the Clean Development Mechanism [CDM] and Bio-rights) based on the opportunity costs of maintaining ecosystem goods and services should be made available for ecological restoration.

We furthermore call upon society’s leaders to achieve a radical paradigm shift and to help usher in a new era built upon twin conceptual pillars: Economics in which nature matters and ecology in which people matter.

Essential to bring about the necessary change is public awareness, government and policy support at all levels and in all contexts, in both developed and developing countries. We urge governments, multi-national institutions and the private sector to actively seek innovative markets, legislation and institutional mechanisms to this end, and to enter into the long-term commitments required.

We recommend improved collaboration between the conservation conventions and other policy platforms (e.g. the United Nations Conventions on Climate Change [UNFCCC], on Combating Desertification [UNCCD], and on Biological Diversity [CBD], the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, and the World Water Forum) to build on their synergies, strengthen the global mandate for ecological restoration and optimize the use of human and financial resources.

Only by stopping degradation and restoring existing degraded ecosystems we will be able to achieve the necessary integration of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals 1 and 7 on poverty reduction and environmental sustainability, and to carry as much as possible of the world’s ecological riches through the pressures of the 21^st century into what we must all hope will be a stable and sustainable world beyond.

Greifswald

25 August 2006