Implementation

As in building a house, a foundation must be set before beginning your restoration project. To create a strong foundation, the plan for implementation should be molded by values of participatory governance, social fairness, and equity. This ensures the implementation of a project that works for all stakeholders. To build an equitable foundation for a restoration project, it is essential to engage diverse stakeholders, respect cultural values, ensure fair distribution of benefits, provide capacity building, establish transparent decision-making, address historical inequities, and monitor social equity, all while promoting long-term sustainability and environmental justice. It should also be determined that you have enough resources available for the project so that goals can be met in a timely manner and the project can follow all applicable laws ¹.

Oftentimes, restoration projects are innovative, which means that the outcomes of the intervention and its long-term impacts on the ecosystem may be unknown. To reduce uncertainty, you should undertake experiments in a controlled environment by running pilot or preliminary tests, to verify performance and ensure the safety of innovations and develop greater certainty around your implementation methods. By running tests outside the ecosystem, you can also work towards strong relationships with stakeholders and support joint decision-making processes. For example, you and the stakeholders can choose together the species to target, the physical space of your implementation, and a wide variety of other factors. While you have no doubt already considered it, be sure to further examine the potential applicability of and methods for natural ecosystem recovery before implementing an active restoration plan. Eliminating or minimizing pressures on the ecosystem may be sufficient to create conditions for natural recovery and generate the positive result you wish to see, without the need for more invasive interventions ¹.

To ensure that all factors are considered in their entirety, it is critical that details are documented, such as locations, species, intensities, frequencies, and costs. These details will be necessary for accurate replication of the restoration practices as well as for the analysis of the actions' effectiveness with respect to ecosystem health. This documentation also can be used to raise awareness and support for the project, ranging from mobilizing public and government support to securing donations and establishing collaborations with other restoration practitioners ¹.