Are socioeconomic benefits of restoration adequately quantified? a meta-analysis of recent papers (2000-2008) in restoration ecology and 12 other scientific journals

Restoration Ecology

Volumn 18, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 143-154

  Aronson, James ^a,b   Blignaut, James N ^c   Milton, Suzanne J ^d   Le Maitre, David ^e   Esler, Karen J ^f   Limouzin, Amandine ^a   Fontaine, Christelle ^a   de Wit, Martin P ^f,g   Mugido, Worship ^f   Prinsloo, Philip ^g   van der Elst, Leandri ^g   Lederer, Ned ^g  

^a CENTRE D ECOLOGIE FONCTIONNELLE ET EVOLUTIVE   (France)

^b MISSOURI BOTANICAL GARDEN   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA   (South Africa)

^d UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN   (South Africa)

^e DSI CSIR Nanotechnology Innovation Centre   (South Africa)

^f STELLENBOSCH UNIVERSITY   (South Africa)

^g ASSET Research   (South Africa)

Author keywords

Agriculture; Ecological economic interface; Payment for ecosystem services; Policy implications; Restoration of natural capital

Indexed keywords

ACADEMIC RESEARCH; ECOSYSTEM SERVICE; ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION; LITERATURE REVIEW; NATURAL RESOURCE; POLICY ANALYSIS; RESTORATION ECOLOGY; SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS;

EID: 77954411671     PISSN: 10612971     EISSN: 1526100X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1526-100X.2009.00638.x     Document Type: Review

References (57)

1. Aronson J, Blignaut J N, Milton S J, Clewell A F. Natural capital: the limiting factor. Ecological Engineering 2006a, 28:1-5.
2. Aronson J, Milton S J, Blignaut J N. Conceiving the science, business and practice of restoring natural capital. Ecological Restoration 2006b, 24:22-24.
3. Restoring natural capital: science, business, and practice 2007, Aronson JMilton S JBlignaut J N. editors., Island Press, Washington, D.C.
4. Arrow K, Bolin B, Costanza R, Dasgupta P, Folke C, Holling C S. Economic growth, carrying capacity, and the environment. Science 1995, 268:520-521.
5. Ayyad M A. Case studies in the conservation of biodiversity: degradation and threats. Journal of Arid Environments 2003, 54:165-182.
6. Balmford A, Bruner A, Cooper P, Costanza R, Farber S, Green R E. Economic reasons for conserving wild nature. Science 2002, 297:950-953.
7. Bennett E M, Balvanera P. The future of production systems in a globalized world. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2007, 5:191-198.
8. Blignaut J N, Aronson J. Getting serious about maintaining biodiversity. Conservation Letters 2008, 1:12-17.
9. Blignaut J N, Aronson J, Mander M, Marais C. Investing in natural capital and economic development: South Africa's Drakensberg Mountains. Ecological Restoration 2008, 26:143-150.
10. Cabin R J. Science-driven restoration: a square grid on a round Earth? Restoration Ecology 2007, 15:1-7.
11. Cairns J. Ecological restoration: replenishing our national and global ecological capital. Nature conservation 3: reconstruction of fragmented ecosystems 1993, 193-208. Saunders DHobbs REhrlich P. Pages, editors., Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton, Australia
12. Clewell A F. Editorial: restoration of natural capital. Restoration Ecology 2000, 8:1.
13. Clewell A F, Aronson J. Motivations for the restoration of ecosystems. Conservation Biology 2006, 20:420-428.
14. Clewell A F, Aronson J. Ecological restoration: principles, values, and structure of an emerging profession 2007, Island Press, Washington, D.C
15. Costanza R, Daly H E. Natural capital and sustainable development. Conservation Biology 1992, 6:37-46.
16. Costanza R, d'Arge R, de Groot R, Farber S, Grasso M, Hannon B. The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 1997, 387:253-259.
17. Cowling R M, Wilhelm-Rechmann A. Four perspectives on conservation in Africa: social assessment as a key to conservation success. Oryx 2007, 41:135-139.
18. Daily G. Nature's services. Societal dependence on natural ecosystems 1997, Island Press, Washington, D.C
19. De Groot R S. Functions of nature 1992, Wolters-Noordhoff, Groningen, The Netherlands
20. De Groot R S, Wilson M A, Boumans R M J. A typology for the classification, description and valuation of ecosystem functions, goods and services. Ecological Economics 2002, 41:393-408.
21. Duraiappahn A K. Poverty and environmental degradation: a review and analysis of the nexus. World Development 1998, 26:2169-2179.
22. Ehrlich A H, Ehrlich P R. Dangers of uninformed optimism. Environmental Conservation 1981, 8:173-175.
23. The economics of ecosystems and biodiversity: an interim report 2008, http://www.teebweb.org/InformationMaterial/TEEBReports.aspx, European Communities, Brussels, Belgium, (available from
24. Global forest resources assessment progress towards sustainable forest management 2005, FAO, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy
25. Ferraro P J, Pattanayak S K. Money for nothing? A call for empirical evaluation of biodiversity conservation investments. PLoS Biology 2006, 4:e105. http://www.plosbiology.org, (available from
26. Galatowitsch S M. Carbon offsets as ecological restorations. Restoration Ecology 2009, 17:563-570.
27. Geerken R, Ilaiwi M. Assessment of rangeland degradation and development of a strategy for rehabilitation. Remote Sensing of Environment 2004, 90:490-504.
28. Goldstein J H, Pejchar L, Daily G C. Using return-on-investment to guide restoration: a case study from Hawaii. Conservation Letters 2008, 1:236-243.
29. Harris J A, Hobbs R J, Higgs E, Aronson J. Ecological restoration and global climate change. Restoration Ecology 2006, 14:170-176.
30. Hawken P, Lovins A, Lovins L H. Natural capitalism: creating the new industrial revolution 1999, Little Brown & Company, New York
31. Holl K D, Howarth R B. Paying for restoration. Restoration Ecology 2000, 8:260-267.
32. Janzen D H. Tropical dry forest restoration: area de Conservación Guanacaste, northwestern Costa Rica. Handbook of ecological restoration. Vol. 2. Restoration in practice 2002, 559-584. Perrow M RDavy A J. Pages, editors., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
33. Jones H P, Schmitz O J. Rapid recovery of damaged ecosystems. PLoS ONE 2009, 4:e5653. 10.1371/journal.pone.0005653
34. Knight A T, Cowling R M, Campbell B M. An operational model for implementing conservation action. Conservation Biology 2006, 20:408-419.
35. Lawler J J, Aukema J E, Grant J B, Halpern B S, Kareiva P, Nelson C R. Conservation science: a 20-year report card. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2006, 4:273-280.
36. Ecosystems and human well-being: multiscale assessments, Vol 4. Synthesis report series 2005, MA (Millennium Ecosystem Assessment), Island Press, Washington, D.C
37. Mahiri I, Howorth C. Twenty years of resolving the irresolvable: approaches to the fuelwood problem in Kenya. Land Degradation and Development 2001, 12:205-215.
38. Meli P. Restauración ecológica de bosques tropicales. Veinte años de investigación académica. Interciencia 2003, 28:581-589.
39. Milton S J, Aronson J, Blignaut J N. Restoring natural capital-shared visions for ecology and economy. Quest (South African Academy of Science) 2005, 2:39-41.
40. Milton S J, Dean W R J, Richardson D M. Economic incentives for restoring natural capital in southern African rangelands. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2003, 1:247-254.
41. Morse W C, Schedlbauer J L, Sesnie S E, Finegan B, Harvey C A, Hollenhorst S J, Kavanagh K L, Stoian D, Wulfhorst J D. Consequences of environmental service payments for forest retention and recruitment in a Costa Rican biological corridor. Ecology and Society 2009, 14:23. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss1/art23/, (available from
42. Pagiola S, Arcenas A, Platais G. Can payments for environmental services help reduce poverty? An exploration of the issues and the evidence to date from Latin America. World Development 2005, 33:237-253.
43. Rey Benayas J M, Bullock J M, Newton A C. Creating woodland islets to reconcile ecological restoration, conservation, and agricultural land use. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 2008, 4:329-336.
44. Rey Benayas J M, Newton A C, Diaz A, Bullock J M. Enhancement of biodiversity and ecosystem services by ecological restoration: a meta-analysis. Science 2009, 325:1121-1124. http://www2.uah.es/josemrey/Investigacion/Reprints/ReyBenayas_Restoratio n_Science_pr2009.pdf, (available from
45. Reynolds J F, Smith D M S, Lambin E F, Turner B L, Mortimore M, Batterbury S P J. Global desertification: building a science for dryland development. Science 2007, 316:847-851.
46. Ruiz-Jaen M C, Aide T M. Restoration success: how is it being measured? Restoration Ecology 2005, 13:569-577.
47. Saunders C D, Brook A T, Myers O E. Using psychology to save biodiversity and human well-being. Conservation Biology 2006, 20:702-705.
48. Society for ecological restoration international's primer of ecological restoration. 2004, http://www.ser.org/Primer, SER (Society for Ecological Restoration International Science & Policy Working Group), (available from
49. Sutherland W J, Pullin A S, Dolman P M, Knight T M. The need for evidence-based conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 2004, 19:305-308.
50. Tallis H, Kareiva P, Marvier M, Chang A. An ecosystem services framework to support both practical conservation and economic development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 2008, 105:9457-9464.
51. Turpie J K, Marais C, Blignaut J N. Evolution of a payments for ecosystem services mechanism that addresses both poverty and ecosystem service delivery in South Africa. Ecological Economics 2008, 65:788-798.
52. Weiher E. On the status of restoration of restoration science: obstacles and opportunities. Restoration Ecology 2007, 15:340-343.
53. Wessels K J, Prince S D, Frost P E, van Zyl D. Assessing the effects of human-induced land degradation in the former homelands of northern South Africa with a 1 km AVHRR NDVI time-series. Remote Sensing of Environment 2004, 91:47-67.
54. Westman W E. How much are nature's services worth? Science 1977, 197:960-964.
55. Wezel A, Bender S. Degradation of agro-pastoral village land in semi-arid southeastern Cuba. Journal of Arid Environments 2004, 59:299-311.
56. Woodworth P. What price ecological restoration. The Scientist 2006, 20:39-45.
57. Little green data book 2008, World Bank, World Bank, Washington D.C.