Identifying challenges to building an evidence base for restoration practice
Date
2015-11-30
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
MDPI
Abstract
Global acknowledgement of ecological restoration, as an important tool to complement
conservation efforts, requires an effort to increase the effectiveness of restoration interventions.
Evidence-based practice is purported to promote effectiveness. A central tenet of this approach is
decision making that is based on evidence, not intuition. Evidence can be generated experimentally
and in practice but needs to be linked to baseline information collection, clear goals and monitoring
of impact. In this paper, we report on a survey conducted to assess practitioners’ perceptions of
the evidence generated in restoration practice in South Africa, as well as challenges encountered
in building this evidence base. Contrary to a recent assessment of this evidence base which
found weaknesses, respondents viewed it as adequate and cited few obstacles to its development.
Obstacles cited were mostly associated with planning and resource availability. We suggest that the
disparity between practitioners’ perceptions and observed weaknesses in the evidence base could
be a challenge in advancing evidence-based restoration. We explore opportunities to overcome
this disparity as well as the obstacles listed by practitioners. These opportunities involve a shift
from practitioners as users of scientific knowledge and evidence, to practitioners involved in the
co-production of evidence needed to increase the effectiveness of restoration interventions.
Description
CITATION: Ntshotsho, P., Esler, K. J. & Reyers, B. 2015. Identifying challenges to building an evidence base for restoration practice. Sustainability, 7(12):15871–15881, doi:10.3390/su71215788.
The original publication is available at http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
The original publication is available at http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
Keywords
Baseline information, Evidence-based practice
Citation
Ntshotsho, P., Esler, K. J. & Reyers, B. 2015. Identifying challenges to building an evidence base for restoration practice. Sustainability, 7(12):15871–15881, doi:10.3390/su71215788.