In the latest issue of Global Environment Stefan Dorondel takes a critical view to ecological restoration projects in light of ‘citizen science’. Stefan discusses a couple of high-profile examples of such projects along the Danube river, in Romania and Bulgaria to argue for new approaches to ecological restoration that take into account local knowledge.
Ecological restoration is the ‘process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed’ by human activity.
On the Bulgarian banks of the Lower Danube two sites were the focus of ecological restoration projects between 2005 and 2010: Persina Nature Park in Belene and Kalimok Brashlen Boblata near the town of Turtrakan. Both projects aimed to restore parts of the former floodplain that had been radically changed by the socialist regime Danube Delta […] However, no local people were involved in designing and implementing the restoration work. Local residents are also banned from the restored ecosystems and the Nature Park, although their families had lived with and from those waters and forests for generations.
Moreover, the importance of general public engagement in addressing environmental problems is vital for a sustainable future, free of environmental crises
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Deschiderea unui domeniu de cercetare. Restaurarea ecologică, cunoașterea locală și știința cetățenilor
În cel mai recent număr al Global Environment, Stefan Dorondel propune o privire critică asupra proiectelor de restaurare ecologică în lumina „științei cetățenești”. Ștefan discută câteva exemple de astfel de proiecte importante care s-au implementat de-a lungul fluviului Dunărea, în România și Bulgaria, pentru a pleda pentru noi abordări ale restaurării ecologice care să țină seama de înțelepciunea oamenilor care trăiesc în strâns contact cu zonele în curs de restaurare.
Citiți întregul text aici.
State, Communities and Nature of the Lower Danube Islands: An Environmental History (1830-2020) 