Ecology and ethics in mire forest restoration: convergent goals and effective strategies (SuoMet)
Table of contents
Project description
Finnish landscape is a mosaic of forests and mires and a true union of the two are spruce mires (korvet) and pine mires (°ùä³¾±ð±ð³Ù). These mire forests have been widely degraded through drainage, mainly for forestry. Hence, halting biodiversity loss and maintaining ecosystem functions in mire forests requires restoring degraded mire forests alongside conserving pristine ones. Yet, there is a shortage of scientifically valid and generalizable knowledge of the long-term effects of restoration, particularly in changing climate, as well as a clear understanding of ethical aspects of current and future restoration goals and site targeting. Moreover, as restoration will also be needed on private lands, in-depth knowledge about the attitudes of private land-owners to restoration is critical. In this project, we will combine ecology, ethics and social science to improve the true effect of restoration.
The project is guided by two key research questions:
- How can we evaluate the ecological appropriateness and ethical adequacy of current goals for mire forest restoration sites, and what research-based resolutions can we propose for trade-offs between different goals?
- How can we enhance our understanding of convergent choices regarding restoration sites and develop effective restoration strategies while taking land-owners' attitudes into account?
