Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration Dr. Peter H

Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration

Travelling Fellowship Report

Dr. Peter H. Whitbread-Abrutat May 2012

Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration

Dr. Peter H. Whitbread-Abrutat 2

The Winston Churchill

Memorial Trust

The Winston Churchill Memorial

Trust was established in 1965 when

the great man died. As a mark of

respect and gratitude for the man

and his legendary leadership, thousands of people from the UK and overseas

generously donated £3 million so that a living memorial to him could benefit

future generations of British people.

The fund supports annually around 100 Travelling Fellowships and ten

bursaries at Churchill College, University of Cambridge. The objective of the

Travelling Fellowships is to enable British citizens to travel overseas on a

worthwhile enterprise of the own choosing, with the aim of enriching their

lives by the skills they gain and, on their return, enhancing the life of their

community by their example and the dissemination of the benefit of their

travels. These opportunities are provided to people of any age, gender,

ethnicity, or religion, with or without educational qualifications and in any

occupation or none.

Travelling Fellowships allow travel to almost anywhere in the world under a

diverse range of project themes. The purpose of such a fellowship is to widen

an individual’s experience in such a way that he or she grows in confidence,

knowledge, authority and ambition, and to bring benefit to others in the UK

through sharing the results of the experience. This is achieved through:

 The inspiration provided by the individual’s example – his or her

subsequent performance and achievements, and

 The dissemination and application of new knowledge, different

perspectives and innovative solutions.

Since 1966 some 4,450 fellowships have been awarded. In 2011, 105

fellowships were awarded for projects of between four and eight weeks.

For more details about the Trust and its work, and for information on how to

apply, visit www.wcmt.org.uk.

Front cover photo: The road west to Estancia Menelik, thence the distant Andes of Argentine

Patagonia.

Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration

Dr. Peter H. Whitbread-Abrutat 3

SUMMARY

Combating land degradation is one of global society’s major environmental challenges; the

decay of our terrestrial resource directly affects the lives and futures of countless millions of

people around the world. Restoring degraded landscapes is, therefore, a powerful way to

rebuild ecological integrity and enhance the lives and livelihoods of people connected with

them, for the long term.

In 2011 I received a Travelling Fellowship from the UK’s Winston Churchill Memorial Trust to

; so, between 16 October and 15 DecemberExplore World Class Landscape Restoration

2011 I travelled through the Americas visiting the people, projects and places of some of the

world’s most significant landscape restoration projects. This report is the story of those

projects.

At the outset, I define landscape restoration as:

The improvement of degraded land on a large scale that rebuilds ecological integrity and

enhances people’s lives.

This definition is deliberately and conveniently broad in order to encompass a diverse range

of ambitions, activities, scales, environments and societies and end-uses.

Landscape restoration, as defined above, should aim to reconcile economic, social and

environmental concerns within a holistic framework; the best projects utilise environmental

improvements as drivers for socio-economic regeneration; less commonly, but more

effectively, socio-economic development can be used to generate enduring environmental

improvements.

My fellowship aimed to:

1. Identify and understand the main challenges to delivering world class landscape

restoration projects.

2. Identify and understand the elements of success required to deliver world class

landscape restoration projects.

3. Develop a set of generic recommendations that should apply to almost any project

almost anywhere.

I took a pragmatic rather an academic or philosophical approach to meeting these

objectives, which involved visiting the projects, meeting the people behind them and

reviewing relevant literature before, during and after the visits.

At all times I was concerned with relating my findings back to Cornwall’s china clay mining

district in south-west England – an area dogged by diverse political interests, social decline

and environmental degradation, but now on the cusp of a once-in-a-generation

regeneration opportunity.

My fellowship involved visiting a range of scales and types of landscape restoration projects

and meeting the people behind them. The approach focused primarily on what could be

Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration

Dr. Peter H. Whitbread-Abrutat 4

learned from first-hand, on-the-ground experiences that would be of use to other groups in

other places struggling to deliver their own projects.

The places and projects that I visited were:

 The Appalachian Regional Reforestation Initiative and allied projects of the eastern

initiative that aims to restore the region’sUSA’s central Appalachian coalfields – an

diverse temperate forest after extensive denudation by mountaintop removal

mining.

 The Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan and allied projects of Florida’s

– a multi-billion dollar programme to restore a more natural hydrology toEverglades

the Everglades to ensure water supplies for people, industry and the ecosystem’s

unique ecology.

 where the restoration ofCosta Rica’s Area de Conservacion Guanacaste dry tropical

on degraded farmland has been underway for decades, alongside theforests

simultaneous encouragement of a new economy based on conservation and eco-

tourism.

 , which aims to reverseTropical island restoration in Ecuador’s Galapagos Islands

the damage caused by introduced species and poorly-planned development.

 The REGUA, Serra da Concordia Wildlife Sanctuary, SOS Mata Atlantica and Atlantic

, all working towardsForest Restoration Pact projects of Brazil’s eastern seaboard

– one of the most important and degraded forestsrestoring the Atlantic Rainforest

in the world.

 Three enormous mines in Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest, namely: Carajas iron mine

, all concerned withand Trombetas and Juruti aluminium mines re-growing the

after its land has been mined, and incorporating forest-derivedAmazon rainforest

socio-economic opportunities for local people in the future.

 Pumalin Park, future Patagonia National Park and Estancia Menelik in Chilean and

, which are creating, through restoration,Argentine Patagonia new regional

based on conservation, responsible farming practices and eco-tourism.economies

The fellowship focused mainly on projects in Latin America because:

 Environmental awareness is arguably at an earlier stage than in Europe and North

America;

 Social and economic development are prime objectives of Latin American

governments and societies, implying that landscape restoration projects there really

need to incorporate these issues at the outset; and

 I was told that there is nothing interesting happening in terms of landscape

restoration in Latin America!

This report is structured simply by destination in visit order, in which each project is

described with associated conclusions and lessons. The final section, “Making Sense of it

All”, attempts to draw lessons from the experience and derive generic recommendations of

broad applicability.

Exploring World Class Landscape Restoration

Dr. Peter H. Whitbread-Abrutat 5

The report is intended neither as an academic treatise nor a formal consultancy document,

but as a personal, practical account and analysis of my findings on the ground. It is aimed at

anyone with an interest in landscape restoration and learning from the experiences of

others. I have briefly included in the final section a summary of the key stages in an “ideal”

landscape restoration a project, which could be used as a starting point for others

contemplating pursuing their own projects. Ultimately, the report aims to inform, stimulate

and inspire thinking on landscape restoration possibilities and opportunities elsewhere.

Complementing this report is the separate story of the journey itself, which has been

written-up as a travel blog, available at www.petewa.blogspot.com, with many photographs

of the above projects and locations.

Based on my fellowship and other experiences, I have attempted to draw out the key

challenges likely to be experienced by landscape restoration projects and briefly discuss how

these have been overcome in real situations. It goes without saying that all these challenges

have been overcome somewhere at some time by a combination of creative thinking,

collaboration, trust, necessity and dedic