Abstract
Ecological compensation (EC) is the practice of transforming an area to recover ecological functions and characteristics that have been impaired due to the exploitation of natural resources (e.g. mining, logging) and changes in land-use (e.g. urbanization, transformation of the land into farmland). EC is usually done at large scales and seldom times at smaller scales that could involve citizen actions.
Our newly launched project "Science embracing art to launch small scale ecological compensation actions" aims to reach out to citizens in Finland to raise their awareness of nature conservation, make them familiar with the EC concept and increase their willingness to get involved in EC actions. The EC concept will be explored from the perspective of a wide range of citizens, including different focus groups that will be invited to participate in a set of workshops. The project will have a pseudonym name in Finnish to evoke the EC concept, so that it is easily understood and memorable by citizens.
As part of this project, we will develop an EC platform where citizens can suggest sites for EC activities. We will assess key characteristics (e.g. soil type, ecosystem type, state of degradation) in the suggested sites for EC actions. Afterwards, we will classify the sites according to shared characteristics. We will then suggest a set of potential EC actions ranging from simple/short-term to complex/long-term actions for the different sites. Thus, we aim to produce an efficient platform where sites are matched with potential EC actions. The effectiveness of the EC actions conducted on compensated sites will be assessed over time by using ecological indicators such as species richness and community structure. The above mentioned conservation ecology elements of the project, will be encompassed with the study of legal framework, social science and artistic elements.
Our newly launched project "Science embracing art to launch small scale ecological compensation actions" aims to reach out to citizens in Finland to raise their awareness of nature conservation, make them familiar with the EC concept and increase their willingness to get involved in EC actions. The EC concept will be explored from the perspective of a wide range of citizens, including different focus groups that will be invited to participate in a set of workshops. The project will have a pseudonym name in Finnish to evoke the EC concept, so that it is easily understood and memorable by citizens.
As part of this project, we will develop an EC platform where citizens can suggest sites for EC activities. We will assess key characteristics (e.g. soil type, ecosystem type, state of degradation) in the suggested sites for EC actions. Afterwards, we will classify the sites according to shared characteristics. We will then suggest a set of potential EC actions ranging from simple/short-term to complex/long-term actions for the different sites. Thus, we aim to produce an efficient platform where sites are matched with potential EC actions. The effectiveness of the EC actions conducted on compensated sites will be assessed over time by using ecological indicators such as species richness and community structure. The above mentioned conservation ecology elements of the project, will be encompassed with the study of legal framework, social science and artistic elements.
| Original language | English |
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| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2018 |
| MoE publication type | Not Eligible |
| Event | 5th European Congress of Conservation Biology - Jyväskylä, Finland Duration: 12 Jun 2018 → 15 Jun 2018 https://conbio.org/mini-sites/eccb2018 |
Conference
| Conference | 5th European Congress of Conservation Biology |
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| Country/Territory | Finland |
| City | Jyväskylä, |
| Period | 12/06/2018 → 15/06/2018 |
| Internet address |
Fields of Science
- 415 Other agricultural sciences