Congrès Mondial des Études sur le Moyen-Orient et l'Afrique du Nord

Barcelone du 19 au 24 Juillet 2010

· NOT_DEFINED institution: Royal Botanic Gardens Kew (UK)

· NOT_DEFINED organizer: Shahina A Ghazanfar

· NOT_DEFINED language: English

· NOT_DEFINED description: The last four decades have seen severe damage to landscapes in several regions of the Middle East. Great increases in livestock holdings, a need for housing and public amenities, developments for tourism, and war, has destroyed and damaged ecosystems beyond natural recovery. Coupled with that, global climate change and the continuing aridity in this region has led to an urgent need to address issues relating to degraded habitats and loss of biological diversity. The last decades have seen a failing of conservation efforts due to lack of education and implementation of laws and regulations for gazetted and non gazetted nature reserves, with the result that degradation and damage continues. In order to provide an environment for the re-establishment of habitats and their specific flora and fauna, it has, in many areas, become necessary to have human intervention which can lead to the recovery of habitats and biodiversity. In the Middle East, overgrazed, non productive rangelands, that constitute a major part of the land today, are a prime example, where ecological restoration can help to bring back the biodiversty and a functioning ecosystem. The focus of this panel is to introduce the subject of ecological restoration to a wider public, to initiate the idea that recovery of unprodutive and damaged landscapes can be achieved through human intervention, and that unproductive landscapes can become functioning ecosystems.

Chair:Professor Bruce Pavlik (Head of Restoration Ecology Unit, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK)

Disussant: Saud L.R. Al-Rowaily (Range Science, College of Food & Agriculture Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia)

Paper presenter: Mathew Hall (Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, UK), "Is restoration natural?"
According to the environmental philosopher Eric Katz, ‘If a restored environment is an adequate replacement for the previously existing natural environment then humans can use, degrade, destroy, and replace natural entities and habitats with no moral consequences whatsoever. The value in the original natural entity does not require preservation.’ Such assertions question the underlying ethos and philosophy of habitat restoration and its role in the conservation of biodiversity. What are the differences between ‘natural’ and restored habitats? Can the human driven processes and products of restoration ever be considered ‘natural’? Can restoration weaken rather than strengthen in situ biodiversity conservation? Rejecting Katz’s claims that restoration is fundamentally unnatural, a number of environmental thinkers have questioned the radical separation of humans and nature. I examine these arguments in the context of the Middle East along with the notion that restoration is a way of rebuilding the relationship between humans and the rest of the natural world.

Paper presenter: Tom Zink (Soil Ecology and Restoration Group, San Diego State University, USA), "Soil restoration"
Much of the native landscape across the Middle East has been severely damaged through increased grazing pressure over the past several decades, leading to the loss of vital native habitat and subsequent loss of biological diversity. Besides the loss of native vegetation that is the most noticeable impact, this increase in grazing pressure has also more subtly impacted the soil through compaction and the degradation of vital bio-chemical processes that form the basic factors on which both plant and animal communities depend. The increase in soil strength and subsequent loss of water infiltration capability caused by the over-grazing of both camels and goats not only degrades the basic bio-chemical processes on which plants depend for nutrients, but leads to loss of the thin layer of topsoil so vital to arid land plant communities through an increase in wind erosion. To address this growing problem, first an understanding of the basic biological, chemical and geological aspects of arid land soils is necessary. Second, a knowledge of restoration processes and procedures that can be used to re-establish a self-sustaining and functional soil community on which both plant and animal communities can build is required. This presentation will cover both of these important aspects of soil restoration in arid lands.

Paper presenter: Shahina A. Ghazanfar (Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, UK), "The practicality of ecological restoration - a case study"
The practicality of ecological restoration in the Middle East is challenging. Not only there is a lack of legislation and implementation of laws for the conservation of biodiversity, the complex ownership of land makes it difficult to remove or decrease the number of livestock holdings in order that damaged landscapes may partially recover or be restored. But once that is achieved, a lack of reference vegetation areas make it problematic to make decisions on the selection of a species composition for a particular area. A key factor for restoration is a good knowledge of the vegetation of the area or region, and detailed information of the biotic and abiotic characteristics that interact. Past satellite images, photographs, vegetation maps and descriptions are very useful in determining the key and associated species and their cover, and preparing a restoration model is vital for any restoration project. Plantations may have to irrigated for an initial two to three growth seasons, and once established a slow weaning off to natural conditions is possible. A management action plan is necessary for the success for restoration projects. This presentation will illustrate these aspects of ecological restoration through a case study in the Middle East.

Paper presenter: Michiel van Slageren (Millennium Seed Bank, Wakehurst Place, Royal Botanic Gardens, UK), "Seed collection and storage for ecological restoration"
The prevalent dry lands of the Middle East enable populations of wild species to be identified as discreet units. Their sampling is made easier with their annual life cycle that provides a large seed production in the majority of cases. This, in turn, facilitates direct use of seeds in large numbers together with mass propagation if required, to restore damaged landscapes. Seed banks provide a cost-effective complement of ex situ conservation that is necessary for any restoration programme. It should be realised that in situ evolution of a species continues, while, once collected and properly stored, this process is ‘frozen in time’ for a short or long period of time. Seed banking is an insurance policy for assured, continued existence of species, provided this happens under desirable conditions. A seed collection can be defined as a representative sample of the genetic variation within a single population of a certain species at a certain moment. Seeds remain viable through a combination of low moisture content (± 5%) and low temperature. Storage between +4°C and -10°C generally ensures decades of viability. Use for ecological restoration fits this viability window, provided by active collection.