Social Aspects in the monitoring of ecological restoration: an integrative proposal for evaluation and supervision

In the current scenario of ecosys-tem transformation worldwide, ecological restoration has become a necessary process to assist inthe reestablishment of ecosystems and,thus, contribute to the support of socioeconomic requirements, sustainable use of natural resources, mitigation of the effects of global change aswell as preservation and increase ofthe natural capital. Inmost countries, there is a daily increasein the number of damaged, degradedor destroyed areas; yet, ecological restoration processes are each time morefrequent .Defining the success of an ecologicalrestoration process is a highly contro-versial subject ven though there are multiplecontributions, few specific documentsare capable of guiding a monitoringprocess and there are still several voids. For example, evidence suggests that it isdifficult to establish the trajectory andfinal state of an area under restorationbecause, during the process, severaleconomic, political, social and ecologi-cal factors influence the intervenedarea. Thus, there is an array of possiblesuccess or failure situations that couldonly be identified if a monitoring pro-gram is included throughout the process to follow its performance accord-ing to its initial goals