The RNC Alliance - restoring natural capital

Last updated April 2013 - see "What's New" below.

What is the restoration of natural capital (RNC)?

The restoration of natural capital (RNC) is any activity that invests in the replenishment of natural capital and thereby improves the flows of ecosystem (natural) goods and services, while enhancing the wellbeing of people. RNC activities restore natural ecosystems and rehabilitate arable land or other production systems in an ecologically sound manner. These activities are intended to enhance the physical, socio-economic, psychological, and cultural aspects of people's quality of life. RNC initiatives include programs to raise awareness of the value of natural capital in people’s daily lives.

 

What is the RNC Alliance?
The RNC Alliance is an international network of individuals and not-for-profit, non-governmental organisations that offer locally appropriate solutions to resolve environmental and economic development problems simultaneously in under developed countries and industrial countries alike.

Research, demonstration, education and outreach are the basic activities of the Alliance.

Show your support for the RNC Alliance by becoming a member.
Simply register by selecting "Register" to the right and complete your contact details and your interests. We will endeavour to keep you informed within your areas of interest of RNC Alliance activities. Also you can use the "add to list" feature to track the articles of most interest to you.

2013 - What's new?

Propagation guide for native trees of Panamá and the Neotrópical Region - see under Articles in English and Spanish.

Under "Newsletter Updates" please see:

--- updates from the Pacific, Latin America and Ireland - Newsletter update 2013-02
--- updates from Andre Clewell, James Aronson and Sasha Alexander - Newsletter update 2013-04
--- updates from Africa - Newsletter update 2013-04 Africa.

Also within newsletter updates please see links to latest research papers.

2012 - What's new?

Conservationists in Conflict - Paddy Woodworth see Articles in English.

Finding the money for tropical forest restoration - P.H.S. Brancalion, R.A.G. Viani, B.B.N. Strassburg & R.R. Rodrigues. See articles in English.

See our latest RNC newsletter under "Newsletter updates".

Responses of transplanted native tree species to invasive alien grass removals in an abandoned cattle pasture in the Lacandon region, Mexico. See "Articles in English" or "Latin America"

Moreno-Mateos, D., Power, M.E., Comin, F.A., and Yockteng, R. 2012. Structural and functional loss in restored wetland ecosystems. PLoS Biology (10)1: e1001247. See "Articles in English".

Investing in Natural Capital: Using Economic Incentives to Overcome Barriers to Forest Restoration by Tong Wu, Yeon-Su Kim and Matthew D. Hurteau. See "Articles in English".

Insights into invasion and restoration ecology: Time to collaborate towards a holistic approach to tackle biological invasions by Mirijam Gaertner, Judy L. Fisher, Gyan P. Sharma and Karen J. Esler. See "Articles in English".

Neßhöver, C., J. Aronson, J.N. Blignaut, D. Lehr, A. Vakrou & H. Wittmer 2011. Investing in Ecological Infrastructure. In: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in National and International Policy Making. Edited by Patrick ten Brink. Earthscan, London and Washington. Pp. 401-448. See "Articles in English".

Andre Clewell has been selected to be the recipient of Western Reserve Academy’s 2012 Morley Science Medal. The Committee was unanimous in its selection of Andy for this award based upon his outstanding and unique scientific achievements. Congratulations from all of us at the RNC Alliance.

2011 - What's new?

Article: A Global Partnership for Ecosystem Services - by Rudolf de Groot, Robert Costanza, Dieter Van den Broeck, James Aronson, Benjamin Burkhard, Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Roy Haines-Young, Ida Kubiszewski, Felix Müller, Irene Petrosillo, Marion Potschin, Sander van der Ploeg and Gianni Zurlini. See "Articles in English" and also under "Africa".

RNC approach highlighted by Pavan Sukhdev, the Keynote Speaker at SER's 4th World conference held in Mérida,Mexico in 2011. Go to "Articles in English" to view this article published by Paddy Woodworth in the Irish Times 26 Aug 2011.

SER Board
In July, 2011, James Aronson was elected by the members of SER for a two year term as a Representative-at-Large to the Society's Board of Directors. He has also been named as Head of SER's Science and Policy Committee. A task force has been set up, with Drs. James Hallett and James Aronson as Co-chairs, to revise and update the SER Primer, and the Guidelines - two of the most widely cited documents produced by SER.

Articles and chapters recently published or coming soon (updated Jan 2012):

Alexander, S., C. Nelson, J. Aronson, et al. 2011. Opportunities and Challenges for Ecological Restoration within REDD+. Restoration Ecology 19: 683-689. See Articles in English.

Aronson, J. 2011. Sustainability science demands that we define our terms across diverse disciplines. Landscape Ecology 26:457-460.

Aronson, J., P.H.S. Brancalion, G. Durigan, et al. 2011. What role should government regulation play in ecological restoration: Ongoing debate in São Paulo State, Brazil. Restoration Ecology 19: 690-695.

Aronson, J., G. Durigan and P.H.S. Brancalion 2011. Conceitos e Definições correlatos à Ciência e à Prática da Restauração Ecológica. IF Série Registros. São Paulo: Instituto Florestal (Brazil). 44: 1 – 38. Link to article. We present in this article the first glossary in Portuguese about concepts and definitions related to the science and practice of ecological restoration, including a total of 169 terms and English equivalents to each term.

Balaguer, L., R. Arroyo-Garcia, P. Jimenez, et al. 2011. Forest restoration in the lomas (fog oases) of coastal Peru: Genetic and experimental evidence indicate that cultural components should be part of the reference system. PLoS ONE 6(8): e23004. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0023004.

Brancalion, P. H. S.; Novembre, A.D.L.C.; Rodrigues, R.R. 2011. Seed development, yield and quality of two palm species growing in different tropical forest types in SE Brazil: implications for ecological restoration. Seed Science and Technology 39: 412-424. We present in this article some important implications of using different types of vegetation as seed production fields for palm seedling production and use in tropical forest restoration efforts.

Bugalho, M.N., M.C. Caldeira, J.S. Pereira, J. Aronson & J.G. Pausas 2011. Mediterranean Cork oak savannas require human use to sustain biodiversity and ecosystem services. Frontiers in Ecology & the Environment 9: 278-286. See article under "Articles in English" and also under "Europe."

Bullock, J., J. Aronson, J.M. Rey Benayas, R. Pywell & A. Newton 2011. Restoration of ecosystem services and biodiversity. Trends in Ecology and the Environment Early on-line version available, doi:10.1016/j.tree.2011.06.011. See Articles in English.

Blignaut, J. N., J. van Ierland, T. Xivuri, R. van Aarde & J. Aronson 2011. The Socio-Economic Impact of ARISE, an Ecological Restoration Project in Greater Giyani, South Africa. In: Egan, D., J. Abrams, & E. Hjerpe, editors. Exploring the Social Dimensions of Ecological Restoration. Island Press, Washington, D.C. pp. 207220.

de Groot, R., B. Fisher, M. Christie, J. Aronson, et al. 2010. Integrating the ecological and economic dimensions in biodiversity and ecosystem service valuation. In: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Ecological and Economic Foundations. Edited by Pushpam Kumar. Earthscan, London and Washington. Pp. 9-40.

Elmqvist T.E., E. Maltby, T. Barker et al. 2010. Biodiversity, ecosystems, and ecosystem services. In: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity: Ecological and Economic Foundations. An output of TEEB, edited by Pushpam Kumar. Earthscan, London and Washington. Pp. 41-112.

Neßhöver, C., J. Aronson, J.N. Blignaut, et al. 2011. Investing in Ecological Infrastructure. In: The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity in National and International Policy Making. edited by Patrick ten Brink. Earthscan, London and Washington. Pp. 401-448.

Filippi, O. & J. Aronson 2011. Plantes invasives en région méditerranéenne : quelles restrictions d’utilisation préconiser pour les jardins et les espaces verts ? Ecologia mediterranea 36 : 31-54.

Filippi, O. & Aronson, J. 2011. Useful but potentially invasive plants in the Mediterranean region: what restrictions should be placed on their use in gardens? BGjournal 8:27-31.

Hardwick, K.A., P. Fiedler, L.C. Lee, B. Pavlik, R. Hobbs, J. Aronson et al. 2011. Defining the Role of Botanic Gardens in the Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration. Conservation Biology 25: 265–275.

Román-Dañobeytia, F., S. Levy-Tacher, J. Aronson, R. Ribeiro Rodrigues and D. Douterlunghe 2011. Classification of tropical tree species into ecological groups: implications for forest management and restoration in the Lacandon region, Chiapas, México. Restoration Ecology 19(3): Early on-line version.

van Andel, J. and J. Aronson (in press). Getting started. In: Van Andel, J. & J. Aronson, Editors. 2012. Restoration Ecology: The New Frontier. 2nd edition. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. Pp. 000-000.

van Andel, J., A.P. Grootjans & J. Aronson (in press). Unifying concepts. In: Van Andel, J. & J. Aronson, Editors. 2012. Restoration Ecology: The New Frontier. 2nd edition. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK. Pp. 000-000.

Aronson, J., F. Claeys, V. Westerberg et al. (in press). Steps Towards Sustainability and Tools for Restoring Natural Capital: Etang de Berre (southern France) case study. In M. Weinstein & E. Turner, eds. Sustainability Science: Balancing Ecology and Economy. Springer.

Murcia, C., J. Aronson, G. Kattan, K. Dixon & D. Simberloff (in press). Novel Ecosystems: the New Normal? (Nature).

The 2010 article by Aronson et al "The road to sustainability must bridge three great divides", has been translated into Portuguese by Efraim Rodrigues, can be found under "Articles in Portuguese". The original English version can be found under "Articles in English".

Books in press or in progress:

Pedro H.S. Brancalion, Ricardo R. Rodrigues and Sergius Gandolfi are finishing a new text book in Portuguese on forest restoration, which will published late 2011 by Oficina de Textos (see more). This book is intended to be used in undergraduate and technical courses on this subject, filling a gap about the availability of text books in Portuguese about ecological restoration.

Andre Clewell and James Aronson are finalizing the second edition of their book Ecological Restoration : Structure, Principles and Values, for publication with Island Press in late 2012. The second edition will be thoroughly revised and enlarged, with an entirely new set of Virtual Field Trips.

Participation in SER Congress:

The research group and students that work on the project of restoration of Nueva Palestina in the selva Lacandona, participated in the 4th International Congress of Ecological Restoration held in the city of Mérida August 2011. The participation of the group included a trip pre-congress to the Lacandon rainforest in which was showcased the areas in the process of restoration and interaction with the local ethnic groups, the presentation of a symposium and a special meeting "The cinema as a medium to promote actions of ecological restoration from traditional ecological knowledge".

A large committee of Brazilian researchers and students also attended this conference. We note in particular the special session on “The Atlantic Forest Restoration Pact: linking biodiversity conservation and human well-being in a global hotspot”, presented by Brazilian researchers involved in this large-scale, restoration and RNC program with more than 180 members at present and the goal to restore 15 million ha of forest by 2050.

Australian urban RNC project
In May 2011 our Australian partner IEWF won a regional Innovation Award (joint 1st) and a Highly Commended for Urban Landcare through the Sydney Metropolitan Catchment Management Authority for their Habitat Network project. This project is a working example of RNC in an urban environment. Well done to all involved. See Partners and RNC Pacific.

RNC books
Click on the Promotional Items to the right to read abstracts for our books available from the not-for-profit environmental publisher Island Press and from Amazon.

Also see the SER Restoration Reader which provides a summary of restoration books published by Island Press in co-operation with the Society of Ecological Restoration.

The French version of Clewell and Aronson's book "Ecological Restoration" , published 2010.

“Restoring Disturbed Landscapes – Putting Principles into Practice”

David Tongway and long time associate Dr John Ludwig, both from Australia, have written this book which is a culmination of many years of research into landscape function. This book is especially for universities and practitioners of ecological restoration. It is being published by Island Press and can be ordered now - see Promotional Items to the right. For additional information see Partners/Projects - RNC Pacific.

“Land Restoration to Combat Desertification - Innovative Approaches, Quality Control and Project Evaluation”. See promotional items to the right to read Chapter 2 "the Restoration Process" written by Andre Clewell, James Aronson and James Blignaut.

See article under "New Publications and Books"
The Economics of Ecosystems of Biodiversity (TEEB) for Policy Makers Report - especially Chapter 9 - Investing in ecological infrastructure.

Some interesting items from previous years.

Read our annual updates - see under "Newsletter updates".

Master’s degree program Student papers from the international master’s degree program, “Biodiversity in Tropical Areas and its Conservation" (www.masterenbiodiversidad.org) have been added in Spanish - see RNC Students 2010.

New Co-ordinators and project assistance for RNC South America We welcome two new RNC Co-ordinators for the RNC Alliance in South America. Prof. Nikolay Aguirre Mendoza of the National University of Loja, Ecuador, has accepted the position of Regional Co-ordinator. Dr. Pedro H.S. Brancalion of Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Brazil, has accepted the position as RNC Co-ordinator Brazil. New information and articles from these 2 centres are on and will be appearing on this website so keep watching.

We also welcome Jesús Muñoz, who represents the Royal Botanic Garden in Madrid, and the National Research Network (CSIC) of Spain, will be assisting in the Latin American projects as well as running projects in Spain.

James Aronson receives SER International Award
James was presented with a Communications Award by SER International, at their August 2007 conference. Read more.

For website information or problems joining please contact Bev Debrincat at:
info@iewf.org or info@rncalliance.org