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Habitat Restoration Research Report and Blog

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Habitat Restoration Research Report and Blog

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Table of Contents
1. Research on Sustainability Issue, Impacts, and Mitigation Actions.....................................3

1.1. Habitat Loss................................................................................................................. 3

1.2. Arguments for and against taking personal action......................................................3

1.3. Actions humankind and individuals can take...............................................................5

2. Sustainability Action Blog....................................................................................................6

2.1. The Sustainability Issue................................................................................................6

2.2. What Humankind Can Do to Address It.......................................................................7

2.3. Five Steps You Can Take.............................................................................................. 7

2.4. My Commitment..........................................................................................................7

2.5. What is Your Commitment?........................................................................................ 7

2.6. Learn More (Resources)...............................................................................................7

References................................................................................................................................. 7
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1. Research on Sustainability Issues, Impacts, and Mitigation Actions

1.1. Habitat Loss
The issue of habitat loss is becoming one of the biggest biodiversity challenges. The annual
rate of species extinction has dropped from one to five species per year to an average of 10,000
to 100,000 per annum as a result of their habitat loss (Powers and Jetz, 2019). For instance, the
Hawaiian Po'ouli bird was recently proclaimed extinct due to habitat destruction. Projections
indicate that by 2050, the Earth's land will degrade by 95% (Cardinale et al., 2019).
Unsustainable agricultural practices have destroyed 24 billion tonnes of soil globally causing a
loss of ecosystem functions including climate regulation and nutrient cycling (MacCannell,
2019). Such functions sustain life on Earth. Therefore, it is important to conserve the remaining
ecosystems and restore the destroyed ones in hopes that these habitats and species can
regenerate. The efforts to conserve such ecosystems have proven successful in many cases. For
instance, hunting policies and zoo regulations have saved certain endangered species such as
the Przewalski's horse from extinction (Rosenbaum, 2023). These findings show that habitat
restoration is always the most evident and crucial solution to habitat loss.
1.2. Arguments for and against taking personal action
Our food systems require healthy soil. Damaged soils must be restored before forests,
crops, and plants can thrive. The process of soil restoration requires complex interactions
among soil, fungi, viruses, and plants. In areas with healthy soils, these microscopic organisms
support plant growth and disease resistance. Soil deterioration damages the ecosystems and
the capacity to produce sustainable food (Kraamwinkel et al., 2021). Therefore, to save the
ecosystem and the declining plant and animal species, it is important for humans to conserve
and restore the degraded soils and microorganisms.
Ecosystem restoration is critical to human health. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has killed
over a million people, demonstrates how ecological decline can propagate novel viruses.
Therefore, it is essential to conserve and restore habitats and biodiversity to withstand global
change and protect future generations. Additionally, biodiversity loss is a leading contributor to
sickness. Revegetation can play an essential role in improving immune systems through
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rebuilding ambient microbiomes. Microbial relationships can be reinstated through landscape

design and restoration, which will thereafter enhance sustainable human health.
Habitat restoration can help to reduce the effects of climate change. Planting more trees
helps in reducing the amount of green house gases such as CO2 present in the atmosphere.
Therefore, ecosystem rehabilitation sis important to mitigate the risks of climate change such
as global warming, flooding, and soil erosion (Kraamwinkel et al., 2021). Rewilded ecosystems
can also create socioeconomic opportunities for the local populations, improve human health
and welfare by increasing access to natural environments, and mitigate the effects of
environmental hazards (such as flooding) and their associated costs (Spurgeon, 2023).
Habitat restoration groups apply general strategies that undervalue the region's animals,
politics, ecology, and people. Such strategies and policies neglect historical human population
densities in proposed protected areas (Powers and Jetz, 2019). The blanket assumption that
humans destroy biodiversity conservation is broad and invalid. Habitat restoration planners
may end up making wrong assumptions when planning projects by assuming social
homogeneity among local people and failing to recognize the complexities of households,
gender, institutes, and community members, which can result in conflicts and failure.
Habitat restoration is costly. Habitat restoration groups often struggle to get reliable
sources of long-term financial support to achieve the set goals. In some cases, the groups
receive short-term financial support that is inconsistent and biased thus endangering the
sustainability of some species. The Rosenbaum (2023), reveals that in the USA only 12% of
endangered species receive funding for rehabilitation efforts. According to Powers and Jetz
(2019), money does not guarantee biodiversity conservation success. Moreover, many large
habitat conservation groups drain funds as compared to small conservation groups. They often
raise funds and misuse them due to poor policies and strategies to implement their ecosystem
restoration plans.
Each year, new protected zones are established in impoverished countries with great
biodiversity and poor populations. Indigenous peoples are typically excluded from protected
zones. Excluding populations from conservation initiatives becomes increasingly risky as
humans and wildlife compete for space (World Wildlife Fund, 2018). Removing local people
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from their ancestral lands, providing little or no compensation, and limiting their access to
resources can lead to conflicts between the communities and the habitat restoration groups.
Such conflicts lead to illegal hunting and deforestation that can lead to species extinction. They
may also cause project delays or termination thus failing to meet the sustainability of the
habitat restoration goals which costs a lot of money.
1.3. Actions humankind and individuals can take
People can take part in wetlands rehabilitation. Wetland ecosystems includes marshes,
bogs, fens, and swamps. Over the last three centuries, an estimated up to 87 percent of the
world's wetland lands have been lost (Spurgeon, 2023). It is possible to maintain the world's
wetland ecosystems by creating protected areas and rehabilitating degraded wetlands. Species
rely on wetlands to regulate water flow and filter toxins.
It is important also to engage in reforestation and afforestation activities to increase forest
coverage in an area. Forests are among the most important environments on the planet. They
cover 30% of the planet's territory and support millions of species and biodiversity hotspots
(Pardini et al., 2018). Forests are important in confiscating carbon, filtering air and water, and
preserving the soil. Forests are home to plants and animals that help to control the climate,
filter water, and conserve soil. Forests are replanted in locations where they were previously
gone. During regeneration, trees and soil can store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Individuals can create insect-friendly spaces to rehabilitate the ecosystem. Typical European
and Western lawns lacked biodiversity. Nearly 40 million acres of US lawns support limited
insects and other animal species (Chase et al., 2020). Converting lawns to natural vegetation by
10% might save watering, fertilizer, pesticide, and herbicide treatments and minimize lawn
management expenses. By transforming 10% of grassland into a natural habitat, every US
home, park, and school could provide almost 3 million acres of insect habitat (Rosenbaum,
2023). Solarization or sod cutting can remove turf grass before seeding to create natural
habitats in lawns. Fallen leaves, fruit, and twigs attract insects.
People should grow native plants to restore the biodiversity. With few exceptions, native
plants are more beneficial to native insects than non-native plants. Native plants indirectly
attract vertebrates by attracting insects, which birds and other creatures consume (Fumy and
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Fartmann, 2021). 96% of songbirds feed their young insects, and having more non-native plants
in residential backyards reduces bird populations (MacDonald et al., 2017). Native plants are
easy to care for and flourish in the local climate and rainfall.
In addition, an individual can be an advocate or an ambassador for habitat restoration.
Restoration awareness can be increased by official or informal education, debate, and other
means, particularly among children. Outdoor group hikes and excursions that provide hands-on,
enjoyable habitat restoration interactions are excellent opportunities to teach adults about
environment conservation. People can use stories and personal experiences to create
awareness of ecological rehabilitation and explain its benefits, which will boost retention and
engagement. For instance, sharing information such as more than 90% of temperate bird
species eat insects and most freshwater fish such as gamefish species eat insects to live, will
enlighten people about the importance of biodiversity (Fisheries, 2022; MacDonald et al.,
2017).
2. Sustainability Action Blog
2.1. The Sustainability Issue
Habitat loss is causing a major threat to biodiversity. Species extinction has dropped from
one to five per year to 10,000 to 100,000 due to habitat. Global land degradation is expected to
reach 95% by 2050. Unsustainable agriculture has damaged 24 billion tonnes of soil worldwide,
affecting climate regulation and nutrient cycling. It is therefore important to maintain the
remaining ecosystems and restore the destroyed ones to help habitats and species recover.
2.2. What Humankind Can Do to Address It
To save the ecosystem and the declining plant and animal species, humans can conserve
and restore the degraded soils and microorganisms. Humans can also engage in revegetation
activities through rebuilding ambient microbiomes and landscape design and restoration, which
will thereafter enhance sustainable human health.
2.3. Five Steps You Can Take
1. Rehabilitating the wetlands.
2. They can also participate in reforestation and afforestation activities.
3. Create insect-friendly spaces to rehabilitate the ecosystem.
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4. Grow native plants to restore biodiversity.

5. Be an advocate or an ambassador for habitat restoration.
2.4. My Commitment
In the next five years, I will be committed to planting more flowers and native trees on my
lawn.
2.5. What is Your Commitment?
I am pleading that you can also be advocates and ambassadors for habitat restoration.
Together we can save the world.
2.6. Learn More (Resources)
To learn more about habitat restoration visit www.decadeonrestoration.org.
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References

Birkin, F., Margerison, J., & Monkhouse, L. (2021). Chinese environmental accountability:
Ancient beliefs, science and Sustainability. Resources, Environment and Sustainability, 3,
100017. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resenv.2021.100017

Cardinale, B. J., Primack, R. B., & Murdoch, J. D. (2019). Habitat loss, fragmentation, and
degradation. Conservation Biology.
https://doi.org/10.1093/hesc/9781605357140.003.0009

Chase, J. M., Blowes, S. A., Knight, T. M., Gerstner, K., & May, F. (2020, July 29). Ecosystem
decay exacerbates biodiversity loss with Habitat loss. Nature News.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2531-2

Einhorn, C., & Leatherby, L. (2022, December 9). Animals are running out of places to live. The
New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/12/09/climate/biodiversity-
habitat-loss-climate.html

Fisheries, N. (2022, August 4). Explore thousands of habitat restoration projects with the NOAA
Restoration Atlas. https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/feature-story/explore-thousands-
habitat-restoration-projects-noaa-restoration-atlas

Fumy, F., & Fartmann, T. (2021). Climate and Land-Use Change Drive habitat loss in mountain
bird species. Ibis, 163(4), 1189–1206. https://doi.org/10.1111/ibi.12954

Kraamwinkel, C. T., Beaulieu, A., Dias, T., & Howison, R. A. (2021, December 8). Planetary limits
to soil degradation. Nature News. https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-021-00323-3

MacCannell, D. (2019). Industrial Agriculture and rural community Degradation. Agriculture and
Community Change in the U.S., 15–75. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429044052-2

MacDonald, Z. G., Anderson, I. D., Acorn, J. H., & Nielsen, S. E. (2017). Decoupling habitat
fragmentation from habitat loss: Butterfly species mobility obscures fragmentation effects
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in a naturally fragmented landscape of Lake Islands. Oecologia, 186(1), 11–27.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-017-4005-2

Pardini, R., Nichols, E., & Püttker, T. (2018). Biodiversity response to habitat loss and
fragmentation. Anthropocene, 229–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-809665-
9.09824-4

Powers, R. P., & Jetz, W. (2019, March 4). Global habitat loss and extinction risk of terrestrial
vertebrates under future land-use-change scenarios. Nature News.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-019-0406-z

Rosenbaum, M. (2023, February 23). More than half of U.S. birds are in decline, warns New
Report. Audubon. https://www.audubon.org/news/more-half-us-birds-are-decline-warns-
new-report

Spurgeon, J. (2023, January 20). The socioeconomic costs and benefits of coastal habitat
rehabilitation and creation. Marine Pollution Bulletin.
https://www.academia.edu/9954792/The_SocioEconomic_Costs_and_Benefits_of_Coast
al_Habitat_Rehabilitation_and_Creation

Un decade on restoration. UN Decade on Restoration. (n.d.).

http://www.decadeonrestoration.org/

World Wildlife Fund. (2018, October 29). WWF report reveals staggering extent of human
impact on the planet. WWF. https://www.worldwildlife.org/press-releases/wwf-report-
reveals-staggering-extent-of-human-impact-on-planet