Nature restoration and management
INBO aims to respond to major developments in biodiversity policy such as the nitrogen policy and the proposed European Nature Restoration Law.
INBO aims to provide scientific support for nature restoration and management through:
- Vision building. INBO wants to provide scientific support for determining desired and possible nature goals and measures at the Flemish or local level, e.g. for a national nature restoration plan in implementation of the proposed European Nature Restoration Law. We examine the spatial needs for sustainable ecosystem restoration, both in terms of area and connectivity. This includes a focus on the needs for climate adaptation and mitigation.
- Monitoring and evaluation of nature restoration. We aim to follow up the extent to which measures have been carried out and nature objectives are met. Under the proposed European Nature Restoration Law, this will also have to be reported to Europe. This is also useful retrospectively, as a long-term evaluation of nature restoration projects carried out in the past.
- Research on ecological processes and process management. We want to understand the drivers in the context of a changing climate. To this end, we further extend current research on grazing to other processes and multiple scales, e.g. geomorphodynamics, river dynamics and flooding, effects of 'ecosystem engineers', fire, ...
- Research on new strategies for nature restoration in a changing Flanders: literature study, descriptive research and experimental research.
- Working out restoration measures, from habitat to the broader landscape-ecological context, including measures based on monitoring results and insights into factors determining success or failure. This includes nitrogen and its interaction with other pressures such as, for example, phosphorus and other nutrients, hydrology or climate change.
- Inventory of previous and current nature restoration projects in Flanders. We bring together the available knowledge, evaluate it and make it available to users. The Ecopedia platform is suitable for this purpose.