Approaches, indicators, and effectiveness of ecological restoration of degraded ecosystems
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63618/omd/revinvlid/v3/n2/4Keywords:
ecological restoration, degraded ecosystems, environmental indicators, biodiversity, Latin AmericaAbstract
Ecosystem degradation in Latin America represents a critical ecological and socio-environmental problem due to the loss of biodiversity, ecosystem services, connectivity, territorial productivity, and climate resilience. The objective of this study was to analyze the approaches, indicators, and effectiveness of ecological restoration in degraded Latin American ecosystems. The methodology was based on an exploratory bibliographic review of scientific, technical, and institutional documents published between 2005 and 2025, organized through an extraction matrix and examined using narrative synthesis and thematic categorization. The results show that active restoration, passive restoration, assisted natural regeneration, forest landscape restoration, and hybrid models present variable levels of effectiveness depending on degradation severity, landscape connectivity, available resources, and monitoring timeframes. The discussion indicates that restoration produces measurable improvements in vegetation cover, biodiversity, biomass, and some ecosystem services; however, limitations persist due to predominantly biophysical indicators, short-term monitoring, discontinuous funding, and limited social integration. It is concluded that effective ecological restoration requires coherence among diagnosis, approach, multidimensional indicators, and sustained monitoring to demonstrate ecological, functional, and social recovery.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Zapata-Velasco, Mayra Lisette, Hidalgo-Zambrano, Katherin Clarita (Autor/a)
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