“Organizational capacity and ecological restoration” @SERestoration @UMNFWCB @prairiefiresci

“Organizational capacity and ecological restoration”

This open access review article was first published June 30, 2022, in Restoration Ecology. Access the article via the permanent web address (DOI). (https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13757)

Abstract

Organizations entrusted with responsibilities and resources to repair ecosystems have for many decades pursued their defining purpose against long odds created by a host of inherent challenges, notably the long time frames required for ecological recovery and landscape-level stressors. Global change compounds these challenges, increasing shocks to the operating environments of these organizations. Interest in assessing organizational capacity to respond to system shocks (i.e. resilience) productively has been strong in many fields, though not in the restoration arena.

The objectives of this paper are to build awareness of the importance of organizations for achieving the aims of restoration and to spur organizational research to strengthen the restoration sector. I summarize research on organizations relevant to the restoration sector and with this foundation propose a framework for assessing the capacity of restoration organizations. The proposed framework is an adaptation of models used in other sectors, based on five critical capacities:

1. situation awareness
2. governance and leadership
3. internal resources
4. external relations, and
5. change readiness.

We can assess the extent to which an organization possesses each capacity by eliciting feedback about functions linked to each capacity. Devising assessment tools from this framework requires attention to key realities of the restoration sector including prevalence of short-term funding, effect of externalities on restoration outcomes, dependence on partnerships of multiple organizations for complex and large restorations.

Exploration into assessment approaches for restoration organizations highlights a major knowledge gap that, if addressed, could enhance the reliability of restoration as a global and local strategy for improving ecosystems services.

Implications for Practice

• The capacity of people (i.e. organization) undertaking a restoration greatly affects what can be accomplished with available resources and support. Yet, there has been little exploration of how to assess organizational deficiencies so these can be addressed, potentially improving outcomes of their restoration.
• Using precedents from other sectors, a framework to assess restoration organizations' capacity is proposed here. Assessments of organizational capacity can be undertaken for an individual organization or as an external assessment of multiple organizations.
• Because many restoration organizations depend on external support to pursue projects, expectations linked to funding decisions can accelerate the adoption of organizational capacity assessments.

Keywords: conservation organizations; ecosystem restoration; organizational functions; organizational resilience; strategic planning

Citation

Galatowitsch, Susan. "Organizational capacity and ecological restoration." Restoration Ecology (2022): e13757.