Wetlands in urban areas are often restored in an attempt to reduce the loss
of such habitats. Unfortunately, the success, or otherwise, of programmes
of restoration has rarely been systematically gauged. Through not knowing w
hether programmes of restoration are successful or not, valuable resources
potentially continue to be wasted, wetland habitats remain degraded and the
methods of restoration are not assessed for future programmes of restorati
on.
Several factors have contributed to poor assessment of restoration of urban
wetlands. First, often the goals of restoration have been unrealistic beca
use they failed to consider that wetlands in urban areas are subjected to o
ngoing and often largescale anthropogenic disturbances. Second, goals of re
storation often have nor been clearly defined and, consequently, predictive
hypotheses were not formulated to test for the success of restoration. Thi
rd, even when success of restoration has been assessed, this has not always
been adequate because of inappropriate sampling design.
Such problems can be overcome by treating restoration of habitat as experim
ents and using the knowledge gained from each project to improve future pro
grammes of restoration. This will ensure that the remaining semi-natural ha
bitats along coasts in urban areas can be more effectively managed. (C) 199
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