Técnicas de restauração em áreas áridas e semiáridas: síntese de 77 anos de pesquisa no mundo

Abstract

Dry ecosystems have been suffering various types of damage over time from global changes caused by human actions. The weakening of these ecosystems can cause irreversible processes that will directly affect terrestrial life. Ecological Restoration plays a key role in combating the degradation of these environments and is being more frequently applied in degraded areas. However, the techniques implemented may not correspond to the needs of these environments, due to lack of planning or non-use of appropriate techniques to mitigate the impacts in dry environments, which directly affects the success of restoration. The present study is directed at obtaining global information about how restoration activities in dry ecosystems are being carried out and characterizing the aspects that comprise both the implementation of the technique and its application in degraded ecosystems. The results show that the most used techniques over the years have been Seedling Planting, Direct Sowing and Irrigation. The most studied vegetation types in dry environments were shrub and herbaceous vegetation. The studies that showed the longest duration were conducted on Arboreal and Shrub vegetation, due to the longer time that is required for the establishment and growth of these life forms. The increasing countries efforts, specifically in the last ten years, to implement restoration projects were also investigated. The USA was the country that published the most on restoration in dry environments, followed by Spain, Australia and China, with Brazil as the seventh in the ranking of publications represented by 16 countries. Most of the publications found were in temperate regions compared to tropical regions. This paper discusses the possibility of new global directions for greater investment in dry environment restoration in the UN decade of restoration.