Ecological restoration is key to counteracting anthropogenic degradation of biodiversity and to reducing disaster risk. However, there is limited knowledge of barriers hindering the wider implementation of restoration practices, despite high-level political priority to halt the loss of biodiversity. In Europe, progress on ecological restoration has been slow and insufficient to meet international agreements and comply with European Union Nature Directives. We assessed European restoration experts' perceptions on barriers to restoration in Europe, and their relative importance, through a multiple expert consultation using a Delphi process. We found that experts share a common multi-dimensional concept of ecological restoration. Experts identified a large number of barriers (33) to the advancement of ecological restoration in Europe. Major barriers pertained to the socio-economic, not the environmental, domain. The three most important being insufficient funding, conflicting interests among different stakeholders, and low political priority given to restoration. Our results emphasize the need to increase political commitment at all levels, comply with existing nature laws, and optimize the use of financial resources by increasing funds for ecological restoration and eradicate environmentally harmful subsidies. The experts also call for the integration of ecological restoration into land-use planning and facilitating stakeholders' collaboration. Our study identifies key barriers, discusses ways to overcome the main barriers to ER in Europe, and contributes knowledge to support the implementation of the European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, and the EU 2030 Restoration Plan in particular.

中文翻译：

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欧洲生态恢复的障碍：专家观点

生态恢复是应对生物多样性人为退化和减少灾害风险的关键。然而，尽管高层政治优先考虑阻止生物多样性的丧失，但对阻碍更广泛实施恢复实践的障碍的了解有限。在欧洲，生态恢复进展缓慢且不足以满足国际协议和欧盟自然指令的要求。我们通过使用德尔福流程的多位专家咨询，评估了欧洲修复专家对欧洲修复障碍的看法及其相对重要性。我们发现，专家们对生态修复有着共同的多维概念。专家们确定了欧洲推进生态恢复的大量障碍 (33)。主要障碍与社会经济领域有关，而不是环境领域。三个最重要的是资金不足、不同利益相关者之间的利益冲突以及对恢复的政治优先级较低。我们的研究结果强调需要增加各级政治承诺，遵守现有的自然规律，并通过增加生态修复资金和消除对环境有害的补贴来优化财政资源的使用。专家们还呼吁将生态恢复纳入土地利用规划并促进利益相关者的合作。我们的研究确定了关键障碍，讨论了克服欧洲 ER 主要障碍的方法，并贡献知识以支持实施 2030 年欧洲生物多样性战略，特别是欧盟 2030 年恢复计划。