ABSTRACT
This paper explores participation in restoration, viewing goals and assessing outcomes using a political science lens, taking a governance approach and a sub-disciplinary, and policy analysis perspective. It explores significance of this participation for ecological restoration, focusing on how it contributes to environmental awareness as well as societal benefits. The chapter examines the prospects of participation before turning to barriers to participatory practices. It argues that participation is necessary because ecological restoration raises issues of a value-laden character. The chapter argues that participation is necessary because ecological restoration raises issues of a value-laden character. Given the myriad nature of these value differences, agreement on the objectives of ecological restoration policy is likely when the objectives are reached through participatory practices. Ecological restoration undertaken to comply with planning permits for development projects, as in USA and Germany, are often associated with privatized and profitable forms of economic activity and less with practice of participation for societal benefits and democratic enhancement.
