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The SUPERB project has developed innovative ways to bridge the gap between restoration sites and society through “online mapping” analyses. 

Using social media and other online data, the project explored “what society sees and feels” about 12 restoration sites, allowing voices to be heard that may not otherwise have a voice in conventional stakeholder mapping and engagement methods and approaches. 

© MNStudio/Shutterstock.com 2024

 

About the project

SUPERB (Systemic solutions for upscaling of urgent ecosystem restoration for forest-related biodiversity and ecosystem services) deals with a broad range of restoration challenges and aims to restore thousands of hectares of forest landscape across Europe. Together with key local stakeholders, the project demonstrates and tests successful restoration approaches in 12 large-scale demonstrators (‘demos’) across Europe.  

Description of success

Public involvement and support are integral to the long-term success of forest and biodiversity restoration. SUPERB has found innovative ways to bridge the gap between restoration sites and society through “online mapping” analyses. Using social media and other online data, the project explored early on “what society sees and feels” about 12 restoration sites allowing all voices to be heard that may not be heard using conventional stakeholder mapping, engagement methods and approaches. In-person workshops, involving the media and representatives of society, such as teachers and school children, further amplified this inclusiveness and supported greater upscaling of restoration actions at a societal level. 

Highlights

  • The project shows the relevance of putting society at the heart of biodiversity and forest ecosystem restoration through “online mapping” analyses. 
  • The project shows the importance of effective public involvement and relationship-building through media capacity building and a science-art school project. 

Outputs

This project focuses on involving the public to promote ecosystem restoration. In particular:

  • The project produced social media analyses of public interests, concerns, and societal actors interested in the restoration sites. 
  • The project set up media workshops to facilitate more evidence-based storytelling and multiply the impacts of restoration activities. 

Impact

SUPERB’s pilot media engagement workshop in Thy, Denmark, demonstrated the importance of diverse voices in the restoration process. Social media data not only identified public interests and concerns, but also revealed unexpected actors interested in these issues and sites. This process of discovery was further enriched by a media workshop inviting school children, local citizens, national park representatives and scientific experts to the restoration sites, to share different, sometimes opposing, perspectives and experiences. Their presence not only helped the journalists gain a balanced understanding of the societal value of such actions, but also highlighted the significance of their role in making restoration a public action through media reporting. In addition, the integration of a science-art project with school children into the media workshop fostered public involvement and showcased the project's creativity and innovation. 

Lessons

The main challenge was the need for more access to local insights, experiences, and perspectives to conduct online mapping analyses for all 12 SUPERB demo locations in an effective manner. 

To address this, the project partners collaborated early on to develop a list of keywords for data collection, worked jointly with the local partners to use digital tools to interpret the results and iterated the data analysis whenever needed. The collaboration was extended to the media workshop planning and school project kick-off to double the impacts. 

Other lessons uncovered from the project were:

  • Strong need to broaden stakeholder representation;
  • Resource challenges may limit the ability to engage new actors;
  • Important to include a wide range of interested and concerned groups;
  • Potential of digital technologies should not be underestimated, as they provide a gateway to explore public values and understanding of biodiversity, forests, and other climate-related topics. As civil society movements and advocacy often take place online, these technologies can provide invaluable insights;
  • Project partners propose to explore new, innovative public participation and involvement formats;
  • Engaging journalists and schools can significantly amplify the project's impacts, reaching wider and more diverse (and so far, excluded) communities.

Other information

Building on the success of Thy, Denmark, SUPERB will conduct a series of in-person and online workshops with media and societal stakeholders in other demo areas. These workshops will facilitate open and inclusive discussions on the future of restoration sites by using the materials and insights gained from online mapping analyses. 

The learnings and inspiration collected from this unique blend of online and real-life exploration and engagement will be distilled into a “Transformative Narrative Guide”. This guide will enhance the openness and inclusivity of any nature restoration actions, thereby amplifying SUPERB project's impact and upscaling its potential.

Figure 2: Screenshots of the SUPERB Danish demo site V02 from a video which will be made available online on Biodiversity Day. © SUPERB 2024. 

Figure 1: Keyword Data Collection. © SUPERB 2024

Project details

Project name
SUPERB
Working group
Climate change and biodiversity

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