Abstract
Many restoration projects have been carried out and various topics associated with these restoration projects also have been discussed in the United States. In general, these discussions focused on ecological theory and technique; however, discussions focusing on the perspectives of the social sciences and humanities on actual restoration projects have been increasing. This paper introduced some typical assertions of these recent discussions in the U. S., and the lessons from these discussions were interpreted for Japanese restoration efforts which have been just started. There are two crucial lessons: first, it was more important for Japanese restoration projects than U. S. cases to discuss the ‘effective restoration’ from not only the aspect of natural science but also the aspects of social sciences and humanities. Second, these aspects included the careful consideration to local history, culture, and an existence of a target community, since restoration projects in Japan took place closer where people lived than the U. S. cases. The lessons lead to require a discussion table, which various restoration aspects can be explored for each restoration project.
