Nature by Design

Right across the world, there appears to be a fashion for restoration-a sort of international atonement in recognition of all the environmental havoc that has been wrought, and is still being wrought, by the human species. Inevitably, this has spawned new professional identities, professional associations and numerous conferences. In short, we now have a whole new industry.Higgs, while being a prophet of the new industry, has also sounded a clear and critical warning. Essentially, the scientists have taught us how to undertake nature restoration, but very few have even thought about why or to what ends we might restore a given site. It is simply assumed to be selfevidently a "good thing." Higgs has moved down the track to developing a philosophical basis for restoration practice, drawing not so much on the already involved scientific disciplines, but upon history and anthropology.