When necessity meets opportunity: the role of service-learning projects to complement training, community engagement and knowledge transfer in restoration

Ecological restoration (ER) represents a key strategy for ecosystem recovery and society development. ER is attracting global interest and restoration opportunities will increase in upcoming decades, but it requires restorers, the participation of relevant stakeholders, and a better adaptation to societal needs. Service-learning (S-L), an educational methodology based on community projects, represents a way to extend the range of action of ER and to involve society, especially younger generations. We describe S-L for the learning/training of students in environmental issues presenting initiatives that, using S-L to develop collaborative projects, have been carrying out activities related to fire prevention or post-fire restoration. S-L projects provide a context for the training of future professionals and generate a working-collaborative environment favoring the active participation of society in environmental actions. Indirectly, S-L projects can increase knowledge transfer and inculcate the necessity for protection and conservation, improving the capacity, involvement, and commitment of society to ER.