Global protected area extent has increased recently but often outside areas of biodiversity importance. Governments recently committed to conserving 30% of land and seas, especially “areas of particular importance for biodiversity.” Reviewing site-based conservation approaches, we propose harnessing key biodiversity area criteria to target such locations.
Tag: biodiversity conservation
The Roles of Trees on Farms in Uganda: Current Status and Policy Recommendations for Future Development
With about 90% smallholder farmers reporting planting, growing, and protecting trees on their farms in Uganda (UBOS, 2014), Trees on Farm (TonF) have an important role to play socially, economically, and ecologically. Despite their importance, there is no established mechanism to report on Trees on Farms in national environmental statistics as well as natural capital accounting and valuation of ecosystem services; thus their contribution is least appreciated. Because of institutional separation of forestry and agriculture sectors, policy support for TonF remains insufficient. Consequently, agribusiness value chains associated with TonF, are least developed, and their contribution to household economies is overshadowed by products and services from natural forests and forest plantations. This brief therefore presents a case for TonF, justifying the need for stronger policy recommendations and actions, the inclusion of TonF into natural capital accounts and valuation of ecosystem services, appreciation of their contribution to food security, and resilience to climate catastrophes.
Exploring local perceptions and drivers of engagement in biodiversity monitoring among participants in payments for ecosystem services schemes in southeastern Mexico
Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are widely applied incentive-based instruments with diverse objectives that increasingly include biodiversity conservation. Yet, there is a gap in understanding of how to best assess and monitor programs’ biodiversity outcomes. We examined perceptions and drivers of engagement related to biodiversity monitoring through surveys among current PES participants in 7 communities in Mexico’s Selva Lacandona. We conducted workshops among survey participants that included training and field deployment of tools used to monitor biodiversity and land cover, including visual transects, camera traps, acoustic recorders, and forest cover satellite images. We conducted pre- and postworkshop surveys in each community to evaluate changes in respondents’ perceptions following exposure to biodiversity monitoring training and related field activities. We also reviewed existing research on participatory environmental management and monitoring approaches. One quarter of current PES participants in the study area participated in our surveys and workshops. The majority stated interest in engaging in diverse activities related to the procedural aspects of biodiversity monitoring (e.g., planning, field data collection, results dissemination) and acknowledged multiple benefits of introducing biodiversity monitoring into PES (e.g., knowledge and capacity building, improved natural resource management, and greater support for conservation). Household economic reliance on PES was positively associated with willingness to engage in monitoring. Technical expertise, time, and monetary constraints were deterrents. Respondents were most interested in monitoring mammals, birds, and plants and using visual transects, camera traps, and forest cover satellite images. Exposure to monitoring enhanced subsequent interest in monitoring by providing respondents with new insights from their communities related to deforestation and species’ abundance and diversity. Respondents identified key strengths and weaknesses of applying different monitoring tools, which suggests that deploying multiple tools simultaneously can increase local engagement and produce complementary findings and data. Overall, our findings support the relevance and usefulness of incorporating participatory biodiversity monitoring into PES.
Biodiversity status of the Mekong Delta, Vietnam
This report aims to provide an up-to-date status report of biodiversity in the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. It also discusses opportunities and challenges for enhancing biodiversity in the region. This report is developed based on an extensive literature review and in-depth interviews with eight experts and six policymakers who have engaged in developing biodiversity policies and programmes in Vietnam for the last two decades.
Struggles Beneath the Waves: Unveiling the Incidental Capture of Sea Turtles by Artisanal Fisheries in Angolan Waters
The modernization and intensification of fishing practices have raised the threat to sea turtles, with escalating unintentional captures endangering turtles of all life stages. In this study, we examined the impact of artisanal fishing on sea turtles in two coastal regions of Angola, southern Africa. Between August 2015 – March 2016, through participatory monitoring (n = 8) and interviews with fishers (n= 41), we documented unintentional turtle captures occurring year-round during fishing activities. A total of 405 turtles, 403 olive ridley (Lepidochelys olivacea) and 2 green (Chelonia mydas), were caught in gillnets by fishers engaged in participatory monitoring. Net characteristics, including length and proximity to the shoreline, as reported by the interviewed fishers, correlated with those used by the monitoring group. We estimated approximately 1,219 turtles captured by the 41 interviewed fishers over the 8-month study period. Most captures occurred within 100 m from the shoreline. The likelihood of accidental turtle captures increased significantly with proximity to the beach, larger mesh sizes, and greater net lengths and number of hauls. We calculated a survival rate of 41%, and a mortality rate of 59% for captured turtles. Number of turtles caught as bycatch varied throughout the year, with the highest Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) reported for Oct. – Dec. Since this period aligns with the nesting season, most captured turtles are likely to be females. The high mortality rate reported in this study emphasizes the immediate threat posed by accidental captures to sea turtle populations, underscoring the critical importance of conservation efforts, particularly in artisanal gillnet fisheries.
Yangambi Engagement Landscape. A science, conservation and development hub in the heart of the Congo Basin
A vision of landscape-level transformation is at the heart of activities led by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFORICRAF) and partners in the Yangambi Engagement Landscape. Advances in forestry and agroforestry research, biodiversity conservation, and support for local entrepreneurs are putting Yangambi at the forefront of bioeconomic innovation.
Yangambi Engagement Landscape: A science, conservation and development hub in the heart of the Congo Basin
Located in the heart of the Congo Basin, the Yangambi Engagement Landscape serves as a model for integrated approaches to sustainable forestry, agroforestry and biodiversity conservation. Led by the Center for International Forestry Research and World Agroforestry (CIFOR-ICRAF) and partners, this landscape initiative aims to foster local development while preserving the rich natural heritage of the region.
Harnessing online digital data in biodiversity monitoring
Online digital data from media platforms have the potential to complement biodiversity monitoring efforts. We propose a strategy for integrating these data into current biodiversity datasets in light of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
Roles of the Red List of Ecosystems in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework
The Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity set the agenda for global aspirations and action to reverse biodiversity loss. The GBF includes an explicit goal for maintaining and restoring biodiversity, encompassing ecosystems, species and genetic diversity (goal A), targets for ecosystem protection and restoration and headline indicators to track progress and guide action. One of the headline indicators is the Red List of Ecosystems, the global standard for ecosystem risk assessment. The Red List of Ecosystems provides a systematic framework for collating, analysing and synthesizing data on ecosystems, including their distribution, integrity and risk of collapse. Here, we examine how it can contribute to implementing the GBF, as well as monitoring progress. We find that the Red List of Ecosystems provides common theory and practical data, while fostering collaboration, cross-sector cooperation and knowledge sharing, with important roles in 16 of the 23 targets. In particular, ecosystem maps, descriptions and risk categories are key to spatial planning for halting loss, restoration and protection (targets 1, 2 and 3). The Red List of Ecosystems is therefore well-placed to aid Parties to the GBF as they assess, plan and act to achieve the targets and goals. We outline future work to further strengthen this potential and improve biodiversity outcomes, including expanding spatial coverage of Red List of Ecosystems assessments and partnerships between practitioners, policy-makers and scientists.
Human density impacts Nubian Flapshell turtle survival in Sub-Saharan Africa: Future conservation strategies
The Nubian Flapshell Turtle, Cyclanorbis elegans, is classified as one of the most threatened chelonian species globally (Critically Endangered according to the IUCN Red List). The species is presumed extinct in most of its historical distribution range, but still survives along the White Nile between South Sudan and northern Uganda. In this paper, we utilised the maximum entropy model (MaxEnt) to evaluate the habitat suitability of the species to explore its distribution decline by comparing historical and current presence data, as well as correlate the predicted past and present distribution with human population density. Our assumption is that overexploitation of the turtle occurs (and has occurred in the past) in sites with high human density. We show that: (1) a large number of historical sites where the turtle was present had high human population densities, whereas (2) the current distribution model showed low overlap between areas with high probability of turtle presence and high human population density. We suggest that Nubian flapshells are likely to have become extinct because of high human density (and therefore high overexploitation) and remnant populations have only survived along waterbodies with low numbers of people. However, the presence sites of this species in northern Uganda are under pressure by rapidly growing refugees’settlements. We also hypothesize that the range of the Nubian Flapshell may be shifting to the south (where the general environment is wetter and cooler) due to climate change affecting the distribution of this freshwater species. The conservation implications of these evidence are also presented.