biodiversity Archives - Page 81 of 82 - Resilient Landscapes (RL)

Enhancing the legal framework towards holistic and sustainable wildlife conservation in Vietnam

Key messages

Biodiversity and wildlife in Vietnam are under increasing pressure from deforestation and illegal wildlife trading.
A large number of wildlife conservation policies and projects are already in place. However, their effectiveness is hampered by unclear and inconsistent policies; weak law enforcement, monitoring and evaluation; insufficient funding; challenges in achieving the dual goal of conservation and development; environmental and social justice issues; and problems addressing the drivers of deforestation and degradation.
Despite the persistence of these challenges, Vietnam has new opportunities to address them by moving away from sectoral silos and promoting One Health and landscape approaches; promoting cross-sectoral and cross-border collaboration in addressing the illegal wildlife trade; adopting timely responses to newly emerging issues such as Covid-19 with mixed policy instruments; embedding wildlife conservation policies in green living and consumption behaviour; and tapping into international, regional and national financial initiatives to close finance gaps.
Sustainable wildlife conservation in Vietnam requires strengthened transboundary and inter-sectoral stakeholder engagement; a holistic and cross-sectoral approach to addressing underlying drivers of deforestation and degradation; sufficient and sustainable funding; and changing consumers’ behaviour in buying and using wildlife products.

Science on ecosystems and people to support the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework

In December 2022, members of the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted the new Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) (https://www.cbd.int/gbf/targets/) to guide international biodiversity conservation efforts until 2030 in order to be able to live ‘in harmony with nature’ by 2050. This framework addresses the implementation gap left after the Aichi Biodiversity Targets, which were the previous global instrument for mainstreaming biodiversity conservation between 2010 and 2020.

Providing targeted incentives for trees on farms: A transdisciplinary research methodology applied in Uganda and Peru

Native trees are central elements of sustainable agriculture, providing economic futures to rural populations while safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services. We present a diagnostic methodology for (i) identifying ‘incentive opportunities’ for farmers to plant and manage trees on farms; (ii) proposing targeted packages of incentive and finance instruments; and (iii) describing levers for policy integration to support their implementation. In two case studies from Uganda and Peru, the ‘incentive opportunities’ consist of providing technical and financial support to farmers for planting and managing trees, generating income sources from native trees and support from the beneficiaries of tree-based ecosystem services, and eliminating incentives for tree removal. Many instruments to promote trees on farms already exist, but implementation is hampered by weak and fragmented institutions, limited funding and low political priority. The proposed methodology can guide the development of incentive instruments as part of implementing policy strategies for integrated biodiversity conservation and sustainable development.

Farmer-Managed Natural Regeneration in Africa: Evidence for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Drylands

The size of drylands in Africa is constantly increasing following the increase of the population, land use and practices used in the daily activities to sustain community livelihood. Climate change and erratic weather conditions are also expected to contribute to further land degradation, expanding dryland ecosystems. Land degradation undermines the range of ecosystem services on which dryland communities depend on. This chapter highlights challenges faced by dryland communities in Africa, which might be exacerbated by climate change. Throughout the chapter, evidence is presented on ways to transform drylands into productive, profitable and sustainable ecosystems that contribute to climate change adaptation and mitigation. A very popular approach is famer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), which has a number of advantages over other approaches in the context of drylands. FMNR has been actively promoted in the Sahel for over four decades, spreading from Niger to the neighbouring Burkina Faso and Mali in the 1980s and currently to other regions in Africa and Asia. FMNR is farmer driven and creates multifunctional landscapes that offer multiple ecosystem services. At the adaptation level, FMNR restores the degraded ecosystem services such as the provision of goods to local communities facing shocks and creation of resilient production systems against extreme weather events. At the mitigation level, FMNR contributes to carbon sequestration in plant biomass and soils while reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The chapter concludes with two cases of FMNR illustrating the benefits to dryland communities.

Trees as hotspots: Using forests, trees, and agroforestry to foster diverse sustainable landscapes

Forests, trees, and agroforestry (FTA) are ecosystem hotspots. They exemplify the contributions of biodiversity to sustainable and resilient landscapes, green circular economy and to sustainable agriculture and food systems for healthy diets. However, most research on these topics have been performed separately and lack comparison. The International FTA-Kunming Conference ‘Forests, trees and agroforestry for diverse sustainable landscapes’ 22nd–24th June 2021, focused on these contributions, brought together scientists NGOs, and policy makers to further the understanding of tree diversity; provided a communication platform for scientists to share their research results; evaluated the role of tree diversity in agroecology and circular agriculture; assessed benefits of landscape restoration; and explored applied research in mountain ecosystems and food security. The goals were to gather evidence that ground the design of solutions that can contribute to the implementation of the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and towards the UN Food Systems Summit, and the overall implementation of the SDGs. This paper summarizes the outcomes of the international FTA Conference in Kunming 2021 and points out the highlights of research involved in six major themes.

Co-limitation towards lower latitudes shapes global forest diversity gradients

The latitudinal diversity gradient (LDG) is one of the most recognized global patterns of species richness exhibited across a wide range of taxa. Numerous hypotheses have been proposed in the past two centuries to explain LDG, but rigorous tests of the drivers of LDGs have been limited by a lack of high-quality global species richness data. Here we produce a high-resolution (0.025° × 0.025°) map of local tree species richness using a global forest inventory database with individual tree information and local biophysical characteristics from ~1.3 million sample plots. We then quantify drivers of local tree species richness patterns across latitudes. Generally, annual mean temperature was a dominant predictor of tree species richness, which is most consistent with the metabolic theory of biodiversity (MTB). However, MTB underestimated LDG in the tropics, where high species richness was also moderated by topographic, soil and anthropogenic factors operating at local scales. Given that local landscape variables operate synergistically with bioclimatic factors in shaping the global LDG pattern, we suggest that MTB be extended to account for co-limitation by subordinate drivers.

Tropical forests and adaptation to climate change: in search of synergies

This book encompasses inputs from science, policy making and development cooperation with regard to the linkages between climate change, sustainable livelihoods and biological diversity. It presents experiences, challenges and alternatives to scientists and practitioners for commonly assessing the needs of poor livelihoods to successfully cope with climate change as well as for bridging the gap towards a meaningful implementation of adaptation measures. It is based on the recognition of the need to establish a bridge between science, policy making and development cooperation with regard to promoting adaptation to climate change and variability at the local level. Many of the articles included are based on the discussions that took place during the international workshop on “Adaptation to Climate Change, Sustainable Livelihoods and Biological Diversity”, held March 2004 in Turrialba, Costa Rica.

The Farmland Biodiversity Score for consistent monitoring of biodiversity based on the measurement of trees on farms.

Trees on farms are a critical tool in managing agriculture to support biodiverse landscapes and will play an important part in complementing protected areas as a means of reaching biodiversity targets. A lack of systematic data for the biodiversity in agricultural land means monitoring global targets is difficult. There is an unmet need for repeated, consistent and low cost indicators of agricultural biodiversity, applicable at wide scale and across different landscapes. Here we present the proof of concept for an indicator of the biodiversity value of agricultural landscapes through assessing properties of their trees. Using freely available satellite data products to estimate wooded area, structural diversity and spectral diversity of agricultural lands, landscapes are scored on the biodiversity value. The outputs of which can be mapped at national scales. Qualitative validation shows promising results in four case studies in a variety of agricultural contexts, with the scores reflecting what we expect from photointerpretation of sites across the case study areas. This tool has the potential to be a useful and much needed indicator, and with further development could be a critical metric for the post-2020 agenda for measuring and monitoring agricultural biodiversity.

Opportunities for implementing improved tree seed sourcing for forest landscape restoration, agroforestry and wider tree planting at the project design stage: Findings of a survey of planters, researchers and funders

Current tree-planting initiatives are not always successful in achieving their stated targets of biodiversity conservation, climate change mitigation and human livelihood improvement. This is in part due to a lack of attention to the proper sourcing of the tree seeds and seedlings that are used. In this working paper, we explore these sourcing issues by reporting on an online survey undertaken in 2021 with tree planters, researchers and funders. The aim of this working paper is to assess the feasibility of redesigning the design templates of planting project proposals to include tree seed sourcing information, with the outcome of increasing support for improved sourcing practices. The survey results for 173 respondents (comprising 90 planters, 69 researchers and 14 funders collectively working globally, embracing the Global South and Global North) suggested that there is scope at the project design stage to require (potential) tree planters – who are applying for financial support to carry out tree planting – to explain how they will source tree seed. The majority of funders were willing to adopt such an approach, and most survey participants overall considered that it is important for tree planters to explain how they will undertake tree-seed sourcing

Investing in Nature as the true engine of our economy: A 10-point Action Plan for a Circular Bioeconomy of Wellbeing

The 10-Point Action Plan to catalyse a Circular Bioeconomy of Wellbeing is a call for collective and integrated action to global leaders, investors, companies, scientists, governments, nongovernmental and intergovernmental organisations, funding agencies and society at large to put the world on a sustainable path.

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