scholarly journals How do biodiversity and conservation values relate to landscape preferences? A case study from the Swiss Alps

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (9) ◽  
pp. 2483-2507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reto Soliva ◽  
Marcel Hunziker
Keyword(s):  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Conservation Values

PROCESS IN THE HIGH CONSERVATION VALUE (HCV) CONCEPT WITHIN COMMUNITY-MANAGED FORESTS: CASE STUDY OF COPAL AND BB COMMUNITY FORESTS IN CAMEROON

2010 ◽  
Vol 12 (02) ◽  
pp. 215-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADJÉ OLIVIER AHIMIN ◽  
MARIE MBOLO
Keyword(s):  
Decision Makers ◽  
Conservation Value ◽  
Empirical Knowledge ◽  
Managed Forests ◽  
Forest Stewardship Council ◽  
Community Forests ◽  
High Conservation ◽  
Conservation Values ◽  
Forest Stewardship

The concept of "High Conservation Value" which was initially used by the Forest Stewardship Council, now plays an increasingly important role in several areas, and most significantly in the design and implementation of development projects. Within the framework of certification of community forests in Cameroon, this concept has been implemented in close collaboration with interested communities. Based on the activities conducted, it is worth noting that the consideration of informal management methods appear to result in better protection of biodiversity. Several categories of High Conservation Values were identified in 2 community-managed forests (Coopérative des Paysans de la Lékié & Bimbia Bonadikombo Community Forests) in Cameroon. Rare or endangered ecosystems, more than 300 plant species and more than 20 wildlife species, including endemic, rare, threatened or endangered species were found. Traditional conservation methods based on culture, as well as some ancestral practices and beliefs help to achieve this protection. Decision-makers and academics should learn from this empirical knowledge for protection programmes and projects of biodiversity.

Changing debris flow activity after sudden sediment input: a case study from the Swiss Alps

Geology Today ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (6) ◽  
pp. 216-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Baer ◽  
Christian Huggel ◽  
Brian W. McArdell ◽  
Florian Frank
Keyword(s):  
Debris Flow ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Sediment Input ◽  
Flow Activity

Accuracy assessment of InSAR derived input maps for landslide susceptibility analysis: a case study from the Swiss Alps

Landslides ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 221-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lalan P. Singh ◽  
C. J. van Westen ◽  
P. K. Champati Ray ◽  
P. Pasquali
Keyword(s):  
Landslide Susceptibility ◽  
Accuracy Assessment ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Susceptibility Analysis

scholarly journals The ethno-techno-conservation approach in the utilization of Black Fruit (Haplolobus sp.) by the Wandamen ethnic of Papua, Indonesia

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 1336-1343
Author(s):  
ANTONI UNGIRWALU ◽  
SAN AFRI AWANG ◽  
PRIYONO SURYANTO ◽  
AHMAD MARYUDI
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Strategy ◽  
Fruit Trees ◽  
Ecological Knowledge ◽  
Adaptive Resource Management ◽  
Traditional Management ◽  
Conservation Values ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Adaptive Resource ◽  
Over Time

Ungirwalu A, Awang SA, Suryanto P, Maryudi A. 2017. The ethno-techno-conservation approach in the utilization of Black Fruit (Haplolobus sp.) by the Wandamen people of Papua, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 18: 1336-1343. Identities and cultures are developed by societies through interaction with their environments. In caring for and using their environment, ecological knowledge is created. Deep knowledge of sustainable utilization and conservation of forest resources exist in Papua, but this traditional wisdom is poorly reflected in scientific literature. Such knowledge includes for example the adaptive traditional management of Black Fruit trees (Haplolobus sp.) by the Wandamen people of Papua, which is the subject of the case study reported in this paper. Our research focused on developing an understanding of how local knowledge about utilization, conservation, and protection of Black Fruit was constructed over time. It employed ethnoecology as the analytical lens. The study was conducted in Teluk Wondama District, West Papua. We found that the adaptive resource management of Black Fruit by the Wandamen is based on an approach which we have called “ethnotechno- conservation”. This approach is an attitude of mind by which Wandamen communities manage their Black Fruit trees to meet the dual goals of fulfilling subsistence needs and conserving the resource. This adaptive strategy has evolved over time as a response to the dynamics of the environment and exemplifies the co-evolution of culture and environment that is a defining feature of the world we all inhabit. The traditional concepts and knowledge of the Wandaman elaborate conservation values in the utilization of the Black Fruit. These adaptive concepts and knowledge are codified in their beliefs, myths, and handed-down wisdom.

Analysis of cumulative climate risks and associated impact cascades in Switzerland

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphael Neukom ◽  
Nadine Salzmann ◽  
Christian Huggel ◽  
Veruska Muccione ◽  
Sabine Kleppek ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
National Level ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Knowledge Gaps ◽  
Bottom Up ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
Climate Risks ◽  
First Case

<p>A recent study on ‘climate-related risks and opportunities’ of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) identified knowledge gaps and related missing planning tools for risks with low probability of occurrence but potentially very severe impacts for society and/or the environment. Such risks refer in particular to risks triggered by cumulating meteorological/climatic extremes events, which (i) exacerbate through process cascades or (ii) return within shorter time intervals than expected.</p><p>To respond to these knowledge gaps and ‘blind spots’ in climate risks, a collaborative effort including academic and government institutions at different administrative levels is undertaken in order to explore and analyse the potential of such large cumulative, complex risks and to suggest actions needed to manage them in Switzerland. The project is based on two case studies, which are developed in consultation with stakeholders from science, policy and practice at the national and sub-national level.</p><p>The case studies analyse risks triggered by meteorological events based on projected and recently published Swiss Climate Scenarios CH2018, considering rare but plausible scenarios where such triggering events cumulate and/or occur in combinations.</p><p>The first case study focuses on mountain systems in the southern Swiss Alps, with a potential reduction of the protective capacity of forests caused by extreme drought and heat, and subsequent increase of risks due to multiple natural hazards (fires, snow avalanches, landslides). A semi-quantitative analysis based on expert surveys allows us to estimate the probability of different levels of loss of the protective function caused by the given meteorological trigger event. In a parallel bottom-up approach we perform the analysis with an impacts-perspective and estimate the ecological and climatological thresholds that lead to a partial or complete loss of protective function. Results from the two methods are qualitatively compatible, but the bottom-up approach tends to show a higher risk of damage compared to the more ‘classical’ top-down analysis for similar meteorological events.</p><p>The second case study focuses on cascading impacts in relation with recurrent large-scale drought and heat events on urban systems and their vulnerable elements. We draw potential process cascades across various socio-economic systems for the urban area of Basel based on a systematic analysis of potentially relevant precedent information from selected past cases worldwide.</p><p>Our study is expected to provide important information concerning highly vulnerable systems and elements, their protection, and tipping points towards severe risk amplification. Moreover, we point to feasible risk management approaches and suggest transformative adaptation measures.</p>

scholarly journals Hazard scenarios for avalanche actions on bridges

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 ◽  
pp. 89-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Margreth ◽  
Walter J. Ammann
Keyword(s):  
Impact Angle ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Event Analysis ◽  
Snow Avalanches ◽  
Minimal Impact ◽  
Direct Measurements ◽  
Dense Flow ◽  
Hazard Scenario

AbstractEngineers require impact scenarios when developing hazard mitigation strategies to protect structures against snow avalanches. Since direct measurements of avalanche impacts on large obstacles are rare, the documentation and post-event analysis of avalanche damages is essential to understand the interaction of avalanches with obstacles. The objective of this paper is to develop hazard scenarios for avalanche actions on bridges, based on a case study of a well-documented avalanche event. The 40 m long pre-stressed road bridge Ri di Rialp in the Swiss Alps collapsed after being struck by a dense-flow avalanche in 1998. The post-event analysis shows that the controlling hazard scenario was an inclined avalanche impact, not a horizontal impact as one would assume given the topographical situation. Using a failure analysis, an impact angle of 40° and a minimal impact pressure of 172 kN m−2 were found. Finally the insights are summarized so that engineers can apply the results when designing a bridge at risk from avalanches.

scholarly journals Tree-ring based reconstruction of the seasonal timing, major events and origin of rockfall on a case-study slope in the Swiss Alps

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. M. Schneuwly ◽  
M. Stoffel
Keyword(s):  
Tree Ring ◽  
Cross Sections ◽  
Swiss Alps ◽  
Annual Variations ◽  
Traumatic Resin Ducts ◽  
Dormant Season ◽  
Ring Analysis ◽  
Impact Angles ◽  
Precipitation Events

Abstract. Tree-ring analysis has been used to reconstruct 22 years of rockfall behavior on an active rockfall slope near Saas Balen (Swiss Alps). We analyzed 32 severely injured trees (L. decidua, P. abies and P. cembra) and investigated cross-sections of 154 wounds. The intra-annual position of callus tissue and of tangential rows of traumatic resin ducts was determined in order to reconstruct the seasonality of past rockfall events. Results indicate strong intra- and inter-annual variations of rockfall activity, with a peak (76%) observed in the dormant season (early October – end of May). Within the growth season, rockfall regularly occurs between the end of May and mid July (21.4%), whereas events later in the season appear to be quite rare (2.6%). Findings suggest that rockfall activity at the study site is driven by annual thawing processes and the circulation of melt water in preexisting fissures. Data also indicate that 43% of all rockfall events occurred in 1995, when two major precipitation events are recorded in nearby meteorological stations. Finally, data on impact angles are in very good agreement with the geomorphic situation in the field.

A case study of the conservation value of a small tourist resort island: Birds of Rottnest Island, Western Australia 1905-2007

2009 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denis A. Saunders ◽  
Perry De Rebeira
Keyword(s):  
Western Australia ◽  
Conservation Management ◽  
Conservation Value ◽  
Management Units ◽  
Southwest Coast ◽  
The Past ◽  
Passerine Species ◽  
Conservation Values ◽  
Resident Populations

The avifauna of Rottnest Island, off the southwest coast of Western Australia, has been studied by three authorities from 1953?1963, 1980?1992 and 1998?2007. In addition, several annotated bird lists have been published since 1905. Over the period 1905 to 2007, 101 species have been recorded from the island, including 41 species of vagrant (species rarely seen with no pattern of occurrence) that have not changed in status over the 102 years. Of the 60 species recorded as part of the island?s avifauna, 24 have apparently not changed in status over that period. Thirty-five species have changed in status and/or abundance, including nine species of transequatorial migrant; all Charadriiformes. Seven of these species were formerly absent or vagrants but now are regular visitors, several possibly as a result of range extensions. Two species of transequatorial migrant, formerly regarded as members of the island?s avifauna, have become vagrants. Six passerine and one non-passerine species have resident populations that are isolated on the island with no populations on the adjacent mainland. Populations of three of these species are sufficiently different from mainland populations to constitute conservation management units. Rottnest Island is managed as a holiday resort. In the past this management has compromised some of the conservation values. Recommendations for dedicated monitoring programmes and management for the conservation of the island?s avifauna are provided.

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