Improving the management of Australia’s biodiversity through better synergy between private and public protected areas – a response to Australia’s biodiversity loss

2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 3
Author(s):  
Sigrid Heise-Pavlov

Australia has one of the highest rates of biodiversity loss globally. Both a lack of long-term monitoring and inefficient management have been identified as major contributing factors. Reviewing national and international reports, perspectives and scientific studies on Australia’s biodiversity management, I propose five steps to promote more effective management and monitoring of protected biodiversity assets by utilising available resources more efficiently. These steps involve: (1) better promotion of existing legislative instruments to protect biodiversity on private land; (2) creating strategic buffer zones around Australia’s World Heritage Areas (WHAs) – such buffer zones would provide opportunities to reduce threats to the biological assets of WHAs that emanate from adjacent areas; (3) better engagement with stakeholders of the buffer zones in managing WHAs through their participation in evidence-based monitoring and early-threat detection (e.g. as ‘Buffer-based Heritage Watch’); (4) targeted and coordinated restoration of native habitats adjacent to WHAs that are supported by effective carbon sequestration schemes; and (5) periodic integration of private protected areas within buffer zones into adjacent WHAs in accordance with the guidelines for extensions of WHAs by the World Heritage Committee. I demonstrate and justify the proposed steps using a spatial analysis of protected areas in Far North Queensland, but the proposed steps have relevance to protected areas in other Australian jurisdictions. The proposed steps would make current efforts of biodiversity protection and monitoring more efficient and would thus contribute to Australia’s response to its current loss of biodiversity.

2009 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
MARIANA NAPOLITANO E FERREIRA ◽  
NATÁLIA COSTA FREIRE

SUMMARYEstablishing effective networks of protected areas (PAs) is one of the major goals of conservation strategies worldwide. However, the success of PAs in promoting biodiversity conservation depends on their integration to local and regional contexts, reducing and mitigating human impacts originating from buffer zones. Community perceptions affect interactions between residents and PAs, and thereby conservation effectiveness. Research at Tocantins state (northern Brazilian Cerrado), aimed to analyse local community perceptions of four PAs, discussing how different factors may influence these. Perceptions were assessed through standardized interviews applied to PA employees and 275 local inhabitants. There was modest community participation in PA establishment and management. Residents were aware of the PAs’ existence, but were unfamiliar with their goals. Length of residency and occupation of inhabitants influenced their PA perceptions, shaping different people-park relations in each of the four studied PAs. Involvement of local residents in PA planning and management represents a central strategy to strengthen local support for PAs over the long term. In those areas that still have settlements inside their boundaries, community relocation should follow a careful participatory process to avoid significant changes in local perceptions and attitudes towards these PAs, crucial for conserving Brazilian biodiversity.


Author(s):  
Gerlind U. C. Lehmann ◽  
Nikita Bakanov ◽  
Martin Behnisch ◽  
Sarah J. Bourlat ◽  
Carsten A. Brühl ◽  
...  

AbstractInsect declines and biodiversity loss have attracted much attention in recent years, but lack of comprehensive data, conflicting interests among stakeholders and insufficient policy guidance hinder progress in preserving biodiversity. The project DINA (Diversity of Insects in Nature protected Areas) investigates insect communities in 21 nature reserves in Germany. All selected conservation sites border arable land, with agricultural practices assumed to influence insect populations. We taught citizen scientists how to manage Malaise traps for insect collection, and subsequently used a DNA metabarcoding approach for species identification. Vegetation surveys, plant metabarcoding as well as geospatial and ecotoxicological analyses will help to unravel contributing factors for the deterioration of insect communities. As a pioneering research project in this field, DINA includes a transdisciplinary dialogue involving relevant stakeholders such as local authorities, policymakers, and farmers, which aims at a shared understanding of conservation goals and action pathways. Stakeholder engagement combined with scientific results will support the development of sound policy recommendations to improve legal frameworks, landscape planning, land use, and conservation strategies. With this transdisciplinary approach, we aim to provide the background knowledge to implement policy strategies that will halt further decline of insects in German protected areas.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 56-72
Author(s):  
Md. Alauddin ◽  
Md. Nuralam Hossain ◽  
Md. Babul Islam ◽  
Shahidul Islam ◽  
Md. Kamrul Islam

Bhawal National Park (BNP) is one of the biologically historic and rich habitats in Bangladesh. Therefore, the study aimed to assess the current management strategies of BNP for sustainable biodiversity conservation along with investigations focusing underlying causes of deforestation and biodiversity losses. A structured questionnaire survey, interview, focused group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KII), and literature survey were used as research tools. The results reveal some threats to the sustainable park management, such as its proximity to urban areas, encroachment, abundance of private land within its boundaries, and the pressure of rapid industrialization. It is found that extensive fuelwood collection, industrial setup, agricultural activities, forest fire, forest land encroachment, wood collection are significant causes for deforestation and biodiversity loss. Moreover, number of species of plants and wildlife has decreased roughly by one-third and one-half, respectively. The findings of this study are valuable for sustainable forest biodiversity conservation and management apart from formulating relevant strategies, planning, and policies for the protected areas of Bangladesh.


Author(s):  
Narayan Prasad Bhusal

Maintenance of eco-system diversity is often carried out by establishing national parks, wildlife reserves and other protected areas. The fourth amendment of the National Park and Wildlife Conservation Act in 1992 made the provision of buffer zone for protected areas considering buffer zone, an area of 2km in the vicinity of the park could benefit from park revenue (30-50 percent) and in return the community is supposed to participate and assist in park management activities. Between 1996 and 2010 Government of Nepal demarcated buffer zones of 12 protected areas covering a total area of 5602.67 square kilometer in 83 VDCs and two Municipalities of 27 districts where benefiting human population is over 0.9 million. In the buffer zone management programme emphasis has been given on the natural resource management where need of eco-friendly land use practices and peoples participation in conservation for long term sustainability are encouraged. This paper is an attempt to outline the various activities that have been executed under buffer zone management programme of Department of National Park and Wildlife Conservation with the internal resources, local communities and support from UNDP, WWF Nepal, CARE Nepal, NTNC and other various partners for the conservation and development of buffer zones in Nepal.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ttp.v11i0.11558The Third PoleVol. 11-12, 2012Page : 34-44


2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-72
Author(s):  
V. N. Shmagol' ◽  
V. L. Yarysh ◽  
S. P. Ivanov ◽  
V. I. Maltsev

<p>The long-term population dynamics of the red deer (<em>Cervus elaphus</em> L.) and European roe deer (<em>Capreolus</em> <em>capreolus</em> L.) at the mountain and forest zone of Crimea during 1980-2017 is presented. Fluctuations in numbers of both species are cyclical and partly synchronous. Period of oscillations in the population of red deer is about 25 years, the average duration of the oscillation period of number of roe deer is 12.3 years. During the fluctuations in the number the increasing and fall in population number of the red deer had been as 26-47 %, and roe deer – as 22-34 %. Basing on the dada obtained we have assumed that together with large-scale cycles of fluctuations in population number of both red deer and roe deer the short cycles of fluctuations in the number of these species with period from 3.5 to 7.5 years take place. Significant differences of the parameters of cyclical fluctuations in the number of roe deer at some sites of the Mountainous Crimea: breaches of synchronicity, as well as significant differences in the duration of cycles are revealed. The greatest deviations from the average values of parameters of long-term dynamics of the number of roe deer in Crimea are noted for groups of this species at two protected areas. At the Crimean Nature Reserve the cycle time of fluctuations of the numbers of roe deer was 18 years. At the Karadag Nature Reserve since 1976 we can see an exponential growth in number of roe deer that is continued up to the present time. By 2016 the number of roe deer reached 750 individuals at a density of 437 animals per 1 thousand ha. Peculiarity of dynamics of number of roe deer at some sites proves the existence in the mountain forest of Crimea several relatively isolated groups of deer. We assumed that "island" location of the Crimean populations of red deer and European roe deer, their relatively little number and influence of permanent extreme factors of both natural and anthropogenic origination have contributed to a mechanism of survival of these populations. The elements of such a mechanism include the following features of long-term dynamics of the population: the reduction in the period of cyclic population fluctuations, while maintaining their amplitude and the appearance of additional small cycles, providing more flexible response of the population to the impact of both negative and positive environmental factors. From the totality of the weather conditions for the Crimean population of roe deer the recurring periods of increases and downs in the annual precipitation amount may have relevance. There was a trend of increase in the roe deer population during periods of increasing annual precipitation.</p>


2014 ◽  
pp. 124-129
Author(s):  
Z. V. Karamysheva

The review contains detailed description of the «Atlas of especially protected natural areas of Saint Petersburg» published in 2013. This publication presents the results of long-term studies of 12 natural protected areas made by a large research team in the years from 2002 to 2013 (see References). The Atlas contains a large number of the historical maps, new satellite images, the original illustrations, detailed texts on the nature of protected areas, summary tables of rare species of vascular plants, fungi and vertebrates recorded in these areas. Special attention is paid to the principles of thematic large-scale mapping. The landscape maps, the vegetation maps as well as the maps of natural processes in landscapes are included. Reviewed Atlas deserves the highest praise.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1449
Author(s):  
Clio Kenterelidou ◽  
Fani Galatsopoulou

The paper addresses sustainability, heritage, management, and communication from UNESCO’s Marine World Heritage (MWH) perspective, analyzing its digital narrative footprint through social media. It aims to understand how MWH is conceptualized, managed, and communicated and whether it is framed with sustainability and biocultural values facilitating interactivity, engagement, and multimodal knowledge. Hence, a content analysis of the Instagram accounts of the MWH of Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) sites and protected areas has been conducted. The study included evidence from their Instagram profile, posts, features, and reactions. The findings indicated the dearth of a management and communication strategy being shared among and across UNESCO’s MWH of OUV sites and protected areas, capturing the “lifeworld” and the “voice” of the marine heritage as unified. They also revealed that nature and human, and biological and socio-ecological ecosystems of MWH of OUV sites and protected areas are not interlinked in marine heritage management and communication featuring the whole and the entirety of the marine heritage site ecosystem. The lack of this expansion of meaning and engagement does not facilitate the shift of the route in the marine-scape, from discovery and being listed as World Heritage to human-nature interaction, diversity, dynamicity, and ocean literacy. The study contributes to setting the ground rules for strengthening marine heritage management and communication in light of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Ocean Literacy Decade (2021–2030).


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