Conservation Success Flashcards
1980-2012: ≈154 Mha forest converted
77x Wales
Gibbs et al. 2010 PNAS + Hansen et al. 2013 Science
State of biodiversity is decreasing
Stuart Butchart 2010
Pressure is increasing ecological footprint nitrogen deposition alien species proportion of fish stocks overexploited
Conservation costs too much
Cost of downlisting bird species
$0.85 million
Total ~$1 billion/yr
Current spend = 12%
McCarthy et al. 2012 Science
Plus site protection…
Compensation costs (all IBAs) = $50.7 bn/year Management costs (all IBAs) = $7.1 bn/year Species (all) = $18.3 bn/year
Total = $76.1 bn/year
of which «10% is currently being met….
Protected areas
Currently cover ~13% of world’s terrestrial environment
CBD Aichi Target 11: increase this to 17% by 2020
One of the main pillars in global conservation - but do they actually work?
More spent on soft drinks than conservation (400 billion dollars per year)
Global military expenditure 1700 billion dollars
Do PAs work?
Match PAs to unprotected sites
Use satellite imagery to compare rates of habitat loss
Compare rates in buffer areas outside sites
Many PAs are “rock and ice” sites with low levels of threat
PAs may displace habitat loss to other areas (leakage)
Little systematic PA monitoring in place for habitats or species
Success of PAs likely to vary by habitat, altitude, region, human population density, governance, etc.
>1000 IBAs in Africa. Match protected and unprotected important Bird Areas on: Area Altitude Dominant land cover Accessibility (roads) Human population density Analysis inside IBA & in 20-km buffer zone
Beresford et al. 2013 PLOS One
Remote monitoring
Satellite images: Increasingly freely available Have extensive coverage Can be analysed remotely Spatial, temporal and thematic resolution can be tailored
Inside IBA Here for KE031, where land cover was stable, we found an increase in agric surrounding the park
(suggesting increased pressure on the park vegetation outside)
If we look at rates of only forest loss (which most studies of PA effectiveness have considered), we find that they are twice as high in PAs and buffers than loss of all land cover together.
Protection reduces forest loss
Suggests that the results of studies on forest loss can be used to make a relative assessment of PA efgfectiveness, but the absolute estimates will not be comaprable as rates of loss twice as high.
The EU Birds Directive
Strengths of the Directive
Binding law with an ultimate authority
Increasingly science-based
International approach
Provides a level playing-field across the EU
Covers all species
Links with Habitats Directive (Natura 2000)
Annex I species did significantly better in the EU after the introduction of the Birds Directive
The results showed that the populations of Annex I species increased rapidly after the BD was brought in, but that non-Annex I species did not respond much, being on average about stable in both periods
Why are we observing these ‘big scale’ successes?Mauritius: extinction crisis
Mauritius Kestrel
1979: Jones took over recovery project
Implemented:
‘double-clutching’
dietary supplements for parents
hacking of captive-reared birds
fostering of captive-reared young to wild pairs
1983-1993: 333 birds reared
Late 1990s 350-500 individuals
Downlisted to Endangered (1994) & Vulnerable (2000)
Echo parakeet + Mauritius pink pigeon
Echo parakeet
Mid-1990’s = 50-60 individuals; 2000 = >100 birds
343 birds in 2007 downlisted to Endangered
2015 = 650 birds
Mauritius pink pigeon
Downlisted to Endangered in 2000
2015 = ~400 wild birds
Union of concerned scientists
Translating Complex Science into Plain English (Spanish, Portuguese, etc.)
Science-based advocacy organization Founded in 1969 at M.I.T. About 160 staff in four US-based offices About 450,000 members No government or business funding
