lecture 12

Question 1

what does the model of conservation scenarios show us

Answer 1

• Agriculture is essential to human society - focusing on efficiencies is important
  
  • It is possible to improve biodiversity but it will take effort on different levels of society
  • Overall, these changes have the potential to be positive
  • There are societal changes taking place - there are efforts and awareness that are changing projections
  • Areas that are completely protected vs privately owned

Question 2

land trusts?

Answer 2

• Land trust: private, non-profit corporation established to protect land and natural resources
  
  • Ex. Organizations that buy up land that has ecological value - land trusts
    
    • Only spend about 10% of the money they fundraise

Question 3

• Why wouldn’t an org just outright buy all the land they want to protect?

Answer 3

○ Maintenance and management
○ Costs!!!
○ Legality, planning
○ Owners not wanting to sells

Question 4

conservation easement definition

Answer 4

• Conservation easement: land owner gives up the right to develop, build on, or subdivide property usually for some benefit such as money, lower property taxes, or some other tax benefit

Question 5

describe conservation easements

Answer 5

• Not permanent agreements - no way to enforce future right to develop
  
  • Takes effort for them to come to these agreements + details of the transaction
  • Restricted amount of development typically - some level allowed, with remainder of the property protected
  • Compromise btwn ownership
  • Allows larger protection of land that costs limit

Question 6

define conservation development

Answer 6

• Conservation development: easement combined with allowance of part of the land to be commercially developed
○ Might have to negotiate with local govt

Question 7

define conservation concessions

Answer 7

• Conservation concessions: conservation org. outbid extractive industries (ie. Logging companies) for the right to use land not ownership

Question 8

how do concessions work

Answer 8

○ Rights to an area cost a certain amount of money - a company might buy it and not use it - if outbidded they can log the land, or just leave it for the same price it would have been bought for logging
○ Competitively protected
○ Often costly - sometimes worth it as a stopgap measure - ie. Immediate action for conservation needed
○ Faster response than govt

Question 9

define conservation leasing. other agreements?

Answer 9

• Conservation leasing: payments to private landowners who actively manage their land for biodiversity
  
  • Tax deductions of payments can be made for costs of management (e.g. weed control, controlled burning) or restoration (ie planting native sp)

Question 10

describe conservation banking

Answer 10

• Analogous to financial bank but for natural resources
  
  • Credit is granted for landowner to protected habitat or sp
  • Credit can be used to compensate (biodiversity offset) for habitat that is being destroyed elsewhere

Question 11

american beetle banking ex

Answer 11

• e.g. American burying beetle
○ Had a large range, now endangered and distributed in localized areas
○ part of its conservation was a conservation agreement with various oil companies in OK
○ Strong extraction business - difficult to do in protected areas
○ Tradeoff - land not used for oil was traded for protection/easement - traded for land elsewhere to drill oil

Question 12

• Payment for ecosystem services (PES)?

Answer 12

• Land owners are paid for specific conservation services
  
  • Payment can be monetary or carbon credits (ie. Permit that represents 1 ton of carbon dioxide removed from atmosphere)
  • Carbon credit controversial - economists think it’s a way for the free market to determine conservation
  • almost 10 fold increase in the crane survival on protected areas

Question 13

describe carbon exchanges

Answer 13

○ Already exist, largest in London
○ Buy or sell carbon credits
○ Each ton of carbon dioxide removed priced at 135$
○ Backstopping payment if you do something that removes carbon
○ Compared to currency- simplifying negotiation - abstract
○ Greater social acceptance of what they do - bc they are paying for it
○ Protected areas can capture carbon bc of primary productivity - may make them $$, incentive
Unit associated with these practices that can be used in a flexible way

Question 14

Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) objectives

Answer 14

The objectives of the CBD are the conservation of
biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components,
and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising
from commercial and other utilization of genetic
resources. The agreement covers all ecosystems, species,
and genetic resources.

Question 15

Convention on International trade in 
Endangered Species (CITES)

Answer 15

The CITES aims to ensure that international trade in
specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten
their survival. Through its three appendices, the
Convention accords varying degrees of protection to
more than 30,000 plant and animal species.

Question 16

Convention on the Conservation of Migratory

Species of Wild Animals

Answer 16

The CMS, or the Bonn Convention aims to conserve
terrestrial, marine and avian migratory species throughout
their range. Parties to the CMS work together to conserve
migratory species and their habitats by providing strict
protection for the most endangered migratory species, by
concluding regional multilateral agreements for the
conservation and management of specific species or
categories of species, and by undertaking co-operative
research and conservation activities.

Question 17

The Ramsar Convention on wetlands

Answer 17

The Ramsar Convention provides the framework for national action
and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of
wetlands and their resources. The convention covers all aspects of
wetland conservation and wise use, recognizing wetlands as
ecosystems that are extremely important for biodiversity
conservation in general and for the well-being of human
communities

Question 18

International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food

a n d Agriculture

Answer 18

The objectives of the Treaty are the conservation and sustainable
use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture and the fair
and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of their use, in
harmony with the Convention on Biological Diversity, for
sustainable agriculture and food security. The Treaty covers all
plant genetic resources for food and agriculture, while its
Multilateral System of Access and Benefit-sharing covers a specific
list of 64 crops and forages. The Treaty also includes provisions on
Farmers’ Rights

Question 19

world heritage convention WHC

Answer 19

The primary mission of the WHC is to identify and conserve the
world’s cultural and natural heritage, by drawing up a list of sites
whose outstanding values should be preserved for all humanity and
to ensure their protection through a closer co-operation among
nations.

Question 20

why conventions for biodiversity?

Answer 20

• Idea of biodiversity as fundamental to health of the planet didn’t exist and was not protected until 1992 when declared
○ Recognized biodiversity as important
• Lots of change in a very short amount of time
• None of these agreements have enforceability internationally - require federal and local laws
• Not agreed to by all countries
• US had not ratified the CBD due to internal interests
• Thinking about biodiversity across the boarders - what is a fair way to conserve species that migrate across continents for ex?
○ e.g. monarch butterfly which migrates across NA

Question 21

why do some conventions focus on habitats or food cultivation?

Answer 21

• Recognizing certain habitats as important - ex. Wetlands agreement, heritage agreement
• More complex agreements regarding food resources
how productive we are, reducing waste, etc. bc of how much land is used for agriculture
○ Collaborative efforts to improve efficiency
○ Species we’ve selected to be the backbone of our food system begin to dominate - reduce diversity + sp that have been used in the past

Question 22

why do we need genetic protections for hte banana?

Answer 22

○ Ex. The banana - all clones- split and propagated
§ Full of seeds before commercialization
§ Problem - global monoculture
§ Being found that certain diseases of bananas being established - once the pathogens spread critically, they will destroy the global banana supply - no resistance bc no variation
• Not able to generate the characteristics we want - still picking from existing genomes
• Agreements on food resources can help
• No single entity is incentivized to worry about these issues bc theyre more concerned about productivity / efficiency

Question 23

how much are natural resources worth vs how much spent to protect them

Answer 23

24 trillion
4-10 billion annually
mostly domestic budgets

Question 24

trend for conservation spending?

Answer 24

• Positive trend of increasing funding for conservation
• Not proportionate to the countries that have the most money to spend - not the biggest contributors (ex. US, China - biggest economies)
• Lots spend on equatorial regions
○ Conservation $ goes further bc of amount of sp.
• Fundraising for orgs. Going up

Question 25

perverse subsidies?

Answer 25

• Supporting infrastructure in developing countries
• Largely to support survival and health of people who require aid
• From a conservation perspective - funding for these other aspects in a country’s function are detrimental to conservation efforts - converting natural land = habitat destruction, loss of biodiversity
•

Question 26

roles of conservation biologists?

Answer 26

organize scientists
influence public policy
manage conservation projects
educate and motivate general public

Question 27

island biogeoraphy theory?

Answer 27

• From 1967 ish - foundational work for ecology
  
  • A model that integrates field data and successfully makes predictions of the number of species on islands
  • Bigger islands = more habitat = more species (bc more can be supported)
  • Islands closer to inland have more immigration and more species than islands that are far from mainland
  • There is an eq point where extinctions are balanced on small islands due to distance from mainland
  • Can extrapolate the idea onto a protected area surrounded by damaged areas - the pocket is like an island
  • Power scale relationship - take log of sp vs log of area of habitats
  • Foundation of the idea that a larger reserve is better than a smaller one

Question 28

• Evidence for global warming being human induced

Answer 28

induced
• More about if humans are responsible than if climate change is a thing
1. Greenhouse effect
• Not spcific to co2 - a product of all the atmoshperic gases
• Water impacts it - has its own effect
• Measures of temp, etc
• Humans and the carbon scale
• Long history of co2 cycling - big range
• Recent times - reaching levels beyond what its ever been -human induced
• Can look at isotopes - the warmer it is, the more evaporation occurs = use ice core data of o2 and co2
• Recent exponential increasing in fossil fuels - times where human consumption of fossil fuels decreased = correspond to decreases in co2
• Carbon in air samples - the suess effect
• Fossil fuels have a specific signature in C14
○ As more fossil fuels are burned, there’s less c12 (regular carbon) bc more people are burning fossils fuels (c14)