Managing Biodiversity

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Managing Biodiversity
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The key players in management?

• Brainstorm ALL the players you think are involved

Artists and poets
Transnational and private enterprise
Indigenous people
Local and regional governments
Scientists and researchers
Players in ecosystem management
International organisations
NGOs
stakeholders
Special interest groups
Local farmers
National governments
Individuals
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Global Players

• There are 150 wildlife treaties in place
• Such things require a number of nations to sign
  before becoming law
• Most involve funding conservation work,
  designating protected areas, or regulating
  endangered species
• The 5 most important treaties in place today are
• RAMSAR Convention- wetland conservation signed
  1971- adopted by 147 countries
• World Heritage Convention- to designate and
  protect outstanding cultural and natural sites-
  signed 1972, by over 180 countries
• The Convention on International trade in
  Endangered Species- signed in 1973, adopted by
  166 countries
• The convention on the conservation of Migratory
  Species of Wild Animals was signed in 1979 and by
  2005 adopted by 90 countries to prevent shooting
  of birds in passage
• The UN Convention on the Law of the sea- ratified
  by 148 countries

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Other global players

• Transnational cooperation's are involved, have
  say in which goods/ services are mostly
  exploited- increasingly they are moving to
  greener strategies for long term benefit and to
  improve public image
• They also drive innovation and technology,
  sometimes for the common good, but sometimes to
  the detriment of the ecosystem involved
• Other international institutions which are
  involved- UN agencies, World Bank, World Trade
  Organisation and the International Tropical
  Timber Organisation
• Non government Organisations- such as Greenpeace
  and WWF provide vital biodiversity conservation
• WWF works in over 100 countries- its mission is
  to stop the degradation of the planets natural
  environment and build an environment where people
  live in harmony with nature
• Others are smaller such as FAN (A small NGO
  working in Eastern Bolivia to conserve
  biodiversity by using natural resources in a
  sustainable way).

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National Players

• Government- regulate and facilitate
• Regulation- establish and enforce laws to
  conserve genetic biodiversity, protect various
  areas and species and regulate damaging
  activities such as using polluting agro chemicals
  or releasing invasive species
• They also manage natural resources providing
  clean air water or open space
• They fund preservation conservation and
  development, often through taxes and subsidies
• Positive incentives to conserve are increasingly
  used, e.g. paying farmers to be stewards of the
  landscape and to farm in environmentally friendly
  ways

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Local players

• Indigenous people are often dependant on
  biodiversity for basic survival
• For many local biodiversity has spiritual
• significance
• Locals have good knowledge of local plants
• and their uses, e.g. traditional medicine
• Local fishers/ farmers can conflict with
  conservationists because they live a subsistence
  lifestyle relying on the ecosystem for survival
• Ecosystem management issues are increasingly in
  previously remote areas like the Amazon and
  Antarctica- as more people visit pressures arise
• Some individuals can join together to form
  special interest groups- they can degrade
  delicate areas
• Conflict can arise from scientists hunting for
  new drugs, species with indigenous people who
  just want to continue their existence

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Individual players

• Most diverse group of all
• All having individual morals, beliefs and needs
  on each ecosystem
• In OECD countries ethical consumerism is
  increasing people buying dolphin friendly tuna.
• Spiritual and recreational demands for new
  tourist destinations means areas like the
  Galapagos and Arctic are experiencing mass
  tourism.

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Strategies and policies
Tolerant forest management
Scientific Reserve
Community wildlife management
Economic development integrated into conservation
Exploitation with token protection
Wildlife Reserves and parks
Extractive reserves
total protection
total exploitation
conservation
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How best to protect?

• Total protection?
• Biosphere reserves
• Leave to exploit
• Conserve certain areas
• In the 60s total protection was favoured, in 80s
  local voices were heard and biosphere reserves
  were created leaving some land to locals and
  fencing off the rest.
• In more recent times economic and social aspects
  of biodiversity more taken into account- ie
  ecotourism

What problems with this approach?
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What is the spectrum of conservation strategies?
There is a spectrum of conservation strategies
available, from complete protection through
various types of sustainable development to
commercially exploited areas where limited parts
are protected often for publicity!
The total area of land and number of protected
sites is increasing. Poland, Ecuador and New
Zealand now have 25 of their land protected.
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What sort of protection?
In the 1960s total protection was the only
method of conservation!
In the 1980s biosphere reserves were established
with buffer zonesfor use by local people
21ST Century conservation now means species
protection, scientific reserves, as well as
incorporating economic development with
biodiversity.
What factors is successful conservation
influenced by?
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Demonstrate What are the problems with the
total protection strategy?
WALT To understand the strategies and polices in
place for management Success Criteria A Examine
the success/ failure of the polices and
strategies at a range of scales C Describe and
explain the strategies and their success rate
In LEDCs conflict between conservation and
cutting people off from biodiversity
Totally protected reserves can be focussed on for
scientific purposes and fail to see that
conservation is influence by social, economic,
etc
Many schemes were based on political and economic
boundaries where as ecosystems are defined by
natural borders!!
Coordination from outside agencies which do not
always know about needs of local people
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Activate What are biosphere reserves?
WALT To understand the strategies and polices in
place for management Success Criteria A Examine
the success/ failure of the polices and
strategies at a range of scales C Describe and
explain the strategies and their success rate
Reserves are a popular strategy. Many are in
favour of corridor like reserves running
north-south. Global warming drives species from
the poles will still be protected!
Many people feel that conservation should target
hotspots.
WWF favours a broad approach to save larger areas
and more species.
Some others feel we should concentrate in LEDCs
where it would cost less and get better value for
money.
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Sustainable Yield key part of sustainable
ecosystem management. It represents the safe
level of harvest that can be hunted/ caught/
utilised without harming the individual ecosystem.

• How do they measure the sustainable level?
• Maximum sustainable yield- greatest harvest that
  can be taken indefinitely while leaving the
  ecosystem intact. Harvesting wild plants,
  animals or fish is part of the subsistence
  lifestyle of indigenous people and is usually
  sustainable.
• Over harvesting or overexploitation are usually
  the result of commercial rather than subsistence
  activity. When activities such as shooting
  elephants for ivory or harvesting shellfish and
  logging in natural forests- the targets and their
  habitats are under threat
• Optimum sustainable yield- best compromise
  achievable in the light of all the economic and
  social considerations. This will not destroy the
  aesthetic or recreational value of the ecosystem
  and will therefore allow multiple use for the
  maximum benefit to the community.
• In order to manage fish/ wildlife mathematical
  models have been developed to estimate the
  CARRYING CAPACITY (CC). This is maximum human
  population that can exist in equilibrium with the
  available resources (food, nutrients, etc).
• The major problem is that the CC varies
  seasonally and over time can be reduced by
  Climate Change

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Intense competition for food
Carrying capacity
Mortality high, population reproduction low
cc
Population begins to be threatened by over
harvesting
No cover against predators
MSY in practice
Population declines for natural reasons, more
rapidly if over harvesting occurs
CC/2
Maximum sustained yield halfway between 0 and the
CC
OSY lower than MSY, so ecosystem still has high
aesthetic value
0
time
Carefully controlled harvesting allows population
growth
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Sustainable Yields in the Southern Ocean

• Managed since 1961 since the Antarctic treaty
  came into force. Before this they were exhausted
  and overfished. Several fin fish became extinct.
  A model was used to calculate the fishing yield.
• Whaling is banned
• No culling of fur or elephant seals
• Limits placed on krill taking
• Protection of penguins and other Antarctic sea
  birds, as they being in food web have an impact
  on sea stocks
• Environmental protection in place- no military
  action or waste dumping, so air pollution kept to
  minimum
• Few visitors, mainly scientists and some seasonal
  tourists, but little noise pollution

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Southern ocean SYM A 3 prong approach!
Single species approach sets limits for
harvesting individual species that are
indefinitely sustainable.
Ecosystem approach involves considering
harvested species both on their own and in
relation to dependant species and whole
environment.
Precautionary principle aims to model
consequences of any planned expansion of catches
before it is permitted.
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Case study CAMPFIRE approach Why did it
collapse?
Under British colonial rule large sections of
indigenous population in Zimbabwe were forced to
live in communal areas - tribal trust lands.
Communal Areas Management Programme for
indigenous resources (CAMPFIRE) project was set
up in the late 1980s. It was aimed at long-term
development, management and sustainable use of
natural resources in each communal area.
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Case study CAMPFIRE approach
The responsibility was placed with local people,
whilst allowing them to benefit directly from the
exploitation of resources.
Bottom Up Approach varies and advice is given
by the Zimbabwe Department of National Parks and
Wildlife Management.
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Case study CAMPFIRE approach
Many of the schemes made money from big-game
hunting at sustainable yield levelsthis money
was then fed back into the community.
The economic collapse of Zimbabwe undermined the
whole scheme. Loss of staff, lack of funding,
poaching, hunger saw it collapse.
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Demonstrate Questions
Describe what sustainable yield means (5) Explain
how the Southern Oceans and CAMPIRE are examples
of sustainable management. (10)
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Conservation priorities?

• Some want to target HOTSPOTS as they are areas of
  maximum diversity and are under greatest threat
• WWF favours a broader approach in which
  representative areas of land and sea known as
  eco-regions are targeted to save a max of variety
  of habitats and species
• Some say focus should be a poorer regions of
  world as costs are lower.
• Some question focus of conservation on high
  interest animals like Pandas and tigers

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Restoring degraded areas

• The ultimate conservation challenge
• i.e. Recreating wetlands
• Or linking fragmented reserve areas to make
  larger reserves easier to manage and more
  biodiverse
• These schemes rely on how degraded land is the
  more degraded and polluted the harder it is
• An example of this is the Great Fens recreation
  project in East Anglia, UK.

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Conservation

• Other approaches to conservation, ex situ
  conservation, e.g. captive breeding of endangered
  animals in zoos.
• Zoos also contain biodiversity banks such as seed
  banks for plants
• Several species have been saved in this way such
  as Scimitar horned Oryx, bred at Marwell Zoo and
  re released into Arabia
• Giant pandas are also being bred in captivity to
  increase numbers
• Some people do not like zoos feeling sorry for
  captive animals, but they play a vital role in
  education of people and allowing people to see
  animals they otherwise may not see

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Task

• 1) Produce short fact files on each of the
  varying management strategies
• Buffer zones
• Biosphere reserves
• Global agreements like CITES
• Gene banks
• Restoration
• Captive breeding
• 2) Assess the relative advantages and
  disadvantages of each method of management

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HOW ELSE CAN WE MANAGE ECOSYSTEMS?
Alternate approaches to conservation steer away
from the protectionist approach and instead
favour a more sustainable approach which
considers the needs of local people as well as
the environment.
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EXAMPLES
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species

• IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is considered
  the most comprehensive record of the conservation
  status of plants and animals.
• Essentially precise criteria is utilised by
  different countries and organisations to evaluate
  the extinction risk of thousands of species and
  subspecies.
• These criteria are relevant to all species and
  all regions of the world.
• Records are continually being updated.
• The IUCN aim to convey the urgency of
  conservation issues to the public and policy
  makers, as well as help the international
  community try and reduce species extinction.

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EXAMPLES
LIVING PLANET INDEX (LPI)

• The Living Planet Index (LPI) is an indicator of
  the state of global biological diversity, based
  on trends in vertebrate species- fish,
  amphibians, reptiles, birds mammals- from all
  around the world.
• By tracking wild species, the Living Planet
  Index is also monitoring the health of
  ecosystems.
• The information can be used to define the impact
  humans are having on the planet and for guiding
  actions to address biodiversity loss.

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EXAMPLES
ECO-REGIONS

• The WWF developed a system of eco-regions.
• 200 Eco-regions were identified.
• They are deemed the most biologically distinct
  terrestrial, freshwater, and marine ecosystems on
  the planet and subsequently are to be protected
  and conserved to ensure species, habitats and
  ecological processes continue.
• The eco-regions identified are to be
  representative of all ecosystems of that type.

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INDEPENDENT RESEARCH
INVESTIGATE THE FOLLOWING METHODS OF CONSERVATION

• World Resource Institute Earthtrends
• Millennium Assessment
• Find out how they conserve biodiversity. Write
  a short paragraph about each.

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PAST PAPER QUESTION

1. Explain the distribution of the worlds
   terrestrial and marine hotspots in Figure 3. (10)
   
2. Evaluate the relative advantages and
   disadvantages of the hotspot approach to
   biodiversity management (compared with other
   strategies) (15)

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GOOD EXAM STRUCTURE

1. Explain the distribution of the worlds
   terrestrial and marine hotspots in Figure 3.

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GOOD EXAM STRUCTURE
b) Evaluate the relative advantages and
disadvantages of the hotspot approach to
biodiversity management (compared with other
strategies) (15)