Suchergebnisse

Kartik Shanker is a biologist at the Centre for Ecological Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He has published on sea turtle biology and marine conservation and is the immediate past President of the International Sea Turtle Society. He edits the journal Conservation and Society, based in India and offering analyses of global conservation politics and ecology which foreground the perspectives of the global South. This journal focuses on communication not only between researchers and advocates working in the ecological sciences and in social science and humanities, but in fostering communication between academic researchers on the one hand and community and NGO audiences on the other.

This interview was conducted by Nick McClean during Kartik's visit to Sydney for the Cities Nature Justice conference, held 10 – 12 December, 2008, at the University of Technology Sydney. Nick McClean is currently undertaking PhD research at ANU on comparative approaches to conservation in Australia and India.

Vegetated coastal ecosystems provide goods and services to billions of people. In the aftermath of a series of recent natural disasters, including the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis, coastal vegetation has been widely promoted for the purpose of reducing the impact of large storm surges and tsunami. In this paper, we review the use of coastal vegetation as a "bioshield" against these extreme events. Our objective is to alter bioshield policy and reduce the long-term negative consequences for biodiversity and human capital. We begin with an overview of the scientific literature, in particular focusing on studies published since the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 and discuss the science of wave attenuation by vegetation. We then explore case studies from the Indian subcontinent and evaluate the detrimental impacts bioshield plantations can have upon native ecosystems, drawing a distinction between coastal restoration and the introduction of exotic species in inappropriate locations. Finally, we place bioshield policies into a political context, and outline a new direction for coastal vegetation policy and research. ©2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. ; SCOPUS: re.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Vegetated coastal ecosystems provide goods and services to billions of people. In the aftermath of a series of recent natural disasters, including the Indian Ocean Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina and Cyclone Nargis, coastal vegetation has been widely promoted for the purpose of reducing the impact of large storm surges and tsunami. In this paper, we review the use of coastal vegetation as a "bioshield" against these extreme events. Our objective is to alter bioshield policy and reduce the long-term negative consequences for biodiversity and human capital. We begin with an overview of the scientific literature, in particular focusing on studies published since the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004 and discuss the science of wave attenuation by vegetation. We then explore case studies from the Indian subcontinent and evaluate the detrimental impacts bioshield plantations can have upon native ecosystems, drawing a distinction between coastal restoration and the introduction of exotic species in inappropriate locations. Finally, we place bioshield policies into a political context, and outline a new direction for coastal vegetation policy and research.