Suchergebnisse

Restoring functional ecosystems in Europe inter alia requires restoring large mammal (megafauna) diversity and densities to levels well above the current downgraded state, which results from a human-driven wave of megafauna extinctions and extirpations in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Combining law and natural science, we address the question to what degrees international legal instruments support or require such megafauna rewilding efforts. We provide an overview of Europe's current megafauna plus those species that would likely have been present without human interference. We categorize these species and restoration scenarios in ways that make sense from a legal perspective and identify and interpret relevant legal instruments. Our analysis indicates that Article 8(f) of the Convention on Biological Diversity requires restoring the diversity and densities of Europe's megafauna as far as possible—which is indeed quite far. Depending on the circumstances, megafauna rewilding measures can also be required or supported by various other legal instruments at global, pan-European, European Union and other levels.

Expanding and intensifying anthropogenic land use is one of the greatest drivers of changes of biodiversity loss and political inequality worldwide. In the Greater Mara, Kenya, a trend of private land enclosure is currently happening, led by smallholders wishing to protect and uphold their land titles. Here we expand on previous work by Løvschal et al. quantifying the rapid, large-scale development of fencing infrastructure that began in 1985 but has increased by 170% from 2010 onwards. We provide fine-scale analysis of the spatial and temporal trends in fencing using high-resolution Sentinel-2 imagery. The formally unprotected regions have distinctly more fences than the rest of the Mara, one experiencing a 740% increase in fenced land in four years. Conservancies have an effect in stemming fencing but fences crop up within and along conservancy boundaries. We estimate the actual geographical coverage of the fences in the Mara to be 130,277 ha (19% of the total region) using an error margin of 8%, derived by calibrating our satellite mapping with ground-truth data. The study suggests the need for revising community-based eco-conservation efforts and pursuing a richer understanding of the socio-political and historical dynamics underlying this phenomenon.

This is the first out of three white papers from the project TERRANOVA the European Landscape Learning Initiative an Innovative Training Network consortium of the European Union's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions. TERRANOVA investigates the deep history of human-environment interactions and how these interactions have shaped European landscapes as a foundation to design sustainable environmental policies in Europe. In 2019–2023, fifteen PhD students will be trained to conduct interdisciplinary research around this topic in order to promote a long-term understanding of the structure and functioning of European landscapes to meet current challenges caused by reduced biodiversity and climate change. TERRANOVA seeks knowledge through landscape energy regimes and transitions, which will help in the transition to future lowcarbon society. In this paper, we will present our starting point and briefly describe the project design and expected outcomes of the project.

This is the first out of three white papers from the project TERRANOVA the European Landscape Learning Initiative an Innovative Training Network consortium of the European Union's Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions.1 TERRANOVA investigates the deep history of human-environment interactions and how these interactions have shaped European landscapes as a foundation to design sustainable environmental policies in Europe. In 2019–2023, fifteen PhD students will be trained to conduct interdisciplinary research around this topic in order to promote a long-term understanding of the structure and functioning of European landscapes to meet current challenges caused by reduced biodiversity and climate change. TERRANOVA seeks knowledge through landscape energy regimes and transitions, which will help in the transition to future low-carbon society. In this paper, we will present our starting point and briefly describe the project design and expected outcomes of the project. RECOMMENDATIONS - POLICYMAKERS TO RECOGNISE AND SUPPORT: The importance of a nuanced understanding of the deep history of European landscapes and past changes in human-environment interactions that are required in order to address the climate and the biodiversity crises. Potential reservoirs of knowledge and experience that landscapes encompass, for nature conservation, landscape planning and sustainable livelihoods, which now remain unexplored. Sustainable research and training networks, like TERRANOVA, which means shifting academic curricula to demonstrate intelligent and innovative solutions for problems of land abandonment, landscape management and stewardship, rewilding and the process of transitioning to a low-carbon society.

More than 1000 prominent representatives from science, industry, politics and NGOs were gathered in Aarhus on 5–7 March 2009 for the international climate conference 'Beyond Kyoto: Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change'. Thematically, Beyond Kyoto was divided into seven areas of particular interest for understanding the effects of the projected future climate change and how the foreseen negative impacts can be counteracted by mitigation and adaptation measures. The themes were: Climate policy: the role of law and economics; Biodiversity and ecosystems; Agriculture and climate change; Nanotechnology solutions for a sustainable future; Citizens and society, and The Arctic. The main responsible scientists for the seven conference themes and representatives from the think-tank CONCITO delivered 'The 7 Aarhus Statements on Climate Change' as part of the closing session of the conference. The statements were also communicated to the Danish Government as well as to the press. This article is the product of the collective subsequent work of the seven theme responsibles and is a presentation of each theme statement in detail, emphasizing the current state of knowledge and how it may be used to minimize the expected negative impacts of future climate change. ; More than 1000 prominent representatives from science, industry, politics and NGOs were gathered in Aarhus on 5–7 March 2009 for the international climate conference 'Beyond Kyoto: Addressing the Challenges of Climate Change'. Thematically, Beyond Kyoto was divided into seven areas of particular interest for understanding the effects of the projected future climate change and how the foreseen negative impacts can be counteracted by mitigation and adaptation measures. The themes were: Climate policy: the role of law and economics; Biodiversity and ecosystems; Agriculture and climate change; Nanotechnology solutions for a sustainable future; Citizens and society, and The Arctic. The main responsible scientists for the seven conference themes and representatives from the think-tank CONCITO delivered 'The 7 Aarhus Statements on Climate Change' as part of the closing session of the conference. The statements were also communicated to the Danish Government as well as to the press. This article is the product of the collective subsequent work of the seven theme responsibles and is a presentation of each theme statement in detail, emphasizing the current state of knowledge and how it may be used to minimize the expected negative impacts of future climate change.

Preserving tropical biodiversity is an urgent challenge when faced with the growing needs of countries. Despite their crucial importance for terrestrial ecosystems, most tropical plant species lack extinction risk assessments, limiting our ability to identify conservation priorities. Using a novel approach aligned with IUCN Red List criteria, we conducted a continental-scale preliminary conservation assessment of 22,036 vascular plant species in tropical Africa. Our results underline the high level of extinction risk of the tropical African flora. Thirty-three percent of the species are potentially threatened with extinction, and another third of species are likely rare, potentially becoming threatened in the near future. Four regions are highlighted with a high proportion (>40%) of potentially threatened species: Ethiopia, West Africa, central Tanzania, and southern Democratic Republic of the Congo. Our approach represents a first step toward data-driven conservation assessments applicable at continental scales providing crucial information for sustainable economic development prioritization. ; SCOPUS: ar.j ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Dabbling ducks (Anas spp.) are importantmigratory quarry species, protected as a shared resource under international legislation. However, there is a lack of sufficient high-quality data on vital demographic rates and long-term trends in numbers to judge the conservation status of many duck populations at the flyway level. In response to reported declines in the North-West European flyway population of theMallard, we compiled available data on this species in the Nordic countries up to 2010. Generally, national breeding numbers showed increasing trends, wintering abundance showed variable trends, and productivitymeasures indicated stable or increasing trends.Major knowledge gaps were identified, namely the size of hunting bags, the influence of the released Mallards and the role of short-stopping in explaining changing patterns of wintering abundance across the North-West European flyway. Numerically the Nordic breeding population appears in "good condition", and the wintering numbers have been either stable or increasing in the last two decades. The annual number of releases needs to be determined in order to judge the sustainability of the current levels of exploitation. Overall, none of the indicators showed alarming signs for the Mallard population in the Nordic countries when considered in isolation. However, the widespread decline in wintering numbers elsewhere across North-western Europe requires urgent pan-European action.

The savannas of the Kenya-Tanzania borderland cover >100,000 km 2 and is one of the most important regions globally for biodiversity conservation, particularly large mammals. The region also supports >1 million pastoralists and their livestock. In these systems, resources for both large mammals and pastoralists are highly variable in space and time and thus require connected landscapes. However, ongoing fragmentation of (semi-)natural vegetation by smallholder fencing and expansion of agriculture threatens this social-ecological system. Spatial data on fences and agricultural expansion are localized and dispersed among data owners and databases. Here, we synthesized data from several research groups and conservation NGOs and present the first release of the Landscape Dynamics (landDX) spatial-temporal database, covering ~30,000 km 2 of southern Kenya. The data includes 31,000 livestock enclosures, nearly 40,000 kilometres of fencing, and 1,500 km 2 of agricultural land. We provide caveats and interpretation of the different methodologies used. These data are useful to answer fundamental ecological questions, to quantify the rate of change of ecosystem function and wildlife populations, for conservation and livestock management, and for local and governmental spatial planning.

National and local governments need to step up efforts to effectively implement the post-2020 global biodiversity framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity to halt and reverse worsening biodiversity trends. Drawing on recent advances in interdisciplinary biodiversity science, we propose a framework for improved implementation by national and subnational governments. First, the identification of actions and the promotion of ownership across stakeholders need to recognize the multiple values of biodiversity and account for remote responsibility. Second, cross-sectorial implementation and mainstreaming should adopt scalable and multifunctional ecosystem restoration approaches and target positive futures for nature and people. Third, assessment of progress and adaptive management can be informed by novel biodiversity monitoring and modeling approaches handling the multidimensionality of biodiversity change.

National and local governments need to step up efforts to effectively implement the post-2020 global biodiversity framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity to halt and reverse worsening biodiversity trends. Drawing on recent advances in interdisciplinary biodiversity science, we propose a framework for improved implementation by national and subnational governments. First, the identification of actions and the promotion of ownership across stakeholders need to recognize the multiple values of biodiversity and account for remote responsibility. Second, cross-sectorial implementation and mainstreaming should adopt scalable and multifunctional ecosystem restoration approaches and target positive futures for nature and people. Third, assessment of progress and adaptive management can be informed by novel biodiversity monitoring and modeling approaches handling the multidimensionality of biodiversity change.

This work is based on a workshop funded by iDiv via the German Research Foundation (DFG FZT 118 and 202548816). ; National and local governments need to step up efforts to effectively implement the post-2020 global biodiversity framework of the Convention on Biological Diversity to halt and reverse worsening biodiversity trends. Drawing on recent advances in interdisciplinary biodiversity science, we propose a framework for improved implementation by national and subnational governments. First, the identification of actions and the promotion of ownership across stakeholders need to recognize the multiple values of biodiversity and account for remote responsibility. Second, cross-sectorial implementation and mainstreaming should adopt scalable and multifunctional ecosystem restoration approaches and target positive futures for nature and people. Third, assessment of progress and adaptive management can be informed by novel biodiversity monitoring and modeling approaches handling the multidimensionality of biodiversity change. ; Publisher PDF ; Peer reviewed