Dissertations / Theses: 'Biodiversity conservation – Government policy'

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Yuen, Sze-ki, and 袁施琪. "Conservation policy in China and USA: a comparative study." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2003. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B26668956.

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Kaomuangnoi, K. "An evaluation of biodiversity policy development and implementation in Thailand." Thesis, Coventry University, 2014. http://curve.coventry.ac.uk/open/items/e1e431c8-cf9c-41bd-8a7f-e46770690d56/1.

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The problem of biodiversity loss has been raised as a significant global issue for several years. There have been many significant attempts to cooperate at an international level. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) was launched as a mechanism for multinational cooperation for global biodiversity conservation at international policy level among the signatory parties. Despite the formulation of the CBD, biodiversity policy has suffered in its framework, institution and practices. Biodiversity has continued being destroyed at a rapid rate. Previous research on biodiversity policy evaluation studied only some parts of the policy cycle but did not point out the strengths and weaknesses clearly leading to difficulties in holistic policy cycle of both formulation and implementation. This thesis evaluates effectiveness of biodiversity policy in Thailand as a signatory nation of CBD, principally in Indo-Burma and Sundaland biodiversity hotspots. They are important as a reservoir of the richest but most threatened plants and animals. While biosphere reserve has been established to allow locals utilising biodiversity as well as conservation, biodiversity threats have continuously been found. The policy was formulated and implemented to conserve them. The research was conducted to address this gap by thoroughly investigating the policy cycle in the development, implementation and evaluation of biodiversity policy, which truly reflecting political, socio-economic, cultural and environmental contexts. Thailand was taken as a case study and within this, three culturally diverse geographic locations were selected: North, Northeast and South biosphere reserves reflecting different ecosystems and cultures. This offered a detailed and complex analysis of development and implementation of the biodiversity policy throughout Thailand. An inductive approach and qualitative methods were applied using in-depth semi-structured and unstructured interviews with policy makers, decision makers, as well as focus groups with local stakeholders through the application of culturally sensitive policy evaluation methods. The findings suggested that biodiversity policy implementation failed in Thailand and policy formulation had a low level of participation from the locals. Local stakeholders demonstrated little engagement with the need for biodiversity information from the government. Bureaucrats, decision makers and policy developers also shared little enthusiasm for initiating effective policy. It is important that awareness raising and education enhancement, particularly with children so that they will learn from early age. At local level, the policy must be carefully implemented to engage local stakeholders in biodiversity conservation. It is significant that biodiversity policy will be effective if it applies a bottom-up approach and requires grassroots participation. The recommendations for biodiversity policy, in the long term, the government should take into account local views towards national policy and bring this to the international level to achieve sustainable biodiversity conservation. Thus, it offers new insights into the success or failure of biodiversity policy in developing countries that was affected by cultural factors which must be taken into account during the entire policy cycle by the international community.

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Zhou, Leocadia. "Tourism policy, biodiversity conservation and management: a case study of the Kruger National Park, South Africa." Thesis, University of Fort Hare, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10353/174.

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The Kruger National Park (KNP) management has recently made considerable progress in enacting new policies to address biodiversity conservation and management challenges. However, the interlinkages among the new policies to support biodiversity conservation and management have not been evaluated, particularly the principles and approaches, and how these interact in terms of policy decision-making at the economic and political levels. This study seeks to evaluate the interlinkages among the new policies and how they affect one another, as an avenue to promote a more integrated and comprehensive policy implementation. These policies include the tourism policy, the elephant management policy, and the water provision policy. At policy-making level, the integration of these three policies enhances the possibilities for balancing and controlling the pressures exerted on environmental resources. At the implementation level, it offers a framework for the coordination of the interventions of the policies in space so as to recognise and capitalize on their synergies. Given the inevitably multifarious and departmentalized nature of policy formulation in the KNP, there is a need for the analysis of interlinkages amongst policies. The conceptual framework underpinning this study derives much from Briassoulis’ (2004) policy integration. The research utilizes both qualitative and quantitative research methods, and focuses on selected camp sites within the Park. The findings indicate that current procedures for tourism policy-making and implementation are weak, and little is done by way of impact assessment. This has been attributed to the lack of capacity at the KNP. The findings also reconfirm that policy-making is too fragmented. As a result, policy coordination and cooperation among park managers is weak. This study suggests that an environmental policy integration approach can lead to improved policy-making and implementation. Informed by the data collected from interviews, questionnaires and document analyses, a management framework has been developed to demonstrate how an integrated approach to Environmental Policy Integration (EPI) or management can help sustain the practice of wildlife tourism and support biodiversity conservation. It is concluded that greater realisation of integrated policy-making and implementation in the KNP can be achieved by establishing a formal coordinating office. However, a special feature of KNP policy-making is its widespread consultation system that can provide a fertile ground for enhancing EPI.

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Rajan, Mukund Govind. "India and the north-south politics of global environmental issues : the case of ozone depletion, climate change and loss of biodiversity." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1994. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:065449d2-6c0f-4aec-8ba9-a84cab137be9.

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The cooperation of developing countries is commonly assumed to be essential for the establishment of effective regimes to manage global environmental interdependence. Yet their policies and perceptions have been inadequately studied. This thesis seeks to partially fill this gap in the literature with a detailed analysis of Indian policy on global environmental issues. It examines the cases of ozone depletion, climate change, and loss of biodiversity, and discusses developments up to the 1992 Earth Summit. The study addresses four broad questions about Indian policy: the process of policy making; the character of Indian interests and preferences; the nature and evolution of India's bargaining strategy; and the outcome of international negotiations for India. It reveals a complex picture of continuity and change in Indian policy. It demonstrates the enduring importance of traditions and values such as the "poverty is the greatest polluter" orthodoxy and the concepts of sovereignty, equity and Third World solidarity. It also highlights the impact of perceptions of vulnerability in relation to the North. It argues that Indian policy did not reflect purely powermaximising goals; policy makers were sometimes uncertain about where India's interests precisely lay, and felt constrained both by economic weakness and by the recognition of the mutual interest of all states in global environmental protection. This was reflected in the moderation in India's bargaining strategy. The Indian case suggests that developing countries did not regard their cooperation in the resolution of global environmental issues purely as a bargaining chip with which to extract concessions from the North. Still less did they perceive these issues as providing an opportunity to pose a macro-challenge to the North, linking agendas across issue areas. Instead, their goals reflected perceptions of constraints and mutual interests in bargaining with the North. Their bargaining strategy thus tended to be moderate and flexible, unlike the confrontational approach of the 1970s.

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Kelly, Andrew H. H. "The role of local government in the conservation of biodiversity." Wollongong, N.S.W. : University of Wollongong, 2006. http://www.library.uow.edu.au/adt-NWU/public/adt-NWU20050311.094226.

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Echeverria, Hugo. "Biodiversity conservation and state sovereignty." Thesis, McGill University, 2005. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=99135.

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This thesis examines the influence of contemporary approaches to biodiversity conservation on conceptions of state sovereignty over natural resources. Traditional approaches to state sovereignty have emphasized the right of states to exploit natural resources. Contemporary approaches to biodiversity conservation, however, have given rise to a more flexible and dynamic understanding of state sovereignty over natural resources: one encompassing sovereign rights of exploitation along with corresponding conservation responsibilities. Founded upon this premise, the thesis focuses on the emergence of a 'balanced' approach to state sovereignty over natural resources and examines its effects on the role of states in managing natural resources. While addressing it as the basis of the emergence of the recognition of a duty of environmental protection, inter alia, in the form of biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of biological resources, the author suggests that the balanced approach to state sovereignty has been instrumental in redefining the role of states, and the role of the sovereignty principle itself in achieving the goal of biodiversity conservation.

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Chester, Charles C. "Biodiversity over the edge : civil society and the protection of transborder regions in northern America /." Thesis, Connect to Dissertations & Theses @ Tufts University, 2002.

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Submitted to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2002.
Adviser: William R. Moomaw. Includes bibliographical references. Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

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Kelly, Andrew Harley Heron. "The role of local government in the conservation of biodiversity." Faculty of Law, 2004. http://ro.uow.edu.au/theses/386.

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This thesis comprises a critical review of the role of Local Government in the conservation of biological diversity (or ‘biodiversity’). Whilst the vast majority of the text relates to NSW, much of the broader commentary may extend to other Australian jurisdictions. The nub of the thesis is that despite the rhetoric in key documents – including the National Strategy for the Conservation of Australia’s Biological Diversity, the NSW Biodiversity Strategy, the National Local Government Biodiversity Strategy and various plans and policies made at the municipal level – the outlook is grim without fundamental policy, legal and fiscal change. The topic is huge but crucial to any person concerned about the mammoth decline of biodiversity in Australia. Whilst being intrinsically transdisciplinary in nature, the thesis attempts to contribute to the ‘new production of knowledge’.¹ It raises issues, problems, ideas and recommendations. The work is based on: • A literary search until 2001. The long gap between this date and thesis submission is due to a severe illness suffered by the author, which arose in late Dec 2001.² • Empirical research into: o nine 1998/1999 ‘state of environment’ reports prepared for by councils located roughly in or around the ‘NSW South-western Slopes’ bioregion that is recognised for the extremely limited extent of remnant native vegetation; o conservation related clauses in all gazetted ‘comprehensive’ Local Environmental Plans - i.e. those applying to entire Local Government areas - prepared by councils between 1995 and 2000 inclusively and which remain in force; • Personal discussion with various officials and onlookers directly involved in, or concerned about, biodiversity conservation at the municipal level. Brief summaries of each chapter are provided herein. The introduction initiates discussion on (i) the meaning of ‘biodiversity’, including its shift from a scientific concept to a populist expression, (ii) the position of councils in Australian government and (iii) the significance of biodiversity conservation at the local sphere. It also introduces two related concepts that are met throughout the thesis, which arguably erode council conservation capability: Local Government’s ‘historical and cultural baggage’ and the ‘ratepayer ideology’. The following three chapters provide the ‘historical and institutional’ context. Chapter Two focuses on changing societal perspectives towards the biophysical environment, together with resultant statutory and environmental trends that have paralleled the advancement of Local Government. Chapter Three traces the history of NSW Local Government, demonstrating its entrenchment in the political landscape. It examines major changes, especially functional expansion and managerial reform. Chapter Four scrutinises a particular aspect of municipal experience, namely top-down and bottom-up cooperation between neighbouring councils. This chapter adds consideration of state appointed regional bodies that may arguably sideline Local Government. The regional context is fundamental to environmental management due to the inappropriateness of many council boundaries. The next three chapters concentrate on legislative and financial detail. Chapter Five reviews the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW), which provides wide service powers, limited regulatory opportunity and special requirements for council-owned land. Chapter Six explores the land-use planning system under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979 (NSW), especially the ongoing influence of its urban background. It raises the perennial influence of ‘developmentalism’ in the determination of applications for development, which directly benefits property interests. Recent statutory change, especially in relation to ‘threatened species’ law, may do little more than support informed habitat destruction. A closely related matter is funding, as discussed throughout Chapter Seven. The issue goes beyond insufficiency. It is argued that Local Government’s primary financial source - i.e. rating, a property tax - works against biodiversity conservation. Not only is there no policy rationale to support rating in the conservation context but the system can provide a ‘perverse incentive’ to rural landholders to clear their lands. This problem is exacerbated by the type of valuation and differential rates. The system demands major overhaul, including consideration of increased conditional Commonwealth funding. The following two chapters relate to attitudes towards the biophysical environment that are popular amongst the general community. Chapter Eight considers the provision of vegetated, passive recreational open space whilst Chapter Nine deals with securing and enhancing local amenity. These approaches, however, can be directly inconsistent with biodiversity conservation. Parochial ‘green’ desires of local constituents can lead to environmental damage. Notwithstanding this, Chapter Ten provides some impressive examples of Local Government supporting biodiversity conservation. But these are isolated and rely on committed individuals. Whilst the pervasive prospect throughout this thesis is one of gloom, the concluding chapter builds on previous discussion by presenting ideas and recommendations to improve the role of Local Government in conserving biodiversity. It emphasises the need for regional approaches, improved funding mechanisms and fresh visions. Councils with bigger areas, supported by community structures to maintain ‘grass roots’ public participation, together with massive change to Local Government funding, may provide a desirable path for municipal reform and retention of Australia’s precious biodiversity. The law discussed throughout this work stands at 1 Jan 2003. Major changes since then are noted in the Postscript.¹ See ch 1 at 2.² On 31 Dec 2001, after hospitalisation for 9 days, the author was diagnosed as suffering from a malignant brain tumour, known as astrocytoma. It was removed in 2002, followed by heavy radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and a long period of torpor during which I lived the life a cat, sleeping for over twelve hours per day. I returned to this thesis in July 2002, then spending about 30 minutes per day which expanded over time, and recommenced part-time academic work in 2003. I am now convinced that I have left the cancer behind, being one of the fortunate 20% of astrocytoma sufferers to survive, supported by a medical team of professional excellence.

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Felley, Mary Louise. "A biodiversity conservation policy and legal framework for Hong Kong." Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 1996. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B17457592.

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Franks, Erin. "Incentivizing Biodiversity Conservation: The Ecological ICMS in Brazil." Scholarship @ Claremont, 2012. http://scholarship.claremont.edu/cmc_theses/377.

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This study evaluates the effectiveness of the ecological ICMS (ICMS-e) in the Brazilian Amazon, an intragovernmental transfer for incentivizing biodiversity conservation. Tax funds are passed from state governments to municipalities in proportion to the amount of protected area within their borders; biological reserves, sustainable use areas, and indigenous lands are all considered. Econometric analysis using a fixed effects model found that the policy had little positive effect on increasing protected areas compared to the significant negative influence of poor land tenure, agricultural influences, and lack of monitoring for illegal deforestation. However, the policy may increase municipal governments' acceptance of and support for protected areas, especially if combined with institutional support.

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Sifakis, Antonios. "The precautionary principle and marine nature conservation." Thesis, University of Kent, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.342141.

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Thondhlana, Gladman. "Dryland conservation areas, indigenous people, livelihoods and natural resource values in South Africa: the case of Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park." Thesis, Rhodes University, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1011732.

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Contemporary conservation and development understanding in both policy and academic circles espouses that natural resources have a significant contribution to the livelihoods of local people and that knowledge of this can better foster conservation policies that are consistent with livelihood and ecological needs. This thesis is based on research conducted in the southern Kalahari region, South Africa among the San and Mier communities bordering Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park. It looks at the importance of natural resources to the San and Mier community groups and ascertains the extent of resource use and its value within broader livelihood portfolios. It also focuses on the cultural values of natural resources and interactions among institutions and actors and how these shape natural resource governance and livelihood outcomes. Overall, natural resources represent an important livelihood source contributing up to 32 % and 9 % of the total income of the San and Mier respectively or up to 46 % and 23 % if livestock incomes are included. However, the dependence on, diversification patterns and distribution of natural resource income vary substantially between and within the two communities. With regards to the cultural values attached to natural resources by the San and Mier, the findings show that these arise from an incredibly diverse and sometimes conflicting array of values that punctuate the two communities’ way of life and they are inextricably linked to resource use. Lastly, governance of natural resources in the co-managed Park and communitymanaged resettlement farms is characterised by complex institutional arrangements, compounded by the existence of multiple actors that have multiple and sometimes conflicting objectives – as shaped by different meanings and interpretations of natural resources. Heightened inter- and intra-community conflicts are common, notably resource use conflicts between the San and Mier and between the San ‘modernist’ and ‘traditionalist’ groups. This demonstrates that the communities’ livelihood dynamics in general and the dependence on natural resources in particular, are closely linked with ecological, economic and social factors including history, culture and present livelihood needs. By exploring the social-environment interactions, the study highlights the complexities and diversity of resource use for livelihoods that should be taken into consideration for both conservation and development policy interventions and research. The main argument of the study is that the contribution of natural resources to local livelihood portfolios in co- and community-managed areas, can be better understood through a consideration of cultural dynamics and institutional arrangements since these condition natural resource access, value and use.

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Basurto, Xavier. "Policy, Governance and Local Institutions for Biodiversity Conservation in Costa Rica." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/194042.

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The goal of this dissertation is to advance the theory of common-pool resources in three different but interrelated ways: (1) Common-pool resources theory has identified a number of factors that play an important role on human groups' ability to engage in successful institutional change. However it is still not clear which are their causal relationships on specific contexts. This study looks at the relationship between two of the aforementioned factors: local leadership and local autonomy. It does so in the context of the decentralization of the governance of protected areas for biodiversity conservation in Costa Rica. (2) Historically, common-pool resources theory has paid limited attention to the interactions between local institutions and higher levels of governance. This study incorporates the analysis of cross-scale institutional linkages into the assessment of decentralization reforms in Costa Rica. (3) To do so it incorporates an analytical approach that allows for systematic and rigorous comparisons of small-to-moderate-sized Ns and is apt at handling multiple-causality outcomes. Looking at these issues in the context of the decentralization of biodiversity governance in Costa Rica is relevant because it is the most biodiverse country per unit of area in the world, and during the last twenty years has experimented with decentralization policies to create locally-based institutions for biodiversity conservation. Among my most relevant findings are: (1) that the presence of local leadership is positively related to institutions ability to gain local autonomy from the central government. (2) However, in the context of a class-based society with a strong urban-rural divide, the emergence of local leadership for conservation in rural settings is likely not able to take place by itself without support from within the bureaucratic structure. (3) More diverse are better than less diverse sets of cross-scale linkages in local institutions' ability to gain and maintain local autonomy overtime. (4) Local autonomy can help local institutions increase their potential for biodiversity conservation as long as there are well-defined institutional arrangements in place. Otherwise, local institutions might find themselves pursuing other agendas that might have an unclear relation with biodiversity conservation.

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Jepson, Paul. "Biodiversity and protected area policy : why is it failing in Indonesia?" Thesis, University of Oxford, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.367463.

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Noonan, David J. "Toward a bioregional policy and practice for the conservation of threatened biodiversity /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1994. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ENV/09envn817.pdf.

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Simón, Gutiérrez Ana Alí. "Policy coherence between biodiversity conservation, climate change and poverty alleviation in Mexico." Master's thesis, Faculty of Science, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/33026.

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In the last decades, the impacts of climate change have affected people, societies, economic sectors and ecosystems in all the continents and oceans. Climate change will make povertyalleviation harder by slowing down economic growth, eroding food security, and increasing and creating poverty traps. The poor, that are highly dependent on wildlife and natural resources for their persistence, will be affected the most. However, it seems that environmental priorities are not considered in the developmental agendas. If biodiversity and climate change are not included in policy domains other than the environmental, many negative effects will not be adequately mitigated or minimised. Addressing these multidimensional problems requires policy coherence for improving the outcomes of social and environmental policies, and for using more efficiently the limited resources that developing countries have. The overall aim of this study is to determine if there is coherence between the objectives of the National Development Plan and the sectoral programs of Mexico, with a special focus on climate change adaptation and mitigation, povertyalleviation, and biodiversity conservation. Through a discourse network analysis, it was possible to determine the policy components within each program and to systematically identify the connections between them and investigate if there was policy coherence. Since the documents analysed belong to two different levels of the government, it was possible to analyse vertical and horizontal coherence. The analysis showed that there is vertical coherence between the NDP and the sectoral programs, low coherence between the sectoral programs, as well as low coherence between the four policy components of major interest. This analysis increases the very scarce literature on Mexico's policy coherence, providing empirical evidence that allows finding windows of opportunity for improving the coherence between sectoral programs in the future.

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Pannozzo, Pamela. "Florida Local Government Conservation Planning: Variability, Drivers, and Policy Implications." Doctoral diss., University of Central Florida, 2013. http://digital.library.ucf.edu/cdm/ref/collection/ETD/id/5998.

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This study examined the quality of Florida county government conservation planning. To assess conservation planning quality, a theoretical model of conservation planning as prescribed by the conservation science literature was first developed. A plan evaluation coding protocol was applied to local comprehensive plan Conservation Elements to determine the extent to which county-level conservation planning met the theoretical model. A high degree of variability in conservation planning quality was found. Highest quality conservation planning occurred in the Gulf coast counties of southwest Florida. Lowest conservation planning quality occurred in the Florida Panhandle counties. The quality of conservation planning of coastal counties was significantly higher than that of inland counties. Significant regional differences were also found, where conservation planning quality in South Florida counties was significantly higher than conservation planning quality in Panhandle counties. Geographic differences in conservation planning quality were likely attributable to significant differences in socioeconomic variables among counties, including differences in education, wealth, and urbanization. Multiple regression analysis using an information theoretic approach was employed to develop a predictive model of conservation planning quality of Florida local governments. The two most plausible predictors in the model were education level of the public and total resources. Local and global spatial autocorrelation analysis were next applied to county conservation planning scores to investigate spatial patterns of conservation planning quality, which were found to be related to the policy process of diffusion. Lastly, current local government conservation planning policy was analyzed for effectiveness and policy recommendations were made. Improving the effectiveness of local conservation planning will require changes in statutory provisions of the state Florida Forever and Growth Management statutes. It will also require a greater commitment on the part of the state of Florida to protect the state's biological resources over the long term.
Ph.D.
Doctorate
Biology
Sciences
Conservation Biology; Applied Conservation Biology

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Bux, Quraisha. "Understanding urban ecologies in the context of local biodiversity and open space conservation agendas in two South African cities." Master's thesis, Faculty of Science, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/30062.

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South Africa is the third most biologically diverse country in the world and has developed advanced biodiversity legislation and policies to protect its natural environment. Biodiversity is the natural wealth of all living things on earth, from which a multitude of ecosystem services that sustain life emanate. The dramatic shift towards urban living however, places tremendous pressure on these biological resources. Local government has received international recognition as the level of government that is key to securing long-term global sustainability. The cities of Cape Town and Durban in South Africa have each developed their own biodiversity and open space conservation systems to conserve and protect the remaining biodiversity and open spaces within their respective municipal boundaries. The aim of this research was to explore the local biodiversity and open space conservation strategies in these two cities, with a view to understanding: (1) the informants, and emerging form, of urban conservation strategies in these two cities in light of their variable biophysical templates and histories; and (2) the physical landscape pattern in each city, and from this information, infer likely ecological outcomes, for these two cities. The study made use of both qualitative and quantitative research methods. The results reveal that while both cities are facing similar issues in terms of biodiversity loss and natural habitats becoming increasingly fragmented, the way in which these issues manifest in these different cities is unique. The City of Cape Town is highly developed and fragmented but has more land secured under its conservation plan compared to the City of Durban. Durban however, has a large rural land component which remains under the governance of traditional leaders. The study reveals that there are many factors that play a role in the development and success of conservation plans, including: the local context, biophysical templates, city histories, social informants of how these plans emerge and evolve, contemporary governance structures as well as local pressures. Biodiversity conservation in South African cities still faces many challenges which need to be overcome in the near future. These solutions will need to be city specific.

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Uliczka, Helen. "Forest biodiversity maintenance : instruments and indicators in the policy implementation /." Uppsala : Dept. of Conservation Biology, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, 2003. http://epsilon.slu.se/s291.pdf.

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Allen, Jim. "The role of local government in biodiversity conservation : case study of the City of Burnside /." Title page, table of contents and abstract only, 1997. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ENV/09enva427.pdf.

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Coristine, Laura Elizabeth. "Climate Change Impacts on Biodiversity." Thesis, Université d'Ottawa / University of Ottawa, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/35245.

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Conservation is plagued by the issue of prioritization - what to conserve and where to conserve it - which relies on identification and assessment of risks. In this body of work, I identify some of the risks related to climate change impacts on biodiversity, as well as potential solutions. Climate changes are underway across nearly all terrestrial areas and will continue in response to greenhouse gas emissions over centuries. Other extinction drivers, such as habitat loss due to urbanization, commonly operate over localized areas. Urbanization contributes, at most, less than 2% of the total range loss for terrestrial species at risk when averaged within an ecodistrict (Chapter 2). Documented impacts of climate change, to date, include: extinction, population loss, reduction in range area, and decreased abundance for multiple taxonomic groups. Examining species’ and populations’ physiological limits provides insight into the mechanistic basis, as well as geography, of climate change impacts (Chapter 3). Climate changes, and the ecological impacts of climate changes, are scale-dependent. Thus, the biotic implications are more accurately assessed through comparisons of local impacts for populations. Under a scenario of climate change, equatorward margins may be strongly limited by climatic conditions and not by biotic interactions. Yet, geographic responses at poleward margins do not appear directly linked to changes in breeding season temperature (Chapter 4). New ideas on how regions with attenuated climate change (climate refugia) may be used to lower species climate-related extinction risk while simultaneously improving habitat connectivity should be considered in the context of potential future consequences (i.e. range disjunction, alternative biological responses) (Chapter 5). Contemporary climate refugia are identifiable along multiple climatic dimensions, and are similar in size to current protected areas (Chapter 6). Determining how, when, and where species distributions are displaced by climate change as well as methods of reducing climatic displacement involves integrating knowledge from distribution shift rates for populations, occurrence of climate refugia, and dispersal barriers. Such assessments, in the Yellowstone to Yukon region, identify dramatically different pathways for connectivity than assessments that are not informed by considerations of species richness and mobility (Chapter 7).

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Israelsson, Elin. "Mind the gap : People-centered biodiversity conservation in policy and practice in Cape Town, South Africa." Thesis, Stockholm University, Stockholm Resilience Centre, 2010. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-41212.

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Approaches to conserving biodiversity have traditionally left humans out of the picture. However, to separate between humans and protected areas has become increasingly criticized for being ethically problematic and ineffective. As a result, the political landscape for how biodiversity should be conserved has changed during the last 30 years. Instead of exclusive conservation practices, there is a request for so-called people-centered practices that tackle development and conservation jointly. However, several studies show a gap between public policies with people-centered ambitions and what is happening on areas assigned for biodiversity conservation. This study aims to understand if people-centered ideas are converted into conservation practices at four nature reserves in Cape Town, South Africa. The study also hopes to explain if the public-civil partnership Cape Flats Nature (CFN) is a useful arrangement in order to convert people-centered ambitions into practices. Using an ideal type analysis, conducting informant interviews and gathering documents, the findings suggest that people-centered practices are found at all four nature reserves. However, there are significant differences and the two nature reserves partnering with CFN have the most people-centered practices. In these cases, human well being is, for example, viewed to be an integral part of the objectives at nature reserves and fences that tend to keep people out are focused on to a lesser extent than in the other nature reserves that are not partnering with CFN. Even though there are no blueprint solutions, instruments such as CFN can be a useful arrangement for narrowing the gap between people-centered ambitions and conservation practices. However, further studies on for example social network analysis focusing on the role of bridging organizations would perhaps strengthen such claims.

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Lawrence, Anna. "Tree cultivation in upland livelihoods in the Philippines : implications for biodiversity conservation and forestry policy." Thesis, University of Reading, 1999. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.343067.

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Kartikasari, Sri Nurani. "Your biodiversity in my backyard : key local stakeholders' perceptions of biodiversity conservation in Gorontalo, Indonesia." Lincoln University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/1188.

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The establishment of protected areas (PAs) has been the key national strategy in biodiversity conservation, through preserving the unique wildlife and ecosystems in Indonesia. As well as their status as sites rich in biodiversity, PAs are also important for socio-economic interactions. Hence the management of PAs has been fraught with technical, social and economic problems. To ensure greater local participation and support in tropical forest conservation initiatives, it is vital to understand how local stakeholders perceive them. This research was undertaken in Gorontalo Province by examining the views of local stakeholders through a combination of qualitative interviews and quantitative ranking exercises. The findings revealed that respondents only understood the concept of biodiversity on a general level. Most respondents defined biodiversity in terms of its elements; only a few were able to describe the interactional attributes, by which biodiversity functions within the ecosystems. Their appreciation of forest biodiversity was primarily due to economic and ecological benefits they derive from local forests. Accordingly, respondents ranked the provision of ecological services from the forests as the strongest reason for protecting it. Using Wood et al. (2000) analytical framework to examine the root causes of biodiversity loss, the findings indicated respondents’ familiarity with human-induced forces resulting in the degradation and loss of natural forests, and they understood how these affect local biodiversity, both within and beyond the forest. Some critical disconnections between national policy in forest conservation and the reality of the local use of forest resource became apparent. At the core of these disconnections was an unequal share of benefits of such policy to local stakeholders. They identified extraction of species and physical alteration of the forest ecosystem as direct drivers of forest loss; these were perceived as rooted in poverty, institutional failures in forest management, ignorance of the wider forest functions, and conflict of development policies at the local level. The main reason for biodiversity loss can be summed up as widespread and persistent failure to properly understand, quantify, or value the goods, services, functions and capital value of the natural forests, at both national and local levels. Overall, most respondents held negative attitudes towards protected forests and their positive attitudes towards conservation activities were linked with tangible benefits they enjoy from the forest. A key finding of this study is that the conservation of biodiversity cannot be considered in isolation from broader patterns of natural resource use and the socio-political context in which people carry out their lives. This study suggests that the implementation of the centrally-controlled and preservationist conservation approach in Gorontalo has been ineffective in achieving conservation goals. This is due to the lack of a clear connection between this policy and the reality of local forest users.

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Hodgetts, Timothy James. "Enacting connectivity : woodland mammal conservation practices in England & Wales." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2015. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:8ff9ab6f-0472-45d3-bd24-b76e2f9bbd74.

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In recent years ideas about connectivity have become increasingly influential in theories pertaining to wildlife conservation. These ideas range from concerns with spatial habitat linkages or species' movements, to the forms of connection existing between 'people' and 'nature'. This thesis is concerned with how these various forms of connectivity are enacted in wildlife conservation through varied spatial practices. Following Mol (2002), I suggest that these modes of connectivity are enacted not separately but as a multiple. Indeed, through tracing how connectivity is enacted in a series of conservation situations relating to woodland mammals in England and Wales (red squirrels, pine martens, and wild/feral boar), I suggest that these multiple spatial practices of connectivity shape the biopolitical possibilities for living with non-human life. Since the connectivity multiple is composed, following Latour (2010) I further argue that it can be recomposed. Thus, I make the normative suggestion that contemporary trends in conservation policy (towards larger-scale action, process-based objectives, and neoliberal modes of governance) might be rethought and differently articulated through a conceptual and practical approach I term revitalizing conservation. This thesis thus makes several important contributions to geographic literatures. Following a widespread (re)affirmation of nonhuman agency in social science (e.g. Latour, 2005; Callon et al, 2009; Braun & Whatmore, 2010), and particularly the agential capacities of animals (Wolch & Emel, 1998; Philo & Wilbert, 2000), it foregrounds the role of woodland mammals in enacting connectivity through developing the concept of animal mobilities. Furthermore, it engages with existing work tracing affirmative possibilities for conservation (bio)politics (Whatmore, 2002; Lulka, 2009; Hinchliffe et al, 2005; Hinchliffe, 2008; J.Lorimer, 2010, 2012, 2015), by illuminating the intersection of spatial practices of connectivity, and the potential these offer for alternative modes of 'living with' more-than-human lives.

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Whande, Webster. "Framing Biodiversity Conservation Discourses in South Africa: Emerging Realities and Conflicting Agendas within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2009. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_2711_1280955745.

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This dissertation explores local people's framing of externally driven biodiversity conservation approaches in the context of transfrontier conservation initiatives. It uses data from the Madimbo corridor, a specific locality within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, situated to the northeast of South Africa along the South Africa-Zimbabwe boundary. It shows that livelihoods, historical experiences with external interventions and exclusion from policy-making processes and programme implementation influence local strategies for engaging with external interventions. Thus, an analysis of framing of external interventions at a local level should establish the following: the role of natural resources in sustaining local livelihoods
local historical experiences with an external intervention
iii) the nature of multi-level actor interactions from local resource dependent people, to national, regional and global actors involved in or affected by an intervention. The study uses a detailed case study of Bennde Mutale village to trace local people&rsquo
s ideas, ways of speaking and actions in response to the implementation of a large-scale transfrontier conservation initiative. The study finds that local livelihoods play a central role in local responses to the changes that transfrontier conservation bring upon people's lives. Many see further exclusion, while some also see and hope for a restoration of the socio-cultural border region. The globally significant biodiversity - to be conserved for &lsquo
future generations&rsquo
&ndash
at the same time constitutes the natural resources that sustain local people&rsquo
s livelihoods. Further, local livelihoods are more diverse than is commonly acknowledged in literature advocating for transfrontier conservation. This lack of acknowledgement of local diversification contributes to the main observation made in this study: that current processes of transfrontier conservation end up replicating and re-inventing the multiple forms of exclusion that have characterised state conservation practices for over a century. While transfrontier conservation enables the freer movement of wildlife, it in fact further constrains the movements of people whose mobility within less closely controlled border regions remains centrally important to survival. At the same time, state actors come into the area with contradicting and conflicting demands ranging from the beneficial advocacy role for land rights to the enforcement of conservation through fences and game rangers, experienced as a direct infringement on livelihood possibilities. The study concludes that there is a need to rethink transfrontier conservation interventions. The diversity of local livelihood approaches needs to be considered more centrally and clearer understanding needs to be developed of how the promises of opportunities, betterment of lives and increased human mobility actually unfold in practice. In order to succeed and deliver on site - not only to high-class tourists seeking to view unique biodiversity but to local people - transfrontier conservation efforts need to engage multiple actors directly from the ground up and throughout the process of policy-making, programme conceptualisation and implementation.

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Rose, David Christian. "Nature in a changing climate : knowledge and policy for conservation, England 1990-2011." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2015. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709441.

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Schultz, Courtney Allison. "Cumulative effects analysis in U.S. Forest Service decision-making." Diss., [Missoula, Mont.] : The University of Montana, 2009. http://etd.lib.umt.edu/theses/available/etd-06102009-101714.

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Ferreira, Ana Isabel Verissimo. "A conservação da natureza como política pública e instrumento de protecção e sustentabilidade da paisagem. Caso de estudo: Baixo Alentejo e Algarve." Master's thesis, ISA/UL, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/8216.

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Mestrado em Arquitectura Paisagista - Instituto Superior de Agronomia
The concept of Conservation of Nature has always been implicit in the Man’s thoughts throughout his existence through direct or indirect actions in order to protect the environment where he lives. Environmental Policies and Nature Conservation Strategies and Instruments are a part of these actions, which, over time, have undergone evolutionary processes through the inclusion of new concepts in the world panorama, such as Sustainable Development and Biodiversity. In the first part of this paper, a synthesis about the evolutionary process of the concept of Nature Conservation and of the Environmental Policies is presented in three distinct levels: Global, European and National. Subsequently, in this paper, the different Nature Conservation Strategies and Nature Conservation Instruments, which undertake the protection of nature, were characterized. The case study allows the analysis of the inclusion of Nature Conservation Instruments in a smaller area, facilitating the analysis of how the instruments insert themselves in the national territory and the relationships that they have between each other in a certain biophysical area

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Mok, King-kwong, and 莫景光. "The Government's policies and instruments on countryside planning in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1995. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43893612.

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Pang, Lee-yan, and 彭莉恩. "Management agreement and private-public partnership as conservation tools in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2009. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43784185.

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Malan, Leon-Charl. "Beyond the debate exploring the underlying values and assumptions of biodiversity conservation in protected areas /." [Yellow Springs, Ohio] : Antioch University, 2008. http://www.ohiolink.edu/etd/view.cgi?acc_num=antioch1213992338.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Antioch University New England, 2008.
"A dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Environmental Studies at the Antioch University New England June 2008"--The title page. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed July 29, 2008). Advisor: Dr. Beth A. Kaplin. Keywords: Q-methodology, protected areas, biodiversity conservation, policy sciences. Includes bibliographical references (p. 161-168).

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Metcalfe, Simon Christopher. "Communal land reform in Zambia: governance, livelihood and conservation." Thesis, University of the Western Cape, 2006. http://etd.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=etd&action=viewtitle&id=gen8Srv25Nme4_1409_1242373575.

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Communal land tenure reform in Zambia is the overarching subject of study in this thesis. It is an important issue across southern Africa, raising questions of governance, livelihood security and conservation. WIldlife is a 'fugitive' and 'mobile' resource that traverses the spatially fixed tenure of communal lands, national parks and public forest reserves. The management of wildlife therefore requires that spatially defined proprietorial rights accommodate wildlife's temporal forage use. Land may bebounded in tenure, but if bounded by fences its utility as wildlife habitat is undermined. If land is unfenced, but its landholder cannot use wildlife then it is more a liability than an asset. Africa's terrestrial wildlife has enormous biodiversity value but its mobility requires management collaboration throughout its range, and the resolution of conflicting ecological and economic management scales. The paper does not aim to describe and explain the internal communal system of tenure over land and natural resources but rather how the communal system interacts with the state and the private sector.

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Reid, Jason A. "Farmland preservation and planning policy within Wyoming counties." Laramie, Wyo. : University of Wyoming, 2007. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1400956461&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=18949&RQT=309&VName=PQD.

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Mills, Julianne H. "Economic Prosperity, Strong Sustainability, and Global Biodiversity Conservation: Testing the Environmental Kuznets Curve." The Ohio State University, 2009. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1243432252.

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Chan, Kwan-nok, and 陳君諾. "Institutions, policy networks and agenda setting: heritage conservation in Hong Kong, 1970-1997." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2010. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B43703896.

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Cross, Robert Richard. "Breeding Ecology, Success, and Population Management of the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) at Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge, Virginia." W&M ScholarWorks, 1996. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539626042.

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Mahjoub, Ghazi. "Using a Sonic Net to Deter Pest Bird Species: Excluding European Starlings from Food Sources by Disrupting their Acoustic Environment." W&M ScholarWorks, 2014. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1539626954.

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39

Scott, Anna Victoria. "The landscape scale approach to urban nature conservation : implementation, critical appraisal of policy interactions and new opportunities for urban biodiversity enhancement." Thesis, University of Salford, 2009. http://usir.salford.ac.uk/26900/.

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Within towns and cities there are fragmented natural landscape elements that contain important biodiversity and provide other ecosystem services. These natural landscape elements are increasingly being divided into smaller, more fragmented spaces by anthropologically driven landscape changes. In order to safeguard biodiversity and other ecosystem services, these natural elements must be protected and enhanced sustainably. Previous conservation strategies have been unable to reverse the trend of decreasing biodiversity in the UK. Landscape scale conservation could provide a more integrated approach to conservation that is compatible with fragmented natural landscapes in urban regions. This thesis contains a critical discussion on the current implementation and future potential of landscape scale conservation strategies in and around the Merseyside conurbation, the Manchester conurbation and the Mersey Valley. Current landscape composition and recent landscape changes are explored through the analysis of land cover maps and literature. The content, interactions and articulations of international, national, regional and local policies are examined with the aid of the qualitative data analysis software NVivo® 7. The innovative creation of opportunity maps for biodiversity enhancement using a cost-distance analysis and focal statistics approach is then explored. Wildlife experts provided ecological data and feedback to support this process. Data suggest that recent landscape changes in the study region were due to urbanisation, natural succession, poor habitat management and ecological restoration. Analysis of nature conservation legislation and policy indicated that some elements of landscape scale conservation are more frequently referred to in regional and local policies rather than national and international policies. There is incomplete translation of nature conservation themes from higher to lower level legislation. Opportunity mapping successfully identified areas where conservation efforts could be focused, particularly for moderately mobile species. Landscape scale nature conservation efforts explored in this thesis provide a viable way of enhancing biodiversity within urban areas.

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Lazdinis, Marius. "Connecting social and ecological systems : towards an integrated toolbox for assessment of forest policy implementation /." Uppsala : Dept. of Conservation Biology, Swedish Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, 2004. http://epsilon.slu.se/s315.pdf.

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Ring, Irene. "Economic Instruments for Conservation Policies in Federal Systems." Doctoral thesis, Universitätsbibliothek Leipzig, 2011. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bsz:15-qucosa-72649.

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This habilitation thesis consists of seven published journal articles and one published book chapter. Part I, consisting of chapter 1, introduces the overarching theme of environmental policy instruments and discusses the current use of and prospects for economic instruments in conservation policies. A number of research gaps are identified which are addressed in the subsequent chapters. Part II, consisting of chapters 2–5, encompasses four papers focused on a single type of policy instrument: intergovernmental fiscal transfers. Although well documented in public finance literature, intergovernmental fiscal transfers remain a somewhat neglected instrument in environmental policy. Despite being well suited to address the spillover benefits that often accrue with conservation policies, there is scant research literature on ecological fiscal transfers compared to other economic instruments such as environmental taxes or tradable permits. In fact, very few countries make practical use of them to achieve conservation objectives. Thus intergovernmental fiscal transfers are an innovative instrument in conservation policies in particular, so that advances in both theory and applied research may prove especially beneficial here. Part III, consisting of chapters 6–9, combines a number of articles in integrative biodiversity research and applied biodiversity governance, themes that are often neglected in the economic analysis of environmental policy instruments. However, when implementing policy instruments in societal settings, interdisciplinary research bridging the natural and social sciences is as much a prerequisite as policy-relevant research that responds to the needs of decision makers and other stakeholders. Both policy design and policy evaluation yield the best outcomes when they involve ecologists, economists, legal and other social scientists, as this ensures that consideration is given to ecological effectiveness, economic efficiency, administrative feasibility, social acceptance, and perception by stakeholders. Policy-relevant research also responds to current societal developments and prospective changes in legislation which may provide windows of opportunity to propose new instruments. Meanwhile, sound empirical research and case study design are indispensable in making concrete policy recommendations, taking into account existing formal and informal institutions.

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Nicolay, John. "Historic preservation: a study in local public administration." Diss., Virginia Tech, 1991. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/27843.

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Do citizen volunteers, sitting on legislatively created local historic architectural review boards, represent a part of the American governance tradition? This study examines the relationships between public board members, citizen interests, career public administrators and the elected appointing authorities. This research involved a national survey of over 1200 members of boards of historic architectural review. In addition, four town or county case studies are presented in detail. These case studies are Jonesborough, Tennessee; Lynchburg, Virginia; Cobb County, Georgia; and Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. These case studies are examined through an ecological perspective. Within the context of this study, boards of historic architectural review are very much a part of the urban/town/county governance model. They are highly professional in their composition, highly egalitarian, and deeply committed to furthering highly individualistic notions of community. Although some national community studies suggest a malaise in communitarian ideals, this research suggests just the contrary. The failure of citizenship falls more upon the legitimacy accorded to citizens as public administrators rather than an apathy toward manifesting that citizenship. Historic preservation itself is in a national state of disarray. Its ethos is poorly defined, and the national wellspring for preservation impetus to the local community is strained. Most communities find themselves struggling to fit a nostalgic, sentimental vision of the preserved environment into a well articulated economic model. This research suggests that local historic architectural review boards need to draw upon themselves to create better opportunities through self-study and formal certification programs. By enhancing their natural reserves of professionalism and commitment, they will advertise what they already do very well: administer in the public interest. By joining with like-minded community-based public boards this new coalition promises a energy and direction for municipal governments. The key is to foster an open environment of dialogue and debate centered on furthering good, responsive government.
Ph. D.

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43

Lau, Man-bun Barry, and 劉文彬. "Energy technology options and strategies related to environmental concerns for buildings in Hong Kong." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1997. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31253763.

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Lee, Kit-tak Jessica, and 李潔德. "Conservation and recreation in country parks." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 1993. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B31258293.

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45

Magnusson, Julia. "Adaptive Forest Policy : The Integration of Disaster Risk Reduction through Nature-Based Solutions in Swedish and Scottish Forest Policy." Thesis, Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 2021. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-443541.

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Climate change may cause significant changes to our relationship with nature, triggering large impacts on ecosystems and the societies dependent on their ecosystem services. Forests are seen as a mitigating solution for their abilities to store carbon, provide forest products, enhance biodiversity along with other forest ecosystem services (FES). Forest’s natural systems have shown resilience against climate-induced disasters and have been acknowledged as an important tool to mitigate climate change. However, to ensure the continued supply of these services requires adaptable management of forest ecosystems through policy. This study aims to analyse how Swedish and Scottish public FES-related policy integrates the adaptive and mitigating methods used in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Nature-based Solutions (NBS). The method of this analysis relied on three theoretical approaches; Policy integration, Environmental policy integration and Frames to see how the concepts and methods of NBS and DRR are implemented within Swedish and Scottish forest policy. The results showed that the main message from both Swedish and Scottish public FES-related policy is that humans are dependent on FES, therefore the protection of forest land and species cannot be under-prioritised. Both countries’ goals focus on becoming climate neutral by 2045 with an increased (Scotland) or sustained (Sweden) bioeconomy to be achieved alongside carbon sequestration, increased biodiversity, and diversified usage of forests. Both countries recognise and use ecosystem services as a NBS to mitigate climate change and reduce disaster risk. The increase of biodiversity through afforestation, green infrastructure, and conservation as a method to create resilience is a common method of NBS within the policy documents, and its ability to prevent risks along several areal and hierarchical scales show methods of DRR. However, vague goals on the strategy to achieve this are seen within both countries’ policy which question their determination and ability to succeed. Their difference in forest ownership structure and history diverges their application of community engagement in FES management. It is now essential that both Sweden and Scotland implement a sustainable balance between their national strategy objectives for the sake of the environment and use the considerable political traction by methods of NBS and DRR to reach resilient forest ecosystems. Future research could further assess the results and consequences of the policy strategies to see if they have achieved inclusive, integrated forest resilience through adaptive policy.

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46

PECCI, ANGELO. "Geoinformatic methodologies and quantitative tools for detecting hotspots and for multicriteria ranking and prioritization: application on biodiversity monitoring and conservation." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Roma "Tor Vergata", 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2108/1341.

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Chi ha la responsabilità di gestire un’area protetta non solo deve essere consapevole dei problemi ambientali dell’area ma dovrebbe anche avere a disposizione dati aggiornati e appropriati strumenti metodologici per esaminare accuratamente ogni singolo problema. In effetti, il decisore ambientale deve organizzare in anticipo le fasi necessarie a fronteggiare le prevedibili variazioni che subirà la pressione antropica sulle aree protette. L’obiettivo principale della Tesi è di natura metodologica e riguarda il confronto tra differenti metodi statistici multivariati utili per l’individuazione di punti critici nello spazio e per l’ordinamento degli “oggetti ambientali” di studio e quindi per l’individuazione delle priorità di intervento ambientale. L’obiettivo ambientale generale è la conservazione del patrimonio di biodiversità. L’individuazione, tramite strumenti statistici multivariati, degli habitat aventi priorità ecologica è solamente il primo fondamentale passo per raggiungere tale obiettivo. L’informazione ecologica, integrata nel contesto antropico, è un successivo essenziale passo per effettuare valutazioni ambientali e per pianificare correttamente le azioni volte alla conservazione. Un’ampia serie di dati ed informazioni è stata necessaria per raggiungere questi obiettivi di gestione ambientale. I dati ecologici sono forniti dal Ministero dell’Ambiente Italiano e provengono al Progetto “Carta della Natura” del Paese. I dati demografici sono invece forniti dall’Istituto Italiano di Statistica (ISTAT). I dati si riferiscono a due aree geografiche italiane: la Val Baganza (Parma) e l’Oltrepò Pavese e Appennino Ligure-Emiliano. L’analisi è stata condotta a due differenti livelli spaziali: ecologico-naturalistico (l’habitat) e amministrativo (il Comune). Corrispondentemente, i risultati più significativi ottenuti sono: 1. Livello habitat: il confronto tra due metodi di ordinamento e determinazione delle priorità, il metodo del Vettore Ideale e quello della Preminenza, tramite l’utilizzo di importanti metriche ecologiche come il Valore Ecologico (E.V.) e la Sensibilità Ecologica (E.S.), fornisce dei risultati non direttamente comparabili. Il Vettore Ideale, non essendo un procedimento basato sulla ranghizzazione dei valori originali, sembra essere preferibile nel caso di paesaggi molto eterogenei in senso spaziale. Invece, il metodo della Preminenza probabilmente è da preferire in paesaggi ecologici aventi un basso grado di eterogeneità intesa nel senso di differenze non troppo grandi nel E.V. ed E.S. degli habitat. 2. Livello comunale: Al fine di prendere delle decisioni gestionali ed essendo gli habitat solo delle suddivisioni naturalistiche di un dato territorio, è necessario spostare l’attenzione sulle corrispondenti unità amministrative territoriali (i Comuni). Da questo punto di vista, l’introduzione della demografia risulta essere un elemento centrale oltre che di novità nelle analisi ecologico-ambientali. In effetti, l’analisi demografica rende il risultato di cui al punto 1 molto più realistico introducendo altre dimensioni (la pressione antropica attuale e le sue tendenze) che permettono l’individuazione di aree ecologicamente fragili. Inoltre, tale approccio individua chiaramente le responsabilità ambientali di ogni singolo ente territoriale nei riguardi della difesa della biodiversità. In effetti un ordinamento dei Comuni sulla base delle caratteristiche ambientali e demografiche, chiarisce le responsabilità gestionali di ognuno di essi. Un’applicazione concreta di questa necessaria quanto utile integrazione di dati ecologici e demografici viene discussa progettando una Rete Ecologica (E.N.). La Rete cosi ottenuta infatti presenta come elemento di novità il fatto di non essere “statica” bensì “dinamica” nel senso che la sua pianificazione tiene in considerazione il trend di pressione antropica al fine di individuare i probabili punti di futura fragilità e quindi di più critica gestione.
Who has the responsibility to manage a conservation zone, not only must be aware of environmental problems but should have at his disposal updated databases and appropriate methodological instruments to examine carefully each individual case. In effect he has to arrange, in advance, the necessary steps to withstand the foreseeable variations in the trends of human pressure on conservation zones. The essential objective of this Thesis is methodological that is to compare different multivariate statistical methods useful for environmental hotspot detection and for environmental prioritization and ranking. The general environmental goal is the conservation of the biodiversity patrimony. The individuation, through multidimensional statistical tools, of habitats having top ecological priority, is only the first basic step to accomplish this aim. Ecological information integrated in the human context is an essential further step to make environmental evaluations and to plan correct conservation actions. A wide series of data and information has been necessary to accomplish environmental management tasks. Ecological data are provided by the Italian Ministry of the Environment and they refer to the Map of Italian Nature Project database. The demographic data derives from the Italian Institute of Statistics (ISTAT). The data utilized regards two Italian areas: Baganza Valley and Oltrepò Pavese and Ligurian-Emilian Apennine. The analysis has been carried out at two different spatial/scale levels: ecological-naturalistic (habitat level) and administrative (Commune level). Correspondingly, the main obtained results are: 1. Habitat level: comparing two ranking and prioritization methods, Ideal Vector and Salience, through important ecological metrics like Ecological Value (E.V.) and Ecological Sensitivity (E.S.), gives results not directly comparable. Being not based on a ranking process, Ideal Vector method seems to be used preferentially in landscapes characterized by high spatial heterogeneity. On the contrary, Salience method is probably to be preferred in ecological landscapes characterized by a low degree of heterogeneity in terms of not large differences concerning habitat E.V. and E.S.. 2. Commune level: Being habitat only a naturalistic partition of a given territory, it is necessary, for management decisions, to move towards the corresponding administrative units (Communes). From this point of view, the introduction of demography is an essential element of novelty in environmental analysis. In effect, demographic analysis makes the goal at point 1 more realistic introducing other dimensions (actual human pressure and its trend) which allows the individuation of environmentally fragile areas. Furthermore this approach individuates clearly the environmental responsibility of each administrative body for what concerns the biodiversity conservation. In effect communes’ ranking, according to environmental/demographic features, clarify the responsibilities of each administrative body. A concrete application of this necessary and useful integration of ecological and demographic data has been developed in designing an Ecological Network (E.N.).The obtained E.N. has the novelty to be not “static” but “dynamic” that is the network planning take into account the demographic pressure trends in the individuation of the probable future fragile points.

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47

Okere, Lawrence N. (Lawrence Ndubuisi). "Hazardous Waste Policy: a Comparative Analysis of States' Enforcement Efforts." Thesis, University of North Texas, 1995. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc279156/.

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The major purpose of this study is to analyze hazardous waste enforcement by the states as mandated by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 (RCRA). States' historical enforcement records from 1980 to 1990 are analyzed to determine the pattern of variations in enforcement. This study differs from previous studies on hazardous waste regulation in that it employs longitudinal data from 1980 to 1990 to analyze states' enforcement effort.

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48

Hylla, Nicholas J. "Biodiversity conservation efforts in the complete education reform for Galapagos : a participatory approach to curriculum development in environmental education = Actividades para la conservacion de la biodiversidad en la reforma educativa integral en las islas Galapagos : un proceso participativo para el desarrollo de planes de estudio de educacion medioambiental /." Link to abstract, 2005. http://epapers.uwsp.edu/abstracts/2005/Hylla.pdf.

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49

Ribeiro, Paulo Pacheco de Castro Flores. "Modelling the effects of agricultural policies on high nature value farmland: a farming systems approach." Doctoral thesis, ISA-UL, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10400.5/13497.

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Doutoramento em Gestão Interdisciplinar da Paisagem - Instituto Superior de Agronomia - UL / Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada - Universidade de Évora / Universidade dos Açores
In recent years, High Nature Value (HNV) farmland became a priority for biodiversity conservation in Europe. Covering about 1/3 of total agricultural area in Europe, HNV farmland is in decline mainly because of agriculture abandonment/intensification driven by markets and public policies. HNV farmland is mostly provided by low-intensity and traditional farming systems, largely on less productive areas. Given the multiple environmental public goods provided by HNV farming systems, agri-environment schemes were set under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to maintain HNV farmland, although with mixed results. Recent policy changes, including the decoupling of direct payments during the 2003 CAP reform, led to changes in farming systems which often further undermined HNV farmland sustainability. This research aims at evaluating the resilience of HNV farmland under policy change based on a farming systems approach, seeking to contribute to improving the design of agri-environment policies. Focusing on HNV farmland in southern Portugal, we used farm level data from the Integrated Administration and Control System and the Land Parcel Identification System provided by the national CAP paying agency for the years 2000 to 2010, complemented with farm survey data, to derive a farming systems typology which was used to 1) assess agricultural changes over this time period, related with changes in the policy framework (e.g. 2003 CAP reform); 2) assess the extent to which this approach enables the identification of HNV farming systems, based on landscape features and farming practices, and; 3) model the choice of farming system based on farms’ biophysical and structural features and on economic and policy variables, to assess scenarios of market and policy change and derive a supply curve for biodiversity conservation services. The farming systems approach proved to be a relatively simple way to identify HNV farming systems and a promising tool to improve the cost-effectiveness EU agri-environment policy, suggesting the feasibility and benefits of a CAP direct payment scheme aimed at HNV farming systems. Keywords: Farming
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Tyree, Kendall. "Understanding Collaboration Among Political Subdivisions of State Government: Examining the Perceptions and Use of Collaboration by Virginia's Soil & Water Conservation Districts." VCU Scholars Compass, 2014. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/3314.

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Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to explore the definitions, benefits, challenges, methods and perceived levels of current collaboration of Virginia’s 47 Soil and Water Conservation Districts, each a political subdivision of state government. The study was guided by the following questions (1) What is collaboration and how is it used by political subdivisions of state government? (2) What collaborative strategies are used specifically by soil and water conservation districts? (3) At what level are districts currently collaborating? (4) At what level do districts prefer to collaborate? A mixed methods research survey was used. The quantitative section measured current perceptions of collaboration based on six indicators of successful collaborations as determined and tested by the Amherst Wilder Foundation—environment, membership, process and structure, communication, purpose, and resources—through use of its Collaborative Factors Inventory. The qualitative portion allowed further exploration into how districts are utilizing collaboration at a grassroots level. Desired levels of collaboration were also captured. The entire district population—district directors, associate directors, and staff—was surveyed and responses analyzed to better understand collaborative efforts. The results indicate that collaborations occur because of both the resource benefits received and the support of a greater cause—or a mix of relational exchange and resource dependency theories. Of the six collaborative indicators, resources proved the greatest area of concern. The process and structure variable was found to be a second needed area of growth. Trust issues with key partners, a component of the membership variable, were also identified as hindering collaboration. Overall, current perceived levels of collaboration occur between coordination and coalition, or a three to four on a five point scale. However, districts identified a desire to operate more often at the coalition level. By focusing on improvement to process and structure needs as well as resource issues, trust will improve and desired levels of collaboration can be reached. This study will enrich the existing literature by expanding on the use of collaboration as it relates to political subdivisions. Findings will be of value to all conservation districts, with greatest value to Virginia. Partner agencies, policymakers, and public administrators will further benefit by gaining insights into the collaborative process.

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Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Biodiversity conservation – Government policy'

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