Academic literature on the topic 'Biological diversity conservation – Political aspects'

Abstract While plant genetic resources continue to be essential for world food security, the exchange of these resources between countries has become increasingly encumbered during recent years. The free and open access to genetic resources that previously was considered the “common heritage of mankind” has been fundamentally changed by international multilateral agreements that recognize national sovereignty over genetic resources. Since the entry into force of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1993, many countries have implemented laws regulating access to their genetic resources. The development of legislation in several countries comprising the primary areas of origin and diversity of Arachis makes issues associated with germplasm exchange particularly relevant to investigators working with peanut. This paper describes some recent USDA experiences with obtaining access in Latin American countries harboring peanut genetic resources. Also discussed are implications and prospects for future international germplasm exchange, including aspects of collaborative research and benefit sharing with germplasm donor countries. Within this new political climate, the establishment of mutually beneficial precedents for accessing foreign genetic resources will be crucial for ensuring the continued exchange, conservation, and use of Arachis germplasm in the future.

Purpose – The purpose of writing this paper is to present a comparative but critical assessment of the applicability of the precautionary principle (PP) under the SPS Agreement, which is a part of the WTO regime by implication, and under the Cartagena Protocol, which has been made under the Convention on Biological Diversity. Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents an analytical exposition of both the sets of laws, trade law and environmental law. The methodology adopted is library based. The approach is to bring about an amicable co-existence of both the laws so that they could serve the dual purpose, i.e. promotion of trade and protection of “human, animal and plant life and health” and conservation of the environment. Findings – The DSB of the WTO should give due importance to the PP and should apply it liberally, keeping also in view the environmental aspects, so that along with free trade human, animal and plant health and life, and conservation of the environment are also protected. Practical implications – It will change the present paradigm and will bring both the sets of laws together. Originality/value – It focuses on the life and heath of poor people around the world. It, thus, pleads for application of strong PP.

The South African traditional medicine sector is estimated to accommodate millions of citizens, despite it being informal. The existence of such a healthcare system embodies the dual system of both primary and traditional healthcare, with some preferring one and others utilising both systems. The gathering, harvesting, and selling of medicinal plant and animal species have inevitable environmental effects. The paradox between biodiversity conservation and livelihood sustenance is eminent in South Africa’s contemporary environmental legislation. The purpose of the study was to highlight and examine the dynamics between prominent stakeholders involved in biodiversity conservation and the traditional medicine sector. The stakeholder analysis and political ecology approach were adopted and applied respectively to guide the study. The study was conducted in 2020 and a questionnaire was used to capture the realities and experiences of prominent stakeholders in the biodiversity sector. Common legal mandates such as the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD); Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES); the National Environmental Management Biodiversity Act No. 10 of 2004; Threatened or Protected Species (TOPS) regulations; and the KwaZulu-Natal Nature Conservation Ordinance 15 of 1974 are used to control and enforce legislation by biodiversity stakeholders. The main findings of the study are as follows: (a) Traditional Health Practitioners (THPs) do not have adequate training and knowledge on the environmental and legal aspects of their system; (b) Biodiversity stakeholders are treated with violence and hostility when they attempt to enforce legal mandates at the Warwick Herb Market; (c) There is a significant gap in communication and co-operation between municipal officials and biodiversity stakeholders. There is evidently, a need for environmental educational initiatives and improved methods of enforcement and communication between biodiversity stakeholders, municipal officials and THPs.

Implementation of marine conservation strategies, such as increasing the numbers, extent, and effectiveness of protected areas (PAs), can help achieve conservation and restoration of ocean health and associated goods and services. Despite increasing recognition of the importance of including aspects of ecological functioning in PA design, the physical characteristics of habitats and simple measures of species diversity inform most PA designations. Marine and terrestrial ecologists have recently been using biological traits to assess community dynamics, functioning, and vulnerability to anthropogenic impacts. Here, we explore potential trait-based marine applications to advance PA design. We recommend strategies to integrate biological traits into ( a) conservation objectives (e.g., by assessing and predicting impacts and vulnerability), ( b) PA spatial planning (e.g., mapping ecosystem functions and functional diversity hot spots), and ( c) time series monitoring protocols (e.g., using functional traits to detect recoveries). We conclude by emphasizing the need for pragmatic tools to improve the efficacy of spatial planning and monitoring efforts.

This analytical article examines the issues of natural resources use and conservation of the biological diversity through the prism of a gender-based approach. In particular, the author touches upon the issues of equal access by both men and women to the management, use and protection of natural resources and biological diversity. Examples are given from different regions of the world in various sectors of environmental and economic activities. Recommendations are provided for improving the equitable use of natural resources.

The World Congress on Marine Biodiversity was held in the City of Arts and Sciences, Valencia, from 10 to 15 November 2008, showcasing research on all aspects of marine biodiversity from basic taxonomic exploration to innovative conservation strategies and methods to integrate research into environmental policy.

Because fishes live in less-accessible habitats, their remarkable diversity is rarely appreciated. The fishery sector is growing rapidly worldwide with the intention of improving the livelihood in developing nations. Therefore, conservation and management of aquatic resources become eminent. Morphometric measurements of fishes are important tools in fish biology and fisheries assessment and conservation. Ethiopia is one of the developing countries with rich water resources. Although there are plenty of water bodies in the country, they are less explored for their ichthyofaunal documentation. Therefore, this study aimed to explore the diversity and some biological aspects of fishes in Lake Maybahr. The fish sample was collected from selected sampling sites using gill nets with varying mesh sizes. Fish identification was done in the field using relevant taxonomic keys. After identification, the total length (TL) and total weight (TW) of the specimens were measured to the nearest 0.1 cm and 0.1 g, respectively. After measurement, the samples were labeled and preserved in a 10% formalin solution. Two fish species were documented in the study area. The length-weight relationships indicated that both species (C. carpio and O. niloticus) exhibited allometric growth during the wet season. But C. carpio demonstrated an isometric growth in the dry season. The diversity index (H’ = 0.69) revealed that fish diversity in the current study is far less than the result reported in the other studies. The evenness index (J’ = 0.99) showed that each species is fairly represented by a number of individuals. The correlation coefficient value of length and weight parameters is statistically significant at a 1% significance level (s, R2 = 0.85). The mean FCF revealed that both fish species are in good health. Further study on local people’s perception, initiating fishing activities, and organizing and providing training to youth is recommended.

Global and national authorities have devised international conventions and national strategies for biodiversity management which commit them to a variety of courses of action in diversity inventory and management. In many instances these refer to "species", displaying a naivety about the nature of "species" and our knowledge of species' taxonomy and diversity. Questions arise about the relative importance of species and this has led to an unfortunate concatenation between the research and management agendas relating to endangered species and those concerning multi-species assemblages. There are compelling reasons for preserving functional ecosystems and the biodiversity they contain: for the maintenance of ecological services, as repositories of biological information, and as a reflection of human conscience and responsibility. Although useful concepts have been defined for evaluating species within such species sets ("keystone species", "guilds", "indicator species", etc.) we lack basic information on the numbers of species within assemblages, which of these species play "keystone" roles, what proportion of any particular ecological guild is vital, and what biological species or sets of species are proper surrogates for measures of overall diversity. A national research agenda must be set which matches national and international commitments with respect to biodiversity and the crucial lack of knowledge in these areas. We need a national strategy for the design and funding of such research activities. Biodiversity management demands a landscape approach, already well developed in Australia, and an on-going involvement of government in overseeing and directing activities.

There is a substantial literature documenting the spatial mismatch between the geographic location of biological resources and the spatial jurisdiction of the institutions responsible for their management. But little attention has been paid to the disjuncture in temporal scales between the long-term requirements of biodiversity conservation and the short time horizons governing public and private decisions affecting the survival of species and ecosystems. How can we create socially agreed-upon rules governing the long-term use and conservation of biodiversity when ongoing change is one of the defining characteristics of modern society? This article describes a new approach to biodiversity conservation—conservation systems—that addresses this question by providing design criteria that can be used to construct resilient social safety nets for biological diversity.

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2011.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Both taxonomic diversity and diversity of species interaction networks are experiencing declines as a result of agricultural intensification at habitat and landscape scales. Reversing this trend is a key conservation issue, particularly for important functional groups such as flower-visiting insects and the networks within which they interact. This is of great concern in regions of high conservation priority such as the Cape Floristic Region (CFR), known for its high level of floral and faunal endemism and exceptional species turnover. Holistic approach to conservation in agricultural landscapes involves both preservation of natural land and wildlife friendly management of the farm land to achieve conservation targets. The value of these extensive management approaches is yet to be fully assessed, especially in perennial systems such as vineyards. I examined here the effects of vineyard management and landscape context on species richness and abundance of flower-visiting insects and their species interaction networks. Possible taxon specific effects were verified. I also investigated whether vineyards under organic and conventional management homogenized insect-flower interaction networks and whether vineyards with different management practices vary in patterns of species turnover. I sampled flower-visiting insects and their interactions in organic and conventional vineyards, and in natural reference sites. Inclusion of natural reference sites enabled me to make management recommendations for patches of natural vegetation in CFR agricultural landscape. Statistical models showed taxon-specific benefit of organic farm management, and of landscape (distance to natural habitat). There was benefit to monkey beetles (Scarabaeidae) but not to bees (Apidae). Organic vineyards had a higher number of insect-flower interactions than conventional ones, but vineyards under the two types of management were similar in terms of other important network indices. However, networks of the vineyards were more nested than the natural sites, indicating that they may be potentially more stable to perturbation and random extinctions. Multivariate dispersion tests revealed insect-flower interaction networks were not homogenized by both organic and conventional vineyards across the landscapes. I also found, through additive partitioning, that organic and conventional vineyards were similar in terms of species turnover of bees and flowering plants. The findings of this study provide heuristic value to current debates on the value of vineyard habitats for insect conservation. Both organic and conventional vineyards that promote sustainable management of the non-crop floral vegetation between vineyard rows are potential solutions for conservation of flower-visiting insects and their interactions. Also, attention has to be paid to the quality and connectivity of the natural habitat patches that are within CFR agricultural landscape. Site specific management and assessment of the value of these landscape elements is important. Management approaches such as carefully controlled burning may be beneficial, as the CFR natural vegetation is a fire-driven community.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Taksonomiese diversiteit en diversiteit van spesies-interaksie netwerke ondervind beide afnames as gevolg van landboukundige intensifikasie op habitat en landskap skaal. Om die neiging terug te swaai, is ’n sleutel bewaringsaangeleentheid, veral vir belangrike funksionele groepe soos blom-besoekende insekte en die netwerke waarbinne hulle op mekaar inwerk. Dit is van groot kommer in streke met hoë bewaringsprioriteite soos in die Kaapse Floristiese Streek (KFS), bekend vir sy hoë vlak van plant- en dierendemisme en buitengewone spesies kentering. ’n Holistiese benadering tot bewaring van landboukundige landskappe behels beide die bewaring van natuurlike land en natuurlewe-vriendelike bestuur van die plaasgrond om bewaringsdoelwitte te bereik. Die waarde van hierdie ekstensiewe bestuursbenaderings moet nog volledig bepaal word, veral in meerjarige sisteme soos wingerde. Ek het die uitwerkings van wingerdbestuur en landskapsamehang op spesiesrykheid en volopheid van blombesoekende insekte en hulle spesies interaksie netwerke ondersoek. Moontlike takson-spesifieke uitwerkings is nagegaan. Ek het ook ondersoek ingestel of wingerde onder organiese en gebruiklike bestuur ooreenstemmende insek-blom interaksie netwerke met wingerde met verskillende bestuurspraktyke in patroon van spesies kentering gewissel het. Ek het blom-besoekende insekte en hulle interaksies in organiese en konvensionele wingerde, asook in natuurlike verwysingsgebiede gemonster. Insluiting van natuurlike verwysingsgebiede het my in staat gestel om bestuursvoorstelle vir gebiede van natuurlike plantegroei in KFS landboulandskappe voor te stel. Statistiese modelle toon takson-spesifieke voordeel van organiese plaasbestuur en van die landskap (afstand van natuurlike habitat) self. Daar was voordeel vir bobbejaankewers (Scarabaeidae), maar nie vir bye (Apidae) nie. Organiese wingerde het ’n groter getal insek-blom interaksies as konvensionele wingerde gehad, maar wingerde onder beide tipes van bestuur was soortgelyk in terme van ander belangrike netwerk aanduiders. Netwerke van wingerde was egter meer geklomp dan natuurlike gebiede wat aandui dat hulle potensieel meer stabiel betreffende versteuring en lukrake uitsterwings is. Multivariate verspreidingstoetse het aangetoon dat insek-blom interaksie netwerke by beide organiese en konvensionele wingerde oor landskappe nie eenvormig was nie. Ek het ook bevind deur aanvullende verdeling dat organiese en konvensionele wingerde gelykwaardig was in terme van spesies kentering van bye en blomplante. Die bevindings van hierdie studie verskaf heuristise waarde tot huidige debatte oor die waarde van wingerdhabitatte vir insekbewaring. Beide organies en konvensionele wingerde wat volhoubare bestuur van die nie-gewas plantegroei binne wingerdrye bevorder, is moontlike oplossings vir die bewaring van blom-besoekende insekte en hulle wisselwerkings. Bykomend moet aandag gegee word aan die kwaliteit en verbindings van en tussen natuurlike habitat gebiede binne die KFS landboulandskap. Plekspesifieke (plaaslike) bestuur en bepaling van die waarde van hierdie landskapelemente is belangrik. Bestuursbenaderings, soos noukeurig beheerde brand, mag voordelig wees aangesien die KFS natuurlike plantegroei ’n vuurgedrewe gemeenskap is.

Nature conservation is often seen as being primarily about shielding parts of nature from human intervention, e.g. by protecting areas. Over the last decades, however, intervention is increasingly being seen as necessary for nature to regain or retain its values, through ecological restoration and active management. This complicates simple assumptions that ‘nature knows best’ and raises dilemmas which are hotly debated in the scholarly literature around ecological restoration, protected area management, environmental ethics and green political theory. However, how these dilemmas are dealt with in actual policy struggles among the conservation professionals who make management decisions is less studied. This thesis explores how issues regarding active intervention in nature are represented, debated and institutionalized within Swedish nature conservation, and to what effect. The empirical focus lies on policy struggles around the designation and management of protected forests and around efforts to save a nationally threatened bird species, the white-backed woodpecker. My analytical framework is informed by Argumentative Discourse Analysis and Political Discourse Theory, to which I contribute a further elaboration of the notion of discourse institutionalization. Based on documents and interviews with conservation professionals, I identify competing articulations of the ends and means of conservation and relate these to scholarly debates around ecological restoration and interventionist conservation management. The analysis further focuses on how elements of the different policy discourses are institutionalized in rules, routines or official policy documents. Two main competing policy discourses are found: one focused on leaving pristine nature to develop freely, and one focused on active, adaptive management for biodiversity. While the former has previously been said to characterize the Swedish conservation bureaucracy, my analysis shows it is now widely seen as outdated. Arguments which in the scholarly literature are associated with an ethically informed defense of nature’s autonomy are here dismissed as emotional, aesthetic and thus unscientific concerns, delegitimizing them within the rational, science-based public administration for nature conservation. In contrast, biodiversity is broadly forwarded as a self-evident goal for active intervention, in line with both science and policy requirements. Adaptive management for biodiversity is in that sense the dominant discourse. Still, the older discourse is institutionalized in the purposes and management plans of existing nature reserves, and its defenders have also succeeded in strengthening that institutionalization through new and more restrictive guidelines. The findings suggest that this has been possible not only because of the gate-keeping role of a few centrally placed actors, but also because their restrictive stance resonates with the outside threat of exploitation which organizes the common order of discourse. Naturalness, a term described as irrelevant by some proponents of adaptive management for biodiversity, is also shown to remain a shared concern in several ways. The results thus highlight the importance of both entrenched common sense and institutionalization of certain logics or arguments in authoritative documents. The main theoretical contribution of the thesis consists in clarifying the effects of such discourse institutionalization — using the terms durability, legibility and leverage — and showing how the processes of negotiation, re-interpretation and modification of institutions are more dynamic than some accounts of discourse institutionalization suggest. Rather than trying to resolve (and thus remove) the dilemma of intervention, the thesis points to the importance of keeping open discussion of the ultimately unanswerable questions about intervention in nature alive in both theory and practice.
Ecosystem restoration in policy and practice: restore, develop, adapt (RESTORE)

The objective of this thesis is to quantitatively understand the economic performance of protected area management strategies for forest and biodiversity conservation. Examples such as integrated conservation and development and eco tourism are assessed in terms of their ability to deliver on welfare benefits to local communities, and an assessment of the opportunity costs of forest conservation as a land use strategy. In addition the contribution of forest conservation in protected areas can make to poverty alleviation and economic development is also examined. The geographical focus of this study is the Albertine Rift region of East and Central Africa, stretching north from the southern end of Lake Tanganyika through the spine of Africa to the northern end of Lake Albert. The Albertine Rift is one of Africa’s most important landscapes for the conservation of forests and biodiversity. The overarching objective is addressed using a series of case studies empirically valuing the opportunity costs of conserving forests in a selection of sites in the central part of the Albertine Rift. The success of conservation is most often measured against progress in reducing habitat or species loss and not often in terms of the contribution of the protected area to poverty alleviation and local economic development. Achieving improvements of conservation strategies in the social dimension requires objective evidence on their effects. Economic valuation of protected area resources provides a quantitative means of assessing the promise and performance of conservation policies in achieving welfare benefits to local communities. This thesis provides three case studies each addressing current valuation and social issues in conservation and sets them in a context of managing protected areas in the broad dynamic setting of poverty alleviation and economic growth from a developing economy perspective. In addition two of the empirical studies are as concerned with methodological enquiry and the performance of novel environmental economic valuation techniques, such as the contingent valuation and choice modelling approaches, as the application of results to conservation questions. The empirical studies show that the benefits to local households and communities from their local forests may be greater than at first perceived. Across all protected area categories, biomes and income groups, households derived significant amounts of their overall income from their local protected area with large proportions of the value of goods harvested from forests being consumed in the home. Amongst income groups high income households often appropriated a greater share of the value of forest goods. There was no significant difference found between the household consumption and the sale of protected area products between income groups. The findings indicate that imposing reductions in forest use may increase poverty amongst local people whilst increasing household income will not necessarily reduce forest exploitation. This indicates that community conservation and integrated conservation and development programmes must target the poor forest adjacent households more actively to ensure poverty alleviation, whilst providing improved protection and law enforcement for effective conservation. It is also shown that biodiversity conservation can have an economic return through mountain gorilla eco-tourism. Findings show a disparity between what constitutes eco-tourism and the real values of tourists towards biodiversity conservation and local social benefits from protected areas. Despite showing a high marginal utility for biodiversity conservation, consumers are unwilling to pay for local community benefits from tourism as part of the permit price to view gorillas. Clearly the link between successful conservation and the welfare status of local communities is not sufficiently established in the minds of consumers to influence their spending decisions. The challenges of effectively mobilising communities to protect biodiversity are discussed in the context of the variable impacts of integrated conservation and development programs over the last three decades. Direct payment payments for conservation services schemes are discussed as an innovative tool to add to the gamut of community approaches currently on offer. Payments for conservation schemes are viewed with cautious optimism in terms of their possibility for success. Despite their allure of being more economically and socially efficient at achieving welfare and conservation objectives, given the complex nature of any society, no less research in to social and economic dynamics of protected area use by local communities would be needed to ensure success of such schemes. However, the overwhelming majority of benefits form protected areas are tied up in ecosystem services values. Mechanisms to generate funding and distribute payments for these benefits in terms of offsetting the local opportunity costs are essential to change local behavior and reduce forest degradation and destruction.

The abundance of wealth and technology in the North, and biological diversity and poverty in the South provokes an inquiry into an appropriate modality for the equitable harnessing and allocation of biodiversity dividends. Over the years, the traditional knowledge relating to biological diversity has been regarded as part of the "global intellectual commons", open to exploitation by all, and subject to validation by formal methods. That knowledge has remained the source of both increasing knowledge and critical discoveries of the therapeutic values of most components of biological diversity. There is a consensus between the North and the South that an effective biodiversity conservation strategy should be one capable of providing incentives to the traditional custodians of wild habitat. Intellectual property is generally recognised as an appropriate framework to implement this objective. However, as a perennial subject of North-South disagreement, there is no consensus on the relevant details or mechanisms for deploying intellectual property rights to effectuate the objective. The United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) signifies a global regime embodying the ideals of incentivising the traditional custodians of the wild habitat as well as equitable sharing of the benefits of biodiversity. Arguably, it marks an end to the idea of regarding traditional knowledge as part of the global intellectual commons. This thesis contends that the CBD regime carries with it the burden of unresolved North-South perspectives on intellectual property rights. It argues that the heart of the conflict is the reluctance of the North to accord intellectual property status to traditional knowledge. This is partly because of the latter's informal nature but most importantly it derives from an inherent geo-political ideological conflict on the subject of intellectual property rights. Presently, the recognition of rights over traditional knowledge is approached on a sui generis basis. This thesis takes the position that the approach with its several limitations is not persuasive. It contends that on the merits, traditional knowledge is, and ought to be recognised as a subject matter of intellectual property rights. The recent elevation of intellectual property (a traditional subject matter of national law) to the international level under the WTO/TRIPs Agreement further undermines traditional knowledge. This has posed a setback not only to the global biodiversity conservation initiative, but also to the quest for equitable allocation of its dividends. It is my thesis that a national approach offers a better option for accommodating the intellectual property status of traditional knowledge and consequentially for advancing the quest for biodiversity conservation as well as equitable allocation of the dividends arising therefrom.

The freshwater fish fauna of southern Australia is characterised by low species richness and high endemism in groups displaying southern temperate, temperate-subtropical or temperate-tropical distributions. Comparatively few studies in Australia have incorporated modern molecular techniques to delineate species boundaries and define within-species conservation units. This is problematic because freshwater fishes are likely to show high levels of cryptic speciation and marked spatial sub-structure, and is information which is needed to conserve biological diversity and maintain the integrity of ecological communities and processes. The current study uses a ‘combined evidence’ approach, led principally by a set of nuclear genetic markers (allozymes), to assess species boundaries, spatial sub-structure and conservation units in obligate freshwater fishes from southern Australia. A literature review (Chapter 2) concerns the nature and effects of fragmentation in freshwater environments. It considers the implications for freshwater fishes and the types of extrinsic and intrinsic characteristics, both natural and human accelerated, that might drive population fragmentation and divergence. This theoretical framework is then applied to a suite of six largely co-occurring species groups with contrasting biological characteristics, and derive hypotheses about expected levels of genetic divergence across and within different drainages. Major findings Species of Retropinna (Chapter 3) are widespread and generally regarded as ‘common’ and mobile. Allozyme analyses revealed species-level and population-level sub-divisions, including five distinct species with contiguous ranges and no evidence of genetic exchange. Three occur along the eastern seaboard (including three instances of sympatry), another in coastal and inland southeastern Australia and Tasmania, and a fifth in the Lake Eyre Basin. There is no indication of a simple ‘tasmanica’ versus ‘semoni’ dichotomy, but instead a complex pattern involving discrete clusters for the Upper Murray plus Darling rivers, Lower Murray, Glenelg River and Tasmanian regions. These findings have implications for biodiversity, conservation and ecology. This chapter has been published in modified form (Marine and Freshwater Research 58, 327- 341). Nannoperca obscura (Chapter 4) is a small demersal fish with specialised habitat requirements. It is under threat of extinction, particularly in the western section of its range. Combined nuclear and matrilineal genetic data identified congruent within-species sub-structure, divided by patternsof distribution and biogeography. Four monophyletic mtDNA lineages, each distinct at multiple nuclear loci, indicate four Evolutionarily Significant Units (ESUs), namely (1) Lake Alexandrina in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB), (2) Glenelg River, Millicent Coast River Basin and the outlying Mt Emu Creek, (3) Merri River and associated coastal streams, and (4) the eastern range section. Additional genetic and ecological data support multiple Management Units (MUs) within ESUs for individual or groups of river basins separated by marine barriers. Nannoperca australis (Chapter 5) has a similar character to its aforementioned congener, except that it occurs across a much wider area. Although generally common, particular populations are threatened, especially in the MDB. Allozyme analyses of 57 populations confirm the presence of two divergent species, with an eastern species containing two ESUs: (1) Gippsland and Flinders Island, and (2) Ansons River in northeastern Tasmania. The western species shows sub-structure across its range, including a separation of MDB and coastal populations as two heterogenous ESUs. The Lower Murray region (Mount Lofty Range streams and the Lower Lakes) harbours a remarkable level of between- and within-population diversity, underscoring its importance for conserving evolutionary potential. Mogurnda adspersa (Chapter 6) has been presumed extinct in South Australia since the early 1970s and has also been assumed lost from the southern MDB. This chapter reports on the rediscovery of M. adspersa from a wetland near the terminus of the Lower Murray, some 2500 river kilometres from the nearest known population. The nature and basic ecology of this population is documented, but the combined effects of drought and water abstraction recently have led to the probable extirpation of the wild population. A combined allozyme and mtDNA dataset confirmed the ‘nativeness’ of the population as a distinct sub-population (and MU), with a moderate level of allele heterogeneity. This information provides a platform for captive breeding as a conservation measure. The endemic genus Philypnodon (Chapter 7) contains two nominal species: P. grandiceps and the long recognised but only recently described P. macrostomus. The former is considered widespread and common (near ubiquitous), whereas the latter is more patchily distributed. Some tolerance to marine conditions is indicated, suggesting that there may be less sub-structure, but allozyme analyses of 269 individuals indicate the presence of multiple, species-level taxa within both described species. This obscures interpretations of existing ecological data. Although the presence of genetically-similar populations within and across some drainage divides indicates higher levels of gene flow, the pattern is complex and suggests historic genetic exchange between some but not other geographically-adjacent taxa. The freshwater blackfish genus Gadopsis (Chapter 8) has been a problem group for taxonomists, and it is unclear where the group is placed phylogenetically and how many species occur. Northern and southern forms on respective sides of the Great Dividing Range have been proposed, but with limited supporting evidence. Its dispersal ability (hence predicted genetic structure) is obscured by opposing life-history traits, including large body size (i.e. good swimming ability) versus habitat specialisation, demersal larvae and restricted home ranges. This chapter provides a genetic overview incorporating 61 locations across the range, and demonstrates unequivocally the presence of distinct northern and southern species of G. ‘marmoratus’. Moreover, distinct genetic discontinuities involving geographically abutting lineages indicate the likely presence of multiple ESUs within each species. A comparison of the allozyme data with previous mtDNA studies also identified two ESUs within G. bispinosus. Overall, considerable complexity is demonstrated signalling the need for a review of how the southern Australian fish fauna should be viewed, studied and protected. The genetic data also provide insight into the interplay of intrinsic biological characters (e.g. dispersal ability, population ecology) with historic and contemporary extrinsic environmental factors (e.g. fragmentation, biogeographic processes). Comparisons between and within traditionally-defined species are problematic, however, owing to multiple species-level splits and other genetic divisions that may have matching biological counterparts. Together with other reports in the literature, the findings presented herein have significant conservation implications, particularly given the rapid pace of human-mediated change in some regions that house high species and genetic diversity and unique evolutionary components, notably southeastern Queensland (especially the Mary River) and the lower River Murray in South Australia. Other regions displaying high genetic substructure or divergent populations include the Clarence River and Lachlan River in New South Wales; Gippsland, Goulburn River, Glenelg River and Mt Emu Creek in Victoria, and the Macquarie River and Ansons River in Tasmania.
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Thesis (Ph.D.) - University of Adelaide, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, 2008

The term biodiversity was introduced in the 1980s as a novel framing for the human dependence on the Earth's biosphere. 'Biodiversity loss' became the way to capture a major dimension of global environmental problems. The chapter describes stages of this process. The first phase of the spread of the term was its enthusiastic reception among environmentalists. Second, concern was integrated into international environmental policy at the Rio Conference in 1992 through the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Efforts to implement the convention have created an environmental regime both internationally and within different countries. However, due to its broad coverage of processes of living nature and its huge ambition to regulate human modification of nature and exploitation of natural resources, there have been major difficulties with implementation. In particular, how to integrate specific issues manifested in local contexts, and the global concern, has proved problematic.

This chapter explores the Amazon’s biocultural diversity, focusing on IPLCs’ worldviews, knowledge systems, livelihood strategies, and governance regimes. It synthesizes the main social and political processes that have led to the formal recognition of IPLCs’ lands and/or territories across the Amazon. The chapter highlights IPLCs’ critical role in using, shaping, conserving, and restoring Amazonian ecosystems and biodiversity, despite historic ongoing processes including violence, displacement, and conflicts between conservation and development agendas.

Cities present multiple opportunities to create a more sustainable future by way of enhancing resource-efficiency and fostering innovation and political and social responsibility. The imperative for biodiversity in cities therefore goes beyond simple conservation to considerations of internalizing provisions of ecosystem services, which would otherwise be sought from outside the city. By presenting a practical approach to biodiversity planning and management, this toolkit seeks to help local governments harness available resources and opportunities to address global biodiversity loss by providing them a baseline of biodiversity, which would further help them to prepare local biodiversity strategy and action plan under the mandate of Biological Diversity Act 2002 providing the scope to municipal corporations to perform all activities relevant to overall biodiversity management. The study proposes a complete framework for formulating LBSAP using the existing tools for biodiversity assessment and how it can be incorporated into the city development plan for effective implementation.

The fundamental significance of water makes knowledge regarding water and regulations pertaining to water important in several areas of society. Water is important for people, companies, and administrative authorities. Understanding water and its regulation is important for dealing with current and future challenges in terms of societal development and climate change in the best possible way, and has implications for political objectives related to employment, business, nature conservation, social security, climate risk, biological diversity and more. It is also important viz a viz political challenges relating to societal development, including population growth, densification, housing construction, urbanization, urban development, towns and districts, business development, energy supply, and social security. Additionally, knowledge about water is important for future political maneuvering room, partly because the costs of securing water services and preventing water damage are high. Appropriate distribution of the financial costs associated with ensuring a secure water supply and water management should be a relevant question. This introductory chapter discusses thematic areas related to use and management of water, protection of watercourses and knowledge sharing. In addition, the chapter discusses significant regulations regarding water and the division of respon-sibilities, tasks, and authority between different levels of administrative authorities. Finally, the chapter describes the role of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate.

Abstract Australia’s biological diversity is world-renowned, unique, and vulnerable. It faces unprecedented threats from climate change, invasive species, and changing land use. Yet Australia’s laws—including its federal environmental statute, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 (Cth)—are ill-equipped. This chapter assesses the role and contribution of litigation in efforts to protect Australia’s biodiversity. The analysis focuses on legal disputes arising from land clearing, mining, marine species protection, and climate change. Cases have sought to protect iconic native species, including the Tasmanian devil, while also addressing conflict between environmental protection and cultural heritage, such as threats to ecosystems caused by brumbies. The legal basis for the claims includes traditional judicial review grounds and novel conceptions of public duties owed variously to younger generations and to indigenous peoples. The chapter demonstrates that Australian courts have been relatively constrained in protecting biodiversity, due in part to judicial deference to Australia’s legislative and executive branches and the limited direct applicability of international environmental law. Recognition by judges of their role in protecting Australia’s biodiversity is more apparent within specialist courts at the subnational level. Achieving an effective national approach to biodiversity protection may be more attainable due to a change in government at the federal level, although major legal and political challenges remain.

The Mediterranean-type environment of South America, broadly defined as the continental area characterized by winter rainfall and summer drought, is confined to a narrow band about 1,000 km long on the western side of the Andes in north-central Chile (Arroyo et al., 1995, 1999). Although much has been written about the climate, vegetation, and landscapes of this part of Chile, and comparisons have been drawn with California and other Mediterranean-type regions of the world (Parsons, 1976; Mooney, 1977; Rundel, 1981; Arroyo et al., 1995), a modern synthesis of information on the physical setting, regional biota, and historical development of ecosystems in central Chile has not been attempted. This chapter is intended to provide such an integrated picture, emphasizing those aspects most peculiar to the region. Since the earlier floristic work on the Chilean matorral (e.g. Mooney, 1977), the name given to the vegetation of central Chile, there is now a much greater appreciation of the geographic isolation and high levels of biological diversity and endemism in this region of South America (Arroyo and Cavieres, 1997; Villagrán, 1995; Arroyo et al., 1995, 1999). Because of the great richness and singularity of its terrestrial flora, this area of the continent is considered to be one of the world’s 25 hotspots in which to conserve global biodiversity (Arroyo et al., 1999; Myers et al., 2000). An analysis of the main features of the Mediterranean environment in South America should therefore address the causes of such high floristic richness, the nature of current threats to biodiversity, and the prospects for its conservation in the long-term. A discussion of conservation concerns closes the present chapter (but see also: Arroyo and Cavieres, 1997; and Arroyo et al., 1999). In view of the vast literature on the biota and physical setting of central Chile, this chapter adopts a selective approach, from a biogeographic perspective, of what we consider to be the most remarkable historical, physical, and ecological features of this environment, which in turn may explain its extraordinary richness in plants and animals. Mediterranean-type ecosystems occupy a narrow band along the western margin of South America, from 30 to 36°S in central Chile.

Screening studies of the honey bee in Siberia made it possible to identify the dark forest bee Apis mellifera mellifera populations in the Tomsk region, Krasnoyarsk and Altai territories, and the Altai Republic. A comparative analysis of the genetic diversity of the dark forest bee populations of Siberia, the Urals and Europe, carried out according to the data of the molecular genetic study of the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes, suggests the existence of the Siberian ecotype of the Middle Russian breed. The studied bee colonies are characterized by a high adaptive potential (high degree of "acclimatization") and good economically significant indicators. To preserve the gene pool of the Middle Russian breed of Siberian populations, monitoring studies, ecological and genetic analysis of bee colonies as well as selection and breeding work in the Tomsk bee farm are carried out.

Tree species are characterized by their perennial growth habit, woody morphology, long juvenile period phase, mostly outcrossing behaviour, highly heterozygosity genetic makeup, and relatively high genetic diversity. The economically important trees have been an integral part of the human life system due to their provision of timber, fruit, fodder, and medicinal and/or health benefits. Despite its widespread application in agriculture, industrial and medicinal values, the molecular aspects of key economic traits of many tree species remain largely unexplored. Over the past two decades, research on forest tree genomics has generally lagged behind that of other agronomic crops. Genomic research on trees is motivated by the need to support genetic improvement programmes mostly for food trees and timber, and develop diagnostic tools to assist in recommendation for optimum conservation, restoration and management of natural populations. Research on long-lived woody perennials is extending our molecular knowledge and understanding of complex life histories and adaptations to the environment, enriching a field that has traditionally drawn its biological inference from a few short-lived herbaceous species. These concerns have fostered research aimed at deciphering the genomic basis of complex traits that are related to the adaptive value of trees. This review summarizes the highlights of tree genomics and offers some priorities for accelerating progress in the next decade.