LU8HOW CAN BIODIVERSITY BE SUSTAINED?

PART I

STF1053 BIODIVERSITY

Maintaining Biodiversity

CONVENTION

History commitment by nations of the world

Articles in the convention - useful framework for maintenance into the future.

Maintenance touches on many of human activities

prevent individual species from becoming extinct or provision of nature reserve and other protected areas for conservation.

CONVENTION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

What is it all about ?

CONVENTION OF BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY

CONVENTION – comprises 42 articles

ARTICLE 6

General measures for conservation and sustainable use each contracting party shall in accordance with its particular condition s and capabilities .

a. Develop national strategies, plan and programmes for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity or adapt existing strategies plan or programmes.

b. Integrate appropriate conservation and sustainable use for biological diversity into relevant sectorial or cross-sectorial plans programmes and policies.

In-situ conservation

ARTICLE 8 Each contacting party shall as far as possible

a) Established a system of protected areas or areas where special measures need to be taken to conserve biological diversity

b) Develop, guidelines for selection, established and management of protected areas where special measures needed to conserve biological diversity.

c) Manage biological resources important for conservation

d) Promote the protection of ecosystems, natural habitats and maintenance of viable populations of species in natural surrounding

In-situ conservation (cont.)

e) Promote environmentally sound and sustainable development in areas adjacent to protected areas

f) Rehabilitate and restore degraded ecosystems and promote the recovery of threatened species through management strategies.

g) Established or maintain to regulate manage or control the risks associated with the use and release of living modified organism from biotechnology

adverse environmental impacts affect conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity taking into account the risks of human health

In-situ conservation (cont.)

h) Prevent introduction , control or eradicate alien species which threaten ecosystems, habitats or species.- prevention of invasion is much less costly than control

once established. effective quarantine measures are vital. eradication of established introductions is sometimes

possible particular from island or small areas.

In-situ conservation (cont.)

Provide conditions needed for compatibility between present use and the conservation of Biological diversity and sustainable use

Subject to national legislation, respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities – relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.

Encourages equitable sharing of benefits arising from utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices

In-situ conservation (cont.)

Develop or maintain necessary legislation /regulatory provisions for protection of threatened species populations

Cooperate in providing financial and other support for in-situ conservation particularly in developing countries.

Poorer countries need financial support.

Damage to ecosystem direct impact to the poor-suffer polluted environment, loss of productive lands, collapse of fisheries, loss of traditional sources of food, fodder, fuel and fiber when forest are cut down.

Existing protected areas

Protected area systems required as a central plan of national strategy for conserving biodiversity.

Existing protected areas = 20,000 in world wide recognized by IUCN

Estimated 13.2 million km2; Marine covers 1.3 million km2

Ex-situ Conservation

ARTICLE 9Each contracting party shall as far as possible :

Adopt measures for the purpose for ex-situ conservation of components of biological diversity, preferably in the country of origin

Establish and maintain facilities for ex-situ conservation and research on flora fauna and micro-organism, preferably in the country of origin of genetic resources

Adopt measures for the recovery and rehabilitation of threatened species and for their reintroduction in the natural habitats under appropriate conditions

Ex-situ Conservation (cont.)

Regulate and manage collection of biological resources from natural habitats for ex-situ conservation purposes as not to threatened ecosystems and in-situ population of species

Cooperate in providing financial and other support for ex-situ conservation in developing countries

Ex-situ conservation measures may include seeds bank, sperm and ova bank, culture collections (plant tissues), artificial propagation of plants and captive breeding of animals.

Ex-situ Conservation (cont.)

The costs and benefits of ex-situ conservation have been much debated.. This particularly true with regard to large mammals

Key issues – short term and long term viability of both wild and captive populations

* Ex-situ conservation plays a secondary role to in-situ conservation.

Sustainable use biological resources

Sustainable use of biological resources – is one of the objectives of the convention

ARTICLES 10 : embodies for this to be achieve

Each contracting party shall as far as possible and as appropriate :

a. Integrate consideration of conservation and sustainable use of biological resources into national decision making

b. Adopt measures relating tot the use of biological resources to avoid or miminsed adverse impacts on biological diversity

Sustainable use biological resources (cont.)

c) Protect and encourage customary use of biological resources in accordance with traditional cultural practices that are compatible with conservation or sustainable use requirement

d) Support local populations to develop and implement remedial action in degraded areas where biological diversity has been reduced

e) Encourage cooperation between its governmental authorities and its private sector in developing methods for sustainable uses of biological resources.

Sustainable use biological resources (cont.)

To live sustainably human population must be able to use the biological resources sustainably within the biosphere's regenerative capacity-drawing natural capital without depleting the capital stock.

Example of present unstable use of particularly high economic value – mahoganies , horn from rhinoceros ivory from elephants, whaling - focuses on short term economic gain rather than long term sustainability.

Sustainable use requires the support of local people and protection and encouragement of customary use in one way to achieve this.

INCENTIVE MEASURES

Biodiversity loss is driven by majority economic forces

Each contracting party shall as far as possible and as appropriate :

Adopt economically and socially sound measures that act as incentives for conservation and sustainable use of components of biological diversity

Obligation to adopt measures that encourages conservation and sustainable use.

Interaction between society and the environment are complex, - requires careful analysis to determine full consequences of particular actions.

INCENTIVE MEASURES (cont.)

A casual framework for examining these interactions adopted by European Environment agency is DPSIR which provides a useful basis for working through such complexities

RESPONSES TO CONVENTION

Convention have produced biodiversity strategies and action plans.

Implementing the changes requires to conserve biodiversity effectively and to exploit it in a sustainable fashion – is difficult.

The way forward – employed by other treaties and agreement is to establish and agree targets for each party to achieve in fulfillment of the convention, and protocols for reporting progress so that this can be vigorously assessed.

SUMMARY

Convention on biological diversity is one of the main goal attempts to set agenda for maintaining biodiversity and provides a useful framework.

Main objectives – conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair ad equitability sharing of the benefits arising from utilization of genetic resources

Conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity will not emerge fortuitously in each nation, but will require the establishment of explicit mechanism

SUMMARY (cont.)

Information need to cross check whether the strategies, programmes and plans are appropriate

Conservation need network protected areas for in-situ protection and also ex-situ conservation measures

Sustainable use will only be attained by its integration into national planning, to minimize the adverse impacts of use on biodiversity

References

Gaston, K.J. & Spicer, J.I. 2004. Biodiversity – an Introduction. Second edition. Blackwell Publishing, UK. QH 541.15 B56 G256 2004.

Melchias, G. 2001. Biodiversity and conservation. Science Publishers, Inc. UK. QH 541.15 B56 M518

LU8HOW CAN BIODIVERSITY BE SUSTAINED?

PART I I

STF1053 BIODIVERSITY

CONSERVATION OF BIODIVERSITY

PRESERVATION

Protection of biodiversity from any kind of human activity

• Nostalgia• Human benefits – value of human society• Needs

CONSERVATION

Protection of biodiversity for sustainable utilization

CONSERVATION (cont.)

Philosophy of managing the environment in such as way that it does not despoil, exhaust or extinguish it or the resources and values it contains

Emphasis on management should be redirected towards the overall conservation of world biodiversity and ecosystems rather than to single target species.

The ecosystem functions in dynamic equilibrium that not only serve as life-support systems for the Earth but also critical to the continuing survival of human kind

Conservation applies the principles and results of diverse disciplines such Ecology, Biogeography, Population Genetics, Economics, Sociology, Anthropology, Geology, Philosophy and many others

CONSERVATION (cont.)

Therefore becomes a synthetic field to develop scientific principles and then apply them to developing technologies for the maintenance of biological diversity

CURRENT PRACTICE IN CONSERVATION

Conservation of biodiversity can be attempted at 3 levels : Genes, Species and Ecosystems

Maintenance of ecosystem diversity implies conservation of species which constitute that ecosystem, although it is feasible to conserve a species independent of the ecosystem of which it is a normal component.

Maintenance of genetic diversity within a species implies maintenance of that species

CURRENT PRACTICE IN CONSERVATION (cont.)

Conservation of species diversity will take care to some extent of both ecosystem maintenance and genetic maintenance

Loss of species diversity is more obvious and quantifiable than genetic or ecosystem diversity loss

Conservation based on species maintenance is called Species –based approaches

Conservation of Genetic Diversity

What is genetic diversity?

Genetic diversity is the combination of different genes found within a population of a single species, and the pattern of variation found within different populations of the same species

Why genetic diversity matter?

From a biological viewpoint, genetic diversity is needed to ensure present-day and future adaptability of the species as well as their continued evolution

Genetic diversity is key to the long term survival of a species

Species must have available a pool of genetic diversity if they are to survive environmental pressures exceeding the limits of developmental plasticity

Why genetic diversity matter? (cont.)

If a population has low level of genetic diversity (genetically homogenous), when a virulent form of disease arises, all individuals may be susceptible and die

But as a result of natural genetic diversity within population, they may be some individuals that are resistant and are able to survive and thus perpetuate the species

From a human and development perspective, genetic diversity is a vital to maintain and potential for genetic improvement to meet changing end use requirements and dynamically evolving environmental conditions

Why genetic diversity matter? (cont.)

All genetic conservation strategies and actions should be compatible with three conservation goals and on three time-scales of concern

Maintenance of viable population in the short term in order to avoid extinction – SHORT TERM FITNESS

Maintenance of the ability of the population to continue to undergo adaptive changes – ADAPTATION

Maintenance of the ability of the population for continuing speciation – SPECIATION

Why genetic diversity matter? (cont.)

Population seems to be the most reasonable level at which genetic conservation can be attempted. The reasons are as follows:

The population and not species is the ecologically and evolutionarily significant (i.e functional) units (ESU)

Genetic changes take place in the population over generations

Local adaptive changes likewise occur in the population

Geographically and genetically isolated populations offer greatest potential for speciation

Conservation at species level will overlook the dynamics and attributes of individual populations within it as well as their ecological functions

Conservation at a level of below populations, say at the allelic level, is impractical

Why genetic diversity matter? (cont.)

How many individuals in a population are needed for conservation of genetic diversity?

“50/500 Rule” – A genetically effectively population size (Ne) of at least 50 individuals is necessary for conservation of genetic diversity in the short term and to avoid inbreeding depression.

A Ne of 500 is needed to avoid serious genetic drift in long term

Genetic conservation has its own limitations:

Very young science or still in the developmental stage

Many genetic techniques useful in assessing genetic diversity are not cheap are not easily learned, can be misused and misapplied

Conservation of Species Diversity

One of the main players in conservation conceptually, biologically and legally is the SPECIES

Many powerful legislations on conservation at the world and national levels are focused on species

CITES, Endangered Species Act of USA (ESA)

Loss of species diversity is also very obvious and more easily detectable and quantifiable than either loss of genetic or habitat diversity

Even conservation approaches based on habitat or ecosystems depend on an intimate understanding of the biology of their constituent species

Conservation of Species Diversity (cont.)

Management of conservation based on knowledge of species-area relationships, life-history requirements of the species and minimum of individuals

Threatened species and those of actual or potential resource value or keystone, dominant and crucial species required for well being of an ecosystem are selected on a priority basis for conservation such as threatened species or exhibiting rarity

Species selected for conservation should be broadly assessed for a range of factors leading to rarity such as ENDEMIC TAXA

Cladistic Prioritisation

Method designed to assess, and to some extent quantify, the distinctiveness between taxa considered for conservation

Based on phylogenetic relationship between species, expressed as divergence since their most recent common ancestor

Any character ranging from morphological to molecular

Second category of species for conservation

Directly harvested plants such as forest trees, medicinal taxa, spices, ornamentals, food and forages

Plants which are a source of propagating materials for planting elsewhere

Plants that are sources of genetic variation useful for breeding and improvement programmes

Third category

Indicator species – Particularly sensitive to pollutants, human interferences, ecological instability and other disturbances

Umbrella species – Usually required larger space and that provide protection for other species within the ecosystems with scarce resources. Absence in smaller areas with residual vegetation

Keystone species – Important to maintain the ecological integrity of the community and are essential to survival of other species

Charismatic species – Significant for social, cultural or anthropomorphic standpoints and usually attractive

Recreational species – Popular for collection, growing or observation

Used in-situ and ex-situ methods

Major advantage of the species-based approach is that it allows resource allocation to the most urgent cases – to species which are in danger of immediate extinction on the basis of priority analysis

Disadvantages: Only an extremely small proportion of the

world’s species can be adequately surveyed to set priorities for conservation

Priorities are based on individual prejudices