Advancing urban ecosystem governance in New York City: Shifting towards a unified perspective for conservation management

New York City’s extensive municipal park system is home to forests, wetlands, and grasslands that provide important ecological and social benefits to the city’s population. While efforts and programs exist to restore and protect these spaces, management recommendations are complex due to variable conditions in urban natural areas. To advance the management of urban natural areas, the first comprehensive ecological assessment was conducted through a collaborative effort across 4000 ha of natural areas within New York City parkland. Field and spatial data were collected and analyzed to identify the extent of forests, the types of forests, and their conditions. This approach will help guide decision-making and prioritization of natural area management at the regional level by developing unique quantitative targets for urban forests. This project serves as an example of collaboration between private and public institutions advancing the governance of urban natural areas to achieve citywide conservation and policy goals.     

High-risk ecosystems as foci for considering biodiversity and ecological integrity in ecological risk assessments

Ecological risk management historically focused on risks to human health and the immediate human environment. Increasingly, societal interest in biodiversity and ecological integrity demands that risk assessors and managers take a broader view of the environment and include non-human species and ecosystems within their realm of concern. The greatest threats to biodiversity in the USA and much of the world are habitat alteration (including conversion, degradation, and fragmentation) and exotic species invasions. This paper reviews and integrates the results of several recent studies (e.g. by The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, Defenders of Wildlife, and the National Biological Service) that have identified regions and ecosystems that are highly distinct biologically, are rare or declining, contain high numbers of imperiled species, face immediate threats, and stand to lose considerable biodiversity in the near future. These studies converge on a set of regions that warrant urgent attention from risk managers. Focal species and functional groups of species can be selected within these regions to characterize ecological effects and track recovery of ecosystems along the same axes (e.g. habitat structure, disturbance frequency) that led to biotic impoverishment. The most fruitful approach to risk management ultimately will be one that addresses the most urgent threats at several levels of biological organization, from focal species to communities to ecoregions.     

Cost-effective forest conservation and criteria for potential conservation targets: a Finnish case study

Selecting reserves for forest biodiversity maintenance is often done by setting criteria for components of structural elements of biodiversity, such as a volume of decaying wood. We tested how the different threshold values for the components of structural elements affect the cost-effective site selection. Using Finnish National Forest Inventory information and remote sensing data, we determined a habitat quality index and economic value for each site in Satakunta region in Finland. Moreover, we defined several sets of potential conservation targets using alternative criteria for the habitat quality index developed for the Finnish case study. These figures were used in the site selection model in order to maximize the sum of habitat index of selected areas under a given budget constraint. We found that the production possibility frontier for the outputs of timber and biodiversity is only slightly concave when using the given threshold values. Thus, the optimal combination of the outputs is sensitive to the relative values of these goods. Our results suggest that an integrated approach in forest conservation could provide to environmental managers considerable cost savings compared with current management practices. Environmental managers could also reduce conservation costs by loosening the criteria for potential conservation targets. This would not lower considerably the quality of conserved forests.     

“半个地球”愿景下的保护地识别——基于全球主要优先保护模块

设立保护地是保护生物多样性的最有效举措。“半个地球”愿景提出将50%的面积纳入保护地,并有效保护85%的物种,是全球生态保护的目标。IUCN保护地分类系统是国际通用的标准,一系列优先保护模块研究则对保护地的识别进行着探索。本文旨在通过对这些模块的保护目标、识别标准等进行分析,为保护地科学识别提供合理参考。主要结论如下:（1）物种、栖息地与人类活动是各模块的主要考虑要素,识别标准包括物种丰富度、生境转变率、人类活动强度等;（2）各模块对生境转变率的考虑有“亡羊补牢”和“未雨绸缪”两种思路,对人类活动强度的考虑有直接和间接之分;（3）各模块分布面积占比在5.77%~25.32%之间,总范围占全球陆表的55.59%,超过了“半个地球”愿景的目标比例。     

规划逻辑转变下的都市圈空间规划方法探讨

应对国家空间治理现代化和国土空间规划体系重构的要求,我国都市圈空间规划面临生态文明导向的政治逻辑转变和资源环境约束下的发展逻辑转变。基于规划逻辑转变,明确了都市圈空间规划是国土空间规划体系中以聚焦空间协同发展为核心的专项规划,从对应需求目标引领和因地制宜问题协调两个视角,提出了都市圈空间规划编制的技术框架。结合当前都市圈空间规划实践和空间规划改革的要求,研究认为规划编制重点应聚焦以传导和协同为导向的指标体系制定、流动性的要素资源优化配置和调控、协同管控和利用的空间格局谋划、跨界组团空间合作等。针对都市圈缺乏统一的实施主体等问题,提出了不同类型都市圈空间规划编制组织方式、规划实施的区域合作机制、都市圈管理信息平台的共建,以及都市圈空间规划实施情况的动态监测等。通过对都市圈空间规划编制理念、技术框架、重点内容和实施组织的系统探讨,将为我国都市圈空间规划的编制和都市圈空间治理的现代化提供理论基础和方法指导。     

Ecosystem and biodiversity conservation planning in Hiroshima City,Japan

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城市拓展中湿地的综合保护与发展

在简单回顾世界城市发展过程中对沿海湿地的威胁和影响上,以广州南沙地区为例,对其城市拓展和生态规划中的湿地综合保护与发展进行了探讨。从南沙地区规划中的功能定位出发,分析了该区的湿地类型和分布特征,对其重点湿地进行了确定,从湿地的功能与价值、湿地资源的稀缺性上分析了湿地保护的重要性,重点对湿地的稀缺性进行了论证。基于相似性理论,特别对十九涌湿地、大虎岛东岸湿地和龙穴岛东岸湿地进行了替代性和补偿性分析,充分论述了建立湿地保护小区的重要性和解决关键联系的必要性。初步对湿地保护小区的功能区进行了划分,提出了湿地优先保护行动。     

国家保护地体系建设：西方标准反思与中国路径探讨

借鉴西方标准曾对我国保护地制度的建立起到了重要作用。然而,当前国际标准对我国已建立起来的保护地体系已经显现出不适用,因此有必要对其进行反思。回溯我国及世界保护地制度的建立过程及其关联,由于我国在国际保护地标准制定过程中参与度过低,导致我国保护地的特性与发展阶段需求在国际标准中体现不足。我国保护地具有的文化景观属性,即传统的“天人合一”的环境观与西方人和自然对立的思想截然不同。我国保护地面临着保护与发展双重挑战,直接将基于特定人口状况和发展阶段的保护地所制定的标准用于其他状况下的保护地,其合理性存在着问题。应更加批判地看待西方标准,积极探讨可持续和平发展的中国路径。     

Are ecosystem service hotspots located in protected areas? Results from a study in Southern Italy

Ecosystems are essential in providing multiple services to society. However, understanding ecosystem services (ESS) in terms of spatial distribution and trade-offs still remains a challenge for landscape planners and natural resource managers. In this paper, we analyzed the supply of a set of ESS – carbon storage, soil erosion protection, biodiversity, and recreation – within the landscape surrounding the city of Bari in Southern Italy. Through an analysis of this landscape, which includes natural protected areas, such as Natura 2000 Network sites, national and regional parks and nature reserves, and in view of the recent Fitness Check of the Nature Directives, we aimed to provide answers to the following questions: (i) Where are the areas of high and low supply of individual ecosystem services located?; (ii) Where do ecosystem service trade-offs (i.e., ‘hotspots’ and ‘coldspots’) occur?; and (iii) To what extent are ecosystem service hotspots and coldspots located within or outside of natural protected areas? Results show that most of the landscape in the study area supplied at least one of the selected ESS and that ESS hotspots were mostly located within forested and/or natural areas. Hotspots occupied 8.0% of the total landscape, with 23.7% located in natural protected areas. Coldspots were scarce and equal to 2.4%; they constituted only 0.1% of natural protected areas. Almost all of the landscape (89.6%) consists of intermediate areas (i.e., between hotspots and coldspots); 76.2% of natural protected areas consists of intermediate areas. This latter finding is relevant because the high intermediate classes are potentially high-performing areas, which lie mainly on the borders of protected spaces; they can positively influence ecological processes and thus enhance a wide-ranging provision of ESS. Our results highlight the importance of analyzing landscapes to facilitate the selection of priority areas where management efforts would yield maximum benefits.     

Prioritising catchment management projects to improve marine water quality

Runoff from human land-uses is one of the most significant threats to some coastal marine environments. Initiatives to reduce that runoff usually set runoff reduction targets but do not give guidance on how to prioritize the different options that exist to achieve them. This paper demonstrates an easy to interpret economic framework to prioritise investment for conservation projects that aim to reduce pollution of marine ecosystems caused by runoff from agricultural land-uses. We demonstrate how to apply this framework using data on project cost, benefit and feasibility with a subset of projects that have been funded to reduce runoff from subcatchments adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef. Our analysis provides a graphical overview of the cost-effectiveness of the investment options, enables transparent planning for different budgets, assesses the existence of trends in the cost-effectiveness of different categories, and can test if the results are robust under uncertainty in one or more of the parameters. The framework provided solutions that were up to 4 times more efficient than when omitting information on cost or benefit. The presented framework can be used as a benchmark for evaluating results from a range of prioritisation processes against the best possible conservation outcomes.     

跨国世界自然遗产保护现状评述

国家疆界的划分原则常常与自然资源及生态功能区划分的原则相悖;动植物种群分布、生态学过程以及地质构造分布,并不因政治边界的存在而消失。这种情况为一些自然遗产地的统一与完整性保护制造了障碍。在过去的几十年中,人们对自然资源管理以及对生物多样性管理的关注点,由原来对特定区域的保护转向强调景观尺度下生态系统连续性的保护。连续性保护理念在跨国项目中体现为跨界保护理念,使连接分散的生态区域之间的动态过程成为可能。跨国世界自然遗产的建立与保护已成为推进跨界资源保护的重要一环。结合相关案例分析,论文从发展历程、分类以及管理三个方面对跨国世界自然遗产保护现状进行评述。资源的不可持续利用目前被认为是对世界遗产保护的最大威胁。跨国自然遗产将通过促进多边合作,在遗产保护与可持续发展之间建立平衡。     

Collaboration mobilises institutions with scale-dependent comparative advantage in landscape-scale biodiversity conservation

Landscape-scale approaches are emerging as central to ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation globally, triggering the requirement for collaboration between multiple actors and associated risks including knowledge asymmetries; institutional fragmentation; uncertainty; power imbalances; “invisible” slow-changing variables; and entrenched socio-economic inequities. While social science has elucidated some dimensions required for effective collaboration, little is known about how collaboration manages these risks, or of its effects on associated social-ecological linkages. Our analysis of four different Australian contexts of collaboration shows they mobilised institutions matched to addressing environmental threats, at diverse scales across regulatory and non-regulatory domains. The institutions mobilised included national regulatory controls on development that threatened habitat, incentives to farmers for practice-change, and mechanisms that increased resources for on-ground fire and pest management. Knowledge-sharing underpinned effective risk management and was facilitated through the use of boundary objects, enhanced multi-stakeholder peer review processes, interactive spatial platforms, and Aboriginal-driven planning. Institutions mobilised in these collaborations show scale-dependent comparative advantage for addressing environmental threats. The findings confirm the need to shift scientific attention away from theorising about the ideal-scale for governance. We argue instead for a focus on understanding how knowledge-sharing activities across multiple scales can more effectively connect environmental threats with the most capable institution to address these threats.     

The environmental challenges in Sub-Saharan Africa

Countries in sub-Saharan Africa are doing some rethinking, after decades of development that have resulted in continued poverty, international indebtedness, environmental degradation, and inappropriate Western models. Technological innovations, institutional developments, and family planning are key inputs. Development should shift to a focus on elimination of widespread poverty. Past development strategies in an African context of ample resources have harmed the environment without improving the average person's standard of living. Knowledge about Africa's environment and environmental degradation is inadequate. Recent studies have found, contrary to popular belief, that small shareholders made considerable investments in resource-based capital, which protected their farms from major environmental deterioration and negative impacts of intensification. In Nigeria field studies found that rising demand for fuelwood did not lead to greater deforestation or desertification. Severe degradation has occurred in places where density of population is greater than 500 persons per sq. km, where the land is physically or biologically vulnerable, and where socioeconomic conditions interfere with application of conservation measures. Reduced well-being and reduced food capacity is attributed to land tenure arrangements, misguided macroeconomic policies, and inadequate infrastructure. The issues of development, environment, and population are complex. Sustainable development is possible with appropriate investment priorities that will provide needed infrastructure, services, and education. Urban areas need safe water, solid waste disposal, and spatial planning to relieve congested spaces. Rural areas should focus on health education and basic sanitation. Regulatory measures and conservation measures are also important. Institutional development that promotes democracy, expands individual property rights, and increases the knowledge base offers the most hope for alleviating poverty and protecting the environment.     

基于GIS的陕西省水土保持自然生态修复区研究

水土保持自然生态修复作为生态建设的一项主要任务,需要进行水土保持生态修复适宜区研究。论文以陕西省为例,应用ArcGIS 9.2空间数据分析工具,综合分析土地利用类型、年降雨量、土壤侵蚀、人口密度等指标,划分出陕西省水土保持自然生态修复适宜区域,并分析了陕西省水土保持综合治理实施情况。结果表明,陕西省水土保持自然生态修复区面积为23 911 km²,秦岭大巴山区适宜自然生态修复的面积最大,研究为水土保持综合治理下一步实施提供借鉴意义。     

Is climate-smart conservation feasible in Europe? Spatial relations of protected areas,soil carbon,and land values

The expectations on protected areas to deliver not only biodiversity conservation but also to provide an array of different ecosystem services rise. Sequestration and storage of carbon are promising services that protected areas may provide. This study integrates spatially explicit data on terrestrial Natura 2000 sites, soil organic carbon, and agricultural land values to estimate the potential for climate-smart conservation planning in the European Union. The objectives of this study are to analyse spatial relations between protected areas soil carbon content, and land values on the European Union's land area as well as to locate and quantify the proportion of land with high carbon and low economic value within and outside protected areas. We apply a unique interdisciplinary framework with methods ranging from analyses based on geographical information systems, agricultural economics to statistics. Findings indicate that there is a significant overlap between Natura 2000 sites and regions with high carbon content across Europe. Statistical analyses show that carbon-rich regions have significantly lower land values than other areas. Our results suggest that biodiversity protection and mitigation of climate change through conservation of soil carbon could be simultaneously achieved in Europe's protected areas and beyond. We conclude that there is a notable potential for climate-smart conservation in Europe that needs further investigation.     

基于多准则分析的非点源污染评价和分区——以北京怀柔区北宅小流域为例

非点源污染控制难度大、成本高,因此有必要对污染源划分等级,从而分别进行管理与规划.本研究提出了“风险评价-规划分区-分别管理”的非点源污染规划思路.“风险评价”在借鉴已有的非点源风险评价模型基础上,提出了基于多准则分析的非点源污染评价方法.该评价方法以土地利用因子、径流因子和距离因子为参评指标,采用改进的理想解法(Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution,TOPSIS)确定因子权重,减少了人为主观性;“规划分区”依据“适度保护、优先规划、重点管理”的原则,结合风险评价结果,可将流域划分为5类管理分区;“分别管理”是对各类管理区分别配以针对性的BMPs和生态工程措施.“风险评价-规划分区-分别管理”这套方法层层递进不仅能评价流域非点源污染,也能定量为流域内非点源污染源的管理提供科学方案.最后将该方法在北宅小流域进行了应用,结果表明,该方法克服了传统方法的过于主观、局限性大的缺陷,可为类似流域非点源污染评价和管理提供参考.     

上海崇明东滩鸟类自然保护区规划探讨

从自然保护区规划的要素、范围划分、功能分区、综合布局等若干方面,阐述了上海市崇明东滩鸟类自然保护区规划的依据,并通过实践,对有关理论作出一定的探讨。     

基于InVEST模型的白龙江流域水源供给服务时空分异

甘肃白龙江流域是我国嘉陵江上游水资源重要的补给地之一,对其开展流域生态系统水源供给服务功能空间定量评估研究,有利于水源区保护规划的制定和生态补偿机制的建立。论文基于研究区土地利用数据、气象、土壤和野外观测数据等,应用InVEST模型水源供给模块估算白龙江流域生态系统的水源供给量,并定量分析流域水源供给服务的空间分布特征及不同地形因子的影响。结果表明：白龙江流域生态系统水源平均供给量约在388 mm左右,且存在一定的空间异质性;中部干热河谷区域水源供给量相对较小,东南部山地林区降雨量大,水源供给量较高,林地（如云冷杉类、针叶林类等）和农田水源供给量较高。流域内水源供给量随海拔高度和坡度的增加呈现先增加后减小的趋势,其高值区主要分布在1 500~3 500 m和15°~40°区段;阴坡区域水源供给量大于阳坡区域。     

沈阳东部生态功能保护区建设规划

综合调查分析沈阳市东部地区生态环境与社会经济概况,根据生态学原理与方法,应用遥感、地理信息系统和综合分析等手段进行生态功能保护区的规划,确定生态功能保护区的范围,同时对生态功能保护区进行一级分区和亚区分区及命名,并制定各类生态功能区的生态功能和保护措施,提出重点生态环境调控工程的规划建设,为合理保护自然资源、科学布局工农业与发展旅游产业提供技术支持,为区域可持续发展战略提供科学的理论依据,同时对开展小尺度生态功能保护区的规划具有一定的借鉴意义。     

我国自然遗迹类保护区空缺分析及保护对策研究

自然遗迹类保护区对保护自然遗迹具有重要的作用。我国自然遗迹资源丰富,但自然遗迹类保护区在整个自然保护区体系中所占的比例相对较低,不能满足保护覆盖的需求。通过对我国自然遗迹类保护区的空缺分析,得出结论：基础地质遗迹大类和地貌景观大类的地质遗迹比例基本平衡,但仍存在保护空缺的类型。在空间分布上,要进一步重视陕甘黄土高原区、西南区、西北区、青藏高原、华东及东部沿海区的自然保护区建设,并确立优先保护区域。最后,在全面分析自然遗迹类保护区的基础上,提出相应的保护对策。