Mitigating the Effect of Development on Bats in England with Derogation Licensing

The Convention on Biological Diversity has catalyzed worldwide awareness of threats to biological diversity and stimulated global conservation strategies. These have led to national and international legislation and have generated debate about the most effective conservation actions. Under the EU Habitats Directive, all member states are obliged to establish a system for strict protection of species listed in Annex IV(a), which includes all bats. In England, this obligation has resulted in legislation that allows for derogation from strict protection under license, provided activities are undertaken to mitigate any potential negative effects on bat numbers. We used an evidence‐based approach to assess the cost‐effectiveness of mitigation strategies and the English bat‐derogation licensing process as a whole. We analyzed data from 389 bat derogation licenses issued in England from 2003 to 2005 relating to 1776 roosts and 15 species to determine the nature and extent of development and mitigation activities and their effects on bats. Overall the effects of licensed activities on roosts were negative. Despite the level of protection afforded to bats, the majority (68%) of roosts for which derogation licenses were issued were destroyed. There were species‐specific differences in the probability of roosts being destroyed, and impacts on roosts did not reflect a species’ conservation status. Information provided by licensees was inadequate and inconsistent. Most licensees (67%) failed to submit postdevelopment reports, and postdevelopment monitoring was conducted at only 19% of sites. Despite a minimum of £4.13 million spent on mitigation structures for bats from 2003 to 2005, it was unclear whether the licensing process meets EU obligations. On the basis of our results, we believe there is a need to overhaul the licensing process, to establish a comprehensive, standardized postdevelopment monitoring system, and to demonstrate that mitigation is commensurate with Britain's legal obligations. Mitigando el Efecto del Desarrollo sobre los Murciélagos en Inglaterra con Licencias de Derogación     

Effective Planning and Implementation of Ecological Rehabilitation Projects: A Case Study of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada)

The literature guides environmental planning and, specifically, how to use ecological rehabilitation projects to achieve long-term planning goals and landscape-scale environmental sustainability. There is, however, a perceived gap between principles in the literature and the use of them by practitioners involved in smaller-scale ecological rehabilitation projects. Using interviews with practitioners involved in 11 projects within the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, we tested whether practitioners used five principles for effective planning and implementation of ecological rehabilitation that we derived from the literature. These five principles were: establishing political and ecological context, using ecologically appropriate objectives and practices, using comparative multidisciplinary and cross-scale approaches, using adaptive planning and implementation, and establishing good communication within and external to projects. Few projects followed all five principles, and practitioners indicated that they used three more project-specific principles: obtaining political/social support, promoting projects and changing attitudes about projects, and securing sufficient and persistent funding to maintain a project's life. While the literature emphasizes that ecological rehabilitation is only effective if projects are coordinated on a watershed basis, most practitioners focused solely on the goals of their specific project. The gap between literature and practice may arise because most practitioners are new to the field of ecological rehabilitation and still are focused on the methods involved. Time pressures force practitioners to obviate the literature and get projects started quickly, lest support evaporate. Complicating these difficulties is decreased support from federal and provincial governments for large-scale environmental planning. It is unclear whether ecological rehabilitation projects in Waterloo Region (at least) will ever become effective at promoting landscape-scale ecological goals or remain smaller-scale stop-gaps.     

NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THIRD WORLD MINING AGREEMENTS

The long-term trend toward mineral resource development agreements that reflect the desires of developing country governments as well as those of foreign investors is not always clear-cut. At times, conditions in the market for a particular mineral and general financial conditions may affect the balance of bargaining power between governments and investors. Mr Zorn's analysis of two recent copper agreements, in Panama and Papua New Guinea, shows that foreign investors have been able to achieve favorable provisions for the early return of capital and for ensuring investor control over key management decisions. At the same time, the host governments have won provisions that may increase their 'take' from the projects in the longer term.     

THE UNITED NATIONS PANEL ON INTERNATIONAL MINING FINANCE

Mining finance experts, meeting under the auspices of the United Nations Centre for Natural Resources, Energy and Transport, agreed that sufficient capital could be provided to permit worldwide mineral demand to be satisfied, but that there was a danger that mining investment in developing countries would not keep pace with those nations' resource potential. A variety of suggestions were offered for improving the ability of developing countries to attract capital for mining.     

Hedging a Commodity Power Rate

Many of the aluminium smelters in the Pacific Northwest served by the Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) have become non-competitive and operate in the role of swing producer in the US and world markets. To avoid these cyclical swings in power demand, BPA is presently studying methods designed to link the price of power charged to smelters with the market price of aluminium. A linked-rate system tends to stabilize incomes to smelters, but increases fluctuations to the utility. These, in turn, could be stabilized by a hedging operation on the London Metals Exchange.     

Genetically Effective Population Size of Large Mammals: An Assessment of Estimators

Calculamos tamuños de poblaciones genéticamente efectivas (N_e) para poblaciones simuladas del oso gris (Ursus arctos) trazando la péridida de heterozigasidad a tráves del tiempo, luego las comparamos con estimaciones de N_e Producidas aplicando fórmulas publicadas a los resultados demográficos de la simulación. Los valores de N_e calculados usando diferentes fórmula.s con datos idénticos, variaron mucho. Las ecuaciones publicadas por Hill (1972), y modificaciones de las usuadas por Ryman, et aL (1981) y Reed et al. (1986), proporcionaron los cálculos más precsios Fluctuaciones menores en las poblacionales tuvieron poco efecto sobre N_e pero la variación en el éxito repductivo por vida entre los machos V_km redujo tremendamente el N_e comparado con el valor esperado bajo exito reproductivo al azar. Todos los métodos para calcular N_e para poblaciones con demografias complejas requieren datos extensos, pero estimaciones para V_km en especies poligamas son especialmente dificiles de obtener. Sugerimos que modelos de simulación pueden proveer métodos alternutivos para calcular V_km y N_e.     

Simple Spatial Modeling Tool for Prioritizing Prescribed Burning Activities at the Landscape Scale

Abstract:   Resources for prescribed fire are frequently insufficient to manage public lands for all conservation and resource management objectives, necessitating prioritization of the application of fire across the landscape within any given year. Defining tradeoffs when applying prescribed fire to large landscapes is problematic not only because of the complexity of weighing competing management objectives at the landscape scale, but also because of the difficult nature of independently applying need-to-burn criteria to large areas. We present a case study of a simple modeling process implemented at Eglin Air Force Base in the Florida Panhandle (U.S.A.) to prioritize the application of prescribed fire. In a workshop setting, managers and biologists identified key conservation criteria and landscape management objectives that drive the application of prescribed fire. Remote sensing and other spatial data were developed to directly or indirectly represent all these criteria. Using geographic information system software, managers and biologists weighted each criterion according to its relative contribution to overall burn prioritization, and individual values for the criterion were scored according to how they influence the need to burn. Subsequently, this process has been validated and modified through ecological monitoring. This modeling process has also been applied to the 77,400-ha Blackwater River State Forest, public land adjacent to Eglin Air Force Base, demonstrating its applicability to lands with varying management priorities. The advantages of this model-based approach for prioritizing prescribed fire include the reliance on accessible, inexpensive software, the development of spatially explicit management objectives, the ease of transferability, and clearly stated assumptions about management that may be tested and reviewed through monitoring and public comment.