Trade-Offs Between Biodiversity Conservation and Economic Development in Five Tropical Forest Landscapes

This study explores how conservation and development are interlinked and quantifies their reciprocal trade-offs. It identifies interventions which hold a promise to improve both conservation and development outcomes. The study finds that development trajectories can either be at the cost of conservation or can benefit conservation, but in all cases sustained poverty negatively affects conservation in the long term. Most scenarios with better outcomes for conservation come at a cost for development and the financial benefits of payments for environmental services (PES) are not sufficient to compensate for lost opportunities to earn cash. However, implementation of strategies for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in locations with low population densities come close to overcoming opportunity costs. Environmental services and subsistence income enhance the attractiveness of conservation scenarios to local people and in situations where these benefits are obvious, PES may provide the extra cash incentive to tip the balance in favor of such a scenario. The paper stresses the importance of external factors (such as industrial investments and the development of the national economy) in determining landscape scale outcomes, and suggests a negotiating and visioning role for conservation agencies.     

生物多样性、生态平衡与人类可持续发展

生物多样性是由生物及其生存环境共同构成的综合资源,经自然长期演化而来,它不仅地球生物圈的重要组成部分,也是人类赖以生存和发展的宝贵财富。提出将生物多样性保护纳入国家国土资源开发以及全球经济发展与合作规划中。     

Towards Unpacking the Theory Behind,and a Pragmatic Approach to Biodiversity Offsets

The use of biodiversity offsets to compensate for residual impacts on biodiversity resulting from a development or land-use change, is becoming more prevalent. While much has been published on this topic, there has been little published on the theoretical foundation on which biodiversity offsets are based. This paper seeks to unpack the theoretical and practical tenets of biodiversity offsets in relation to the public trust doctrine, responsibilities of the developer and the State, and significant unmitigable impacts on biodiversity. It was reasoned that the responsibility of the developer and the life of a biodiversity offset are finite, and that the concept of ‘in perpetuity’ may not exist practically and in law. It was further discovered that a sound understanding of the public trust doctrine is critical for consistent offset-based decision-making, particularly in those circumstances where an impasse between the potential significant loss to biodiversity and an indispensable need for a development or land-use change arises.     

Biofuels: Efficiency,Ethics, and Limits to Human Appropriation of Ecosystem Services

Biofuels have lately been indicated as a promising source of cheap and sustainable energy. In this paper we argue that some important ethical and environmental issues have also to be addressed: (1) the conflict between biofuels production and global food security, particularly in developing countries, and (2) the limits of the Human Appropriation of ecosystem services and Net Primary Productivity. We warn that large scale conversion of crops, grasslands, natural and semi-natural ecosystem, (such as the conversion of grasslands to cellulosic ethanol production, or plantation of sugar cane and palm oil), may have detrimental social and ecological consequences. Social effects may concern: (1) food security, especially in developing countries, leading to an increase of the price of staple food, (2) transnational corporations and big landowners establishing larger and larger landholdings in conflict with indigenous areas and the subsistence of small farmers. Ecological effects may concern: (1) competition with grazing wild and domesticated animals (e.g., millions of grazing livestock in USA prairies), (2) an excessive appropriation of Net Primary Production from ecosystems, (3) threatening biodiversity preservation and soil fertility. We claim that is it well known how ecological and social issues are strictly interwoven and that large scale biofuels production, by putting high pressure on both fronts, may trigger dangerous feedbacks, also considering the critical fact that 9 billion people are expected to inhabit the planet by 2050. There is a need to conduct serious and deep analysis on the environmental and social impact of large scale biofuels production before important energy policies are launched at global level. Biofuels will not represent an energetic panacea and their role in the overall energy consumption will remain marginal in our present highly energivorous society, while their effect on food security and environment preservation may have detrimental results. We should also have the courage to face two key issues: (1) we cannot keep increasing resources consumption at present pace, and have to change our life style accordingly, and (2) we have to deal with population growth; we cannot expect to have 9–10 billions people inhabiting the earth by 2050, without this representing a major impact on its support system.     

Cocoa Intensification Scenarios and Their Predicted Impact on CO<Subscript>2</Subscript> Emissions,Biodiversity Conservation,and Rural Livelihoods in the Guinea Rain Forest of West Africa

The Guinean rain forest (GRF) of West Africa, identified over 20 years ago as a global biodiversity hotspot, had reduced to 113,000 km² at the start of the new millennium which was 18% of its original area. The principal driver of this environmental change has been the expansion of extensive smallholder agriculture. From 1988 to 2007, the area harvested in the GRF by smallholders of cocoa, cassava, and oil palm increased by 68,000 km². Field results suggest a high potential for significantly increasing crop yields through increased application of seed-fertilizer technologies. Analyzing land-use change scenarios, it was estimated that had intensified cocoa technology, already developed in the 1960s, been pursued in Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon that over 21,000 km² of deforestation and forest degradation could have been avoided along with the emission of nearly 1.4 billion t of CO₂. Addressing the low productivity of agriculture in the GRF should be one of the principal objectives of REDD climate mitigation programs.     

Scoring the Importance of Tropical Forest Landscapes with Local People: Patterns and Insights

Good natural resource management is scarce in many remote tropical regions. Improved management requires better local consultation, but accessing and understanding the preferences and concerns of stakeholders can be difficult. Scoring, where items are numerically rated in relation to each other, is simple and seems applicable even in situations where capacity and funds are limited, but managers rarely use such methods. Here we investigate scoring with seven indigenous communities threatened by forest loss in Kalimantan, Indonesia. We aimed to clarify the forest’s multifaceted importance, using replication, cross-check exercises, and interviews. Results are sometimes surprising, but generally explained by additional investigation that sometimes provides new insights. The consistency of scoring results increases in line with community literacy and wealth. Various benefits and pitfalls are identified and examined. Aside from revealing and clarifying local preferences, scoring has unexplored potential as a quantitative technique. Scoring is an underappreciated management tool with wide potential.     

Afforestation Planning and Biodiversity Conservation: Predicting Effects on Habitat Functionality in Lithuania

Habitat re-creation is one of the multiple faces of biodiversity restoration and encompasses the attempts to reconstruct an ecosystem on severely disturbed sites with little left to restore. Afforestation of abandoned or marginal agricultural land is an important tool for the re-creation of forest ecosystems and re-establishment of functional habitat networks for the maintenance of biodiversity. This study was performed in the context of the Danish-Lithuanian project ‘Afforestation of abandoned agricultural land based on sustainable land use planning and environmentally sound forest management’. The study assessed how habitat re-creation as designed in alternative afforestation plans for two administrative regions in Lithuania will affect the functionality of the landscapes for bird species of conservation concern. Spatial analysis of the forest cover was performed under existing and proposed conditions using general landscape ecological principles concerning core and edge habitats as well as nearest-neighbour metrics. The results show that the use of general criteria may result in proportionally negative changes in the availability of some forest habitats relative to changes in total forest cover, thus leading to less significant improvements in the habitats of many naturally occurring (and even protected) species compared to what would be expected from changes in forest cover alone. To solve this dilemma it is suggested that the requirements of focal species and quantitative conservation objectives should be considered in a spatially explicit – each main forest type. It is concluded that to ensure functionality of habitat networks, knowledge and experience from the fields of landscape ecology and conservation biology should be more commonly incorporated into afforestation planning.     

Forest Ecosystem Services and Eco-Compensation Mechanisms in China

Forests are a major terrestrial ecosystem providing multiple ecosystem services. However, the importance of forests is frequently underestimated from an economic perspective because of the externalities and public good properties of these services. Forest eco-compensation is a transfer mechanism that serves to internalize the externalities of forest ecosystem services by compensating individuals or companies for the losses or costs resulting from the provision of these services. China’s current forest eco-compensation system is centered mainly on noncommercial forest. The primary measures associated with ecosystem services are (1) a charge on destructive activities, such as indiscriminate logging, and (2) compensation for individual or local activities and investments in forest conservation. The Compensation Fund System for Forest Ecological Benefits was first listed in the Forest Law of the People’s Republic of China in 1998. In 2004, the Central Government Financial Compensation Fund, an important source for the Compensation Fund for Forest Ecological Benefits, was formally established. To improve the forest eco-compensation system, it is crucial to design and establish compensation criteria for noncommercial forests. These criteria should take both theoretical and practical concerns into account, and they should be based on the quantitative valuation of ecosystem services. Although some initial headway has been made on this task, the implementation of an effective forest eco-compensation system in China still has deficiencies and still faces problems. Implementing classification-based and dynamic management for key noncommercial forests and establishing an eco-compensation mechanism with multiple funding sources in the market economy are the key measures needed to conquer these problems and improve the forest eco-compensation system and China’s forestry development in sequence.     

Spatial Heterogeneity of Water Quality in a Highly Degraded Tropical Freshwater Ecosystem

Awareness of environmental heterogeneity in ecosystems is critical for management and conservation. We used the Xochimilco freshwater system to describe the relationship between heterogeneity and human activities. This tropical aquatic ecosystem south of Mexico City is comprised of a network of interconnected canals and lakes that are influenced by agricultural and urban activities. Environmental heterogeneity was characterized by spatially extensive surveys within four regions of Xochimilco during rainy and dry seasons over 2 years. These surveys revealed a heterogeneous system that was shallow (1.1 m, SD = 0.4 ), warm (17°C, SD = 2.9), well oxygenated (5.0 mg l⁻¹, SD = 3), turbid (45.7 NTU SD = 26.96), and extremely nutrient-rich (NO₃–N = 15.9 mg l⁻¹, SD=13.7; NH₄–N = 2.88 mg l⁻¹, SD = 4.24; and PO₄–P =  8.3 mg l⁻¹, SD = 2.4). Most of the variables were not significantly different between years, but did differ between seasons, suggesting a dynamic system within a span of a year but with a high resilience over longer periods of time. Maps were produced using interpolations to describe distributions of all variables. There was no correlation between individual variables and land use. Consequently, we searched for relationships using all variables together by generating a combined water quality index. Significant differences in the index were apparent among the four regions. Index values also differed within individual region and individual water bodies (e.g., within canals), indicating that Xochimilco has high local heterogeneity. Using this index on a map helped to relate water quality to human activities and provides a simple and clear tool for managers and policymakers.     

生物多样性保护中模糊治理的解释与展开

面向复杂的生态环境系统,将生物多样性保护的全部要素在短时间内全部加以规则化、制度化可能会带来高昂的制度转型成本并形成负面反馈,延长有效治理的时限。生物多样性保护的复杂性、生物安全事件的突发性都需要治理系统快速做出反应,提供弹性、包容的治理机制。模糊治理的嵌入可以对精细化治理形成有效补充。这一模式将打破行政主体的关系限制,突破行政区域地理的空间限制,推进生物多样性保护协调行动。要完成这一任务,既需要完善清晰、可预测的生物多样性制度框架,为模糊治理提供规则条件,也需要适度模糊治理主体的组织关系,为模糊治理提供机制条件,还需要完善生物多样性治理的层级网络,模糊治理区域的地域关系,为模糊治理提供策略条件。     

Politics of Biodiversity Conservation and Socio Ecological Conflicts in a City: The Case of Sanjay Gandhi National Park,Mumbai

Loss of the green belts in the cities as an antecedent outcome of haphazard and irregular urbanization as one of the principle factors has a negative bearing on the socio ecological services that nature entails. Our paper represents the conditions under which the contemporary statist conservationist efforts to preserve the urban protected areas (PAs) in India induces a marginal existence and livelihood vulnerability upon the survival of the population residing within these PAs. A recent survey to Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai reflects the ways in which a politics of conservation operates not only in the rural regions but also in cities, in highly inequitable and fabricated ways. This has consequently affected the impoverished, disempowered and impecunious inhabitants who comprise a considerable segment of population in cosmopolitan Mumbai, residing within the PAs. The present article assesses the ways in which in metropolises, PAs by definition determine jurisdictions and exercise rights to exclude the social groups who are marginal and less powerful. This is to preserve a pristine people free aesthetic environment in cities, for which there is an increasing demand from the local elite. The results of the study indicate the socio ecological aspects of the conservation politics in the city of Mumbai. The emergent consequences are in terms of the questions of universal rights to the PAs or reflecting an elitist provision of environmental integrity to the privileged visitors in the city.     

生态系统服务价值非货币量核算:理论框架与方法学

1997年两个开创性的著作,即Gretchen Daily主编的Nature’s Services:Societal Dependence on Natural Ecosystems一书及同年Robert Costanza在Nature上发表的The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital,引发了关于生态资本和生态系统服务、政策等研究的热潮。中国近几年来也将生态文明建设提到了前所未有的高度,并提出了一系列以生态系统服务价值核算为前提的制度和措施。基于此,本研究首先综述了现有生态系统服务分类体系及其存在的不足,剖析了现有核算生态系统服务价值的两类方法,即货币量方法和非货币量方法的核心差异点与可能的融合点,构建了基于能值分析方法和融合货币量核算方法的非货币量生态系统服务功能的新的核算框架,包括:(1)重新分类了生态系统服务价值,即直接价值(增加NPP、固碳释氧、增加土壤、补给地下水/涵养水源、提供水源水电和农产品等)、间接价值(净化大气、水、土壤、人畜排泄物和减少水土流失/侵蚀等)和存在价值(调节气候、调蓄水量、调节径流、旅游休闲、文化教育、维持生物多样性等)三大类;(2)确立了各类生态系统服务价值的核算方法体系;(3)厘清了核算中的加和原则等,以避免重复计算。该理论和方法学是解决现有生态系统服务价值核算方法不足的尝试和完整的方法论构建。     

生物多样性保护知识产权条款的功能：危机与应对

生物多样性保护领域中的国际条约设有知识产权条款,知识产权条款发挥鼓励创新的基本功能。现有生物多样性利用中存在的知识产权问题集中在获取和惠益分享、遗传资源公开和利用知识产权产生的利益三方面。随着数字开源运动和数据库的大量兴起,协调型知识产权规则因缺乏强制力,使知识产权条款发挥的效力大打折扣。加之知识产权的专有属性和产业化,使得知识产权和多样性保护之间的冲突加剧。中国积极参与生物多样性保护全球治理,由被动参与者转换为积极推动者,确认和实施知识产权规则,关注数字序列信息的发展并加强农民权利的表达。