Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas in the Philippines for Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract: Quantifying the extent to which existing reserves meet conservation objectives and identifying gaps in coverage are vital to developing systematic protected‐area networks. Despite widespread recognition of the Philippines as a global priority for marine conservation, limited work has been undertaken to evaluate the conservation effectiveness of existing marine protected areas (MPAs). Targets for MPA coverage in the Philippines have been specified in the 1998 Fisheries Code legislation, which calls for 15% of coastal municipal waters (within 15 km of the coastline) to be protected within no‐take MPAs, and the Philippine Marine Sanctuary Strategy (2004), which aims to protect 10% of coral reef area in no‐take MPAs by 2020. We used a newly compiled database of nearly 1000 MPAs to measure progress toward these targets. We evaluated conservation effectiveness of MPAs in two ways. First, we determined the degree to which marine bioregions and conservation priority areas are represented within existing MPAs. Second, we assessed the size and spacing patterns of reserves in terms of best‐practice recommendations. We found that the current extent and distribution of MPAs does not adequately represent biodiversity. At present just 0.5% of municipal waters and 2.7–3.4% of coral reef area in the Philippines are protected in no‐take MPAs. Moreover, 85% of no‐take area is in just two sites; 90% of MPAs are <1 km². Nevertheless, distances between existing MPAs should ensure larval connectivity between them, providing opportunities to develop regional‐scale MPA networks. Despite the considerable success of community‐based approaches to MPA implementation in the Philippines, this strategy will not be sufficient to meet conservation targets, even under a best‐case scenario for future MPA establishment. We recommend that implementation of community‐based MPAs be supplemented by designation of additional large no‐take areas specifically located to address conservation targets.     

Application of non-market valuation to the Florida Keys marine reserve management

The quality of the coral reefs in the Florida Keys is essential to sustain nature-based tourism in the Keys. The recently established marine reserves (MR) are expected to improve the reef environment, particularly coral and fish abundance and diversity. In this paper, a combined model of travel cost and contingent behavior was estimated in order to measure the non-market recreational benefits of reef quality improvements. The results indicated that an average visitor would undertake 43-80% more number of trips to the Florida Keys and experience a 69% increase in the use values per trip, as a result of the MR-induced reef quality improvements. The above non-market value estimates were further applied to evaluating alternative management proposals for funding the MR program. It was found that the annual management costs of the MR program would constitute an insignificant portion--only around one to 2%--of the annual recreational benefits that the MR would generate. The results provide a strong economic justification for designing user-based funding mechanisms in order to make the MR program self-sustaining in the future.     

Foraminifera as bioindicators in coral reef assessment and monitoring: the FORAM Index. Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring

Coral reef communities are threatened worldwide. Resource managers urgently need indicators of the biological condition of reef environments that can relate data acquired through remote-sensing, water-quality and benthic-community monitoring to stress responses in reef organisms. The FORAM (Foraminifera in Reef Assessment and Monitoring) Index (FI) is based on 30 years of research on reef sediments and reef-dwelling larger foraminifers. These shelled protists are ideal indicator organisms because: Foraminifers are widely used as environmental and paleoenvironmental indicators in many contexts; Reef-building, zooxanthellate corals and foraminifers with algal symbionts have similar water-quality requirements; The relatively short life spans of foraminifers as compared with long-lived colonial corals facilitate differentiation between long-term water-quality decline and episodic stress events; Foraminifers are relatively small and abundant, permitting statistically significant sample sizes to be collected quickly and relatively inexpensively, ideally as a component of comprehensive monitoring programs; and Collection of foraminifers has minimal impact on reef resources.USEPA guidelines for ecological indicators are used to evaluate the FI. Data required are foraminiferal assemblages from surface sediments of reef-associated environments. The FI provides resource managers with a simple procedure for determining the suitability of benthic environments for communities dominated by algal symbiotic organisms. The FI can be applied independently, or incorporated into existing or planned monitoring efforts. The simple calculations require limited computer capabilities and therefore can be applied readily to reef-associated environments worldwide. In addition, the foraminiferal shells collected can be subjected to morphometric and geochemical analyses in areas of suspected heavy-metal pollution, and the data sets for the index can be used with other monitoring data in detailed multidimensional assessments.     

Elements of resilience after the World Trade Center disaster: reconstituting New York City's Emergency Operations Centre

In this paper we examine the reconstitution of the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) after its destruction in the World Trade Center attack, using that event to highlight several features of resilience. The paper summarises basic EOC functions, and then presents conceptions of resilience as understood from several disciplinary perspectives, noting that work in these fields has sought to understand how a natural or social system that experiences disturbance sustains its functional processes. We observe that, although the physical EOC facility was destroyed, the organisation that had been established to manage crises in New York City continued, enabling a response that drew on the resources of New York City and neighbouring communities, states and the federal government. Availability of resources--which substituted for redundancy of personnel, equipment and space--pre-existing relationships that eased communication challenges as the emergency developed and the continuation of organisational patterns of response integration and role assignments were among the factors that contributed to resilience following the attack.     

水射流技术处理软基防渗工程实例

介绍了在西沙群岛永兴岛的特殊地基条件下，采用高压喷射注浆技术对大型地下集水池进行封底，并获得圆满成功的工程实例，总结了采用高压喷射注浆技术处理珊瑚礁（Ｃｏｒａｌｒｅｅｆ） 地基的成功经验     

Assessing the Effects of Non-Point Source Pollution on American Samoa’s Coral Reef Communities

Surveys were completed on Tutuila Island, American Samoa, to characterize reef development and assess the impacts of non-point source pollution on adjacent coral reefs at six sites. Multivariate analyses of benthic and coral community data found similar modern reef development at three locations; Aoa, Alofau, and Leone. These sites are situated in isolated bays with gentle sloping foundations. Aoa reefs had the highest estimates of crustose coralline algae cover and coral species richness, while Leone and Alofau showed high abundances of macroalgae and Porites corals. Aoa has the largest reef flat between watershed discharge and the reef slope, and the lowest human population density. Masefau and Fagaalu have a different geomorphology consisting of cemented staghorn coral fragments and steep slopes, however, benthic and coral communities were not similar. Benthic data suggest Fagaalu is heavily impacted compared with all other sites. Reef communities were assessed as bio-criteria indicators for waterbody health, using the EPA aquatic life use support designations of (1) fully supportive, (2) partially supportive, and (3) non-supportive for aquatic life. All sites resulted in a partially supportive ranking except Fagaalu, which was non-supportive. The results of this rapid assessment based upon relative benthic community measures are less desirable than long-term dataset analyses from monitoring programs, however it fills an important role for regulatory agencies required to report annual waterbody assessments. Future monitoring sites should be established to increase the number of replicates within each geological and physical setting to allow for meaningful comparisons along a gradient of hypothesized pollution levels.     

四论灾害系统研究的理论与实践

作者曾分别于1991,1995和2001年发表了关于灾害研究理论与实践的3篇文章,对灾害系统的性质、动力学机制等进行了探讨.本文在前3篇文章的基础上,从综合灾害风险管理的角度,完善了灾害系统的结构与功能体系,论证了灾情形成过程中恢复力的作用机制,分析了区域开发与安全建设的互馈关系,构建了区域综合减灾的行政管理体系,提出了由政府、企业与社区构成的区域综合减灾范式.研究结果表明,区域灾情形成过程中,脆弱性与恢复力有着明显的区别,脆弱性是区域灾害系统中致灾因子、承灾体和孕灾环境综合作用过程的状态量,它主要取决于区域的经济发达程度与社区安全建设水平;恢复力则是灾害发生后,区域恢复、重建及安全建设与区域发展相互作用的动态量,它主要取决于区域综合灾害风险行政管理能力、政府与企业投入和社会援助水平.区域安全水平与土地利用的时空格局和产业结构关系密切,通过划定区域高风险“红线区“的办法,调整土地利用时空格局和产业结构,有利于建立区域可持续发展的综合减灾范式.针对区域自然灾害系统存在着相互作用、互为因果的灾害链规律,以及灾害系统所具有的结构与功能特征,完善由纵向、横向和政策协调共同组成的一个“三维矩阵式“的区域综合减灾行政管理体系,构建以政府为主导、企业为主体、社区全面参与的区域综合减灾范式.以此促进在发展中提高区域减灾能力,并在一定安全水平下,建设区域可持续发展模式.     

Defining disaster resilience: comparisons from key stakeholders involved in emergency management in Victoria,Australia

Three years after the introduction of the National Strategy for Disaster Resilience there remains no unanimously adopted definition of disaster resilience within Australia's emergency management sector. The aim of this study is to determine what the concept means to key stakeholders in the emergency management sector in the Australian State of Victoria, and how these conceptualisations overlap and diverge. Via an online survey, 113 people were asked how they define disaster resilience in their work in the emergency management sector. A data mining software tool, Leximancer, was employed to uncover the relationships between the definitions provided. The findings show that stakeholders see resilience as an ‘ability’ that encompasses emergency management activities and personal responsibility. However, the findings also highlight some possible points of conflict between stakeholders. In addition, the paper outlines and discusses a number of potential consequences for the implementation and the success of the resilience‐based approach in Australia.     

Supporting the risk management process with land information: a case study of Australia

It is frequently argued that, at the parcel level, 1 stakeholders are capable of and well supported in managing their land‐related risks. Yet, evidence from the contemporary Australian context suggests otherwise: numerous large‐scale disaster events have revealed that citizens are ill‐prepared to respond and recover adequately. This paper begins with the premise that information, specifically land information, could better support parcel‐level risk preparation, mitigation, response, and recovery. State land administration organisations in Australia primarily maintain this information and make it accessible. Land information is used regularly across all levels of government to support risk management activities; however, such application has not always occurred at the parcel and citizen level. Via a case study approach, this paper initially explores the land information available in Australia to stakeholders interested in parcel‐level detail, and then goes on to propose how the utilisation of parcel‐level land information could serve to enhance risk management practices.     

化学污染物对珊瑚礁生态系统的影响研究进展

化学污染物是影响珊瑚礁生态系统健康的重要因素之一。随着我国社会经济的发展,沿海农业活动、城市工业化以及旅游业的发展导致珊瑚礁生长区的化学污染物浓度越来越高。珊瑚礁生态系统长期在化学污染物的联合胁迫下,生态风险指数日益增加,受到国内外研究者的极大关注。本文综述了国内外该领域的重要研究进展,并从个体、细胞和分子水平重点介绍了化学污染物对珊瑚的影响,主要包括：(1)珊瑚礁对重金属和多环芳烃有明显的富集作用,可以作为该海域化学污染物污染水平的外在反映;(2)化学污染物对珊瑚幼体的影响程度比成体大;(3)抗氧化酶和特定的功能基因可被用作生物标记物来监测珊瑚礁生态系统的健康状况。最后,对我国未来珊瑚礁生态系统的研究方向进行展望,建议在典型珊瑚礁海域进行长期的生态学监测,结合室内胁迫实验,筛选出敏感的生物标志物(biomarker),为今后珊瑚礁生态系统的保护提供基础信息,并对其可能存在的环境风险进行评价。