Making rewilding fit for policy Pettorelli, Nathalie; Barlow, Jos; Stephens, Philip A. ...
Journal of applied ecology,
20/May , Volume:
55, Issue:
3
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
1. Rewilding, here defined as "the reorganisation of biota and ecosystem processes to set an identified social-ecological system on a preferred trajectory, leading to the self-sustaining provision of ...ecosystem services with minimal ongoing management," is increasingly considered as an environmental management option, with potential for enhancing both biodiversity and ecosystem services. 2. Despite burgeoning interest in the concept, there are uncertainties and difficulties associated with the practical implementation of rewilding projects, while the evidence available for facilitating sound decision-making for rewilding initiatives remains elusive. 3. We identify five key research areas to inform the implementation of future rewilding initiatives: increased understanding of the links between actions and impacts; improved risk assessment processes, through, for example, better definition and quantification of ecological risks; improved predictions of spatio-temporal variation in potential economic costs and associated benefits; better identification and characterisation of the likely social impacts of a given rewilding project; and facilitated emergence of a comprehensive and practical framework for the monitoring and evaluation of rewilding projects. 4. Policy implications. Environmental legislation is commonly based on a "compositionalist" paradigm itself predicated on the preservation of historical conditions characterised by the presence of particular species assemblages and habitat types. However, global environmental change is driving some ecosystems beyond their limits so that restoration to historical benchmarks or modern likely equivalents may no longer be an option. This means that the current environmental policy context could present barriers to the broad implementation of rewilding projects. To progress the global rewilding agenda, a better appreciation of current policy opportunities and constraints is required. This, together with a clear definition of rewilding and a scientifically robust rationale for its local implementation, is a prerequisite to engage governments in revising legislation where required to facilitate the operationalisation of rewilding.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NMLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This is our ninth annual horizon scan to identify emerging issues that we believe could affect global biological diversity, natural capital and ecosystem services, and conservation efforts. Our ...diverse and international team, with expertise in horizon scanning, science communication, as well as conservation science, practice, and policy, reviewed 117 potential issues. We identified the 15 that may have the greatest positive or negative effects but are not yet well recognised by the global conservation community. Themes among these topics include new mechanisms driving the emergence and geographic expansion of diseases, innovative biotechnologies, reassessments of global change, and the development of strategic infrastructure to facilitate global economic priorities.
This is the ninth such annual horizon scan.
Twenty-four experts in conservation research and practice, ecology, economics, policy, and science communication identified 15 topics following a wide consultation. They followed a Delphi like process to score and identify the most important.
The issues highlighted span a wide range of fields and include thiamine deficiency in wild animals, the geographic expansion of chronic wasting disease, genetic control of invasive mammal populations and the effect of culturomics on conservation science, policy and action.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
We present the results of our eighth annual horizon scan of emerging issues likely to affect global biological diversity, the environment, and conservation efforts in the future. The potential ...effects of these novel issues might not yet be fully recognized or understood by the global conservation community, and the issues can be regarded as both opportunities and risks. A diverse international team with collective expertise in horizon scanning, science communication, and conservation research, practice, and policy reviewed 100 potential issues and identified 15 that qualified as emerging, with potential substantial global effects. These issues include new developments in energy storage and fuel production, sand extraction, potential solutions to combat coral bleaching and invasive marine species, and blockchain technology.
This is the eighth such annual horizon scan.
An international team with expertise in horizon scanning, science communication, and conservation research, practice, and policy identified 15 issues, following widespread consultation and a Delphi-like scoring process to identify the most important.
The issues were wide ranging, and include sand extraction, blockchain technology, use of robotics to combat invasive species, and new developments in energy storage and fuel production.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
Abstract
Increased extreme heat events draw attention to the potential of urban nature as a heat adaptation strategy for cities. This is reflected in multiple scientific perspective pieces, policy ...documents and science media publications advocating for urban greening as a cooling approach. Although attention to the dangers of heat and the benefits of urban nature is welcomed, it is vital that nature-based approaches to cooling are underpinned by diverse knowledge and a sound understanding of what nature in cities can and cannot do. We explain why an evidence-driven and cautious approach to heat adaptation through urban greening is so important, and propose three actions that urban actors can take towards effective and equitable long-term cooling through urban nature: enabling dialogue between different sectors with multiple remits; including diverse knowledge systems in planning and governance processes; and investing in long-term stewardship for the climatological and societal conditions of the coming decades.
Policy and practice recommendation
• Create fora for dialogue between governments, residents, civil society and developers from planning stage for green cooling;
• Cooling through nature must be driven by expertise spanning diverse knowledge systems, combined with local knowledge and community needs;
• Consider future climates and stewardship when planning urban cooling via nature.
Science highlights
• Understanding link between urban thermal environment and nature is an inter- and transdisciplinary task;
• Critical need for evidence of how greening reduces heat impacts across different social and cultural contexts;
• Evidence of how species perform under future climates required for stewardship of urban nature.
1. Planning for nature conservation has increasingly emphasised the concepts of resilience and spatial networks. Although the importance of habitat networks for individual species is clear, their ...significance for long-term ecological resilience and multi-species conservation strategies is less established. 2. Referencing spatial network theory, we describe the conceptual basis for defining and assessing a network of wildlife areas that supports species' resilience to multiple forms of perturbations and pressures. We explore actions that could enhance network resilience at a range of scales, based on ecological principles, with reference to four well-established strategies for intervention in a spatial network ("Better, Bigger, More and Joined") from the influential Making Space for Nature report by Lawton et al. (2010). 3. Building existing theory into useable and scalable approaches applicable to large numbers of species is challenging but tractable. We illustrate the policy context, describe the elements of a long-term adaptive management plan and provide example actions, metrics and targets for early implementation using England as a case study, where there is an opportunity to include large-scale ecological planning in a newly launched 25-year environment plan. 4. Policy implications. The concept of resilient ecological networks has attracted sc entific and political support, but there is no consensus on what a resilient network would look like, or how to assess it. Therefore, it is unclear whether existing targets for action will be sufficient to achieve network resilience. We show that the scientific principles to place resilience and network theory at the heart of largescale and long-term environmental planning are established and ready to implement in practice. Delivering a resilient network to support nature recovery is achievable and can be integrated with ongoing conservation actions and targets, by assessing their effectiveness on properties of the entire network. England's 25 Year Environment Plan promises to deliver a natural environment that is protected and enhanced for the future and so provides the ideal testbed.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Does hip hop, with its roots in African-American ghettos and reputation as a 'resistance vernacular' for marginalised groups, only maintain validity and authenticity when its practitioners are from ...oppressive socioeconomic backgrounds?
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
To perform real-time whole genome sequencing (WGS) and RNA sequencing (RNASeq) of advanced pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) to identify predictive mutational and transcriptional features for ...better treatment selection.
Patients with advanced PDAC were prospectively recruited prior to first-line combination chemotherapy. Fresh tumor tissue was acquired by image-guided percutaneous core biopsy for WGS and RNASeq. Laser capture microdissection was performed for all cases. Primary endpoint was feasibility to report WGS results prior to first disease assessment CT scan at 8 weeks. The main secondary endpoint was discovery of patient subsets with predictive mutational and transcriptional signatures.
Sixty-three patients underwent a tumor biopsy between December 2015 and June 2017. WGS and RNASeq were successful in 62 (98%) and 60 (95%), respectively. Genomic results were reported at a median of 35 days (range, 19-52 days) from biopsy, meeting the primary feasibility endpoint. Objective responses to first-line chemotherapy were significantly better in patients with the classical PDAC RNA subtype compared with those with the basal-like subtype (
= 0.004). The best progression-free survival was observed in those with classical subtype treated with m-FOLFIRINOX.
expression in tumor measured by RNA
hybridization was found to be a robust surrogate biomarker for differentiating classical and basal-like PDAC subtypes. Potentially actionable genetic alterations were found in 30% of patients.
Prospective genomic profiling of advanced PDAC is feasible, and our early data indicate that chemotherapy response differs among patients with different genomic/transcriptomic subtypes.
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Since its inception, the Australian armed forces, like all five eye military nations, have been challenged by the phenomenon of violence within the institution. Militaries are institutions of and for ...violence. The imperative of violence cultivates all service personnel through their initial training and then ongoing roles. This article assesses 4 decades of significant Australian military inquiries around the question of internal institutional violence, including bullying, sexual assault, sexual harassment, hazing, and bastardization. We define this as “military institutional abuse,” which represents a new term for describing this phenomenon that allows for a deeper understanding of institutional gendered and martial culture. The aim is to provide the first overview of military institutional abuse within the Australian military. We argue that military institutional abuse is not an anomaly but endemic to the military institution. In the last decade, there has been a significant activity around gender reforms, changing the alcohol culture and the tribal forms of masculinity associated with it. The question of how the military has responded to this phenomenon illuminates better avenues of cultural reform and responds to the problematic question, “to what extent can this authoritarian institution liberalize”?
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The United Kingdom's COVID-19 epidemic during early 2020 was one of world's largest and was unusually well represented by virus genomic sampling. We determined the fine-scale genetic lineage ...structure of this epidemic through analysis of 50,887 severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) genomes, including 26,181 from the UK sampled throughout the country's first wave of infection. Using large-scale phylogenetic analyses combined with epidemiological and travel data, we quantified the size, spatiotemporal origins, and persistence of genetically distinct UK transmission lineages. Rapid fluctuations in virus importation rates resulted in >1000 lineages; those introduced prior to national lockdown tended to be larger and more dispersed. Lineage importation and regional lineage diversity declined after lockdown, whereas lineage elimination was size-dependent. We discuss the implications of our genetic perspective on transmission dynamics for COVID-19 epidemiology and control.
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