Gogland Island, located in the Gulf of Finland in the Baltic Sea, was densely populated in the past but has been nearly abandoned since the Second World War. The self-restoration of wildlife takes ...place there. Recent research on the island aimed to evaluate the conservation value of this process. It was expected that the island would demonstrate a standard for the perfect state of protected areas of the boreal zone of Europe. The island has been overgrown with forests; open areas occupy insignificant parts and tend to shrink. Picturesque landscapes have been formed, but the conservation value of these areas are questionable as the biodiversity is rather low there. They contain “empty forest” that is partly impassable. The island demonstrates that to achieve the maximum effect for biodiversity conservation, the abandonment of land without any management would be insufficient. The fate of the island partly supports the concept of Pleistocene rewilding: a mosaic of forests and meadows, maintained by ungulates, should be considered a normal state of environments.
We assessed the reproducibility of river state-of-environment (SoE) water quality measurements in the Wellington Region, New Zealand (NZ). Field staff from GWRC and NIWA conducted 29 side-by-side ...water sampling and in-situ measurements at six river sites of diverse water quality for 12 variables measured routinely in river SoE monitoring across NZ. Field measurements of water temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and visual clarity agreed closely with strong numerical similarity (within 10%). Numerical similarity ranged widely for laboratory measurements, from strong for nitrate-nitrite-nitrogen to weak for turbidity, dissolved reactive phosphorus, and ammoniacal-nitrogen. Numerical agreement was very weak for laboratory pH (which is problematic) and E. coli-which is 'tolerable' for many applications given good correlation (R = 0.94) over a 2000-fold concentration range. The findings of our inter-agency comparison have contributed to quality assurance recommendations in the NZ National Environmental Monitoring Standard (NEMS) for water quality.
The paper presents the use of indicators in a site-specific assessment method for strategic environmental assessment in regional land use planning (here: SEA-REP). It is explained with the example of ...the state of environment indicator ‘LUCCA 4—Urban Areas at Risk of Flooding’, how SEA as a decision-aiding instrument can contribute to the prevention of conflicts with policy for adaptation to climate change.
The method begins with the determination of impact factors for SEA. In the presented study, the physical impact factors of land consumption, land use change, and directed flooding were recognised. A core problem during the selection of indicators for land uses for the adaptation to climate change (here: LUCCA) and the derivation of assessment thresholds was a lack of region-wide policy objectives for the protection of land and resources. Therefore, in a second step, regional environmental orientation objectives were derived from national and EU environmental policy. A standard method for the selection of LUCCA indicators and the derivation of assessment thresholds for conflict analysis is described. Three classes of conflict classification for regional plan designations on the individual site are proposed. It is recommended that future adaptation measures of regional land use planning should be designations of specific land uses as priority areas for urban areas prone to flood risk.
Transformation in human-dominated ecosystems results from cumulative impacts of human activity. A comprehensive system for State of Environment Reporting (SOER) must take into account indicators of ...stress on ecosystems, indicators of the state of the system (i.e., ecosystem structure and function), and indicators of social response (policy interventions). The Pressure–State–Response (PSR) model for State of Environment Reporting developed by Statistics Canada in the mid 1970s incorporated these elements. By adopting an ecosystem perspective, it represented a significant advance from the then prevailing engineering-based approaches, with their focus on contaminants in air, water and land. The PSR model, however, has its own inherent limitations: its focus on isolating “pressures”, “states”, and “responses” tends to provide a static representation of the environment, ignoring the significant dynamic processes that comprise the interactions between these components. The PSR model also lacks a ‘bottom line’ that would provide the policy community and the public with an overall assessment of environmental trends. These limitations can be overcome by adopting an ecosystem health approach, which allows for a determination of the overall viability of environments and for the identification of the collective pressures from human activity that threaten that viability. An ecosystem health approach also allows for a more explicit connection between the state of the environment and human well-being. In this paper, we trace the evolution of SOER and provide some of the building blocks for overcoming its present limitations.
Studying the situation and the impact on mountain landscapes of Caucasus allows by means of measurements to establish the most important sources of pollution, to identify the main forms of pressure ...(emissions, solid wastes, etc.) on the natural landscapes and agricultural systems, to develop a monitoring program with allocation the main objectives and most important tasks of its implementation. The main purpose of monitoring – is to collection of basic information, which will be aimed at addressing specific environmental problems for improvement soil cover on northern slopes of Caucasus and protect it from water erosion. The monitoring program allows getting information, which is due specific problem and conditions of certain area. The main tasks of monitoring the soil cover of northern slopes include concrete achievements in solving problems. At the beginning of monitoring follows determine the range of issues under study. More than often limited resources strictly dictate the need to reduce of measurement program, but always save quality of received material. For solving this problem we have to define the polygons of monitoring and select the objects that are affected by anthropogenic and natural factors. Considering defined technique, it is possible to evaluate the direction of development of particular ecosystem under the influence of a specific mode of action
The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Red List Index (RLI) is used to measure global trends in the status of biodiversity. We examined how the index might be used to measure the trend in the status of ...indigenous breeding birds in British Columbia between 1992 and 2006. We followed the RLI method described by Butchart et al. (2004, 2007) as closely as possible. Because IUCN Red List assessments at the regional level are not available in British Columbia, we used NatureServe S (subnational) ranking data. We calculated three index trend lines. The first two of these allowed us to compare an index based on our original data to one based on data that had been retrospectively corrected; the latter produced a smooth, flat line. A third trend line, based on the corrected data but excluding species new to province since 1947, produced a gently sloping downward trend. Ongoing immigration of bird species in and out of British Columbia added to the complexity of interpreting our regional RLI-type index, especially because our S-rank data did not incorporate transboundary "rescue" effects. Because the RLI is scaled so that the maximum value is based on a state in which all species are simultaneously ranked as least concern, it may exaggerate the highest potential status of intrinsically vulnerable species. A simpler, more intuitive graphic allows reporting that is less dependent on context. We believe the RLI approach holds useful innovation for an indicator of change in biodiversity within jurisdictional boundaries.
Abstract
The way many Ghanaians relate to the environment now is not the best; they just do not care about how to handle the environment in a sustainable way. They have forgotten that life is ...environment and environment is life due to rapid cultural change, population explosion etc. There is indiscriminate logging, annual bushfires, illegal surface mining, bad farming practices, dumping of human and industrial wastes into our water bodies and the like. It is estimated that over 90 percent of Ghana's high forest has been logged since the late 1940s. The sanitation situation is growing from bad to worst as the records show. All efforts to salvage the situation over the years have failed to yield the needed results. It is for this reason that this paper argues strongly for the inclusion of indigenous Ghanaian religion and culture in this fight, for they have proven to be eco-biased religion and culture due to the environmentally beneficial mechanisms inherent in them. Specifically, the traditional Akan use their conception of land, taboos, totemism, sacred groves and sasa to ensure the conservation of nature. Therefore, this paper believe, the time has come for us to forge a common ground in our efforts to find a lasting solution to our environmental problems from both the perspectives of science and that of Indigenous Spiritualities and Culture.
Perceptions and use of environmental indicators and state of environment (SOE) reports by local governments and conservation authorities within the Ontario portion of the Great Lakes and St Lawrence ...basin were examined through a web-based survey and follow-up telephone interviews. Indicator and SOE reporting use are described, as well as information needs and limitations and challenges in using indicators and SOE reports to formulate environmental policy. Information exchange among different levels of governance is also explored. The State of the Great Lakes environmental indicators and SOE reports, developed by the governments of Canada and the United States, were used as a case study.
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