A structured decision making (SDM) approach can help evaluate tradeoffs between conservation and human-benefit objectives by fostering communication and knowledge transfer among stakeholders, ...decision makers, and the public. However, the process is iterative and completing the full process may take years. It can be difficult to initiate an SDM effort when problems seem insurmountable. Occasionally, SDM may not even be the best or correct approach for addressing the conservation problem at hand. We describe the implementation of an SDM process to help inform difficult decisions related to competing objectives. We convened a diverse stakeholder group from the largest estuary in the western United States; the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta (Bay-Delta). The stakeholder group consisted of representatives from local, state, and federal agencies, non-profit organizations, and recreational fishers. The stakeholder group agreed on a problem statement and identified four priority objectives related to Chinook salmon, delta smelt, water availability and reliability, and agricultural water use. Furthermore, they proposed 14 candidate management actions to achieve their objectives. The group then used existing quantitative models and data to evaluate trade-offs in proposed management actions to identify areas of agreement of proposed candidate actions. The clear communication of the problem statement and objectives among the stakeholder group, along with evaluation of tradeoffs and uncertainty via decision-support models suggest that a full SDM approach may work in the Bay-Delta. We further communicate lessons learned during our implementation of SDM to help guide future SDM efforts in the region and elsewhere.
•Structured decision making is useful for transparently evaluating tradeoffs between competing conservation objectives.•We implemented structured decision making to evaluate actions to restore fish species in the San Francisco Bay and Delta.•We found structured decision making was an appropriate framework to inform management in the Bay-Delta.•Our prototyping effort facilitated communication among Bay-Delta stakeholders.
Bycatch in fisheries is a key threat to non-target marine species, particularly for those species that have life histories with low productivity or poor conservation status. In this paper, the ...requirements of the new Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Fisheries Standard (hereafter “the Standard”) are summarised relevant to Endangered, Threatened and Protected (ETP) species. This covers both how species are designated as ETP, and how performance of management is assessed with respect to ETP species, when scoring fisheries against the Standard. The process used to select these requirements is described, including a review of the requirements for earlier versions of the Standard and the scoring of these requirements in assessment reports for a selection of fisheries that have achieved MSC certification. The review identified a lack of consistency in the implementation of scoring guidelines, which was in part due to a lack of clarity in the requirements of the Standard. The revised Standard has been designed to achieve more consistent implementation of the requirements with respect to management of impacts on ETP species, and to align the requirements more closely with global best practice. The requirements may be used as a template for fisheries managers seeking to prioritise bycatch species for improved management and setting more specific and measurable objectives in relation to population status and minimising mortalities.
https://doi.org/10.15447/sfews.2017v15iss1art8
Quantitative population objectives are necessary to successfully achieve conservation goals of secure or robust wildlife populations. However, existing ...methods for setting quantitative population objectives commonly require extensive species-specific population viability data, which are often unavailable or are based on estimates of historical population sizes, which may no longer represent feasible objectives. Conservation practitioners require an alternative, science-based method for setting long-term quantitative population objectives. We reviewed conservation biology literature to develop a general conceptual framework that represents conservation biology principles and identifies key milestones a population would be expected to pass in the process of becoming a recovered or robust population. We then synthesized recent research to propose general hypotheses for the orders of magnitude at which most populations would be expected to reach each milestone. The framework is structured as a hierarchy of four population sizes, ranging from very small populations at increased risk of inbreeding depression and extirpation ( < 1,000 adults) to large populations with minimized risk of extirpation ( > 50,000 adults), along with additional modifiers describing steeply declining and resilient populations. We also discuss the temporal and geographic scales at which this framework should be applied. To illustrate the application of this framework to conservation planning, we outline our use of the framework to set long-term population objectives for a multi-species regional conservation plan, and discuss additional considerations in applying this framework to other systems. This general framework provides a transparent, science-based method by which conservation practitioners and stakeholders can agree on long-term population objectives of an appropriate magnitude, particularly when the alternative approaches are not feasible. With initial population objectives determined, long-term conservation planning and implementation can get underway, while further refinement of the objectives still remains possible as the population’s response to conservation effort is monitored and new data become available.
The British landscape has always been changing, but our capacity to alter it rapidly has increased in the last 60 years. Many of our ideas on conservation of woods, and treescapes more generally, ...developed in the decades after the Second World War. They have not always evolved to take into account new information and thinking around landscape ecology, the past influence of humans on the landscape, climate change, emerging tree diseases and new forms of public discussion via social media. Britain leaving the European Union is an opportunity to bring some of these ideas into conservation policy and support mechanisms.
https://doi.org/10.15447/sfews.2017v15iss1art5
Riparian ecosystems provide important ecosystem services and recreational opportunities for people, and habitat for wildlife. In California’s Central ...Valley, government agencies and private organizations are working together to protect and restore riparian ecosystems, and the Central Valley Joint Venture provides leadership in the formulation of goals and objectives for avian conservation in riparian ecosystems. We defined a long-term conservation goal as the establishment of riparian ecosystems that provide sufficient habitat to support genetically robust, self-sustaining, and resilient bird populations. To achieve this goal, we selected a suite of 12 breeding riparian landbird focal species as indicators of the state of riparian ecosystems in each of four major Central Valley planning regions. Using recent bird survey data, we estimated that over half of the regional focal species populations are currently small (< 10,000) and may be vulnerable to extirpation, and two species have steeply declining population trends. For each focal species in each region, we defined long-term (100-year) population objectives that are intended to be conservation endpoints that we expect to meet the goal of genetically robust, self-sustaining, and resilient populations. We then estimated the long-term species density and riparian restoration objectives required to achieve the long-term population objectives. To track progress toward the long-term objectives, we propose short-term (10- year) objectives, including the addition of 12,919 ha (31,923 ac) of riparian vegetation in the Central Valley (by planning region: 3,390 ha in Sacramento, 2,390 ha in Yolo–Delta, 3,386 ha in San Joaquin, and 3,753 ha in Tulare). We expect that reaching these population, density, and habitat objectives through threat abatement, habitat restoration, and habitat enhancement will result in improvements to riparian ecosystem function and resilience that will benefit other wildlife populations and the people of the Central Valley and beyond.
The Natura 2000 network contains many different habitats in Estonia, including old-growth forests and semi-natural woodlands. Ten years after the establishment of the Natura 2000 network in Estonia, ...changes have occurred in habitat type and habitat quality. Vegetation composition as well as the structural and functional qualities of a forest habitat type – Fennoscandian herbrich forests with Picea abies (EU Habitats Directive habitat type 9050) – are analysed in this study. The study is based on sample plots measured in 2014 and are located in protected and non-protected areas. Aegopodium, Filipendula and Oxalis vegetation types are included for assessment of vegetation, tree structure and deadwood composition. Habitat composition and dynamics on conservation sites are compared with commercial forests and possible ecosystem restoration measures are discussed in the study. The 46% of the studied habitats had considerably lowered their initial conservation value and 49% were developed towards habitat type 9010 during 2004–2014.
Predicting and measuring changes resulting from marine protected areas (MPAs) has posed a challenge for practitioners, partly because ecosystems are complex and can change in unanticipated ways, but ...also due to MPA characteristics such as design factors, conservation objectives (COs), and monitoring programs, that can leave little chance of meeting stated goals. We consider these design factors for the Laurentian Channel MPA, a large offshore Canadian protected area established to protect against fishing impacts. Specifically, in this study we evaluated (1) whether it is realistic to expect improvements in the MPA for four previously established taxa‐specific COs, and (2) whether existing scientific surveys are capable of detecting changes in these CO taxa even if they occurred. Three CO species were sampled in scientific multispecies research vessel trawl surveys (Black Dogfish, Smooth Skate, and Northern Wolffish) and a fourth CO, sea pen taxa, were enumerated using seafloor imagery. Simulations indicate that trawl surveys have very little chance of detecting change in the abundance of the three fish species examined, while seafloor imagery data had higher statistical power for sea pen taxa. Moreover, we show that expecting change related to the removal of fishing is unrealistic due to the fact that the MPA was established in an area of minimal fishing pressure. While positive change is unlikely to be induced by the MPA, or be detected if they occurred, this MPA could provide conservation benefits if COs and monitoring approaches were realigned to match the unique features of this area that represents largely unimpacted sensitive benthic habitats.
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are being created to protect against the loss of biodiversity in the world's oceans. Simulation modelling and power analysis to evaluate likelihood that MPAs are effective in reaching their established goals is important to ensure conservation efforts are effective.
This paper examines conservation objectives in Australian law in the context of climate change. The rate of climate change and the scale and extent of its impacts on natural systems drive the need to ...re-evaluate current conservation objectives, from basic concept definitions, to overarching goals and values, to the way they are operationalized at all levels. We outline the case for reform of objectives in the legal framework for conservation and discuss three key strategies that would facilitate this transition: (1) acknowledgment in conservation law of system dynamism; (2) focus on ecosystem function, stability, and resilience; and (3) an explicit recognition that systems operate across multiple scales. Law reform is a slow process, but the potential of climate change to drive transformational changes means that urgent action is needed to overcome the limitations of current objectives and in the legal framework itself.
El propósito de este artículo de revisión es presentar las principales aproximaciones teóricas del Sistema de Áreas Protegidas, desde los desarrollosconceptuales generados por la doctrina ...socio-jurídica y ambiental. A partir de estos referentes teóricos se definen las áreas protegidas desde una visiónsistemática, analizando los antecedentes normativos e institucionales que las regulan, los conceptos que las definen y las características que las componen. Así mismo, se discute respecto a los objetivos y finalidades que debe atender el sistema de áreas protegidas en Colombia, desde el análisis de una función ecológica, la participación y la garantía de derechos ambientales y de desarrollo sostenible. Se concluye que como sistema, las áreas protegidas no solo están constituidas por un marco regulatorio y conceptual, sino que al estar integradas a un ordenamiento jurídico ambiental, les corresponde atender a un criterio de legitimidad.
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