Application of a coupled human natural system framework to organize and frame challenges and opportunities for biodiversity conservation on private lands.

Abstract

ABSTRACT. Conservation science addresses the complementary goals of preventing future biodiversity loss while sustaining critical human foundations. In this paper we use two case studies focused on land management to discuss how private lands conservation can be more effective by considering how planning and decision making reflects a coupled human and natural system (CHANS). The first case study focuses on conservation easements in the temperate forests of eastern United States; the second focuses on conservation opportunities in Midwestern agroecosystems, in particular the value of agroforestry. For each case study we discuss the natural and human subsystems, how elements and interactions within and between subsystems (as organized by elements of CHANS) create challenges and opportunities for conservation, and the importance of considering relevant scales of subsystems. Review of these case studies demonstrates that additional insight gained by using a CHANS perspective, particularly given how the subsystems interact at different scales, improves identification of important points of social and ecological overlap, ultimately enhancing conservation research, planning, and practice.

An interdisciplinary assessment of private conservation areas in the Western United States

“…Because conservation easements are the fastest growing private land conservation strategy in the U.S., our findings have important policy implications to make operative the ES approach in private conservation initiatives (Dayer et al 2016). Currently, over 19 million hectares of land is under easement in the U.S. and millions of dollars annually are invested in new easements (Peters et al 2017;Quinn and Wood 2017). However, mechanisms to assess conservation easements are not well established.…”

“…Conservation easements are legally binding, voluntary conservation agreements on Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-020-01323-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. private lands that do not transfer ownership of the land, but define limitations to future development or management rights (Rissman 2013;Quinn and Wood 2017). The majority of conservation easements are promoted by local and state land trusts, which are non-governmental organizations that conserve land by negotiating and/or purchasing land in order to preserve it for natural, historical, personal, or economic values (Stolton et al 2014;Peters et al 2017).…”

Understanding Social-Ecological Challenges of a Small-Scale Hilsa (Tenualosa ilisha) Fishery in Bangladesh

“…An SES is an ecological system involvedly linked to and affected by one or more social systems [20]. In other words, in an SES, the role of humans is seen as an essential part of any conservation effort, due to positively enhancing interactions and feedback loops between the ecological and social subsystems [21]. These subsystems include active links related to people’s knowledge (often local or traditional) and management institutions, as well as the rules and norms that mediate how humans interact with the environment [22].…”

Actions speak louder than words: designing transdisciplinary approaches to enact solutions

“…Vernal pool conservation efforts highlight tensions between the protection of public goods and the rights of property owners, a tendency to focus on individual projects rather than cumulative impacts and landscape-scale processes, a multi-layered and fragmented regulatory system, and a lack of consideration of how future build-out scenarios could affect ecosystems. Thus, the difficulties associated with vernal pool conservation are representative of other planning challenges involving natural resource regulation on private land (Bauer, Bell, Nelson, & Calhoun, 2017;Calhoun et al, 2014;Quinn & Wood, 2017;Shogren, 2005).…”