International Conservation Policy Delivers Benefits for Birds in Europe

Donald, Paul F.; Sanderson, Fiona J.; Burfield, Ian J.; Bierman, S.M.; Gregory, Richard D.; Waliczky, Zoltán

doi:10.1126/science.1146002

Cited by 268 publications

(228 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…Even so, international law would seem to be a useful, and probably indispensable, ingredient of the larger toolbox needed to adequately conserve large carnivores. It is probably fair to assume-although it is difficult to conclusively prove or disprove this-that without it the conservation status of quite a few species worldwide would have been worse (Donald et al 2007;Baakman 2011). To illustrate, in many countries protected areas have been designated, or existing protected areas reinforced, pursuant to international obligations under wildlife treaties (Bowman et al 2010).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global large carnivore conservation and international law

Trouwborst

2015

Biodivers Conserv

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International cooperation, including through international legal instruments, appears important for the conservation of large carnivores worldwide. This is due to, inter alia, the worrying conservation status and population trends of many large carnivore species; the importance of large carnivores for biodiversity conservation at large; their occurrence at low densities, with many populations extending across various countries; and the international nature of particular threats. For the 31 heaviest species in the order Carnivora, this study (i) documents to what extent existing international legal instruments contribute to large carnivore conservation, and (ii) identifies ways of optimizing their contribution in this regard. From this dual perspective, it reviews all global wildlife conservation treaties-Ramsar Wetlands Convention, World Heritage Convention, Convention on Trade in Endangered Species, Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)-and selected regional instruments, using standard international law research methodology. Results indicate that a substantial body of relevant international law already exists, whereas simultaneously there is clear potential for enhancing the contribution of international law to large carnivore conservation. Avenues for pursuing this include promotion of instruments' effective implementation; clarification of their precise implications for large carnivore conservation; development of formal guidance; expansion of instruments' scope in terms of species, sites and countries; and creation of new instruments. The CMS and CBD hold particular potential in some of these respects. The experiences being gained under European legal instruments constitute an interesting 'laboratory' regarding human coexistence with expanding large carnivore populations and transboundary cooperation at the (sub)population level.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Global large carnivore conservation and international law

Trouwborst

2015

Biodivers Conserv

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“…Although there is some evidence that present pan-European conservation policy may be helping birds (Donald et al 2007) and it is hoped that the recent European Strategy for the conservation of invertebrates (Haslett 2007) and the newly revised Strategy for plants (Planta Europa 2008) may similarly help these organisms, we need overall strategies and policies that have new ''on the ground'' flexibility to deal with such dynamic systems. Also, if conservation policies were already delivering sufficiently to attain their targets, and if their importance was accepted by other sectors, there would not be a need to develop strategies and policies that refer explicitly to (dynamic) ecosystem services.…”

Section: Amending Existing Strategies/policy and Adding New Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing conservation strategies in Europe: a framework integrating ecosystem services and dynamics

et al. 2010

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Protecting species and their habitats through the designation and management of protected areas is central to present biodiversity conservation efforts in Europe. Recent awareness of the importance of ecosystem dynamics in changing environments and of human needs for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services expose potential weaknesses in current European conservation management strategies and policy. Here we examine these issues in the light of information gained from reviews, workshops, interviews and discussions undertaken within the RUBICODE project. We present a new conceptual framework that joins conventional biodiversity conservation with new requirements. The framework links cultural and aesthetic values applied in a static environment to the demands of dynamic ecosystems and societal needs within social-ecological systems in a changing Europe. We employ this framework to propose innovative ways in which ecosystem service provision may be used to add value to traditional conservation approaches by supporting and

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“…Facilitating range expansion, therefore, has the potential to become one of the most effective conservation strategies that can be deployed to minimize climatic and other risks to species [3,4]. However, such strategies still lack robust empirical underpinning: there is limited evidence of the effectiveness of static protected areas (PAs) to protect species per se ( [5][6][7] but see [8]), let alone if species distributions become more dynamic [9][10][11][12][13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protected areas act as establishment centres for species colonizing the UK

Hiley

Bradbury

Holling³

et al. 2013

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Protected area (PA) networks will remain valuable for conservation, as the global environment changes, if they facilitate the colonization of new regions by species that are shifting their geographical ranges. We tested the extent to which wetland bird species colonizing the UK since 1960 have exploited PAs. Colonization commenced in a PA for all six species that established permanent (greater than 10 years) breeding populations in the UK during this period. Subsequently, birds started to breed outside as well as inside PAs: the colonizing species showing declining fractions of breeding within PAs over time, a trend not seen in already-resident species. PAs were valuable as 'landing pads' for range-shifting species first arriving in a new region, and then as 'establishment centres' from which viable populations spread. Given future projections of range change across a broad range of taxonomic groups, this role for PAs can be expected to become increasingly important.

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International Conservation Policy Delivers Benefits for Birds in Europe

Cited by 268 publications

References 17 publications

Global large carnivore conservation and international law

Global large carnivore conservation and international law

Changing conservation strategies in Europe: a framework integrating ecosystem services and dynamics

Protected areas act as establishment centres for species colonizing the UK

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