Successful conservation of global waterbird populations depends on effective governance

Abstract

Understanding global patterns of biodiversity change is crucial for conservation research, policies and practices. However, for most ecosystems, the lack of systematically collected data at a global level limits our understanding of biodiversity changes and their local-scale drivers. Here we address this challenge by focusing on wetlands, which are among the most biodiverse and productive of any environments and which provide essential ecosystem services, but are also amongst the most seriously threatened ecosystems. Using birds as an indicator taxon of wetland biodiversity, we model time-series abundance data for 461 waterbird species at 25,769 survey sites across the globe. We show that the strongest predictor of changes in waterbird abundance, and of conservation efforts having beneficial effects, is the effective governance of a country. In areas in which governance is on average less effective, such as western and central Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and South America, waterbird declines are particularly pronounced; a higher protected area coverage of wetland environments facilitates waterbird increases, but only in countries with more effective governance. Our findings highlight that sociopolitical instability can lead to biodiversity loss and undermine the benefit of existing conservation efforts, such as the expansion of protected area coverage. Furthermore, data deficiencies in areas with less effective governance could lead to underestimations of the extent of the current biodiversity crisis.

Priority areas for conservation of Old World vultures

“…; Amano et al. ; Baynham‐Herd et al. ), as well as national incidence of and costs related to rabies (Hampson et al.…”

“…Governance and other national indicators are strong correlates of national investment into biodiversity conservation (Amano et al. ; Baynham‐Herd et al. ).…”

Worldwide insect declines: An important message, but interpret with caution

“…Second, the acknowledged geographic bias toward North America and Europe means it is not appropriate to title the paper “Worldwide declines.” Given high spatial heterogeneity in threats and species’ distributions, it is difficult to extrapolate the results of better‐studied regions—which are unlikely to be representative—to other parts of the globe (Gonzalez et al, ). Bee responses to land‐use change, and global trends in other taxa such as birds, mammals, and amphibians, vary in magnitude and/or direction between North America and Europe and the rest of the world (Amano et al, ; Hoffmann et al, ; De Palma et al, ; Stuart et al, ). Therefore, it is unlikely that insect declines will be homogenous everywhere.…”

Population trends, threats, and conservation recommendations for waterbirds in China

“…Many studies have discussed the population trends of, threats to, and conservation recommendations for waterbirds at global scales and in Europe and North America (e.g., Thomas et al 2006;Gilroy et al 2016;Amano et al 2017). The population status of and threats to waterbirds in China is increasingly concerned due to China's importance for waterbird conservation along the flyways.…”