Angela Andrade

As the United Nations develops a post-2020 global biodiversity framework for the Convention on Biological Diversity, attention is focusing on how new goals and targets for ecosystem conservation might serve its vision of ‘living in harmony with nature’1,2. Advancing dual imperatives to conserve biodiversity and sustain ecosystem services requires reliable and resilient generalizations and predictions about ecosystem responses to environmental change and management3. Ecosystems vary in their biota4, service provision5 and relative exposure to risks6, yet there is no globally consistent classification of ecosystems that reflects functional responses to change and management. This hampers progress on developing conservation targets and sustainability goals. Here we present the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Global Ecosystem Typology, a conceptually robust, scalable, spatially explicit approach for generalizations and predictions about functions, biota, risks and ...

David A. Keith, Jose R. Ferrer, Emily Nicholson, Melanie J. Bishop, Beth A. Polidoro, Eva RamirezLlodra, Mark G. Tozer, Jeanne L. Nel, Ralph Mac Nally, Edward J. Gregr, Kate E. Watermeyer, Franz Essl, Don Faber-Langendoen, Janet Franklin, Caroline E. R. Lehmann, Andres Etter, Dirk J. Roux, Jonathan S. Stark, Jessica A. Rowland, Neil A. Brummitt, Ulla C. Fernandez-Arcaya, Iain M. Suthers, Susan K. Wiser, Ian Donohue, Leland J. Jackson, R. Toby Pennington, Nathalie Pettorelli, Angela Andrade, Tytti Kontula, Arild Lindgaard, Teemu Tahvanainan, Aleks Terauds, Oscar Venter, James E. M. Watson, Michael A Chadwick, Nicholas J. Murray, Justin Moat, Patricio Pliscoff, Irene Zager, Richard T. Kingsford

Despite significant conservation efforts, the loss of ecosystems continues globally, along with related loss of species and Nature’s contributions to people. A new ecosystem goal and milestone, supported by clear targets and indicators, is urgently needed for the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework and beyond, to support efforts to abate climate change, and to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Here, we detail the scientific foundations for an ecosystem goal and milestones, founded on a theory of change, and review available indicators to measure progress. An ecosystem goal should include three core components: area, integrity, and risk of collapse. Targets, the actions necessary for the goals to be met, should address pathways to ecosystem loss and recovery, including retaining threatened ecosystems and intact areas, and restoring degraded ecosystems. Multiple indicators are needed to capture the different dimensions of ecosystem ...

This set of guidelines on best practices for Nature-based adaptation identification, implementation and monitoring can improve consistency and the ability to compare and aggregate adaptation results achieved through nature-based solutions for adaptation implemented by organizations and governmental bodies. Such consistency and aggregation can help increase the evidence base of Nature-based solutions for adaptation and track adaptation goals at multiple levels, from project site to global. A key barrier to the implementation of Nature-based solutions for adaptation at-scale has been an underdeveloped evidence base and lack of standard methods for Nature-based adaptation projects. Addressing these issues could ultimately lead to increased funding and scaled-up implementation of this important approach.

The Ruvuma Elephant Project (REP) area is located in the United Republic of Tanzania and lies between Selous Game Reserve in southern Tanzania and Niassa National Reserve in Mozambique. The area is dominated by miombo woodland with a mosaic of different land uses. Unfortunately, this mosaic of wildlife, forests, people with a variety of often competing land uses, as well as the presence of an international border close by, helps make it one of the worst impacted areas in Africa in terms of elephant poaching for the ivory trade. Despite the recent resurgence of elephant poaching in Tanzania, and in particular within the Selous ecosystem which includes the REP area, the results show the project has managed to curb elephant poaching. It is believed that the local elephant population within the REP area should remain stable if current anti-poaching input levels can be maintained. The success of the REP may be attributed to various approaches and activities that are beyond the scope of c...

La presente guia es un instrumento que permite hacer una rapida valoracion del nivel de aplicacion del Enfoque Ecosistemico (EE), por medio de un conjunto de preguntas que abordan aspectos fundamentales de la gestion de los ecosistemas para poder afirmar que el enfoque se esta aplicando en un espacio geografico determinado, en un proyecto o en algun esquema de intervencion del territorio.

The designation of geographical entities in this book, and the presentation of the material, do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of CATIE, IUCN or other participant institution concerning the legal status of any country, territory, or area, or of its ...

Bosques y cambio climático en América Latina Vincular adaptación y mitigación Bruno Locatelli1, 2, Vanessa Evans2, Andrew Wardell2, Angela Andrade3 y Raffaele Vignola4 1 Agricultural Research for Development (CIRAD) 2 Center for International Forestry Research 3 ...

El cambio climatico puede abordarse a traves de la mitigacion (reduciendo las fuentes o aumentando los sumideros de gases de efecto invernadero) y la adaptacion (reduciendo los impactos del cambio climatico). La mitigacion y la adaptacion presentan dos enfoques fundamentalmente distintos cuyas diferencias estan bien documentadas. Los ecosistemas forestales juegan un rol importante tanto en la mitigacion como en la adaptacion y existe la necesidad de explorar los vinculos entre estas dos opciones para comprender sus compensaciones (trade-offs) y sinergias. En los bosques, las compensaciones potenciales pueden observarse entre los servicios ecosistemicos globales, como la captura de carbono relevante para la mitigacion, y los servicios ecosistemicos locales, relevantes para la adaptacion. Ademas, los proyectos de mitigacion pueden facilitar o impedir la adaptacion de las poblaciones locales al cambio climatico, mientras que los proyectos de adaptacion pueden afectar a los ecosistemas ...

In 2014, the International Union for Conservation of Nature adopted the Red List of Ecosystems (IUCN RLE) criteria as the global standard for assessing risks to terrestrial, marine, and freshwater ecosystems. Identifying and quantifying the impacts of biodiversity assessments on the status of nature is key to justifying continued investment in assessments and enabling strategic planning to maximize future impact. In this policy perspective, we use an established impact evaluation framework to identify the impacts of the IUCN RLE since its inception. To date, 1,397 ecosystem units in 100 countries have been assessed following the IUCN RLE protocol. Systematic assessments are complete or underway in more than 25 countries and two continental regions (the Americas and Europe). Countries with established ecosystem red lists have already used them to inform legislation, land-use planning, protected area expansion, monitoring and reporting, and ecosystem management. IUCN RLE indices based...

Sustainable development aims at addressing economic, social, and environmental concerns, but the current lack of responsive environmental governance hinders progress. Short-term economic development has led to limited actions, unsustainable resource management, and degraded ecosystems. The UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) may continue to fall short of achieving significant progress without a better understanding of how ecosystems contribute to achieving sustainability for all people. Ecosystem governance is an approach that integrates the social and ecological components for improved sustainability and includes principles such as adaptive ecosystem co-management, subsidiarity, and telecoupling framework, as well as principles of democracy and accountability. We explain the importance of ecosystem governance in achieving the SDGs, and suggest some ways to ensure that ecosystem services are meaningfully considered. This paper reflects on how integration of these approaches into...

Summary of Key Points: - Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) provides numerous opportunities for natural solutions to manage the impacts of climate change. - EbA interventions generate a range of significant social, economic, and environmental co-benefits by reducing society’s vulnerability to natural hazards, improving the availability of ecosystem services essential to support livelihoods and protecting biodiversity through sustainably managing ecosystems. - Evidence shows that as part of an integrated adaptation approach, EbA requires comparatively small investment relative to the long-term social, economic and environmental benefits it generates. - Despite the numerous advantages of EbA, its implementation remains limited by three key challenges: lack of information, lack of financial resources, and institutional resistance. - Action is needed to mainstream ecosystem-based approaches into national climate change adaptation strategies to make full use of their many opportunities. - ...

ABSTRACT Climate change is one of the significant concerns in land and resource management, creating an urgent need to build social–ecological capacity to address widespread and uncertain environmental changes. Given the diversity and complexity of ecological responses to climate change “ecosystem management” approaches are needed to provide solutions for meeting both ecological and human needs, while reducing anthropogenic warming and climate-related impacts on society. For instance, ecosystem management can contribute to a reduction in the greenhouse gas emissions through improved land-use and reduced deforestation at a regional scale. Further, conserving and restoring naturally-functioning ecosystems, which is often one of the goals of ecosystem management can significantly contribute to buffering ecological responses to climate extremes such as droughts and wildfires. Moreover, ecosystem management helps build capacity for learning and adaptation at multiple scales. As a result, societies will be better prepared to respond to surprises and uncertainties associated with climate change. In this regard, it is imperative to reframe climate change issues based on the ecosystem approach. Although climate change and ecosystem management plans have largely developed independently, it is now essential for all stakeholders to work together to achieve multiple goals. The ecosystem-based approaches can enable flexible and effective responses to the uncertainties associated with climate change. Reframing ecosystem management helps to face an urgent need for reconsideration and improvement of social–ecological resilience in order to mitigate and adapt to the changing climate.