Urban conservation areas and sustainable development: exploring the relationship

With increasing emphasis being placed on concentrating development in urban areas and improving the quality of life in British cities and towns, the importance of accommodating necessary development without compromising the valued heritage and architectural quality of urban areas is now becoming central to sustainable urban development. Urban conservation policy and practice has the potential to contribute to this and other aspects of sustainability. This paper explores this contribution and develops an analytical framework which draws out the key linkages between conservation area policy and sustainable development. The framework is then used to research the potential and actual contribution of urban conservation policy and practice in England, using a selective survey and two case studies (i.e. Winchester and Basingstoke). The main conclusions from the research are that: Conservation area policy can make a significant contribution to the principles of sustainable development; Most local planning authorities in England have not fully woken-up to this potential and have not developed policies or practices to address it; and Urban conservation policy needs to develop a more proactive approach in which local planning authorities actively guide and encourage new development with regard to use, design, layout, methods of construction, materials and energy efficiency

Participatory land management planning in biodiversity conservation areas of Lao PDR

The importance of integrating forest conservation and rural development objectives is much better understood today than in the past. Despite an increased understanding such integration in many countries remains poorly supported in terms of co-ordination between government agencies and stakeholders. Environmental degradation and loss of biodiversity conservation areas to competing alternative uses is widespread throughout the world and Lao PDR is no exception. The forest policy in Lao PDR has developed under the framework of international conventions. The protected area system has been established with the aim of conserving healthy and diverse forests. Rehabilitation and reforestation policies are important complements. The former “rules by decree” approach has been replaced by a set of laws and regulations. This thesis presents and discusses a management approach for biodiversity conservation areas in Lao PDR. As part of that, it highlights the significance of appropriate policies and legislation as a base for sustainable management, discusses various interdisciplinary and interactive planning methods tested in case studies, and analyses the utilisation of non-timber forest products as part of a strategy for sustainable management of biodiversity conservation areas. The integration of techniques from social sciences and natural sciences is emphasised to encourage local participation in managing the conservation areas. Participatory Rural Appraisal, simple sampling methods, and remote sensing were used in the studies. A simple simulation model (the Area Production Model) strengthened the inter-action process. The integrated and cross-sectoral approach turned out to be simple, flexible and dynamic. The recognition of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) plays an important role in the conservation and development of protected area management. A literature review was made to gain insight into the research trend in Southeast Asia in terms of tenure rights of NTFPs and the way people utilise them. Quantitative resource assessment is an important part in sustainable management. In a case study, a participatory two-phase sampling approach for cardamom assessment was developed and tested with a promising result

Climate change threatens European conservation areas

Europe has the world's most extensive network of conservation areas. Conservation areas are selected without taking into account the effects of climate change. How effectively would such areas conserve biodiversity under climate change? We assess the effectiveness of protected areas and the Natura 2000 network in conserving a large proportion of European plant and terrestrial vertebrate species under climate change. We found that by 2080, 58 ± 2.6% of the species would lose suitable climate in protected areas, whereas losses affected 63 ± 2.1% of the species of European concern occurring in Natura 2000 areas. Protected areas are expected to retain climatic suitability for species better than unprotected areas (P<0.001), but Natura 2000 areas retain climate suitability for species no better and sometimes less effectively than unprotected areas. The risk is high that ongoing efforts to conserve Europe's biodiversity are jeopardized by climate change. New policies are required to avert this risk

Conservation areas: prisoners' dilemmas and gilded cages

Posted by Dr Gabriel Ahlfeldt, SERC and LSE What’s heritage worth? Valuing such intangible cultural goods is challenging. It is similarly challenging to evaluate policies like Conservation Areas, which aim to preserve historic or architectural local character in England

Monitoring Large Conservation Areas with Imaging Spectroscopy

Monitoring of large conservation areas has to be accomplished to fulfil the reporting commitment of the European FFH Directive. Aim of this project was to develop a new monitoring approach for area-wide mapping on a stand level. This approach was based on the combination of numerical methods in vegetation ecology with imaging spectroscopy. The study took place in the FFH conservation area Murnauer Moos, Upper Bavaria. The imagery had been gathered using the imaging spectrometer HyMap™. In order to develop maps that include spatial information on vegetation types as well as on transitions, crisp field and image classifications were combined with fuzzy methods in field and image data analysis. With Non-metric Multidimensional Scaling (NMS) ordination technique for the pre-processing of vegetation data and Partial Least Squares (PLS) regression for extrapolation, we took account of occurring mixed stands and gradual vegetation transitions. In contrast, crisp supervised image classifications are suited to assign clear categories, which are also needed in management practice. Certain emphasis was given to the different possibilities of ground data classification and endmember selection. Different applications of endmember determination to Spectral Angle Mapper (SAM) classification and Multiple Endmember Spectral Mixture Analysis (MESMA) were compared. Synthesis maps for monitoring were produced that deliver two-fold information on pixel basis: vegetation type membership on the one side, stand position in the context of the continuous field of the vegetation on the other. Hence, ecotones can be monitored within habitats. This study shows that with the use of high spatial and spectral resolution of the imagery, this information is given in the same spatial detail for a large area, and the quality of the given details is measurable

Анализ ограничений лесопользования на особо охраняемых природных территориях и в малонарушенных лесах Республики Карелия - The analysis of wood harvesting restrictions in conservation areas and old-growth forests of the Republic of Karelia

An analysis of the current state and wood harvesting restrictions in officially existing and planned conservation areas as well as unofficial old-growth forests of the Republic of Karelia is provided in this paper. Old-growth forests are suggested by NGOs and these forests do not have wood harvesting restrictions according to Russian legislation. However, environmentally responsible forest industries companies do not procure wood from these forests.In the beginning of 2006 Karelia has 215 official conservation areas with the total area of 933.2 thousand ha (6.3% of the total forest fund of Karelia). All types of fellings are prohibited in 58 official conservation areas (448.1 thousand ha or 3% of the forest fund of Karelia). Final fellings (or clearcut) are prohibited in 23 official conservation areas (151.1 thousand ha or 1% of the forest fund of Karelia). The rest of the conservation areas (345 thousand ha or 2.3% of the forest fund of Karelia) have no restrictions for wood harvesting. Three officially planned conservation areas (105.6 thousand ha or 0.7% of the forest fund of Karelia) have been clearly recognized; the Kalevalsky national park (74 thousand ha) has restrictions for wood harvesting. NGOs have suggested 40 detached areas of old-growth forests (approximately 980 thousand ha or 6.6% of the forest fund of Karelia). The major areas of old-growth forests are located in Kemsky, Muezersky, Kostomukshsky, Pudozhsky, Pialmsky Piaozersky, Sosnovetsky, Chupinsky and Yushkozersky leskhozes. Locations of conservation areas and old-growth forests are shown in the whole Karelia, at forest district ( leskhoz ) and at forest block ( kvartal ) levels

Monitoring and Research on Wading Birds in the Water Conservation Areas ofthe Everglades: The 1996 Nesting season

This project was initiated to continue monitoring reproductive responses of wading birds in the central Everglades, and to investigate two areas of research considered key to understanding and managing wading birds: nestling energetics, and factors affecting food availability. This report summarizes the first of two years of work. (101 page document

Research of Microbiological Indicators of Quality of Surface Waters of Natural Environmental Territories of the Danube Basin

A comparative analysis of the sanitary and ecological state of surface watercourses in the upper part of the Danube basin (on theterritoryofUkraine) was carried out according to microbiological indicators. Similar hygienic studies were previously conducted in the middle and lower Danube inAustria,Slovakia,HungaryandRomania. InUkraine, the river network of theDanubeRiver basinwas not studied by microbiological indicators.The object of research is the watercourses on the territory of various zones of the nature protection object, which are different in function. This approach makes it possible to use hygienic indicators of water in protected areas of nature conservation areas as a reference for conducting background monitoring.The original design of the treatment plant based on the use of "Viya" fibrous carrier and "paste" technical structure is proposed. It was established that as the transition from the reserve to the economic zone occurs, the nitrate content in the water increases, the BOD increases in water, and the dissolved oxygen in the water decreases for all the watercourses studied. Significant differences in microbiological indices of watercourses of various functional zones of the protected object have been revealed.The possibility of using the sanitary-microbiological indicators of the river network as a reliable rapid test for assessing the state of environmental safety of nature conservation areas is shown

Who benefits from neighbourhoods designated as conservation areas?

Homeowners and people nearby benefit, though the implications for society are less clear, writes Gabriel Ahlfeld