Consolidated list of publications, reports and conference presentations by staff of and consultants to the Supervising Scientist 1978-30 June 2003

Made available by the Northern Territory Library via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).Date:2003-1

Integrated assessment of wetland services and values as a tool to analyse policy trade-offs and management options : a case study in the Daly and Mary River catchments, northern Australia

This report presents the results of a study carried out between May 2004 and May 2005 as a contribution to the Tropical Rivers Inventory and Assessment Project (TRIAP) of Australia's Tropical Rivers Program. The aim was to provide a framework for the analysis of the ecosystem services provided by the wetland and riverine ecosystems of northern Australia. The analyses drew heavily on the conceptual framework provided by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA) where ecosystem services were defined as 'the benefits people obtain from ecosystems'. These benefits include: provisioning services such as food and water; regulating services such as flood and disease control; cultural services such as spiritual, recreational, and cultural benefits; and supporting services such as nutrient cycling that maintain the conditions for life on earth. The term 'ecosystem services' is now broadly used to encompass what can also be referred to as ecosystem goods and services and/or ecosystem functions and, at times, also environmental services. For the purposes of this report ? given that the study was undertaken using the recognised 'function analysis framework' ? the terms ecosystem services and functions are considered to be interchangeable unless a distinction is made otherwise. In accordance with the above, an assessment of the ecosystem services and values (ecological, socio-cultural and economic) of selected wetlands in northern Australia (with a focus on the Daly and Mary River catchments) was undertaken and the results incorporated into a practical framework and guidelines for integrated assessment and valuation of wetland services. Relevant policies and management strategies that address wetland functions and services in the Daly and Mary River catchments were analysed and trade-offs that contributed to the development of options for the sustainable 'multi-functional use' of the wetlands highlighted. The assessment entailed consultation and active involvement with many stakeholders, such as governmental organisations, local associations and corporations, NGOs and community-based groups, and land-owners and managers to collect information and incorporate their views and respective interests. As this was a pilot study, the level of focus was primarily at the institutional level; more interviews would be needed to sufficiently quantify results on an individual basis, for example, for farming or Aboriginal communities. The benefits of this approach were multiple in that it enabled the collation and analysis of existing information that could be used to support existing conservation, natural resource management, and social initiatives within the study areas and identified information gaps. In this respect it was based on the outcomes and approaches suggested in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment for undertaking social and ecosystem-based analyses in complex systems.Made available by the Northern Territory Library via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).1. Introduction -- 2. Framework and guidelines for integrated assessment of wetland services and values -- 3. Inventory of ecosystem services provided by wetlands in the Northern Territory -- 4. Ecological importance of wetlands in the Northern Territory -- 5. Socio-cultural importance of wetlands -- 6. Economic value of goods and services -- 7. Stakeholder analysis -- 8. Policy and institutional analysis -- 9. Management implications -- 10. Discussion -- 11. Recommendations -- References.Date:2008-09Cover title

Catching the baby: accounting for biodiversity and the ecosystem sector in emissions trading

The agriculture, forestry, and other land-use sector is a crucial sector, second only to the energy sector, in fighting climate change, and provides an important greenhouse gas abatement opportunity for the world. Recently, released figures for Australia, for example, suggest that agriculture, forestry, and other land-uses, which depend on healthy functioning ecosystems, could abate as much as three quarters of the country's emissions. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change was concerned primarily with ecosystems and humankind, but the Kyoto Protocol of the Convention forfeited the potential of using agriculture, forestry, and other land-uses for global climate mitigation. This had the effect of decoupling biodiversity and ecosystems from carbon pollution reduction and climate change considerations. The Australian Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, one of the first emission trading schemes in the world to follow Kyoto “rules,” excludes the agriculture, forestry, and other land-use sector, apart from plantation reforestation, potentially creating perverse incentives that themselves can turn into threatening ecological processes. We use Australia and its emerging emissions trading scheme as a case study of the potential effects of this decoupling, and demonstrate the potential impacts on a landscape-scale regional greenhouse gas abatement and carbon sequestration project

Adaptation pathways for conservation law and policy

Globally, biodiversity is under increasing pressure from human activities despite protective measures in conservation laws. Climate change will exacerbate those pressures and the effects of habitat loss and species decline. Current approaches to conservation law in most countries focus on establishing protected areas and limiting activities outside reserves that might affect priority species, habitats, and ecological communities. These measures have had mixed success depending on scale and implementation, but are likely to perform poorly under conditions of future change. To prepare for the future, we consider how conservation law and policy needs to anticipate and manage for future change; widen its scope beyond species and ecological communities that are currently threatened; and support adaptive management of priority areas and species. Using Australian conservation law as a case study, we outline three possible routes by which this shift could occur. The first involves enhancing the adaptiveness of conservation law, the second expands the focus of conservation law from protected areas and listed species to include ecosystems and ecosystem services, while the third attempts to do both simultaneously. We examine the legal mechanisms needed to implement each route, examples of their use in practice, and barriers that must be overcome for successful implementation. This article is categorized under: Climate, Ecology, and Conservation > Conservation Strategies