111 research outputs found
Review of nature-based solutions in dryland ecosystems: the aral sea case study
NbS have gained substantial attention in the academic literature recently as a potential approach for simultaneously tackling environmental issues and addressing societal challenges. Drylands, which are among the world’s most vulnerable areas to the impacts of climate change and cover a little less than the half of the global terrestrial surface, were the focus of this study. We conducted a systematic literature review to explore the potential opportunities for the application of NbS in rural drylands across the globe. We go on to specifically consider the possibility of applying selected NbS approaches in the Aral Sea region of Uzbekistan, as a case study of a dryland ecosystem illustrating major environmental and social challenges. We highlight which NbS show the most promise in the Aral Sea region and conclude with a discussion of existing gaps in the literature on NbS in drylands, and opportunities for further research
Exploring the human-nature nexus towards effective nature-based solutions: the Aral Sea case
Incorporating societal challenges and values into the design of locally appropriate nature-based solutions (NbS) is an integral strategy for ensuring benefits for both communities and the environment. But how are human-nature relations impacted when the environments containing resources which are valued and relied on, undergo dramatic and sustained change on decadal timescales? To explore this interplay, we selected Muynak as a case study, once a thriving town on the shores of the former Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. We conducted a social survey among the residents to identify the use of natural resources and the values they assign to the most common and yet highly degraded resources in the area (wetlands, rangelands, afforested areas, the Aral Sea, and wildlife). The survey was complemented with expert interviews. Our study suggests that grasslands are the most frequently used of the resources under study, while wetlands and wildlife are generally more valued. Overall, resources were more culturally valued than financially, historically, or recreationally. The majority of respondents perceived a degradation in most natural resources over the past decade, particularly wetlands (79 %), followed by grasslands (48 %), and the Aral Sea (42 %). Wetlands were reported to be in a state of ongoing degradation by 79 % of respondents, which negatively affected the livelihoods of almost half of the households in the survey area. Afforested areas were the only resources reported to have a positive perceived change in both status and their effect on well-being. The vast majority of respondents (83 %) felt that human well-being was linked to environmental conditions. This study lays the foundation for future interventions to develop nature-based solutions to benefit both people and nature, and highlights the continuing value placed on nature by residents of an area that has suffered substantial anthropogenic degradation
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Quantifying lung ultrasound comets with a convolutional neural network: Initial clinical results
Lung ultrasound comets are "comet-tail" artifacts appearing in lung ultrasound images. They are particularly useful in detecting several lung pathologies and may indicate the amount of extravascular lung water. However, the comets are not always well defined and large variations in the counting results exist between observers. This study uses a convolutional neural network to quantify these lung ultrasound comets on a 4864-image clinical lung ultrasound dataset labeled by the authors. The neural network counted the number of comets correctly on 43.4% of the images and has an intraclass correlation (ICC) of 0.791 with respect to human counting on the test set. The ICC level indicates a higher correlation level than previously reported ICC between human observers. The neural network was then deployed and applied to a clinical 6272-image dataset. The correlation between the automated comet counts and the clinical parameters was examined. The comet counts correlate positively with the diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.047, r = 0.448), negatively with ejection fraction (p = 0.061, r = -0.513), and negatively with BMI (p = 0.009, r = -0.566). The neural network can be alternatively formulated as a diagnostic test for comet-positive images with 80.8% accuracy. The results could potentially be improved with a larger dataset and a refined approach to the neural networks used
Exploring the human-nature nexus towards effective nature-based solutions: the Aral Sea case
Incorporating societal challenges and values into the design of locally appropriate nature-based solutions (NbS) is an integral strategy for ensuring benefits for both communities and the environment. But how are human-nature relations impacted when the environments containing resources which are valued and relied on, undergo dramatic and sustained change on decadal timescales? To explore this interplay, we selected Muynak as a case study, once a thriving town on the shores of the former Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. We conducted a social survey among the residents to identify the use of natural resources and the values they assign to the most common and yet highly degraded resources in the area (wetlands, rangelands, afforested areas, the Aral Sea, and wildlife). The survey was complemented with expert interviews. Our study suggests that grasslands are the most frequently used of the resources under study, while wetlands and wildlife are generally more valued. Overall, resources were more culturally valued than financially, historically, or recreationally. The majority of respondents perceived a degradation in most natural resources over the past decade, particularly wetlands (79 %), followed by grasslands (48 %), and the Aral Sea (42 %). Wetlands were reported to be in a state of ongoing degradation by 79 % of respondents, which negatively affected the livelihoods of almost half of the households in the survey area. Afforested areas were the only resources reported to have a positive perceived change in both status and their effect on well-being. The vast majority of respondents (83 %) felt that human well-being was linked to environmental conditions. This study lays the foundation for future interventions to develop nature-based solutions to benefit both people and nature, and highlights the continuing value placed on nature by residents of an area that has suffered substantial anthropogenic degradation
Net positive outcomes for nature
Much research and policy effort is being expended on seeking ways to conserve living nature while enabling the economic and social development needed to increase global equity and end poverty. We propose that this will only be possible if the language of policy shifts away from setting conservation targets that focus on avoiding losses and towards developing processes that consider net outcomes for biodiversity
Translating the terrestrial mitigation hierarchy to marine megafauna bycatch
In terrestrial and coastal systems, the mitigation hierarchy is widely and
increasingly used to guide actions to ensure that no net loss of biodiversity
ensues from development. We develop a conceptual model which applies
this approach to the mitigation of marine megafauna bycatch in fisheries,
going from defining an overarching goal with an associated quantitative
target, through avoidance, minimisation, remediation to offsetting. We
demonstrate the framework's utility as a tool for structuring thinking and
exposing uncertainties. We draw comparisons between debates ongoing in
terrestrial situations and in bycatch mitigation, to show how insights from
each could inform the other; these are the hierarchical nature of
mitigation, out-of-kind offsets, research as an offset, incentivising
implementation of mitigation measures, societal limits and uncertainty. We
explore how economic incentives could be used throughout the hierarchy to improve the achievement of bycatch goals. We conclude by highlighting the
importance of clear agreed goals, of thinking beyond single species and
individual jurisdictions to account for complex interactions and policy
leakage, of taking uncertainty explicitly into account, and of thinking
creatively about approaches to bycatch mitigation in order to improve
outcomes for conservation and fishers. We suggest that the framework set
out here could be helpful in supporting efforts to improve by catch
mitigation efforts, and highlight the need for a full empirical application to
substantiate this
A Global Mitigation Hierarchy for Nature Conservation
Efforts to conserve biodiversity comprise a patchwork of international goals, national-level plans, and local interventions that, overall, are failing. We discuss the potential utility of applying the mitigation hierarchy, widely used during economic development activities, to all negative human impacts on biodiversity. Evaluating all biodiversity losses and gains through the mitigation hierarchy could help prioritize consideration of conservation goals and drive the empirical evaluation of conservation investments through the explicit consideration of counterfactual trends and ecosystem dynamics across scales. We explore the challenges in using this framework to achieve global conservation goals, including operationalization and monitoring and compliance, and we discuss solutions and research priorities. The mitigation hierarchy's conceptual power and ability to clarify thinking could provide the step change needed to integrate the multiple elements of conservation goals and interventions in order to achieve successful biodiversity outcomes
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Genome-Wide Association Scan for Diabetic Nephropathy Susceptibility Genes in Type 1 Diabetes
OBJECTIVE—Despite extensive evidence for genetic susceptibility
to diabetic nephropathy, the identification of susceptibility
genes and their variants has had limited success. To search for
genes that contribute to diabetic nephropathy, a genome-wide
association scan was implemented on the Genetics of Kidneys in
Diabetes collection.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS—We genotyped
360,000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 820 case
subjects (284 with proteinuria and 536 with end-stage renal
disease) and 885 control subjects with type 1 diabetes. Confirmation
of implicated SNPs was sought in 1,304 participants of the
Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT)/Epidemiology
of Diabetes Interventions and Complications (EDIC) study, a
long-term, prospective investigation of the development of diabetes-
associated complications.
RESULTS—A total of 13 SNPs located in four genomic loci were
associated with diabetic nephropathy with P1105. The
strongest association was at the FRMD3 (4.1 protein ezrin,
radixin, moesin [FERM] domain containing 3) locus (odds ratio
[OR]1.45, P5.0107). A strong association was also
identified at the CARS (cysteinyl-tRNA synthetase) locus (OR
1.36, P3.1106). Associations between both loci and time to
onset of diabetic nephropathy were supported in the DCCT/EDIC
study (hazard ratio [HR]1.33, P0.02, and HR1.32, P
0.01, respectively). We demonstrated expression of both FRMD3
and CARS in human kidney.
CONCLUSIONS—We identified genetic associations for susceptibility
to diabetic nephropathy at two novel candidate loci near
the FRMD3 and CARS genes. Their identification implicates
previously unsuspected pathways in the pathogenesis of this
important late complication of type 1 diabetes
Four steps for the Earth: mainstreaming the post-2020 global biodiversity framework
The upcoming Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) meeting, and adoption of the new Global Biodiversity Framework, represent an opportunity to transform humanity's relationship with nature. Restoring nature while meeting human needs requires a bold vision, including mainstreaming biodiversity conservation in society. We present a framework that could support this: the Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy. This places the Mitigation Hierarchy for mitigating and compensating the biodiversity impacts of developments (1, avoid; 2, minimize; 3, restore; and 4, offset, toward a target such as "no net loss" of biodiversity) within a broader framing encompassing all conservation actions. We illustrate its application by national governments, sub-national levels (specifically the city of London, a fishery, and Indigenous groups), companies, and individuals. The Mitigation and Conservation Hierarchy supports the choice of actions to conserve and restore nature, and evaluation of the effectiveness of those actions, across sectors and scales. It can guide actions toward a sustainable future for people and nature, supporting the CBD's vision
Training future generations to deliver evidence-based conservation and ecosystem management
1. To be effective, the next generation of conservation practitioners and managers need to be critical thinkers with a deep understanding of how to make evidence-based decisions and of the value of evidence synthesis. 2. If, as educators, we do not make these priorities a core part of what we teach, we are failing to prepare our students to make an effective contribution to conservation practice. 3. To help overcome this problem we have created open access online teaching materials in multiple languages that are stored in Applied Ecology Resources. So far, 117 educators from 23 countries have acknowledged the importance of this and are already teaching or about to teach skills in appraising or using evidence in conservation decision-making. This includes 145 undergraduate, postgraduate or professional development courses. 4. We call for wider teaching of the tools and skills that facilitate evidence-based conservation and also suggest that providing online teaching materials in multiple languages could be beneficial for improving global understanding of other subject areas.Peer reviewe
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