Local community perceptions on sea turtle egg consumption in Redang Island, Malaysia

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Climate change impacts in agricultural communities in rural areas of coastal Bangladesh: a tale of many stories

This paper identifies and analyses climate change impacts, their cascading consequences and the livelihood implications of these impacts on smallholder agricultural communities of coastal Bangladesh. Six physically and socio-economically vulnerable communities of south-western coastal regions were studied. Primary data was collected through focus group discussions, a seasonal calendar, and historical transect analysis. Three orders of impacts of climate change on smallholder farmers are identified and described. The first order impacts involve increasing erosion of the capacity of local communities to mitigate vulnerability to climate change impacts. This situation led to the second order impacts, which significantly transformed the agricultural landscape and production patterns. The cumulative effects of the first and second order impacts sparked the third order impacts in the form of worsening community livelihood assets and conditions. The findings of this paper can contribute to the formulation of sustainable adaptation policies and programs to manage the vulnerability of local communities to climate change impacts in the country effectively

Ecosystem service valuations of mangrove ecosystems to inform decision making and future valuation exercises

Data Availability: The authors confirm that all data underlying the findings are fully available without restriction. All relevant data are within the paper and its Supporting Information files.Correction: 13 Oct 2014: The PLOS ONE Staff (2014) Correction: Ecosystem Service Valuations of Mangrove Ecosystems to Inform Decision Making and Future Valuation Exercises. PLOS ONE 9(10): e111386. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0111386.Copyright © 2014 Mukherjee et al. The valuation of ecosystem services is a complex process as it includes several dimensions (ecological, socio-cultural and economic) and not all of these can be quantified in monetary units. The aim of this paper is to conduct an ecosystem services valuation study for mangroves ecosystems, the results of which can be used to inform governance and management of mangroves. We used an expert-based participatory approach (the Delphi technique) to identify, categorize and rank the various ecosystem services provided by mangrove ecosystems at a global scale. Subsequently we looked for evidence in the existing ecosystem services literature for monetary valuations of these ecosystem service categories throughout the biogeographic distribution of mangroves. We then compared the relative ranking of ecosystem service categories between the monetary valuations and the expert based analysis. The experts identified 16 ecosystem service categories, six of which are not adequately represented in the literature. There was no significant correlation between the expert based valuation (the Delphi technique) and the economic valuation, indicating that the scope of valuation of ecosystem services needs to be broadened. Acknowledging this diversity in different valuation approaches, and developing methodological frameworks that foster the pluralism of values in ecosystem services research, are crucial for maintaining the credibility of ecosystem services valuation. To conclude, we use the findings of our dual approach to valuation to make recommendations on how to assess and manage the ecosystem services provided by mangrove ecosystems.'Mandatd’ Impulsion Scientifique’ (MISID1765914) of the National Science Foundation (FNRS), Belgium and ‘‘CREC’’ (EUIRSES # 247514); British Ecological Society (Parkyn bursary); Arcadia; Natural Environment Research Council (Grant codes NE/K015419/1, NE/J500665/1)

Ecosystem services

editorial reviewedThe concept of ecosystem services links the conservation of biodiversity and human development. This concept is central to the Man and the Biosphere (MAB) Programme, which aims to combine conservation of ecosystems and sustainable development through the zonation of biosphere reserves and other approaches. Biosphere reserves are excellent learning sites to study the interactions between people and nature, especially how people benefit from nature (ecosystem services), stakeholders’ perceptions and use of nature, important anthropogenic pressures, etc. The concept of ecosystem services helps to structure and study all of these interactions

Changing culture: Factors influencing sea turtle egg consumption in Redang Island, Malaysia

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Mapping research gaps for sustainable forest management based on the nominal group technique

Managing a complex social-ecological system requires data about the many social and ecological variables characterizing it and about their interactions. While the selection of research topics has its own, mostly unpredictable dynamics and contingencies, there has been a recent surge of interest regarding the involvement of non-academic stakeholders in suggesting research topics and identifying perceived knowledge gaps regarding the management of complex social-ecological systems. Decision-makers will invariably be confronted with limitations regarding resources to be allocated to the study of various systems components, and regarding the processing capacity of scientists and other stakeholders alike. Matang forest is one of the longest-managed mangroves in the world and provides a widely cited example of silvicultural management for charcoal and pole production, while providing a range of other ecosystem services. We applied the nominal group technique (NGT) to identify research priorities for Matang, as it provides a systematic and participatory approach to identify collective priorities while also reducing bias. The method consists of two rounds, during which participants were asked to reflect first individually, and then collectively, about key characteristics of mangrove management and about research priorities in Matang. The results were compared to the recommendations of the scientific literature. NGT provides a rapid, robust and systematic approach to identify research priorities for mangrove management and can hence be a timely method to support decision-makers across South-East Asia in guiding resource allocation toward research needs in times of increasing mangrove degradation. This is the first time that the application of NGT has been documented in a mangrove context. Moreover, NGT is not yet being used frequently in natural resources management, hence in documenting our NGT application, we aim to contribute to the development of a the NGT body of knowledge beyond mere mangrove forest settings. Rapid methods (such as NGT) to identify pressing research priorities are needed to guide resource allocation and investment of time and scientific capacity based on a systematic and pluralistic assessment.Fonds De La Recherche Scientifique—FNRS