An evaluation of the effectiveness of area-based conservation interventions in avoiding biodiversity loss in South Africa

Counterfactual impact evaluation studies form an important evidence base for the effectiveness of conservation projects, programs, and policies (collectively referred to as conservation interventions). In South Africa, counterfactual impact evaluation methods have rarely been applied to local conservation interventions, and therefore evidence for the effectiveness of key strategic national conservation approaches is lacking. This study evaluated three area-based interventions that together aim to avoid the loss of areas most important for the persistence of biodiversity in the terrestrial realm as evidence towards the effectiveness of South Africa’s landscape approach to biodiversity conservation. The first intervention, South Africa’s National Protected Area Expansion Strategy (NPAES), set ambitious targets to double the extent of South Africa’s protected area network while ensuring that the expansion preferentially occurs in areas of under-represented biodiversity. The strategy was evaluated in terms of its effectiveness in guiding protected area expansion towards more equitable representation of South Africa’s biodiversity through an assessment of changes in indicators of protected area expansion decision-making before and after the implementation of the strategy. The second intervention is the use of maps of biodiversity priorities to guide land use change decisions outside protected areas. Impact was evaluated as avoided loss of Critical Biodiversity Areas (CBAs), which need to remain in a natural condition to meet in situ conservation targets for species, ecosystems, and ecological processes. Avoided loss in CBAs was benchmarked against avoided loss in protected areas, to contextualize the effectiveness of land use planning as a conservation intervention. Lastly, the effectiveness of stricter land use regulations for threatened ecosystems to reduce land conversion pressure on these ecosystems was evaluated. Key findings were that protected areas are highly effective conservation interventions where they can be implemented, but their capacity for conservation impact is limited by severe constraints on strategic expansion.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, School of Environmental Sciences, 202

An evaluation of the effectiveness of area-based conservation interventions in avoiding biodiversity loss in South Africa

Counterfactual impact evaluation studies form an important evidence base for the effectiveness of conservation projects, programs, and policies (collectively referred to as conservation interventions). In South Africa, counterfactual impact evaluation methods have rarely been applied to local conservation interventions, and therefore evidence for the effectiveness of key strategic national conservation approaches is lacking. This study evaluated three area-based interventions that together aim to avoid the loss of areas most important for the persistence of biodiversity in the terrestrial realm as evidence towards the effectiveness of South Africa’s landscape approach to biodiversity conservation. The first intervention, South Africa’s National Protected Area Expansion Strategy (NPAES), set ambitious targets to double the extent of South Africa’s protected area network while ensuring that the expansion preferentially occurs in areas of under-represented biodiversity. The strategy was evaluated in terms of its effectiveness in guiding protected area expansion towards more equitable representation of South Africa’s biodiversity through an assessment of changes in indicators of protected area expansion decision-making before and after the implementation of the strategy. The second intervention is the use of maps of biodiversity priorities to guide land use change decisions outside protected areas. Impact was evaluated as avoided loss of Critical Biodiversity Areas (CBAs), which need to remain in a natural condition to meet in situ conservation targets for species, ecosystems, and ecological processes. Avoided loss in CBAs was benchmarked against avoided loss in protected areas, to contextualize the effectiveness of land use planning as a conservation intervention. Lastly, the effectiveness of stricter land use regulations for threatened ecosystems to reduce land conversion pressure on these ecosystems was evaluated. Key findings were that protected areas are highly effective conservation interventions where they can be implemented, but their capacity for conservation impact is limited by severe constraints on strategic expansion.Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Science, School of Environmental Sciences, 202

Using Red List Indices to monitor extinction risk at national scales

The Red List Index (RLI) measures change in the aggregate extinction risk of species. It is a key indicator for tracking progress toward nine of the Aichi and many proposed post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework Targets. Here, we consider two formulations of the RLI used for reporting biodiversity trends at national scales. Disaggregated global RLIs measure changing national contributions to global extinction risk and are currently based on five taxonomic groups, while national RLIs measure changing national extinction risk and are based on taxonomic groups assessed multiple times in country. For 74% of nations, the disaggregated global RLI is currently based on three or fewer taxonomic groups. Meanwhile, national RLIs from selected pilot countries Finland, South Africa, and Brazil are computed from twelve, eight, and nine taxonomic groups, respectively. The national RLI and the disaggregated global RLI measure different aspects of biodiversity, in that the former detects national trends in populations of species for which each country is responsible while the latter provides standardized comparisons of nations' contributions to the global extinction risk of the same species groups. As governments commit to the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, we encourage them to monitor a standard set of taxonomic groups representing different biomes using both RLI formulations to ensure effective target tracking and accurate feedback on their conservation investments.Peer reviewe

Taxonomic research priorities for the conservation of the South African flora

Taxonomic revisions, monographs and floras are the most important, and often the only source of data for assessing the extinction risk of plants, with recent revisions contributing to more accurate assessments. The recently completed Red List of South African plants involved an overview of the taxonomic literature pertaining to the South African flora, providing an opportunity to identify critical gaps in taxonomic coverage. In this study we identified taxonomic research priorities for effective conservation of South African plants. Priorities were identified at genus level, according to time since last revision, level of endemism, collecting effort, proportion of taxa included in revisions, and specimen identification confidence. Although the results indicate that 62% of the flora has been recently revised, revisionary taxonomic output has declined drastically, particularly in the past 10 years. This decline is a result of a decrease in revisionary productivity per taxonomist and not a result of a decline in the number of working taxonomists. The family Aizoaceae is the top priority for taxonomic research with 55% of taxa in need of revision, followed by Hyacinthaceae with 34% of taxa not yet revised. Ericaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Rutaceae, Malvaceae, Asteraceae and Acanthaceae are also priorities with over 30% of taxa last revised before 1970. We recommend the reinstatement of the Flora of Southern Africa project in an online format in order to centralise South Africa’s existing taxonomic information and reinvigorate revisionary taxonomic study. This project will allow South Africa to fulfil its commitments to the Convention on Biodiversity by achieving Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

Taking state of biodiversity reporting into the information age – A South African perspective

South Africa’s National Biodiversity Assessment (NBA) is the primary tool for monitoring and reporting on the state of biodiversity, with a focus on spatial information and key indicators. The NBA distills information that informs policies and strategies, meets national and international reporting requirements, and helps prioritize limited resources for managing and conserving biodiversity. The three previous versions of the NBA (2004, 2011 and 2018) are in the form of detailed thematic technical reports and a synthesis report, served on a simple, static web page. Selected spatial products from the report are available via a dedicated web platform (http://nba.sanbi.org.za/). While all methods and data are clearly described in the technical reports, most of the underlying analyses are inaccessible, lacking reproducibility and transparency. This makes iterative updates to indicators or metrics challenging and inefficient, complicates version control, and exacerbates the risk of capacity, knowledge and data loss during staff turnover. To move the assessment process into the information age we aim to develop well documented and reproducible workflows, and to serve the indicators and their accompanying synthesis on an interactive web platform that facilitates uptake. Achieving these aims will deliver efficiency, greater transparency and trust in future NBA products and will strengthen communication and engagement with the content by the many different users of those products. While these visions will not be realized overnight, the skills and systems required to achieve them can be adaptively built towards an improved NBA that better serves the needs of our society

Taxonomic research priorities for the conservation of the South African flora

Taxonomic revisions, monographs and floras are the most important, and often the only source of data for assessing the extinction risk of plants, with recent revisions contributing to more accurate assessments. The recently completed Red List of South African plants involved an overview of the taxonomic literature pertaining to the South African flora, providing an opportunity to identify critical gaps in taxonomic coverage. In this study we identified taxonomic research priorities for effective conservation of South African plants. Priorities were identified at genus level, according to time since last revision, level of endemism, collecting effort, proportion of taxa included in revisions, and specimen identification confidence. Although the results indicate that 62% of the flora has been recently revised, revisionary taxonomic output has declined drastically, particularly in the past 10 years. This decline is a result of a decrease in revisionary productivity per taxonomist and not a result of a decline in the number of working taxonomists. The family Aizoaceae is the top priority for taxonomic research with 55% of taxa in need of revision, followed by Hyacinthaceae with 34% of taxa not yet revised. Ericaceae, Euphorbiaceae, Rutaceae, Malvaceae, Asteraceae and Acanthaceae are also priorities with over 30% of taxa last revised before 1970. We recommend the reinstatement of the Flora of Southern Africa project in an online format in order to centralise South Africa’s existing taxonomic information and reinvigorate revisionary taxonomic study. This project will allow South Africa to fulfil its commitments to the Convention on Biodiversity by achieving Target 1 of the Global Strategy for Plant Conservation

Using Red List Indices to monitor extinction risk at national scales

Peer reviewe

Producing a plant diversity portal for South Africa

Taxonomy provides a universal method to classify biodiversity at different scales locally and globally. Currently, existing taxonomic treatments are scattered, limiting their accessibility and utility. The Convention on Biological Diversity has responded to this challenge by setting the goal of compiling a World Flora Online (Global Strategy for Plant Conservation Target 1, 2011–2020). This can be done by aggregating electronically available information provided by each country, region or specialist group. Developing a Flora or a high-level monographic product requires time and input from a large pool of taxonomic specialists. Completing a Flora may be difficult to accomplish for phytodiverse countries, such as South Africa, if the 2020 target is to be met. Fortunately, a large number of taxonomic contributions and many electronic tools exist that can enhance progress. Where these are available, efforts have to be made to access and digitise the literature. Here we describe a pragmatic approach to developing an online Flora, involving taking floristic information from multiple, previously published sources, digitising the legacy literature where needed and aggregating the required information into a single portal. South Africa is committed to producing an online Flora (the e-Flora of South Africa) and contributing the information to the World Flora Online initiative following the aggregator portal approach, a method described here that might be useful for other countries with high phytodiversity.The National Research Foundation (grant reference number: UID92629) and Royal Society (grant reference number: SA140038) are thanked for the funding that was awarded to host an e-Flora workshop in South Africa.http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/iapt/taxam2017Plant Production and Soil Scienc