Strong call to safeguard traditional agriculture as habitat for threatened crane species

This Scientific Impact Paper summarizes the changes in policy and practice of crane conservation that have occurred since our 2019 research in the Cheorwon Basin located in the Civilian Control Zone (CCZ) of the Republic of Korea (ROK). Changes in National Policy as well as increased engagement of conservation NGOs have led to more engagement of farmers in safeguarding crane habitat in their fields. Yet the current system of low‐intensity rice farming is dependent on military land‐use restrictions.Marianne und Dr. Fritz Walter Fischer‐StiftungZempelin StiftungPeer Reviewe

A global threats overview for Numeniini populations: synthesising expert knowledge for a group of declining migratory birds

The Numeniini is a tribe of thirteen wader species (Scolopacidae, Charadriiformes) of which seven are near-threatened or globally threatened, including two critically endangered. To help inform conservation management and policy responses, we present the results of an expert assessment of the threats that members of this taxonomic group face across migratory flyways. Most threats are increasing in intensity, particularly in non-breeding areas, where habitat loss resulting from residential and commercial development, aquaculture, mining, transport, disturbance, problematic invasive species, pollution and climate change were regarded as having the greatest detrimental impact. Fewer threats (mining, disturbance, problematic native species and climate change) were identified as widely affecting breeding areas. Numeniini populations face the greatest number of non-breeding threats in the East Asian-Australasian Flyway, especially those associated with coastal reclamation; related threats were also identified across the Central and Atlantic Americas, and East Atlantic flyways. Threats on the breeding grounds were greatest in Central and Atlantic Americas, East Atlantic and West Asian flyways. Three priority actions were associated with monitoring and research: to monitor breeding population trends (which for species breeding in remote areas may best be achieved through surveys at key non-breeding sites), to deploy tracking technologies to identify migratory connectivity, and to monitor land-cover change across breeding and non-breeding areas. Two priority actions were focused on conservation and policy responses: to identify and effectively protect key non-breeding sites across all flyways (particularly in the East Asian - Australasian Flyway), and to implement successful conservation interventions at a sufficient scale across human-dominated landscapes for species’ recovery to be achieved. If implemented urgently, these measures in combination have the potential to alter the current population declines of many Numeniini species and provide a template for the conservation of other groups of threatened species

Identifying priority sites and gaps for the conservation of migratory waterbirds in China's coastal wetlands

Many waterbird species, in particularly migratory shorebirds, on the East Asian-Australasian Flyway depend on the intertidal areas of coastal China. In recent years, these habitats have suffered severe shrinkage as a result of wetland loss and degradation. Identifying critical areas for waterbirds and assessing conservation status has become an urgent priority for biological conservation. Based on the criteria used to designate Ramsar sites and East Asian-Australasian Flyway Partnership (EAAFP) Flyway Network sites, a general framework is proposed and applied to identify priority sites in China's coastal wetlands using a comprehensive waterbird survey dataset. Sites priority were evaluated by using appearance of globally threatened bird species, and bid species exceeding 1% of their global or flyway population, and population abundance. Sites priorities were ranked using an "irreplaceability index". Totally, 110 sites are proposed as priority sites. Considering the strategic importance of China's coastal wetlands for migratory waterbirds, the conservation status of China's coastal wetlands is inadequate to protect these waterbirds. Currently, 67 of the 110 priority sites lie outside protected areas. Some critical habitats for waterbirds are not included in individual protected areas, especially in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and. Hebei provinces. Improved protection of these areas is urgently needed. However, conservation efforts in China's coastal wetlands face numerous challenges. Many important intertidal areas are increasingly threatened by ongoing and future reclamation plans. There is an urgent need to re-consider and limit the reclamation, particularly at critical sites, and put in place conservation measures to protect migratory waterbirds and their habitats. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved