Biodiversity conservation: challenges beyond 2010

The continued growth of human populations and of per capita consumption have resulted in unsustainable exploitation of Earth’s biological diversity, exacerbated by climate change, ocean acidification, and other anthropogenic environmental impacts. We argue that effective conservation of biodiversity is essential for human survival and the maintenance of ecosystem processes. Despite some conservation successes (especially at local scales) and increasing public and government interest in living sustainably, biodiversity continues to decline. Moving beyond 2010, successful conservation approaches need to be reinforced and adequately financed. In addition, however, more radical changes are required that recognize biodiversity as a global public good, that integrate biodiversity conservation into policies and decision frameworks for resource production and consumption, and that focus on wider institutional and societal changes to enable more effective implementation of polic

Culture and biodiversity losses linked--response

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Enhancing the value of horizon scanning through collaborative review

There is an increased appreciation of the need for horizon scanning: the identification and assessment of issues that could be serious in the future but have currently attracted little attention. However, a process is lacking to identify appropriate responses by policy makers and practitioners. We thus suggest a process and trial its applicability. Twelve environmental conservation organizations assessed each of 15 previously identified horizon scanning issues for their impact upon their organization and the urgency with which they should consider the issue. They also identified triggers that would result in changes in their scoring of the likely urgency and impact of the issues. This process enables organizations to identify priority issues, identify issues they can ignore until there are further developments, benchmark priorities across organizations and identify cross-organizational priorities that warrant further attention, so providing an agenda for collation of evidence, research and policy development. In this trial the review of responses by other organizations resulted in the upgrading of response by a substantial proportion of organizations for eight of the 15 issues examined. We suggest this approach, with the novel components of collaborative assessment and identification of triggers, could be adopted widely, both within conservation organizations and across a wider range of policy issue

Towards Eco-Centric Interaction: Urban Playful Interventions in the Anthropocene

The twin crises of nature and climate is supported by overwhelming scientific evidence and increasing public concern about long-term and potentially irreversible consequences of the Anthropocene. People and wildlife living today, as well as future generations, are at risk unless urgent action is taken to reverse the loss of plants, insects and other creatures on which we depend for food, clean water, and a stable climate. As urban dwellings become the main concentration of citizens, we thought of addressing these issues through a series of urban interventions aiming at educating and enhancing the user\u2019s biodiversity and sustainability awareness through play and reflection. We provide a list of preliminary insights, discussed, and shared trying to frame how these new interventions can contribute to a panorama where playful interactions in smart cities can inspire sustainable and respectful attitudes towards nature. We conclude with a constructive conversation about playful urban approaches aimed at understanding how the interaction process could be re-centered to promote environmental protection and ecological consciousness on the part of technology users. Our case studies strive to reconcile concepts and theories, about ecological computing, more than human design, biodiversity actions and nature awareness and conservation in urban settings, for the design of urban playful and enjoyable systems that promote environmental protection and ecological consciousness on the part of technology users

The identification of priority policy options for UK nature conservation

1. The conservation of biodiversity depends upon both policy and regulatory frameworks. Here, we identify priority policy developments that would support conservation in the UK in the light of technological developments, changes in knowledge or environmental change. 2. A team of seven representatives from governmental organizations, 17 from non-governmental organizations and six academics provided an assessment of the priority issues. The representatives consulted widely and identified a long-list of 117 issues. 3. Following voting and discussion during a 2-day meeting, these were reduced to a final list of 25 issues and their potential policy options and research needs were identified. Many of the policies related to recent changes in approaches to conservation, such as increased interest in ecosystem services, adaptation to climate change and landscape ecology. 4. We anticipate that this paper will be useful for policy makers, nature conservation delivery agencies, the research community and conservation policy advocates. 5. Although many of the options have global significance, we suggest that other countries consider an equivalent exercise. We recommend that such an exercise be carried out in the UK at regular intervals, say every 5 years, to explore how biodiversity conservation can best be supported by linked policy development and research in a changing world. 6. Synthesis and applications. Opportunities for policy development were prioritized and for each of the top 25 we identified the current context, policy options and research questions. These largely addressed new issues relating to developing topics such as ecosystem services, landscape planning and nanotechnology. We envisage that this will largely be used by researchers wishing to make a contribution to potential policy debates

Insecticide use: Contexts and ecological consequences

Constraints to the sustainability of insecticide use include effects on human health, agroecosystems (e.g., beneficial insects), the wider environment (e.g., non-target species, landscapes and communities) and the selection of insecticide-resistant traits. It is possible to find examples where insecticides have impacted disastrously on all these variables and others where the hazards posed have been (through accident or design) ameliorated. In this review, we examine what can currently be surmised about the direct and indirect long-term, field impacts of insecticides upon the environment. We detail specific examples, describe current insecticide use patterns, consider the contexts within which insecticide use occurs and discuss the role of regulation and legislation in reducing risk. We consider how insecticide use is changing in response to increasing environmental awareness and inevitably, as we discuss the main constraints to insecticide use, we suggest why they cannot easily be discarded