Conservation implications and opportunities of mining activities for terrestrial mammal habitat

Mining companies increasingly commit to a net positive impact on biodiversity. However, assessing the industry's progress toward achieving this goal is limited by knowledge of current mining threats to biodiversity and the relevant opportunities available for them to improve conservation outcomes. Here, we investigate the global exposure of terrestrial mammal habitat to mining activities, revealing the 136 species with > 30% of their habitat within 10 km of a mining property or exploration site. One third (n = 42) of these species are already threatened with extinction according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), suggesting projected increased demand for minerals may push some species beyond critical thresholds. Moreover, 28% (n = 33) of species are Data Deficient, illustrating tangible ways for industry to fill current knowledge gaps. However, large discrepancies between our results and the species currently listed as threatened by mining in the IUCN Red List, suggest other species may be at risk and that conservation tools and analyses based on these data may underestimate the benefits of averting such threats. We recommend ways to better capture mining threats to species within IUCN Red List assessments and discuss how these changes could improve conservation outcomes in mineral-rich areas

The many meanings of No Net Loss in environmental policy

‘No net loss’ is a buzz phrase in environmental policy. Applied to a multitude of environmental targets such as biodiversity, wetlands and land productive capacity, no net loss (NNL) and related goals have been adopted by multiple countries and organizations, but these goals often lack clear reference scenarios: no net loss compared to what? Here, we examine policies with NNL and related goals, and identify three main forms of reference scenario. We categorize NNL policies as relating either to overarching policy goals, or to responses to specific impacts. We explore how to resolve conflicts between overarching and impact-specific NNL policies, and improve transparency about what NNL-type policies are actually designed to achieve

The global extent of biodiversity offset implementation under no net loss policies

‘No net loss’ (NNL) biodiversity policies, which seek to neutralize ongoing biodiversity losses caused by economic development activities, are applicable worldwide. Yet there has been no global assessment concerning practical measures actually implemented under NNL policies. Here, we systematically map the global implementation of biodiversity offsets (‘offsets’) – a crucial yet controversial NNL practice. We find, firstly, that offsets occupy an area up to two orders of magnitude larger than previously suggested: 12,983 offset projects extending over ?153,679?_(-64,223)^(+25,013) km2 across 37 countries. Secondly, offsets are far from homogeneous in implementation, and emerging economies (particularly in South America) are more dominant in terms of global offsetting area than expected. Thirdly, most offset projects are very small, and the overwhelming majority (99.7%) arise through regulatory requirements rather than prominent project finance safeguards. Our database provides a sampling frame via which future studies could evaluate the efficacy of NNL policies

Appel à communication : Ville et architecture en perspective, 30 juin 2013

Grâce à la veille de Martine Chazelas réalisée avec l'outil Scoop it que je vous conseille vivement de suivre ! Je mets le flux de son travail de veille sur la colonne de droite du blog !! Lieu : INHA Sous la direction de Philippe Cardinali et Marc Perelman Dans le cadre de ce colloque, on s’intéressera sans limite à : • L’outil, l’instrument, la technique de maîtrise ou de manipulation de l’espace à l’usage des peintres, des architectes ou des urbanistes. La perspective ne sera cependant pas..

Bridging Biodiversity Conservation Objectives with Landscape Planning Through Green Infrastructures: A Case Study from Sardinia, Italy

The definition of Green Infrastructure (GI) provided by the European Commission in its 2013 Communication “Green Infrastructure: Enhancing Europe’s Natural Capital” regards GI as a network having the Natura 2000 sites at its core, able of delivering numerous ecosystem services, and “strategically planned”, stressing the importance of GI in integrating ecological connectivity, biodiversity conservation, and multi-functionality of ecosystems. Consequently, the spatial identification and management of GI is an important issue in planning, and especially in landscape planning as understood in the European Landscape Convention. Building on a previous work by Arcidiacono et al. (2016), this paper tests a methodology whereby the spatial configuration of a GI is identified in relation to four aspects (conservation value, natural value, recreation value, anthropic heritage) which summarize the multifaceted character of landscape. The methodology is tested in the Italian region of Sardinia, by applying it in the coastal landscape units defined in the Regional Landscape Plan currently in force which overlap the metropolitan area of Cagliari. We argue that this methodology can effectively help integrate biodiversity conservation objectives into spatial planning by implementing article 10 of the Habitats Directive, stating that relevant features of the landscape should be managed so as to improve the ecological coherence of the Natura 2000 network

Tropical forest loss enhanced by large-scale land acquisitions

Tropical forests are vital for global biodiversity, carbon storage and local livelihoods, yet they are increasingly under threat from human activities. Large-scale land acquisitions have emerged as an important mechanism linking global resource demands to forests in the Global South, yet their influence on tropical deforestation remains unclear. Here we perform a multicountry assessment of the links between large-scale land acquisitions and tropical forest loss by combining a new georeferenced database of 82,403 individual land deals—covering 15 countries in Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia—with data on annual forest cover and loss between 2000 and 2018. We find that land acquisitions cover between 6% and 59% of study-country land area and between 2% and 79% of their forests. Compared with non-investment areas, large-scale land acquisitions were granted in areas of higher forest cover in 11 countries and had higher forest loss in 52% of cases. Oil palm, wood fibre and tree plantations were consistently linked with enhanced forest loss while logging and mining concessions showed a mix of outcomes. Our findings demonstrate that large-scale land acquisitions can lead to elevated deforestation of tropical forests, highlighting the role of local policies in the sustainable management of these ecosystems