Indigenous Lands, Protected Areas, and Slowing Climate Change

Recent climate talks in Copenhagen reaffirmed the crucial role of reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD). Creating and strengthening indigenous lands and other protected areas represents an effective, practical, and immediate REDD strategy that addresses both biodiversity and climate crises at once

Global no net loss of natural ecosystems

A global goal of no net loss of natural ecosystems or better has recently been proposed, but such a goal would require equitable translation to country-level contributions. Given the wide variation in ecosystem depletion, these could vary from net gain (for countries where restoration is needed), to managed net loss (in rare circumstances where natural ecosystems remain extensive and human development imperative is greatest). National contributions and international support for implementation also must consider non-area targets factors such as the capacity to conserve and the imperative for human development

Local conditions and policy design determine whether ecological compensation can achieve No Net Loss goals.

Funder: Science for Nature and People Partnership Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award (DE170100684) Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (FT140100516) The Australian Government’s National Environmental Science Program through the Threatened Species Recovery Hub Agence Française de Développement Fonds Français pour l'environnement Mondial Mava FoundationFunder: Science for Nature and People Partnership Australian Research Council Future Fellowship FT140100516 National Environmental Science Program's Threatened Species Recovery HubMany nations use ecological compensation policies to address negative impacts of development projects and achieve No Net Loss (NNL) of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Yet, failures are widely reported. We use spatial simulation models to quantify potential net impacts of alternative compensation policies on biodiversity (indicated by native vegetation) and two ecosystem services (carbon storage, sediment retention) across four case studies (in Australia, Brazil, Indonesia, Mozambique). No policy achieves NNL of biodiversity in any case study. Two factors limit their potential success: the land available for compensation (existing vegetation to protect or cleared land to restore), and expected counterfactual biodiversity losses (unregulated vegetation clearing). Compensation also fails to slow regional biodiversity declines because policies regulate only a subset of sectors, and expanding policy scope requires more land than is available for compensation activities. Avoidance of impacts remains essential in achieving NNL goals, particularly once opportunities for compensation are exhausted

Great Apes and Biodiversity Offset Projects in Africa: The Case for National Offset Strategies

The development and private sectors are increasingly considering “biodiversity offsets” as a strategy to compensate for their negative impacts on biodiversity, including impacts on great apes and their habitats in Africa. In the absence of national offset policies in sub-Saharan Africa, offset design and implementation are guided by company internal standards, lending bank standards or international best practice principles. We examine four projects in Africa that are seeking to compensate for their negative impacts on great ape populations. Our assessment of these projects reveals that not all apply or implement best practices, and that there is little standardization in the methods used to measure losses and gains in species numbers. Even if they were to follow currently accepted best-practice principles, we find that these actions may still fail to contribute to conservation objectives over the long term. We advocate for an alternative approach in which biodiversity offset and compensation projects are designed and implemented as part of a National Offset Strategy that (1) takes into account the cumulative impacts of development in individual countries, (2) identifies priority offset sites, (3) promotes aggregated offsets, and (4) integrates biodiversity offset and compensation projects with national biodiversity conservation objectives. We also propose supplementary principles necessary for biodiversity offsets to contribute to great ape conservation in Africa. Caution should still be exercised, however, with regard to offsets until further field-based evidence of their effectiveness is available

A conservation strategy for khulan in Mongolia: background and key considerations

Kaczensky, P., Buuveibaatar, B., Payne, J.C., Strindberg, S., Walzer, C., Batsaikhan, N., Bolortsetseg, S., Victurine, R. & Olson, K.A. 2020. A conservation strategy for khulan in Mongolia: background and key considerations. NINA Report 1889. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus), referred to as khulan in Mongolian, are among the most mobile ungulates globally. Their movements exceed the much better known migrations of caribou in the Arctic or wildebeest and zebra in the Serengeti-Maasai Mara ecosystem. These wide-ranging movements allow khulan to thrive in large numbers under the harsh climate and unpredictable conditions of Central Asia’s resource-poor drylands. The very same harsh climate also gave rise to the traditional nomadic herding practised by local communities. However, this need to move makes khulan extremely vulnerable to the fragmentation and loss of habitat which is currently ongoing throughout their range. In turn, this mobility makes khulan an ideal umbrella species for largely intact and functionally connected dryland ecosystems, which could benefit many other threatened dryland species, ecological processes, and the local communities that rely on them. Long-distance movements and aggregations of ungulates fascinate people worldwide and safeguarding this globally declining phenomena and its associated ecosystem service has become a conservation goal in itself, formally recognized by the Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) via the IUCN Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group (https://conservationcorridor.org/ccsg/). Mongolia signed CMS in 1999 and in 2002 added the khulan to the list of CMS species. Other ecosystem services provided by khulan include large-scale nutrient re-distribution and seed dispersal, providing access to water for other species by digging in dry riverbeds, and facilitating access to vegetation for other wildlife by removal of senescent vegetation or digging craters in the snow. Khulan are prey for predators and carrion for scavengers, and a potential source of protein for local human communities. Their presence is also of spiritual, aesthetic, and cultural importance (“existence value”) for local people. Khulan, along with other species, have a largely untapped potential to add a wildlife component to Mongolia’s already thriving nature- and culture-based tourism. But like all wildlife living in multi-use landscapes, khulan also cause conflicts. They compete with livestock for pasture, they can also raid crops, cause traffic accidents, and their conservation needs to be considered in land-use planning, thereby constraining development options or necessitating costly mitigation measures (Fig. 1). Balancing these costs and benefits in a way that provides for the needs of khulan and Mongolia’s economic development requires careful knowledge-based planning. With an estimated 64,000 khulan, the Mongolian Gobi currently holds >80% of the global population and constitutes >70% of the species’ global breeding range (Fig. 2). The global fate of khulan is therefore tightly linked to its conservation in Mongolia. Even in Mongolia, khulan have become constrained to the least productive and most unpredictable areas in the south. And after the construction of the fenced Trans-Mongolian Railway in the 1950’s, they became extinct on the Eastern Steppe and are now only found in the Gobi. On the IUCN Red List the khulan is currently listed as Near Threatened, but its status remains under close scrutiny because of multiple developments that may negatively impact the size, quality, and functional connectivity of the Gobi - Steppe ecosystem. These developments are happening simultaneously and at an unprecedented speed in an ecosystem which so far has remained in a near-natural state and include 1)The dramatic and unconstrained increase in livestock populations and a change in thetraditional herding system, resulting in competition with, and displacement of, khulan frompastures. 2)The rapid development of the resource extraction sector (mining and oil) and the associatedinflux of people and technical infrastructure, resulting in habitat degradation, destruction, andnew sources of disturbance. 3)The rapid expansion and upgrading of the transportation infrastructure to meet the needs ofmining development, and to connect Mongolia to international markets, resulting in habitatfragmentation. 4)Climate change with increasing temperatures and an expected higher frequency of extremeevents like droughts and severe winter storms (dzuds), resulting in local or regional die-offs inungulates and longer-term changes in water and pasture availability. 5)At the same time, historical threats, like illegal killing of khulan, persist. Mongolia has committed to large-scale conservation by setting aside >20% of its land surface as nationally protected areas and is aiming for a coverage of >30%. But for wide-ranging nomadic and migratory species like khulan, Mongolian gazelles, goitered gazelles, and saiga, protected areas alone will not be enough to safeguard their current population numbers and ecosystem functions. With the exception of the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area (SPA), none of the protected areas are large enough to contain the movements of even a single khulan over an entire year, let alone its lifetime. This mismatch is particularly acute in the South Gobi Region, where most khulan now live. To maintain khulan at current population levels, they will need access to the multi-use landscape between protected areas and a high degree of landscape connectivity, both of which need to be explicitly considered in land-use planning and development. Against the backdrop of ongoing changes within the current khulan range in Mongolia, we believe that there is an urgent need for a national khulan conservation strategy which aims to: •Assemble a community of stakeholders from across Mongolia who are concerned aboutkhulan conservation, feel impacted by khulan in their livelihoods, or may impact khulan ortheir habitat through their actions. •Within this stakeholder community, build a common understanding of the threats to khulanconservation in Mongolia based on projected land-use changes. •Develop a shared vision for the future of khulan conservation in Mongolia and a plan toguide its realization, focusing on urgent aspects of landscape-scale land-use planning,impact mitigation, and long-term monitoring. •Build a commitment for immediate action for khulan and an enabling planning, regulatoryand funding framework through which actions can be sustained. •Leverage the khulan conservation strategy as a blueprint for similar conservation strategiesfor other wide-ranging ungulates falling under Mongolia’s commitment to the Convention ofMigratory Species (CMS) and its Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI).Kaczensky, P., Buuveibaatar, B., Payne, J.C., Strindberg, S., Walzer, C., Batsaikhan, N., Bolortsetseg, S., Victurine, R. & Olson, K.A. 2020. A conservation strategy for khulan in Mongolia: background and key considerations. NINA Rapport 1889. Norsk institutt for naturforskning.Det asiatiske villeselet (Equus hemionus), som i Mongolia kalles khulan, er blant de mest mobile hovdyrene i verden. Dette gjør det mulig for khulan å trives i store antall i det harde klimaet og de uforutsigbare forholdene i Sentral-Asias ressursfattige stepper. De samme forholdene har også gitt opphav til den tradisjonelle nomadiske husdyrhold som lokalsamfunnene praktiserer. Behovet for bevegelse gjør imidlertid khulan svært sårbar for tap og fragmentering av habitat som nå skjer i hele utbredelsesområdet. Samtidig gjør mobiliteten khulan til en ideell paraplyart for et i stor grad intakt og funksjonelt, sammenhengende steppeøkosystem, som kan komme mange andre truede steppearter, økologiske prosesser, og lokalsamfunnene som er avhengige av dem, til gode. Andre økosystemtjenester som khulanen bidrar med inkluderer redistribusjon av næringsstoffer på stor skala og frøspredning. De gir andre arter tilgang til vann ved å grave i tørre elveleier, og de bidrar til at andre dyrearter får tilgang til vegetasjon ved å fjerne gammel vegetasjon og å grave groper i snøen. Khulan er bytte for predatorer, kadaver for åtseletere og en potensiell proteinkilde for mennesker. Khulan har, sammen med andre arter, et i stor grad uutnyttet potensiale til å legge dyreliv til som en komponent i Mongolias allerede blomstrende natur- og kulturbaserte turisme. Som alt annet dyreliv i flerbrukslandskap, skaper imidlertid khulanen også konflikter. De konkurrerer med beitedyr om beitemark, de kan skade avlinger og forårsake trafikkulykker. Bevaringsbehovene deres må tas hensyn til i arealplanlegging, og de begrenser derfor utviklingsmulighetene og krever dyre avbøtende tiltak (Fig.1). Å balansere disse kostnadene og fordelene på en måte som imøtekommer både behovene til khulanen og Mongolias økonomiske utvikling krever nøye, kunnskapsbasert, planlegging. Med sine estimerte 64.000 khulaner har den mongolske delen av Gobi over 80 % av den globale populasjonen og består av over 70% av artens globale utbredelsesområde (Fig. 2). Den globale skjebnen til khulanen henger derfor tett sammen med dens bevaring i Mongolia. Selv i Mongolia har khulanen blitt begrenset til de minst produktive og mest uforutsigbare områdene i sør. Etter konstruksjonen av den inngjerdede transmongolske jernbanen på 1950-tallet, ble den utryddet på den østlige steppen, og finnes nå kun i Gobi område. Khulan er oppført som ‘nær truet’ på IUCNs rødliste, men statusen følges nøye på grunn av flere utviklingstrender som kan påvirke størrelsen, kvaliteten og funksjonaliteten på steppeøkosystemet i Gobi. Disse utviklingstrendene skjer samtidig, og i en raskere hastighet enn vi tidligere har sett i dette økosystemet, som så langt har vært nær sin naturlig tilstand, og inkluderer: 1. Den dramatiske og ubegrensede økningen i husdyrpopulasjoner, og endring i dentradisjonelle husdyrhold, som resulterer i konkurranse og fortrenging av khulan frabeiteområder 2. Den raske utviklingen av ressursutvinningssektoren (gruvedrift og olje) og medfølgendetilstrømning av folk og bygging av teknisk infrastruktur, som fører til habitatdegradering og-ødeleggelse, og nye kilder til forstyrrelser. 3. Den raske utvidelsen og oppgraderingen av transportinfrastrukturen, for å møte behovenetil gruveutviklingen og å koble Mongolia til internasjonale markeder, fører tilhabitatfragmentering. 4. Klimaendring med økende temperaturer og en forventet økt hyppighet av ekstreme hendelser som tørke og alvorlige vinterstormer (dzuds), som resulterer i lokale eller regionale dødsfall hos hovdyr og endringer over lengre tid i vann- og beitetilgjengelighet. 5. Samtidig er fortsatt historiske trusler, som ulovlig jakt på khulan, en trussel Mongolia har forpliktet seg til storskala bevaring ved å sette til side over 20 % av landoverflaten som nasjonalt beskyttede vernområder, og de sikter mot over 30 %. For langtvandrende nomadiske og migratoriske arter som kulan, mongolske gaseller, persiagaselle og saigaantilope, vil imidlertid ikke vernområder alene være nok for å sikre de nåværende populasjonene og økosystemfunksjonene. Med de pågående endringene i det nåværende utbredelsesområdet i Mongolia som bakteppe, mener vi at det er et presserende behov for en nasjonal bevaringsstrategi for kulan som kan fungere som et mal for lignende bevaringsstrategier for andre hovdyr som faller under Mongolias forpliktelser i Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) og dens Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI)

A conservation strategy for khulan in Mongolia: background and key considerations

Kaczensky, P., Buuveibaatar, B., Payne, J.C., Strindberg, S., Walzer, C., Batsaikhan, N., Bolortsetseg, S., Victurine, R. & Olson, K.A. 2020. A conservation strategy for khulan in Mongolia: background and key considerations. NINA Report 1889. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research. Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus), referred to as khulan in Mongolian, are among the most mobile ungulates globally. Their movements exceed the much better known migrations of caribou in the Arctic or wildebeest and zebra in the Serengeti-Maasai Mara ecosystem. These wide-ranging movements allow khulan to thrive in large numbers under the harsh climate and unpredictable conditions of Central Asia’s resource-poor drylands. The very same harsh climate also gave rise to the traditional nomadic herding practised by local communities. However, this need to move makes khulan extremely vulnerable to the fragmentation and loss of habitat which is currently ongoing throughout their range. In turn, this mobility makes khulan an ideal umbrella species for largely intact and functionally connected dryland ecosystems, which could benefit many other threatened dryland species, ecological processes, and the local communities that rely on them. Long-distance movements and aggregations of ungulates fascinate people worldwide and safeguarding this globally declining phenomena and its associated ecosystem service has become a conservation goal in itself, formally recognized by the Convention of Migratory Species (CMS) and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) via the IUCN Connectivity Conservation Specialist Group (https://conservationcorridor.org/ccsg/). Mongolia signed CMS in 1999 and in 2002 added the khulan to the list of CMS species. Other ecosystem services provided by khulan include large-scale nutrient re-distribution and seed dispersal, providing access to water for other species by digging in dry riverbeds, and facilitating access to vegetation for other wildlife by removal of senescent vegetation or digging craters in the snow. Khulan are prey for predators and carrion for scavengers, and a potential source of protein for local human communities. Their presence is also of spiritual, aesthetic, and cultural importance (“existence value”) for local people. Khulan, along with other species, have a largely untapped potential to add a wildlife component to Mongolia’s already thriving nature- and culture-based tourism. But like all wildlife living in multi-use landscapes, khulan also cause conflicts. They compete with livestock for pasture, they can also raid crops, cause traffic accidents, and their conservation needs to be considered in land-use planning, thereby constraining development options or necessitating costly mitigation measures (Fig. 1). Balancing these costs and benefits in a way that provides for the needs of khulan and Mongolia’s economic development requires careful knowledge-based planning. With an estimated 64,000 khulan, the Mongolian Gobi currently holds >80% of the global population and constitutes >70% of the species’ global breeding range (Fig. 2). The global fate of khulan is therefore tightly linked to its conservation in Mongolia. Even in Mongolia, khulan have become constrained to the least productive and most unpredictable areas in the south. And after the construction of the fenced Trans-Mongolian Railway in the 1950’s, they became extinct on the Eastern Steppe and are now only found in the Gobi. On the IUCN Red List the khulan is currently listed as Near Threatened, but its status remains under close scrutiny because of multiple developments that may negatively impact the size, quality, and functional connectivity of the Gobi - Steppe ecosystem. These developments are happening simultaneously and at an unprecedented speed in an ecosystem which so far has remained in a near-natural state and include 1)The dramatic and unconstrained increase in livestock populations and a change in thetraditional herding system, resulting in competition with, and displacement of, khulan frompastures. 2)The rapid development of the resource extraction sector (mining and oil) and the associatedinflux of people and technical infrastructure, resulting in habitat degradation, destruction, andnew sources of disturbance. 3)The rapid expansion and upgrading of the transportation infrastructure to meet the needs ofmining development, and to connect Mongolia to international markets, resulting in habitatfragmentation. 4)Climate change with increasing temperatures and an expected higher frequency of extremeevents like droughts and severe winter storms (dzuds), resulting in local or regional die-offs inungulates and longer-term changes in water and pasture availability. 5)At the same time, historical threats, like illegal killing of khulan, persist. Mongolia has committed to large-scale conservation by setting aside >20% of its land surface as nationally protected areas and is aiming for a coverage of >30%. But for wide-ranging nomadic and migratory species like khulan, Mongolian gazelles, goitered gazelles, and saiga, protected areas alone will not be enough to safeguard their current population numbers and ecosystem functions. With the exception of the Great Gobi Strictly Protected Area (SPA), none of the protected areas are large enough to contain the movements of even a single khulan over an entire year, let alone its lifetime. This mismatch is particularly acute in the South Gobi Region, where most khulan now live. To maintain khulan at current population levels, they will need access to the multi-use landscape between protected areas and a high degree of landscape connectivity, both of which need to be explicitly considered in land-use planning and development. Against the backdrop of ongoing changes within the current khulan range in Mongolia, we believe that there is an urgent need for a national khulan conservation strategy which aims to: •Assemble a community of stakeholders from across Mongolia who are concerned aboutkhulan conservation, feel impacted by khulan in their livelihoods, or may impact khulan ortheir habitat through their actions. •Within this stakeholder community, build a common understanding of the threats to khulanconservation in Mongolia based on projected land-use changes. •Develop a shared vision for the future of khulan conservation in Mongolia and a plan toguide its realization, focusing on urgent aspects of landscape-scale land-use planning,impact mitigation, and long-term monitoring. •Build a commitment for immediate action for khulan and an enabling planning, regulatoryand funding framework through which actions can be sustained. •Leverage the khulan conservation strategy as a blueprint for similar conservation strategiesfor other wide-ranging ungulates falling under Mongolia’s commitment to the Convention ofMigratory Species (CMS) and its Central Asian Mammals Initiative (CAMI)

Sites in Africa where private sector or development projects are seeking to use offsets and compensation projects to counterbalance residual negative impacts to great apes and their habitat.

<p>Sites include (1) the Simandou Project in the Republic of Guinea, (2) the Global Alumina Project (GAP) in the Republic of Guinea, (3) the Bumbuna Hydroelectric Project (BHP) in Sierra Leone, and (4) the Lom Pangar Dam in the Republic of Cameroon.</p

Publicly available documentation for each site.

<p>Publicly available documentation for each site.</p

Summary of predicted project impacts on great apes and proposed mitigation measures.

<p>Summary of predicted project impacts on great apes and proposed mitigation measures.</p