biodiversity Articles
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Political economy of international negotiations on biodiversity: players, institutions and global governance
Biodiversity is an issue that is being discussed in several international forums in which the players and institutions are competing to define the priorities and to choose the tools best adapted to the management of genetic resources. One of the major issues at stake is the compatibility and the hierarchy of international agreements signed within the framework of the Convention on Biodiversity, ...
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Governing biodiversity
The hypothesis of this paper is that the value conferred on nature designates both the "objects of nature" that are the subject of consideration, and the human beings for whom they are intended or who are responsible for them. These designation processes are dynamic and linked, but also interdependent. In order to examine these processes more closely, we make use of the concept of ...
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10 messages for 2010 - Urban ecosystems
Key messages In Europe, where the overwhelming majority of people live in urban areas, tackling the interlinked challenges between biodiversity and its network of towns and cities is crucial to help halting biodiversity loss. Urbanisation can be an opportunity or a threat for biodiversity. Seizing the opportunity demands that we mix high quality urban green areas with dense and compact built ...
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Natural solutions for water security
In view of the importance of water to sustainable development, and pressing problems with water availability and quality, the emphasis of this booklet is on how biodiversity provides us with solutions to meet water-related challenges. The booklet has been prepared for the International Day for Biological Biodiversity, which in 2013 focuses on water and biodiversity. Continue reading the full ...
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Impact of globalisation on biodiversity conservation
Biodiversity is generally described at three levels – diversity of ecosystems, diversity of species, and diversity of genes. Biodiversity is both a scientific and a political concept, embracing a trinity of globally-agreed objectives such as conservation of biodiversity, sustainable use of biological resources, and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from this use. This paper describes ...
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Indigenous knowledge and fast moving consumer goods: are we seeing some tradeoffs?
This paper explores the role of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) and biodiversity as positive growth leveraging factors. In doing so, we examine how the growth of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) may adversely affect regional knowledge systems and biodiversity. From the investors' perspective, FMCG sector is the source of high and stable return. We postulate that the growth of a sector like FMCG is a ...
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Shortcuts for biodiversity evaluation: a review of terminology and recommendations for the use of target groups, bioindicators and surrogates
The terms related to rapid alternative routes for appraising species diversity (biodiversity assessment shortcuts), through the use of biodiversity target groups, indicator groups and other biodiversity surrogates are examined. Biodiversity target groups are selected for their methodological and taxonomical advantages, and the purpose of their use is the assessment of their own diversity ...
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Attitudes of Europeans towards the issue of biodiversity
The European Union (EU) is committed to the protection of 'biological diversity', i.e. the variability among living organisms from all sources including, inter alia, terrestrial, marine, and other aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems1. The EU has been legislating on biodiversity since the ...
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EU 2010 biodiversity baseline
In January 2010, the Commission presented a series of options for an EU biodiversity policy vision and target beyond 2010 (EC, 2010). Recognising the urgent need to reverse the trends of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation, on 26 March 2010 the European Council endorsed the long-term biodiversity vision and the 2020 headline target adopted by the Environment Council on 15 March 2010 ...
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Agro-Biodiversity Conservation in Europe: Ethical Issues
While it is commonly acknowledged that the ecosystemic, and the inter- and intra-specific diversity of natural life is under threat of being irremediably lost, there is much less awareness that the diversity in agro-ecosystems is also under threat. This paper is focused on the biodiverse agro-ecosystems generated by landraces (LRs), i.e., farmer-developed populations of cultivated species that ...
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Managing natural capital at a NZ University: toward a comprehensive accountability model
The objective of this paper was to use a modified Jones (1996) natural capital inventory model to construct a baseline inventory of species, as well as the number of individual specimens against which future increases and decreases in the fern inventory of NZ University can be measured. By comparing historical records to the fern inventory, the paper provides some preliminary views on the ...
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An empirical investigation of biodiversity loss from threatened species perspective: a comparative study
Using panel data for 113 countries over a three-year period of time, this research investigates the empirical relationship between the changes of threatened mammal species and economic development by comparing three different measures: An N-shaped non-linear relationship is found when the dependent variable is the percentage changes; the Environment Kuznets Curve (EKC) hypothesis is supported ...
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Project - Enrich Biodiversity (Maharashtra)
Agriculture is the main source of income for farmers in several villages of Maharashtra where fluctuating weather condition is a major problem. As an outcome, this leads to severe agrarian crisis, causing an increase in farmer suicides. Perturbed by this plight of rural peasants of the state, Project Enrich Biodiversity is active towards extending strengthened livelihood options, while promoting ...
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Crossing borders and linking plural knowledge: biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and human well–being
The challenges we face today in terms of local, regional and global environmental changes and pressures on biodiversity can only be addressed with a close coupling of approaches from natural and social sciences together with local knowledge. The authors emphasise that biodiversity research and intervention should integrate this new comprehensive perspective, bringing together biological sciences, ...
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Property rights in non-captive wildlife and biodiversity conservation
To reduce the rate of human-induced biodiversity loss of wild species, it has become increasingly important to stem this loss on private lands. Some writers believe that granting landholders commercial property rights in wildlife will be effective in dealing with this matter and will result in the preservation of biodiversity. This paper explores this view using economic theory. In doing so, it ...
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Taking Adaptation Value Seriously: Designing REDD to Protect Biodiversity
Negotiations at Copenhagen are expected to address the design of a mechanism for reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (REDD) for inclusion in a post-Kyoto agreement. Several country proposals and non-governmental assessments suggest that REDD may have significant benefits for biodiversity. This article observes that such benefits are closely aligned with the adaptation ...
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Can we have our cities and biodiversity, too?
Smart development could mean big benefits for biodiversity and urban areas alike. We are entering the most extensive and rapid phase of urban growth ever experienced. Not only are urban populations expected to double in just a few decades, physical urban space is expected to increase at an even faster pace. Estimates suggest that by 2050 a land area the size of South Africa, more than 1.2 ...
By Ensia
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Streamlining European biodiversity indicators 2020: Building a future on lessons learnt from the SEBI 2010 process
Measuring biodiversity in Europe Loss of biodiversity in Europe is a fact. Yet measuring the extent of the loss and the threat it poses is a challenge. Many European countries have been developing their own indicators to measure changes in biodiversity in their territory. At the same time, progress had also been measured at the global level. Ensuring consistency between indicators at national, ...
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Partnership for biodiversity and sustainable development
Partnership with the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF), a global program that since 2000 has provided grants to Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and private sector organizations to help protect the world's biodiversity hotspots, enhanced synergies between the Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development (BCSD) project's aims and CEPF projects in the area through ...
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Climate Change and Biodiversity
On two counts this is a book which I would not normally have rushed out to buy. I generally dislike books that are compilations of a range of short specialist articles. Few editors are capable of co-ordinating the disparate pieces into one readable and comprehensive whole. My second negative criticism is, ‘not yet another book on global warming’- for surely this is the most over-written and ...
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