SUMMARYThe Integrated Coastal Zone Management protocol of the Barcelona Convention sets governance objectives for countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. This protocol emphasizes collaborative approaches to acknowledge the role of local people in coastal management. Evaluating the quality of governance processes is critical if coastal zone values are to be effectively managed in times of global climate change. This study examined the structure and attributes of collaborative governance networks in two Mediterranean deltas, the Camargue (France) and Gediz Delta (Turkey). A deliberative social catchment sampling was used to target actors with physical, cultural, social or economic ties. Forty-five different organizations/professions were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire to identify the frequency and quality of contacts, information flows, and subject matter relevant to natural resource management. There were higher levels of degree centrality and reciprocal ties in the Camargue, while the Gediz Delta had a greater homogeneity of actors, with one centralized influential actor. Civil society played a greater role in the Camargue network, and government organizations were more central in the Gediz Delta. The differences between the two sites call into question the use of the same integrated management strategies and suggest the need to acknowledge the importance of existing governance models and relationships within local contexts.

Bounded by ocean and desert, the isolated, predominately Mediterranean-climate region of south-western Australia (SWA) includes nine bioregions (circa 44 million hectares). The ecological integrity of the landscapes in this global biodiversity hotspot has been compromised by deforestation, fragmentation, exploitation, and introduced biota. Nature and degree of transformation varies between four interconnected landscapes (Swan Coastal Plain; South-west Forests; Wandoo Woodlands; and Great Western Woodlands). A Gondwanan perspective emphasizes a venerable biota and a cultural component to deep time. The particular importance of remnants and protected areas is recognized in restoring ecological integrity to Gondwanan landscapes. The nature and magnitude of the restoration task in these ancient, and neighboring, landscapes require higher levels of investment and more time than do recent landscapes. The protection, conservation, restoration, and rehabilitation of ecological integrity require multiple approaches in each landscape as well as consideration of the whole. Active conservation of biota and minimizing the impact of industrial-and agricultural-use are priorities. Integrating a climate focus and rethinking fire are critical restoration considerations to future trajectories under anthropogenic climate change. A legislative mandate to coordinate industrial-scale restoration and active conservation to build from protected areas must become a societal priority to restore ecological integrity.

Participatory mapping provides a way to collate a wide range of landscape values providing a visual representation to inform conservation planning. We tested the use of an iconic species, the Greater Flamingo, as a lens for participatory mapping to render explicit the socio-cultural values attributed in a landscape. Spatial information on six landscape values in a biodiversity hotspot, the Camargue Biosphere Reserve (southern France) was collected from 113 participants through surveys, interviews and workshops. This data was geolocated through a SoftGIS methodology to map and quantify the overlap of bivariate hotspots identifying value concurrence. The most frequent values recorded through total number of polygons and surface areas were wilderness and recreation. The least frequently mapped values were economic loss and biodiversity. There was frequent concurrence between biodiversity and aesthetic values especially in wetlands (lagoons, salt flats and sea). There was also frequent concurrence between biodiversity and recreational values with more overlap in sites with easy access (along roads and public areas). Our results show that using an iconic species is an effective way to render explicit spatial variations in the values attributed to a landscape and to identify concurrence of values, thus enabling integration of multiple landscape values in conservation planning how to cite :

The dingo population on world heritage-listed K’gari-Fraser Island (K’gari) is amongst the most well-known in Australia. However, an absence of population genetic data limits capacity for informed conservation management. We used 9 microsatellite loci to compare the levels of genetic diversity and genetic structure of 175 K’gari dingo tissue samples with 264 samples from adjacent mainland regions. Our results demonstrated that the K'gari population has significantly lower genetic diversity than mainland dingoes (AR, HE, PAR; p < 0.05) with a fourfold reduction in effective population size (Ne = 25.7 vs 103.8). There is also strong evidence of genetic differentiation between the island and mainland populations. These results are in accordance with genetic theory for small, isolated, island populations, and most likely the result of low initial diversity and founder effects such as bottlenecks leading to decreased diversity and drift. As the first study to incorporate a large sample set of K’gari dingoes, this provides invaluable baseline data for future research, which should incorporate genetic and demographic monitoring to ensure long-term persistence. Given that human-associated activities will continue to result in dingo mortality, it is critical that genetic factors are considered in conservation management decisions to avoid deleterious consequences for this iconic dingo population.

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The identification of research questions with high relevance for biodiversity conservation is an important step towards designing more effective policies and management actions, and to better allocate funding among alternative conservation options. However, the identification of priority questions may be influenced by regional differences in biodiversity threats and social contexts, and to variations in the perceptions and interests of different stakeholders. Here we describe the results of a prioritization exercise involving six types of stakeholders from the Mediterranean biome, which includes several biodiversity hotspots spread across five regions of the planet (Europe, Africa, North and South America, and Australia). We found great heterogeneity across regions and stakeholder types in the priority topics identified and disagreement among the priorities of research scientists and other stakeholders. However, governance, climate change, and public participation issues were key topics in most regions. We conclude that the identification of research priorities should be targeted in a way that integrates the spectrum of stakeholder interests, potential funding sources and regional needs, and that further development of interdisciplinary studies is required. The key questions identified here provide a basis to identify priorities for research funding aligned with biodiversity conservation needs in this biome.

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After over 50 000 years of interaction between Aboriginal people and changing climates, south-western Australia's tall forests were first logged less than 200 years ago, initiating persistent conflict. Recent conservation advocacy has resulted in the protection of 49% of these tall forests in statutory reserves, providing an opportunity to implement and benefit from a growing moral consensus on the valuing of these globally significant, tall forest ecosystems. We analysed a cross-section of literature (63 papers, 118 statements) published on these forests over 187 years to identify values framing advocacy. We differentiated four resource-oriented discourses and three discourses giving primacy to social and environmental values over seven eras. Invasion sparked initial uncontrolled exploitation, with the Forests Act 1918 managing competing agricultural and timber advocacy. Following the Colonial and Country Life eras, industrialscale exploitation of the karri forest region resulted in reaction by increasingly broad sectors of society. Warming and drying in the 21st Century emphasises the importance of intact tall forest and the Indigenous Renaissance discourse. Vesting for a more comprehensive set of values would acknowledge a new moral consensus.