Biodiversity Areas under Threat: Overlap of Climate Change and Population Pressures on the World’s Biodiversity Priorities

Abstract

Humans and the ecosystem services they depend on are threatened by climate change. Places with high or growing human population as well as increasing climate variability, have a reduced ability to provide ecosystem services just as the need for these services is most critical. A spiral of vulnerability and ecosystem degradation often ensues in such places. We apply different global conservation schemes as proxies to examine the spatial relation between wet season precipitation, population change over three decades, and natural resource conservation. We pose two research questions: 1) Where are biodiversity and ecosystem services vulnerable to the combined effects of climate change and population growth? 2) Where are human populations vulnerable to degraded ecosystem services? Results suggest that globally only about 20% of the area between 50 degrees latitude North and South has experienced significant change–largely wetting–in wet season precipitation. Approximately 40% of rangelands and 30% of rainfed agriculture lands have experienced significant precipitation changes, with important implications for food security. Over recent decades a number of critical conservation areas experienced high population growth concurrent with significant wetting or drying (e.g. the Horn of Africa, Himalaya, Western Ghats, and Sri Lanka), posing challenges not only for human adaptation but also to the protection and sustenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services. Identifying areas of climate and population risk and their overlap with conservation priorities can help to target activities and resources that promote biodiversity and ecosystem services while improving human well-being.

The functional roles of mammals in ecosystems

“…The most critical immediate actions required to conserve ecosystem functions that are mediated by mammals are to mitigate habitat loss and overexploitation, and address the impending threats of climate change. As human populations and consumption grow in tandem, less and less land remains to conserve biodiversity (Aukema et al 2017). What protected areas exist will be under growing pressure to be converted to working landscapes (e.g., see www.padddtracker.org), providing growing challenges to efforts to conserve large-scale ecosystem processes and associated services.…”

O estabelecimento de um curso de Licenciatura em Ciências do Mar e do Ambiente na Guiné-Bissau: oportunidades, constrangimentos e desafios

“…Por outro lado, as principais manchas de floresta sub-húmidas do sul, com transição para as florestas secas e semi-secas no centro-norte constituem uma barreira ao avanço do deserto. No ambiente terrestre persiste ainda uma grande diversidade biológica onde se podem encontrar várias espécies de plantas, mamíferos, aves, répteis e anfíbios, algumas delas ameaçadas de extinção (AUKEMA et al, 2017). Não obstante, a economia da Guiné-Bissau e a sua população humana continuam grandemente dependentes dos recursos naturais, sendo as suas principais fontes de receita: a exportação agrícola, essencialmente assente no caju; a concessão de licenças de pesca; e a exploração florestal (VASCONCELOS, 2015 O país é iminentemente agrícola, ainda que tradicional, e com grandes potencialidades do pescado.…”

Private conservation funding from wildlife tourism enterprises in sub-Saharan Africa: Conservation marketing beliefs and practices

“…Conservation of threatened species and ecosystems relies heavily on reserves (Gray et al, 2016;Le Saout et al, 2014;Palomo et al, 2014;Oldekop et al, 2015, Watson et al, 2016. Most reserves are under continuing human threats and pressures, particularly in more densely populated areas (Aukema et al, 2017;Estrada et al, 2017;Hoffman et al, 2015;Liang et al, 2016;Naidoo et al, 2016;Pimm et al, 2014, Ripple et al, 2016. These threats include: industrial and infrastructure development; subsistence farming, livestock, fisheries, hunting, harvesting and encroachment; organised criminal activities such as wildlife poaching; secondary impacts such as fires, feral animals, invasive plants, and pathogens (); and the broader-scale ecological impacts of climate change (Barnosky et al, 2017;Johansson et al, 2016;Moran & Kanemoto, 2017;Pacifici et al, 2015;Parsons et al, 2016;Pecl et al, 2017;Scheffers et al, 2016).…”