Freshwater conservation planning informed and validated by public participation: The Ebro catchment, Spain, as a case study

Abstract

Freshwater ecosystems generally lack adequate protection. In this regard, defining clear and objective conservation criteria through public participation is extremely important, as it can greatly enhance the feasibility of the conservation plans by building credibility, salience, and legitimacy. This article presents an exercise of systematic freshwater conservation planning informed and validated by public participation using river protected areas (RPAs) in the Ebro catchment, Spain, as a case study. A public participation process was performed to define the conservation criteria that RPAs should meet, resulting in a detailed list of conservation features and constraints that were poorly covered by the present network of RPAs in Spain. The present network of RPAs failed to adequately protect aquatic biodiversity, as 48% of the taxa did not meet the conservation target, including seven species of vulnerable invertebrates and three of vulnerable fish. marxan was used to identify a minimum set of additional areas that would help to meet the conservation target by adequately representing all conservation features and by increasing the efficiency of the network of protected areas. When marxan was run without restrictions, none of the present RPAs was selected, suggesting that the current network of RPAs is not efficiently meeting the conservation demands expressed through public participation. Overall, this study shows that combining public participation and systematic conservation planning could result in more efficient and enhanced protection of freshwater ecosystems by integrating a wide variety of conservation preferences into the design of RPAs. Also, according to the results, having detailed and updated information on the distribution of invasive and endangered species, as well as increasing the frequency and spatial extension of ecological monitoring, are key to meeting the public demands of enhanced freshwater biodiversity protection and the preservation of sites with high ecological value.

Aquatic areas of ecological importance as inputs into surface water resource protection areas in Zambia

“…Consequently, the current map represents a 'blueprint' of important aquatic AEIs in Zambia, validated through public participation (Cañedo-Argüelles et al, 2019), where there is general agreement of experts in Zambia that the results are appropriate and useful as a decision-making tool.…”

Aquatic plants and ecotoxicological assessment in freshwater ecosystems: a review

“…Another criticism is that the ecotoxicological studies prove to be focused mainly on aquatic animal organisms, fact that reveals the poor monitoring of ecotoxicological effects of toxicants on aquatic plants despite their ecological importance and fundamental functions that play at ecosystem level. In addition, among aquatic plants, particular attention should be given to those of freshwater environments whose integrity and conservation are at risk, and they even more threatened than those in marine environments (Pang et al 2017; Cañedo-Argüelles et al 2019 ; Ma et al 2019 ). It should be noted that many of the contaminants found in marine habitats are transported by rivers (Besseling et al 2014 ; Rech et al 2014 ; dos Santos et al 2018 ), which thus become the main sources of pollution in seas and oceans.…”

Occurrence Prediction of Riffle Beetles (Coleoptera: Elmidae) in a Tropical Andean Basin of Ecuador Using Species Distribution Models

“…Freshwater ecosystems have been severely altered by human activities and are significantly vulnerable to climate change [ 1 , 2 ]. Hence, there is an urgent need to understand the spatial and temporal patterns of aquatic organisms to maintain and restore aquatic biodiversity [ 3 ]. In this context, species distribution models (SDMs) relate taxa occurrence with the local environmental conditions and provide a spatial prediction of taxa habitat suitability on the entire study area and, optionally, across time [ 4 ].…”