ESSP DIVERSITAS IGBP IHDP WCRP
 
SCIENCE PROGRAMME
"" Evaluating Success
Identifying Drivers
Making Decisions
Cross Cutting Themes
Getting Involved
   
"" Assessing policy
""

Criteria for measuring the effectiveness of actions, strategies and policies for the conservation of biodiversity (Task 1.2)

The conservation of biodiversity in natural and managed systems clearly vary in their effectiveness. This task aims to use the suite of biodiversity measures established in Task 1.1 to assess the effectiveness of conservation policies, programmes, and strategies such as:

▪ marine and terrestrial protected areas,
▪ zoning and land use controls,
▪ changes in property rights and land tenure systems,
▪ changes in forestry and agricultural practices.

It will also examine incentive schemes, for example, payment for the provision of ecosystems services and taxes for harmful activities. It will span the political structures within which such policies operate.

Research Objectives

  • Comparison of methods used to evaluate the effectiveness of policies.
  • Devise a common set of research questions that span a broad spectrum of ecological, political and management systems. These will help assess if policies create incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, if they create unintentional disincentives, and how they impact on the promotion of conservation and sustainability.
  • A review that identifies the key factors that determine the success or failure and provides specific recommendations for designing successful conservation strategies.

 
Rainforest Oaxaca
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Oaxaca Village
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Images
© Dave Raffaelli

These images show two examples of innovative conservation strategies in Mexico. Top image - coffee grown in the shade of tropical rain forest increases the value of the forest and ensures its integrity. Bottom image –ecotourism has been established and run by the Ventenilla community in Oaxaca and it provides more income than subsistence agriculture and is a sound basis for the conservation of marine turtles, crocodiles, green iguana and birds that rely on the adjacent mangrove habitat.
 
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