bioSUSTAINABILITY scoping workshop (16th-17th September 2004, Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

A scoping workshop was held in Phnom Penh 16th-17th September 2004, funded by an APN seed grant, to focus a proposal, “Biodiversity measures in different biomes: challenge for the next decade” submitted to Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research (APN). Participants attended from Cambodia, Vietnam, Lao PDR, New Zealand, UK and Japan. At the meeting it was decided that the new proposal would focus on one biome, the tropical forest in the Indochina region. National borders (and hence policies and science approaches) cut across the natural boundaries of this forest ecosystem, and there are diverse demands of different elements of those nation’s societies on biodiversity. Attempts to address such issues in the region so far have focussed maily on the freshwater system (the Mekong River Commission).

List of Participants

Cambodia: HE Khieu Muth
Mr. Ken Sereyrotha
Mr. Oum Pisey

Vietnam: Dr. Nguyen Huu Ninh
Dr. Nguyen Hoang Nghia
Prof. Duong Duc Tien

Lao PDR: Ms. Pauline Gerrard
Mr. Somsanouk Phommakhoth
Dr. Sitha Phouyavong

bioSUSTIANABILITY: Dr. Alison Holt
Prof. Dave Raffaelli
Prof. Ian Spellerberg

APN: Dr. Linda Stevenson

bioSUSTAINABILITY workshop: Sustainable use of biodiversity: decision-making under uncertainty, Montréal, 15th-16th July 2004.

Many important decisions affecting the long-term sustainability of biodiversity are made without full knowledge of all potential consequences. Decisions about land-use affecting the amount of remaining natural habitat, the introduction of a genetically modified organism, or the inadvertent introduction of an exotic species, all set in motion changes with potentially serious long-term consequences, many of which cannot be predicted. These are just a few examples of the many important decisions confronting society regarding biodiversity that are subject to profound uncertainty.

A two-day workshop was held at UQAM, Montréal, where a group of international participants (see list below) from ecological, economic and social science disciplines discussed the problem of sustainable use of biodiversity under uncertainty. Using two case studies, marine protected areas and introduced species, genes, exotic and genetically modified organisms, participants discussed various approaches that could be used when dealing with uncertainty. For example, adaptive management, Bayesian approaches to decision-making, management of resilience, maximising expected returns either accounting or not accounting for risk aversion, multi-agent systems, option value approaches, the Precautionary Principle, and safe minimum standards.

Outputs:
▪ A set of guidelines for decision-making under uncertainty applied to the sustainable use of biodiversity;

▪ Short article targeted at Science or Nature outlining the above principles.

List of participants
Marty Anderies – University of British Columbia, Canada
Chris Costello – University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Steve Hall - WorldFish Centre, Malaysia
Alison Holt – Project Co-ordinator, bioSUSTAINABILITY (University of York, UK)
Marco Janssen – Indiana University, USA
Anne Kinzig – Arizona University, USA
Anne Larigauderie – Executive Director, DIVERSITAS
Don Ludwig – University of British Columbia, Canada
Tim Lynham – University of Zimbabwe
Charles Perrings – University of York, UK
Steve Polasky – co-chair, bioSUSTAINABILITY (University of Minnesota)
Anne-Helene Prieur-Richard – Science Officer, DIVERSITAS
Dave Raffaelli – co-chair, bioSUSTAINABILITY (University of York, UK)
Jason Shogren - University of Wyoming, USA
John Tschirhart – University if Wyoming, USA
Ruth Beilin – University of Melboune, Australia

bioSUSTAINABILITY workshop: Urban Biosustainability, Montréal, 16th July 2004.

Near the start of the 21st century over half the world’s population inhabited urban areas. Various global population projections agree that most of the world’s growth will occur in urban areas in the south. Cities are shaped and in turn shape their hinterlands and the cities they are connected to by culture, trade and migration. Consequently urban areas have become a force that is transforming the earth. Today, due to humanities unprecedented domination over the Earth’s biogeochemical cycles, the transformation of land surface, appropriation of the products of photosynthesis, and the movement of biota. Global level analysis makes it clear that these transformations are done to support cities, but potentially undercut their ability to sustain themselves. Therefore understanding the ecology of cities is vital both for understanding global change and the vulnerability of people to global change.

A one-day workshop was held at UQAM, Montréal, where a group of international participants (see list below) from ecological, economic and social science disciplines met to devise a science framework for Urban Biosustainability within the wider DIVERSITAS programme.

Four main research areas emerged from the meeting:

(i) Urban and urban-hinterland biodiversity patterns
What are the general patterns/syndromes/archetypes of urban ecological systems at different scales? What social-ecological drivers (invasive species, migration) determine these patterns, and what shocks (hurricanes, economic, political) can causes shifts between these patterns?

(ii) Ecosystem services
What do people want from nature in urban settings? What are the health/productivity/social/economic consequences of having urban habitats that satisfy these desires? (mental health, illness in general, divorce, employment) How much variation exists in what people want? How do we reconcile differences in what people want?

(iii) Policy instruments
What are the policy instruments that can be used, at different scales, to enhance ecosystem services within urban areas, and to enhance urban contributions to exurban conservation and ecosystem services?

(iv) Fundamentals of ecology
In what ways are the patterns of biodiversity (e.g. richness, turnover, abundance, function) in urban and natural ecosystems similar and different, and how does this influence the design and maintenance of urban ecosystems?

Outputs:
▪ A research agenda with four main focus areas;
▪ The participants in the workshop to maintain links and initiate research in the areas identified.

List of participants
Kevin Gaston – University of Sheffield, UK
Alison Holt – Project Co-ordinator, bioSUSTAINABILITY, University of York, UK
Anne Kinzig – Arizona State University, USA
Melodie McGeoch - University of Stellenbosch, South Africa
Charles Nilon - University of Missouri, USA
Garry Peterson – McGill University, Canada
Michael Rosenzweig - University of Arizona, USA
Rebecca Shaw - The Nature Conservancy, USA
Will Turner – Princeton University, USA