Biodiversity monitoring and conservation: Symposium

Dates: 18 - 19 Jun 2009

Times: 9:00 am - 5:00 pm

Bridging the gaps between global commitment and local action - Biodiversity conservation is becoming an increasingly urgent imperative in the face of accelerating degradation of natural ecosystems.

Scientific meetings composite images Effective conservation depends on our ability to measure and monitor biodiversity change, and on the responses to biodiversity loss of a wide group of stakeholders and actors, including governments, local communities and the international community.

A range of biodiversity indicators are under development to assess progress towards the 2010 targets of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). However, whilst the 2010 targets provide an important mechanism by which to assess global biodiversity change, ensuring that appropriate monitoring systems are in place and translating monitoring results into effective conservation on the ground remains a major global challenge for a number of reasons, including financial and technical capacity constraints and policy and legal barriers.

Developing a better understanding of the difficulties faced by countries in meeting their obligations under the CBD and helping bridge the gap between international commitments and local action is the major theme of this symposium. Thus, the symposium will first assess the methodologies and techniques currently available to monitor biodiversity, go on to explore those which are likely to be available in the future, and finally examine how best to ensure that biodiversity monitoring and responses to biodiversity change are incorporated effectively into policy and practice at national and local levels.

The symposium will provide a synopsis of the best current thinking on how to monitor biodiversity loss and how to ensure monitoring results have real impacts on conservation.

Organised by Sarah Durant (ZSL and WCS), Nathalie Pettorelli (ZSL), Ben Collen (ZSL), Linda Krueger (WCS), Matthew Hatchwell (WCS) and Jonathan Baillie (ZSL).

Images (from top): Damiano Luchetti; AK Kepler; Sarah Durant, ZSL; Sarah Durant, ZSL; AK Kepler.

SYMPOSIUM PROGRAMME - Biodiversity monitoring and conservation: bridging the gaps between global commitment and local action
INTRODUCTION Chair: Jon Hutton (UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre)
The importance of biodiversity monitoring (2.7 MB) Sebastian Winkler (IUCN Regional Office for Europe, Belgium)
National reporting on biodiversity (7.4 MB) Jamison Ervin (United Nations Development Programme – Global Environment Facility)
Monitoring in the real world Julia Jones (School of the Environment & Natural Resources, Bangor University, UK)
SESSION I: THE STATE OF BIODIVERSITY: SPECIES-BASED INDICES Chair: Jonathan Loh (WWF International)
National Red List and biodiversity monitoring (5.8 MB) Jonathan Baillie (Conservation Programmes, ZSL, UK)
The Wildlife Picture Index Timothy O’Brien (Wildlife Conservation Society, USA) & Margaret Kinnaird (Mpala Research Centre, Kenya)
The Living Planet Index (3.6 MB) Ben Collen¹, Jonathan Loh², Louise McRae¹ & Julia Latham¹ (¹Institute of Zoology, ZSL, UK; ²WWF International)
SESSION II: THE STATE OF BIODIVERSITY: INDICES OF THREATS AND DRIVERS Chair: Matthew Hatchwell (Wildlife Conservation Society)
The human and ecological footprints: measures of consumption and development Eric Sanderson (Landscape Ecology & Geographic Analysis Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, USA)
Satellite data based indices to monitor land use and habitat (3.9 MB) Nathalie Pettorelli (Institute of Zoology, ZSL, UK)
Indices of climate change impacts on biodiversity Wendy Foden (Species Programme, IUCN) & Georgina Mace (NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London, UK)
Indices of invasion: how to monitor invasive alien species Piero Genovesi (Chair, IUCN ISSG, and ISPRA - Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, Italy) & David Roy (Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, UK)
Indices of disease: how to monitor invasive pathogens Richard Kock¹, Sarah Cleaveland² & Darryn Knobel^2,3 (¹Conservation Programmes, ZSL, UK; ²University of Glasgow, UK; ³University of Edinburgh, UK)
Exploitation: developing national indices of wildlife trade (1.7 MB) Rosamunde Almond (UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UK) & Elizabeth Bennett (Hunting and Wildlife Trade Program, Wildlife Conservation Society, USA)
SESSION III: THE NEXT GENERATION OF BIODIVERSITY INDICES Chair: Stuart Butchart (BirdLife International)
Biodiversity indicators: new approaches and measures Georgina Mace (NERC Centre for Population Biology, Imperial College London, UK)
Indicator Bats Program: using bats as indicators of sustainable development across Eastern Europe Kate E. Jones¹, Colin Catto², Alanna Maltby¹, Ivan Pandourski³, Jon A. Russ², Abigel Szodoray-Paradi⁴, Farkas Szodoray-Paradi⁴, Elena Tilova⁵ & Charlotte Walters¹ (¹Institute of Zoology, ZSL, UK; ²The Bat Conservation Trust, UK; ³Institute of Zoology, Bulgaria Academy of Sciences, Bulgaria; ⁴Romanian Bat Protection Association, Romania; ⁵The Green Balkans - Stara Zagora, Bulgaria)
Building sustainable national monitoring networks Sarah Durant^1,2,3, Maurus Msuha^1,2, Charles Foley^2,3 & Simon Mduma² (¹ZSL, UK; ²Tanzania Wildlife Research Institute, Tanzania; ³Wildlife Conservation Society, USA)
Occupancy methods for conservation management: loris and amphibian monitoring in Sri Lanka Darryl MacKenzie (Proteus Wildlife Research Consultants, New Zealand) & James Reardon (ZSL, UK)
Socio-economic monitoring in conservation projects (1.1 MB) Tom Clements (Research and Policy Advisor, TransLinks, Wildlife Conservation Society, USA, and University of Cambridge, UK)
SESSION IV: IMPLEMENTATION, COMMUNICATION AND PERSPECTIVES Chair: Eimear Nic Lughadha (Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew)
Current international frameworks and commitments for biodiversity conservation: the costs and benefits for national governments (369 KB) Linda Krueger (Policy Director, Wildlife Conservation Society, USA)
Beyond the terrestrial environment: monitoring marine ecosystems Ray Hilborn (School of Aquatic and Fisheries Science, University of Washington, USA)
How much is enough? What are realistic monitoring targets? Sultana Bashir
Scaling up or down? Linking global and national biodiversity indicators and reporting (1.6 MB) Philip Bubb (UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre, UK)
How do we ensure that biodiversity monitoring and conservation is incorporated into national and global priorities? Simon Stuart (IUCN Species Survival Commission, UK)
CONCLUSIONS AND SUMMING UP Chair: Tim Blackburn (Institute of Zoology, ZSL)