Local Conservation Policies Research Articles

Conservation Planning and the Development Trajectory of the Historic Core of Worcester, England

For over half a century many urban centres in England have been influenced by local conservation policies designed to preserve and enhance their historic townscapes. Whilst these policies have been viewed as broadly successful in preventing the loss of valued historic buildings, there has been limited detailed evaluation of their impact on the localised trajectories of development and change within cities. This article seeks to examine one of these localised trajectories through consideration of the impact of conservation planning on the nature of major development in the commercial core of the historic city of Worcester, England. Utilising local authority planning records, it explores the complex local unfolding of wider conservation and development interests through a focus on the outcomes of planning decision-making evident in the changing nature, location and architectural style of major development in the city core from the late 1980s onwards. The article uses the idea of conservation planning as an “assemblage” to consider how variation in the extent and nature of change across the core reflected the outcome of a complex web of decision-making, moulded by the material agency of a “heritage map” of heritage asset designation. Three distinct “turns” are noted over the study period when shifts in the wider discourses of conservation planning, changing local planning contexts, and amendments to the heritage map produced changes in the local conservation planning assemblage. The discussion highlights how a policy deficiency in articulating the value and significance of the existing urban form and character of the area impacted development proposals and outcomes, leading to the incremental erosion of local character, both in terms of morphological and functional change. The article concludes by reflecting on how exploration of change within local conservation-planning-assemblages might provide insights into some of the current challenges facing urban conservation practice in seeking to articulate how the management of historic urban landscapes can support sustainable urban development.

Species Composition, Structure, and Regeneration Status of Woody Plants and Anthropogenic Disturbances in Zijje Maryam Church Forest, Ethiopia.

Our current study was conducted in Zijje Maryam Church Forest, Ethiopia, to explore woody species composition, structure, regeneration status, and anthropogenic disturbances inside the sacred groves. The aforementioned information for adequate conservation and management of the church forest is not well documented. Fifteen main quadrats each having an area of 625 m2 (25 m × 25 m) were used for vegetation and disturbance data collection. Determination of the sampled quadrats was based on the principle that minimum quadrats give the smallest possible area in which all species occurring in the church forest are present. All woody species with a diameter at breast height (DBH) ≥ 2.5 cm within the quadrat were identified, counted, and their height and DBH data were recorded. The criterion to start at DBH ≥ 2.5 cm was to exclude seedlings having DBH < 2.5 cm and height ≤0.6 m. Sapling and seedling data were collected using 45 saplings and 45 seedling quadrat that measured 4 m2 and 1 m2, respectively. Vegetation data analysis and ANOVA were used for statistical comparison. A total of 48 woody plant species belonging to 46 genera and 36 families were identified. Fabaceae was the dominant family containing 5 species followed by Rosaceae with 3 species. Total basal area of the church forest was 83.03 m2 ha-1. The density of seedlings, saplings, and matured woody species stem ha-1 were 15555, 3833, and 865, respectively. Talking these densities, the regeneration status of the forest was good. The Shannon diversity and evenness of woody plant species in the forest was high, 3.29 and 0.85, respectively. Juniperus procera 27.67 (9.22%) and Olea europaea were species with the highest IVI. Nearly, 22% of areas of the forest get disturbed and higher anthropogenic disturbances occurred near the edge of the forest. Gathering, clearing, and grazing are the major human disturbances that stakeholders need to tackle for conservation. Zijje Maryam Church Forest has heterogeneous species composition with varied seedlings and saplings. Therefore, local conservation policies recommended not only protect large forests, but also the small and valuable forests service to the needs of local people.

Strengthening protected areas for climate refugia on the Tibetan Plateau, China

Protected areas (PAs) are at the forefront of efforts to conserve and restore biodiversity, while climate change can risk compromising the ecological benefits of PAs. Therefore, targeting conservation and adaptation efforts necessitate a well-understand of the relationship between PAs and climate refugia, defined as the regions can buffer the impact of climate change. Recent attempts to identify climate refugia were primarily based on terrain-mediated features or climatic velocity, ignoring the ecosystem's internal processes. This work identified climate refugia on the Tibetan Plateau (TP), an amplifier of drastic global climate warming, based on environmental diversity, phenology stability and climatic velocity, highlighting the capacity to cope with extreme weather events, synchronization with plant growth cycles and future climate adaptation, respectively. The results show the distribution of climate refugia using different environmental diversity indicators (e.g., vegetation and topography) vary slightly but differs substantially from the priorities using phenology stability and climatic velocity. For instance, the high distribution probability of climate refugia derived from environmental diversity and climatic velocity is mainly concentrated at low (<3000 m) or high elevations (>6000 m), while the one using phenology stability is mainly observed at 3000 m–3800 m. The inconsistent distribution of different types of refugia weakens the potential of functional complementarity. The existing nature reserves, the primary type of PAs in China, have critical conservation gaps in different types of climate refugia, indicating the urgency of incorporating climate refugia into PAs conservation planning on TP. Our work could help inform local conservation policies and improve the effectiveness of PAs.

An overview of Neotropical arthropod conservation efforts using risk assessment lists

Neotropical efforts for arthropod conservation are still insufficient. Some species from the Neotropical region have been assessed by the IUCN Red List criteria (IRL), while others have been assessed using local red lists (LRLs). Unfortunately, these two lists are completely unconnected, even when they use similar criteria to evaluate extinction risks. Therefore, an overview of arthropod conservation using the IRL and LRLs to determine general and common patterns for arthropods in the Neotropical region is still missing, and this was the main goal of our study. The LRLs provided significant information about the species under threat in the Neotropical region, particularly on endemic ones. Both the IRL and LRLs determined that habitat loss (agricultural use land than more 50%) is the most critical threat of arthropod diversity in this region, but other main threats were also found. The conservation efforts for arthropods in Neotropical countries have been developed heterogeneously. Special efforts are necessary to countries without red lists as large countries, islands, or island-like bioregions. So far, the most threatened arthropod diversity in the Neotropical region belongs to the Caribbean islands. Insect conservation is not just about red-listing. It is also crucial to conduct conservation action as habitat management and restoration, citizen science or specific policy to fight the illegal trade. The integration of LRLs with the IRL helped identify common threats to arthropod conservation and also facilitated the macroscopic evaluation of this topic. It is crucial to conserve Neotropical arthropods to protect animal biodiversity. The homologation of the LRLs in the IUCN would increase the representation of endemic arthropods generating (1) an increase in funding for research and (2) for local conservation policies such as ecological restoration, and their use as bioindicators of environmental impact on investment projects in agriculture, mining, forestry, and urbanization.

Knowledge-Based Classification of Grassland Ecosystem Based on Multi-Temporal WorldView-2 Data and FAO-LCCS Taxonomy

Grassland ecosystems can provide a variety of services for humans, such as carbon storage, food production, crop pollination and pest regulation. However, grasslands are today one of the most endangered ecosystems due to land use change, agricultural intensification, land abandonment as well as climate change. The present study explores the performance of a knowledge-driven GEOgraphic-Object—based Image Analysis (GEOBIA) learning scheme to classify Very High Resolution (VHR) images for natural grassland ecosystem mapping. The classification was applied to a Natura 2000 protected area in Southern Italy. The Food and Agricultural Organization Land Cover Classification System (FAO-LCCS) hierarchical scheme was instantiated in the learning phase of the algorithm. Four multi-temporal WorldView-2 (WV-2) images were classified by combining plant phenology and agricultural practices rules with prior-image spectral knowledge. Drawing on this knowledge, spectral bands and entropy features from one single date (Post Peak of Biomass) were firstly used for multiple-scale image segmentation into Small Objects (SO) and Large Objects (LO). Thereafter, SO were labelled by considering spectral and context-sensitive features from the whole multi-seasonal data set available together with ancillary data. Lastly, the labelled SO were overlaid to LO segments and, in turn, the latter were labelled by adopting FAO-LCCS criteria about the SOs presence dominance in each LO. Ground reference samples were used only for validating the SO and LO output maps. The knowledge driven GEOBIA classifier for SO classification obtained an OA value of 97.35% with an error of 0.04. For LO classification the value was 75.09% with an error of 0.70. At SO scale, grasslands ecosystem was classified with 92.6%, 99.9% and 96.1% of User’s, Producer’s Accuracy and F1-score, respectively. The findings reported indicate that the knowledge-driven approach not only can be applied for (semi)natural grasslands ecosystem mapping in vast and not accessible areas but can also reduce the costs of ground truth data acquisition. The approach used may provide different level of details (small and large objects in the scene) but also indicates how to design and validate local conservation policies.

La guadúa que se corta: paisajes culturales y patrimonio construido en la costa ecuatoriana (Manabí, Ecuador)

During the first cocoa expansion period in Ecuador (18th and 19th centuries), bamboo and wood gave rise to a new style of architecture, marked by European influences. Study of these constructions has traditionally been done in monumentalist terms. A significant portion of these structures are in danger of collapse as a result of reduced local conservation policies, inadequate protection standards, and a decline in traditional methods of bamboo exploitation. The research proposes a multidisciplinary study in the southern area of the province of Manabi, with a first ethnographic approach. It analyses the possibilities of development around the protection of the most emblematic urban space of the architecture in guadua , the city of Jipijapa. At the same time, it examines the construction of new «cultural» paradigms in the coastal region of Ecuador as a result of the reformulation of the Ecuadorian State. The new reality situates in the background the traditional «dominant cultural patrimonies», one of the most representative is the architecture of the cocoa period.

Unexpected population fragmentation in an endangered seabird: the case of the Peruvian diving-petrel

In less than one century, the once-abundant Peruvian diving petrel has become the first endangered seabird of the Humboldt Current System (HCS). This small endemic petrel of the South American Pacific coast is now an important indicator of ongoing habitat loss and of the success of local conservation policies in the HCS - an ecoregion designated as a priority for the conservation of global biodiversity. Yet so far, poorly understood life history traits such as philopatry or dispersal ability may strongly influence the species’ response to ecosystem changes, but also our capacity to assess and interpret this response. To address this question, we explore the range-wide population structure of the Peruvian diving petrel, and show that this small seabird exhibits extreme philopatric behavior at the island level. Mitochondrial DNA sequences and genome-wide SNP data reveal significant isolation and low migration at very short distances, and provide strong evidence for questioning the alleged recovery in the Peruvian and Chilean populations of this species. Importantly, the full demographic independence between colonies makes local population rescue through migration unlikely. As a consequence, the Peruvian diving petrel appears to be particularly vulnerable to ongoing anthropogenic pressure. By excluding immigration as a major factor of demographic recovery, our results highlight the unambiguously positive impact of local conservation measures on breeding populations; yet at the same time they also cast doubt on alleged range-wide positive population trends. Overall, the protection of independent breeding colonies, and not only of the species as a whole, remains a major element in the conservation strategy for endemic seabirds. Finally, we underline the importance of considering the philopatric behavior and demographic independence of breeding populations, even at very fine spatial scales, in spatial planning for marine coastal areas.

Issues and Strategies for the Conservation of the Artificial Water System in Hongcun, China

Since 2012, the Chinese Government has proposed the preservation concept of the “Traditional Village” in order to conserve the heritage of historic centres at the village-scale throughout China, which are being profoundly influenced by modernization. However, subject to the limitations of awareness levels, the conservation of the “Traditional Village” only focuses on the historic buildings within the Historic Centre and, there is a lack of focus on equally valuable cultural landscapes, open spaces and environments. Hongcun Traditional Village has been chosen as the case study of this paper and focuses on the conservation of its remarkable artificial water systems. The paper discusses the impacts and issues caused by the local conservation policies and practical interventions on Hongcun’s artificial water system over the last 20 years. The paper concludes by proposing a provisional methodological approach and treatment solutions for the conservation of Hongcun’s artificial water system, which is largely based on learning from European experiences.

Trends in studies of Brazilian stream fish assemblages

Studies about fish assemblages in Brazilian streams have grown in recent years, however, it remains unclear whether this increase is followed by increments in the diversity of addressed topics and theoretical frameworks adopted by researchers. We performed a systematic search for Brazilian studies on stream fish assemblages recording study region, publication year, objectives, and spatial and temporal scales adopted. The number of studies is unevenly distributed among regions. Most papers describe the general structure of local fish assemblages and their scientific objectives have not varied through time. Studies have been conducted mainly at small temporal and spatial scales, though the latter is increasing over time. We argue for the need of focusing on recently developed ecological theories and frameworks, and expanding the temporal and spatial scales of studies. These changes will improve regional and local conservation policies, and the visibility of aquatic Brazilian research in the global scientific community.

鶴見川流域の地域環境保全における市民団体活動及びネットワーキング組織に関する研究

In this study, focusing on “Tsurumigawa ryuiki networking (TRnet)” and its participating 54 organizations, examined the features of Citizen’s Organization’s (C.O.s) activities and local conservation policies, and identified the relation between networking and C.O.s, Activities conducted by TRnet and its C.O.s were mainly investigated by questionnaires, interviews and using publications. As a result, it was made clear that the TRnet has contributed in 2 aspects which were considerations to administrations in implementing regional conservation policies; (1) carrying out attentive small scale measures for regional conservation, and (2) support on beyond administrative boundaries. And regarding the relation between networking, that the cooperative activity between the C.O.s, not only affected the activities among the C.O.s, but also within each were made clear. And this feature could clearly be seen before and after the establishment of TRnet. These results will be an important guide to show the direction and potential of C.O.s in Japan.