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• 1. [Article] Global Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services

  Habitat destruction has driven much of the current biodiversity extinction crisis, and it compromises the essential benefits, or ecosystem services, that humans derive from functioning ecosystems. Securing ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Global Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Author: Turner, Will R., Brandon, Katrina, Brooks, Thomas M., Costanza, Robert Year: 2007 Habitat destruction has driven much of the current biodiversity extinction crisis, and it compromises the essential benefits, or ecosystem services, that humans derive from functioning ecosystems. Securing both species and ecosystem services might be accomplished with common solutions. Yet it is unknown whether these two major conservation objectives coincide broadly enough worldwide to enable global strategies for both goals to gain synergy. In this article, we assess the concordance between these two objectives, explore how the concordance varies across different regions, and examine the global potential for safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services simultaneously. We find that published global priority maps for biodiversity conservation harbor a disproportionate share of estimated terrestrial ecosystem service value (ESV). Overlap of biodiversity priorities and ESV varies among regions, and in areas that have high biodiversity priority but low ESV, specialized conservation approaches are necessary. Overall, however, our findings suggest opportunities for safeguarding both biodiversity and ecosystem services. Sensitivity analyses indicate that results are robust to known limitations of available ESV data. Capitalizing on these opportunities will require the identification of synergies at fine scales, and the development of economic and policy tools to exploit them. Title: Global Conservation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services Author: Turner, Will R., Brandon, Katrina, Brooks, Thomas M., Costanza, Robert Year: 2007 Habitat destruction has driven much of the current biodiversity extinction crisis, and it compromises the essential benefits, or ecosystem services, that humans derive from functioning ecosystems. Securing both species and ecosystem services might be accomplished with common solutions. Yet it is unknown whether these two major conservation objectives coincide broadly enough worldwide to enable global strategies for both goals to gain synergy. In this article, we assess the concordance between these two objectives, explore how the concordance varies across different regions, and examine the global potential for safeguarding biodiversity and ecosystem services simultaneously. We find that published global priority maps for biodiversity conservation harbor a disproportionate share of estimated terrestrial ecosystem service value (ESV). Overlap of biodiversity priorities and ESV varies among regions, and in areas that have high biodiversity priority but low ESV, specialized conservation approaches are necessary. Overall, however, our findings suggest opportunities for safeguarding both biodiversity and ecosystem services. Sensitivity analyses indicate that results are robust to known limitations of available ESV data. Capitalizing on these opportunities will require the identification of synergies at fine scales, and the development of economic and policy tools to exploit them. Close

• 2. [Article] Planning Approaches for Water Resources Development in the Lower Mekong Basin

  Governments in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) face decisions that involve trade-offs between, for example, the economic benefits from hydropower generation and potentially irreversible negative impacts on ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Planning Approaches for Water Resources Development in the Lower Mekong Basin Author: Costanza, Robert, Kubiszewski, Ida, Paquet, Peter, King, Jeffrey, Halimi, Shpresa, Sanguanngoi, Hansa, Bach, Nguyen Luong, Frankel, Richard, Ganaseni, Jiragorn, Intralawan, Apisom, Morell, David Year: 2011 Governments in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) face decisions that involve trade-offs between, for example, the economic benefits from hydropower generation and potentially irreversible negative impacts on the ecosystems that provide livelihoods and food security to the rural poor. These decisions involve complex problems that are both poorly understood in scientific terms and subject to rapid, potentially catastrophic change over time. A comprehensive, whole systems approach that adequately addresses the risks and uncertainties involved is necessary, but this is a daunting challenge for researchers, decision makers, and managers. They must develop the capacity to plan, coordinate, and implement a program that improves sustainable societal well-being across national boundaries in the face of these uncertainties, which include impacts on native capture fisheries, biodiversity, wetlands and other biological resources, ecosystem services (i.e., the ecological characteristics, functions, or processes that directly or indirectly contribute to human well-being), and indigenous cultures and ways of life. Title: Planning Approaches for Water Resources Development in the Lower Mekong Basin Author: Costanza, Robert, Kubiszewski, Ida, Paquet, Peter, King, Jeffrey, Halimi, Shpresa, Sanguanngoi, Hansa, Bach, Nguyen Luong, Frankel, Richard, Ganaseni, Jiragorn, Intralawan, Apisom, Morell, David Year: 2011 Governments in the Lower Mekong Basin (LMB) face decisions that involve trade-offs between, for example, the economic benefits from hydropower generation and potentially irreversible negative impacts on the ecosystems that provide livelihoods and food security to the rural poor. These decisions involve complex problems that are both poorly understood in scientific terms and subject to rapid, potentially catastrophic change over time. A comprehensive, whole systems approach that adequately addresses the risks and uncertainties involved is necessary, but this is a daunting challenge for researchers, decision makers, and managers. They must develop the capacity to plan, coordinate, and implement a program that improves sustainable societal well-being across national boundaries in the face of these uncertainties, which include impacts on native capture fisheries, biodiversity, wetlands and other biological resources, ecosystem services (i.e., the ecological characteristics, functions, or processes that directly or indirectly contribute to human well-being), and indigenous cultures and ways of life. Close