Showing papers by "Alan Grainger published in 2011"

Application of Indicator Systems for Monitoring and Assessment of Desertification from National to Global Scales

Abstract: This paper suggests how the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) community can progressively make use of a flexible framework of analytical approaches that have been recently developed by scientific research. This allows a standardized but flexible use of indicator sets adapted to specific objectives or desertification issues relevant for implementing the Convention. Science has made progress in understanding major issues and proximate causes of dryland degradation such that indicator sets can be accordingly selected from the wealth of existing and documented indicator systems. The selection and combination should be guided according to transparent criteria given by existing indicator frameworks adapted to desertification conceptual frameworks such as the Dryland Development Paradigm and can act as a pragmatic entry point for selecting area- and theme-specific sets of indicators from existing databases. Working on different dryland sub-types through a meaningful stratification is proposed to delimit and characterize affected areas beyond the national level. Such stratification could be achieved by combining existing land use information with additional biophysical and socio-economic data sets, allowing indicator-based monitoring and assessment to be embedded in a framework of specific dryland degradation issues and their impacts on key ecosystem services. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Scientific concepts for an integrated analysis of desertification

Abstract: The Global Drylands Observing System proposed in this issue should reduce the huge uncertainty about the extent of desertification and the rate at which it is changing, and provide valuable information to scientists, planners and policy-makers. However, it needs careful design if information outputs are to be scientifically credible and salient to the needs of people living in dry areas. Its design would benefit from a robust, integrated scientific framework like the Dryland Development Paradigm to guide/inform the development of an integrated global monitoring and assessment programme (both directly and indirectly via the use of modelling). Various types of dryland system models (e.g. environmental, socioeconomic, land-use cover change, and agent-based) could provide insights into how to combine the plethora of monitoring information gathered on key socioeconomic and biophysical indicators to develop integrated assessment models. This paper shows how insights from models can help in selecting and integrating indicators, interpreting synthetic trends, incorporating cross-scalar processes, representing spatio-temporal variation, and evaluating uncertainty. Planners could use this integrated global monitoring and assessment programme to help implement effective policies to address the global problem of desertification. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Towards a global drylands observing system: Observational requirements and institutional solutions

Abstract: Quantitative data on dryland changes and their effects on the people living there are required to support policymaking and environmental management at all scales. Data are regularly acquired by international, national or local entities, but presently exhibit specific gaps. Promoting sustainable development in drylands necessitates a much stronger integration, coordination and synthesis of available information. Space-based remote sensing systems continue to play an important role but do not fulfill all needs. Dedicated networks and observing systems, operating over a wide range of scales and resolutions, are needed to address the key issues that concern decision-makers at the scale of local communities, countries and the international community. This requires a mixture of ‘bottom–up’ and ‘top–down’ design principles, and multiple ownership of the resultant system. This paper reviews the limitations of current observing systems and suggests establishing a Global Drylands Observing System, which would capitalize on the achievements of systems already established to support the other Rio Conventions. This Global Drylands Observing System would provide an integrated, coherent entry point and user interface to a range of underlying information systems, identify and help generate missing information, propose a set of standards for the acquisition, archiving and distribution of data where these are lacking, evaluate the quality and reliability of these data and promote scientific research in these fields by improving access to data. The paper outlines the principles and main objectives of a Global Drylands Observing System and calls for renewed efforts to invigorate cooperation mechanisms between the many global environmental conventions. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The Influence of Changing Conservation Paradigms on Identifying Priority Protected Area Locations

Abstract: Conservation planning for climate change adaptation is only one in a long sequence of conservation paradigms. To identify priority locations for protected areas it must compete with three other contemporary paradigms: conservation of ecosystem services, optimizing conservation of ecosystem services and poverty alleviation, and reducing carbon emissions from deforestation and forest degradation. This chapter shows how conservation paradigms evolved, discusses the merits of different approaches to modelling potential impacts of climate change on biodiversity, and describes the hybrid BIOCLIMA model and its application to Amazonia. It then discusses conservation planning applications of the three other contemporary paradigms, illustrated by examples from Amazonia and Kenya. It finds that rapid paradigm evolution is not a handicap if earlier paradigms can be nested within later ones. But more sophisticated planning tools are needed to identify optimal locations of protected areas when climate is changing, and to use protection to mitigate climate change. These should encompass the complex interactions between biodiversity, hydrological services, carbon cycling services, climate change, and human systems. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60960-619-0.ch014