Showing papers by "Eduardo S. Brondizio published in 2021"
Simon Fraser University1, Indiana University2, Colorado State University3, Max Planck Society4, Landcare Research5, American Museum of Natural History6, Dartmouth College7, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies8, Autonomous University of Barcelona9, University of Victoria10, University of California11, Tulane University12, University of Arizona13, Cornell University14, Charles Darwin University15, McGill University16, Hungarian Academy of Sciences17, Saami Council18, Oregon State University19, Gorgan University20, University of Helsinki21
TL;DR: The World Scientists' Warning to Humanity, issued by the Alliance of World Scientists, by exploring opportunities for sustaining ILK systems on behalf of the future stewardship of our planet as discussed by the authors raises the alarm about the pervasive and ubiquitous erosion of knowledge and practice and the social and ecological consequences of this erosion.
Abstract: The knowledge systems and practices of Indigenous Peoples and local communities play critical roles in safeguarding the biological and cultural diversity of our planet. Globalization, government policies, capitalism, colonialism, and other rapid social-ecological changes threaten the relationships between Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their environments, thereby challenging the continuity and dynamism of Indigenous and Local Knowledge (ILK). In this article, we contribute to the “World Scientists' Warning to Humanity,” issued by the Alliance of World Scientists, by exploring opportunities for sustaining ILK systems on behalf of the future stewardship of our planet. Our warning raises the alarm about the pervasive and ubiquitous erosion of knowledge and practice and the social and ecological consequences of this erosion. While ILK systems can be adaptable and resilient, the foundations of these knowledge systems are compromised by ongoing suppression, misrepresentation, appropriation, assimilation, disconnection, and destruction of biocultural heritage. Three case studies illustrate these processes and how protecting ILK is central to biocultural conservation. We conclude with 15 recommendations that call for the recognition and support of Indigenous Peoples and local communities and their knowledge systems. Enacting these recommendations will entail a transformative and sustained shift in how ILK systems, their knowledge holders, and their multiple expressions in lands and waters are recognized, affirmed, and valued. We appeal for urgent action to support the efforts of Indigenous Peoples and local communities around the world to maintain their knowledge systems, languages, stewardship rights, ties to lands and waters, and the biocultural integrity of their territories—on which we all depend.
66 citations
TL;DR: The knowledge, values, and practices of Indigenous peoples and local communities offer ways to understand and better address social-environmental problems as mentioned in this paper, and the article reviews the state of the lite...
Abstract: The knowledge, values, and practices of Indigenous peoples and local communities offer ways to understand and better address social-environmental problems. The article reviews the state of the lite...
50 citations
Stockholm Resilience Centre1, North-West University2, The New School3, Institute of Ecosystem Studies4, Australian National University5, University of Chicago6, Indiana University7, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences8, Stanford University9, Arizona State University10, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ11, University of Cape Town12, University of Minnesota13, Yale University14
TL;DR: In this paper, three key dimensions of cities that constrain or enable constructive, cross-scale responses to disturbances and extreme events include 1) shifting diversity, 2) shifting connectivity and modularity, and 3) shifting complexity.
Abstract: Key insights on needs in urban regional governance - Global urbanization (the increasing concentration in urban settlements of the increasing world population), is a driver and accelerator of shifts in diversity, new cross-scale interactions, decoupling from ecological processes, increasing risk and exposure to shocks. Responding to the challenges of urbanization demands fresh commitments to a city–regional perspective in ways that are explictly embedded in the Anthopocene bio- techno- and noospheres, to extend existing understanding of the city–nature nexus and regional scale. Three key dimensions of cities that constrain or enable constructive, cross scale responses to disturbances and extreme events include 1) shifting diversity, 2) shifting connectivity and modularity, and 3) shifting complexity. These three dimensions are characteristic of current urban processes and offer potential intervention points for local to global action.
45 citations
Autonomous University of Barcelona1, Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies2, University of Helsinki3, Centre national de la recherche scientifique4, Ilia State University5, University of Texas at Austin6, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina7, McGill University8, University of Lisbon9, Rutgers University10, Indiana University11, Community College of Philadelphia12, Open University of Catalonia13, University of Oxford14, University of Santiago, Chile15
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that transformative change requires the foregrounding of Indigenous peoples' and local communities' rights and agency in biodiversity policy, and they support this argument with four key points.
Abstract: The Convention on Biological Diversity is defining the goals that will frame future global biodiversity policy in a context of rapid biodiversity decline and under pressure to make transformative change. Drawing on the work of Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, we argue that transformative change requires the foregrounding of Indigenous peoples' and local communities' rights and agency in biodiversity policy. We support this argument with four key points. First, Indigenous peoples and local communities hold knowledge essential for setting realistic and effective biodiversity targets that simultaneously improve local livelihoods. Second, Indigenous peoples' conceptualizations of nature sustain and manifest CBD's 2050 vision of "Living in harmony with nature." Third, Indigenous peoples' and local communities' participation in biodiversity policy contributes to the recognition of human and Indigenous peoples' rights. And fourth, engagement in biodiversity policy is essential for Indigenous peoples and local communities to be able to exercise their recognized rights to territories and resources.
43 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors highlight challenges and opportunities for governing FLR at different scales and under different contexts across a range of tropical and subtropical forest biomes and explore common threads from diverse studies comprising the special issue to highlight key challenges for effective governance of FLR across many different contexts.
39 citations
University of Queensland1, Charles Darwin University2, Manchester Metropolitan University3, Center for International Forestry Research4, World Bank5, Indiana University6, University of Copenhagen7, United Nations Environment Programme8, Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation9, University of Northern British Columbia10, Wildlife Conservation Society11
TL;DR: The first comprehensive analysis of terrestrial mammal composition across mapped Indigenous lands based on data on area of habitat (AOH) for 4460 mammal species assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature finds that 935 mammal species had ≥ 10% of their range on Indigenous Peoples’ lands that had low human pressure.
Abstract: Indigenous Peoples’ lands cover over one‐quarter of Earth's surface, a significant proportion of which is still free from industrial‐level human impacts. As a result, Indigenous Peoples and their lands are crucial for the long‐term persistence of Earth's biodiversity and ecosystem services. Yet, information on species composition within Indigenous Peoples’ lands globally remains largely unknown. Here, we provide the first comprehensive analysis of terrestrial mammal composition across mapped Indigenous lands by using area of habitat data for 4,460 IUCN‐assessed mammal species. We estimated that 2,175 species (49%) have ≥ 10% of their ranges in Indigenous Peoples’ lands, and 646 species (14%) have > half of their ranges within these lands. For the threatened species assessed, 413 (41%) occur in Indigenous Peoples’ lands. We also found that 935 mammal species (of which 131 are threatened with extinction) have ≥ 10% of their range in Indigenous Peoples’ lands that have low human pressure. This analysis shows how important Indigenous Peoples and their lands are to the successful implementation of international conservation and sustainable development agendas.
36 citations
TL;DR: The authors reviewed the history of development interventions influencing the emergence of place-based initiatives and their potential to promoting changes in productive systems, value-aggregation and market access, and governance arrangements improving living standards and environmental sustainability.
24 citations
Marien Ngouabi University1, University of Exeter2, University of Bristol3, University of Leeds4, University of Florida5, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute6, Lancaster University7, University College London8, Forestry Commission9, University of California, Los Angeles10, Wageningen University and Research Centre11, Universidad Autónoma Gabriel René Moreno12, Royal Museum for Central Africa13, Dresden University of Technology14, University of Edinburgh15, Indiana University16, Paul Sabatier University17, University of Cambridge18, Goethe University Frankfurt19, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana20, Université libre de Bruxelles21, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences22, Ghent University23, University of Lubumbashi24, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology25, National University of Benin26, University of Cape Town27, French Institute of Pondicherry28, NatureServe29, University of New Hampshire30, Catholic University of the Most Holy Conception31, Swedish Museum of Natural History32, University of Göttingen33, Manchester Metropolitan University34, University of Glasgow35, Chinese Academy of Sciences36, Forest Research Institute Malaysia37
TL;DR: Pantropical variability in tree crown allometry Grace Jopaul Loubota Panzou, Adeline Fayolle, Tommaso Jucker, Oliver Phillips, Stephanie Bohlman, Lindsay Banin, Simon Lewis, Kofi Affum-baffoe, Luciana Alves, Cécile Antin, et al.
Abstract: Aim: Tree crowns determine light interception, carbon and water exchange. Thus, understanding the factors causing tree crown allometry to vary at the tree and stand level matters greatly for the development of future vegetation modelling and for the calibration of remote sensing products. Nevertheless, we know little about large-scale variation and determinants in tropical tree crown allometry. In this study, we explored the continental variation in scaling exponents of site-specific crown allometry and assessed their relationships with environmental and stand-level variables in the tropics. Location: Global tropics. Time period: Early 21st century. Major taxa studied: Woody plants. Methods: Using a dataset of 87,737 trees distributed among 245 forest and savanna sites across the tropics, we fitted site-specific allometric relationships between crown dimensions (crown depth, diameter and volume) and stem diameter using power-law models. Stand-level and environmental drivers of crown allometric relationships were assessed at pantropical and continental scales. Results: The scaling exponents of allometric relationships between stem diameter and crown dimensions were higher in savannas than in forests. We identified that continental crown models were better than pantropical crown models and that continental differences in crown allometric relationships were driven by both stand-level (wood density) and environmental (precipitation, cation exchange capacity and soil texture) variables for both tropical biomes. For a given diameter, forest trees from Asia and savanna trees from Australia had smaller crown dimensions than trees in Africa and America, with crown volumes for some Asian forest trees being smaller than those of trees in African forests. Main conclusions: Our results provide new insight into geographical variability, with large continental differences in tropical tree crown allometry that were driven by stand-level and environmental variables. They have implications for the assessment of ecosystem function and for the monitoring of woody biomass by remote sensing techniques in the global tropics.
23 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a socio-legal approach is used to study grassroots mobilization against the violation of social and environmental rights aggravated by floods in the Brazilian Amazon Estuary-Delta, where the Macro-Drainage Project of the Una River Watershed is considered.
14 citations
28 Jun 2021
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the development and management of sustainable urban infrastructure must focus on interactions across urban and rural places to advance equitable health and well-being, and they call for a research agenda that focuses on urban-rural infrastructure systems, addressing trade-offs and synergies, decision-making, institutional arrangements, and effective co-production of knowledge across the diverse places connected by infrastructure.
Abstract: Infrastructure systems have direct implications for how health and well-being evolve across urban–rural systems. Scientists, practitioners, and policy-makers use domain-specific methods and tools to characterize sectors of infrastructure, but these approaches do not capture the cascading effects across interrelated infrastructure and governance domains. We argue that the development and management of sustainable urban infrastructure must focus on interactions across urban and rural places to advance equitable health and well-being. We call for a research agenda that focuses on urban–rural infrastructure systems, addressing trade-offs and synergies, decision-making, institutional arrangements, and effective co-production of knowledge across the diverse places connected by infrastructure.
13 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of dams on fluvial sediment supply to the Amazon delta, by increasing demographic, urban, and land development pressures in this still largely underpopulated delta, and by problems of governance that underplay aspects of basinwide and deltaic environmental deterioration are discussed.
Abstract: The Amazon River delta may be currently characterized biophysically as a relatively preserved delta compared to the rampant vulnerability of many of the world’s large deltas. This status of relative preservation is reflected in a number of criteria: The still largely free-flowing nature of many of the rivers and the main stem of the Amazon that feed the delta in sediment, exceptional biodiversity, dominant shoreline accretion, and the absence of anthropogenically-generated subsidence. In this review, we show that these relatively reassuring conditions are progressively being called into question by the effects of dams on fluvial sediment supply to the delta, by increasing demographic, urban, and land development pressures in this still largely underpopulated delta, and by problems of governance that underplay aspects of basin-wide and deltaic environmental deterioration. A major challenge is that of bringing together these contrasting demands that are leading to the emergence of zones of environmental stress that test the resilience of this delta. An integral part of the strategy for the analysis of collective action, management, and conservation is that of considering the Amazon delta in terms of interacting socio-ecological systems. Pressures on the delta will be compounded in the future by decreasing fluvial sediment supply and sea-level rise. Although climate change is projected to generate surplus sediment, the rapid growth of dam constructions upstream of the delta will negatively impact the river’s sediment flux. Conservation and management of the Amazon River system aimed at keeping the delta resilient in the context of sea-level rise and reduction of sediment supply will require clear governance and better planning and anticipation, as well as socio-ecological integration. These are also requirements that will need to be implemented in the 1500 km-long coastal zone of the Guianas countries located west of the Amazon delta and the sediment dynamics and stability of which are largely determined by sediment supply from the Amazon