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Fiona Leverington

Bio: Fiona Leverington is an academic researcher from University of Queensland. The author has contributed to research in topics: Protected area & Work (electrical). The author has an hindex of 19, co-authored 35 publications receiving 6544 citations. Previous affiliations of Fiona Leverington include International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.

Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
28 May 2010-Science
TL;DR: Most indicators of the state of biodiversity showed declines, with no significant recent reductions in rate, whereas indicators of pressures on biodiversity showed increases, indicating that the Convention on Biological Diversity’s 2010 targets have not been met.
Abstract: In 2002, world leaders committed, through the Convention on Biological Diversity, to achieve a significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss by 2010. We compiled 31 indicators to report on progress toward this target. Most indicators of the state of biodiversity (covering species' population trends, extinction risk, habitat extent and condition, and community composition) showed declines, with no significant recent reductions in rate, whereas indicators of pressures on biodiversity (including resource consumption, invasive alien species, nitrogen pollution, overexploitation, and climate change impacts) showed increases. Despite some local successes and increasing responses (including extent and biodiversity coverage of protected areas, sustainable forest management, policy responses to invasive alien species, and biodiversity-related aid), the rate of biodiversity loss does not appear to be slowing.

3,993 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
10 Oct 2014-Science
TL;DR: A comprehensive mid-term assessment of progress toward 20 biodiversity-related “Aichi Targets” to be achieved within a decade is provided using 55 indicator data sets and pinpoints the problems and areas that will need the most attention in the next few years.
Abstract: In 2010, the international community, under the auspices of the Convention on Biological Diversity, agreed on 20 biodiversity-related “Aichi Targets” to be achieved within a decade. We provide a comprehensive mid-term assessment of progress toward these global targets using 55 indicator data sets. We projected indicator trends to 2020 using an adaptive statistical framework that incorporated the specific properties of individual time series. On current trajectories, results suggest that despite accelerating policy and management responses to the biodiversity crisis, the impacts of these efforts are unlikely to be reflected in improved trends in the state of biodiversity by 2020. We highlight areas of societal endeavor requiring additional efforts to achieve the Aichi Targets, and provide a baseline against which to assess future progress.

970 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: It is concluded that in spite of inadequate funding and management process, there are indications that protected areas are contributing to biodiversity conservation and community well-being.
Abstract: We compiled details of over 8000 assessments of protected area management effectiveness across the world and developed a method for analyzing results across diverse assessment methodologies and indicators. Data was compiled and analyzed for over 4000 of these sites. Management of these protected areas varied from weak to effective, with about 40% showing major deficiencies. About 14% of the surveyed areas showed significant deficiencies across many management effectiveness indicators and hence lacked basic requirements to operate effectively. Strongest management factors recorded on average related to establishment of protected areas (legal establishment, design, legislation and boundary marking) and to effectiveness of governance; while the weakest aspects of management included community benefit programs, resourcing (funding reliability and adequacy, staff numbers and facility and equipment maintenance) and management effectiveness evaluation. Estimations of management outcomes, including both environmental values conservation and impact on communities, were positive. We conclude that in spite of inadequate funding and management process, there are indications that protected areas are contributing to biodiversity conservation and community well-being.

522 citations

Book
01 Dec 2006
TL;DR: The first version of this document was published in 2000 as discussed by the authors, and the need for methodologies to assess protected areas had been discussed by protected area practitioners for several years, but only a handful of systems had been field-tested and implemented, and there was little commitment to management effectiveness beyond a few enlightened individuals in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and parks agencies.
Abstract: The first version of this document was published in 2000. At that stage, although the IUCN-WCPA Management Effectiveness Evaluation Framework had been developed over several years, it had only been field tested in a few countries. The whole concept of assessing management effectiveness of protected areas was still in its infancy. The need for methodologies to assess protected areas had been discussed by protected area practitioners for several years, but only a handful of systems had been field-tested and implemented, and there was little commitment to management effectiveness beyond a few enlightened individuals in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and parks agencies. There was also, in consequence, little evidence of the suitability of particular methodologies to meet the needs of the vast array of different types of protected area, and little experience in implementing the findings of assessments to achieve the aim of the whole exercise: more effective conservation. Six years later, the situation is very different. Management effectiveness evaluation is a term now well recognised in the lexicon of protected area management. Many different assessment methodologies have emerged, most of them developed using the Framework agreed by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and its World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), and the number of individual protected areas that have undergone some form of evaluation has risen from a few hundred to many thousand.

461 citations


Cited by
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28 Jul 2005
TL;DR: PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、树突状组胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作�ly.
Abstract: 抗原变异可使得多种致病微生物易于逃避宿主免疫应答。表达在感染红细胞表面的恶性疟原虫红细胞表面蛋白1(PfPMP1)与感染红细胞、内皮细胞、树突状细胞以及胎盘的单个或多个受体作用,在黏附及免疫逃避中起关键的作用。每个单倍体基因组var基因家族编码约60种成员,通过启动转录不同的var基因变异体为抗原变异提供了分子基础。

18,940 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
30 Sep 2010-Nature
TL;DR: The first worldwide synthesis to jointly consider human and biodiversity perspectives on water security using a spatial framework that quantifies multiple stressors and accounts for downstream impacts is presented.
Abstract: Protecting the world’s freshwater resources requires diagnosing threats over a broad range of scales, from global to local. Here we present the first worldwide synthesis to jointly consider human and biodiversity perspectives on water security using a spatial framework that quantifies multiple stressors and accounts for downstream impacts. We find that nearly 80% of the world’s population is exposed to high levels of threat to water security. Massive investment in water technology enables rich nations to offset high stressor levels without remedying their underlying causes, whereas less wealthy nations remain vulnerable. A similar lack of precautionary investment jeopardizes biodiversity, with habitats associated with 65% of continental discharge classified as moderately to highly threatened. The cumulative threat framework offers a tool for prioritizing policy and management responses to this crisis, and underscores the necessity of limiting threats at their source instead of through costly remediation of symptoms in order to assure global water security for both humans and freshwater biodiversity.

5,401 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
07 Jun 2012-Nature
TL;DR: It is argued that human actions are dismantling the Earth’s ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate, and the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper is asked.
Abstract: The most unique feature of Earth is the existence of life, and the most extraordinary feature of life is its diversity. Approximately 9 million types of plants, animals, protists and fungi inhabit the Earth. So, too, do 7 billion people. Two decades ago, at the first Earth Summit, the vast majority of the world's nations declared that human actions were dismantling the Earth's ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate. This observation led to the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper.

5,244 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Food in the Anthropocene : the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems focuses on meat, fish, vegetables and fruit as sources of protein.

4,710 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
25 Jul 2014-Science
TL;DR: Defaunation is both a pervasive component of the planet’s sixth mass extinction and also a major driver of global ecological change.
Abstract: We live amid a global wave of anthropogenically driven biodiversity loss: species and population extirpations and, critically, declines in local species abundance. Particularly, human impacts on animal biodiversity are an under-recognized form of global environmental change. Among terrestrial vertebrates, 322 species have become extinct since 1500, and populations of the remaining species show 25% average decline in abundance. Invertebrate patterns are equally dire: 67% of monitored populations show 45% mean abundance decline. Such animal declines will cascade onto ecosystem functioning and human well-being. Much remains unknown about this “Anthropocene defaunation”; these knowledge gaps hinder our capacity to predict and limit defaunation impacts. Clearly, however, defaunation is both a pervasive component of the planet’s sixth mass extinction and also a major driver of global ecological change.

2,697 citations