Showing papers in "Environmental Conservation in 1990"
460 citations
TL;DR: The lake Naivasha is an important freshwater resource for Kenya's foreign-currency-earning agriculture and tourism, and for water-supply as mentioned in this paper, and it has always experienced extensive water-level fluctuations as a consequence of irregular rainfall patterns that are affected by continental-scale climatic events.
Abstract: Lake Naivasha is an important freshwater resource for Kenya's foreign-currency-earning agriculture and tourism, and for water-supply. It has always experienced extensive water-level fluctuations as a consequence of irregular rainfall patterns that are affected by continental-scale climatic events, and its communities — particularly of aquatic plants — were adapted to these changes.
131 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a best estimate of the cumulative area of forest cleared through 1988 as 345 × 103 km2 (including old clearings), or 8.2% of the 4 × 106 km2 forested portion of the legal Amazon region was given.
Abstract: Examination of the often contradictory estimates of the rate and extent of deforestation in Brazilian Amazonia leads to a ‘best estimate’ of the cumulative area of forest cleared through 1988 as 345 × 103 km2 (including old clearings), or 8.2% of the 4 × 106 km2 forested portion of Brasil's 5 × 106 km2 ‘Legal Amazon’ region.
93 citations
TL;DR: Most marine ecosystems present priorities for conservation which are different from, but no less urgent than, those of terrestrial systems as mentioned in this paper, which relate to understanding and regulating human use and impact within the large scale, and the high but variable degree of connectivity of marine systems The identification and preservation of remnant examples of marine ecosystems, otherwise destroyed by human activity, is generally less of an issue than it is for terrestrial conservation
Abstract: Most marine ecosystems present priorities for conservation which are different from, but no less urgent than, those of terrestrial systems These priorities relate to understanding and regulating human use and impact within the large scale, and the high but variable degree of connectivity of marine systems The identification and preservation of remnant examples of marine ecosystems, otherwise destroyed by human activity, is generally less of an issue than it is for terrestrial conservation As a consequence, the needs of marine conservation are not readily addressed by models developed for terrestrial ecosystems, which are based on excluding or severely limiting human access in managed areas An exception is the philosophy of the Biosphere Reserve, developed as part of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Programme This appears particularly appropriate to marine environments, as it focuses on managing human activities and impacts within the sustainable capacity of the ecosystem
62 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed a model for a coastal Biosphere Reserve that considers not only the type of ecosystems to be included, but also land-use in coastal plains and to coastal landscapes.
Abstract: Generally speaking, the fragile and highly-coveted coastal regions of the world badly need integrated land-and water-use planning to reconcile their multiple functions, including that of terrestrial and marine conservation. Properly designed and managed, coastal Biosphere Reserves could constitute a most useful tool for this purpose. Ideally, they would pay equal attention to conservation requirements on the land side and on the marine side, keeping particularly in mind the impact of land-based activities on the marine side. On the land side, consideration should be given not only to the type of ecosystems to be included, but also to land-use in coastal plains and to coastal landscapes. On the marine side the precise place of traditional activities, such as various forms of fishing, will have to be appreciated. Fig. 5 suggests a very idealized zonation pattern for a hypothetical Biosphere Reserve where the above considerations have been kept in mind.
60 citations
44 citations
TL;DR: The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), an increasing number of citizens and foresters, and the vast majority of environmentalists must surely realize that most current use of tropical moist forest is unsustainable.
Abstract: The International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO), an increasing number of citizens and foresters, and the vast majority of environmentalists, must surely realize that most current use of tropical moist forest is unsustainable. The environmental services of tropical forest, and the biodiversity which it harbours — the world's richest source — is being lost so rapidly that consumer boycotts and other trade constraints aim to reduce the rate of irreversible damage but have so far proved little-effective. On one hand, tropical moist deforestation benefits exceedingly few people, and then only ephemerally. On the other hand, such deforestation permanently impoverishes, deracinates, or sickens, millions of people, impairs local or global environmental services, and exacerbates global environmental risks. The World Resources Institute ranks logging as one of the top causes leading to deforestation.
42 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors proposed that nature tourism can provide significant income to targeted villages near the borders of national parks, and hence help to reduce illegal exploitation of park resources by local inhabitants.
Abstract: Nature-based tourism is one of the few economic uses of natural areas that is compatible with protection of the environment and its wildlife. With more than 100 national parks and other conservation areas in Thailand, and a diverse tropical fauna and flora, Nature tourism has tremendous potential for expansion. Although seldom designed to do so, Nature tourism can provide significant income to targeted villages near the borders of national parks, and hence help to reduce illegal exploitation of park resources by local inhabitants.
35 citations
TL;DR: This article claimed that forest resources in tropical Asia are destroyed by shifting cultivators and spontaneous settlers as well as farmers in planned settlements for the purposes of expansion of agricultural land, land speculation, commercial crop cultivation, livestock ranching, logging, and manufacturing of paper and various industrial goods.
Abstract: Forest resources in tropical Asia are purportedly destroyed by shifting cultivators and spontaneous settlers as well as farmers in planned settlements for the purposes of expansion of agricultural land, land speculation, commercial crop cultivation, livestock ranching, logging, and manufacturing of paper and various industrial goods.
34 citations
33 citations
TL;DR: The need for an integrated approach to ecological conservation and natural resource development is becoming widely recognized as environmental and social problems become more and more acute with human population pressures and depletion of resources as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The need for an integrated approach to ecological conservation and natural resource development is becoming widely recognized as environmental and social problems become more and more acute with human population pressures and depletion of resources. While a number of academic programmes addressing environmental problems have been operating for several decades, comprehensive approaches that integrate conservation with development issues are only just beginning to occur. These innovative, cross-disciplinary problem-solving approaches still face a number of traditional constraints to successful programme development. Obstacles occur in every major aspect of academia — including structure, communication, reward systems, research, curriculum, and evaluation.
TL;DR: The natural environments of the South Pacific islands are degrading rapidly and the region suffers one of the highest rates of species extinction in the world, and has probably the highest proportion of endangered species per unit land-area as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The natural environments of the South Pacific islands are degrading rapidly The region suffers one of the highest rates of species extinction in the world, and has probably the world's highest proportion of endangered species per unit land-area Most island ecosystems in the South Pacific are totally unprotected, and many are rapidly diminishing in area or at least deteriorating in quality The practice of conservation through conventional forms of protected areas has been ineffective in Pacific countries, having been applied in ignorance or denial of traditional practices or tenurial arrangements when such traditional patterns are often crucial to the maintenance of South Pacific cultures Only approaches to conservation which embrace the multiple and subsistence uses of natural resources by island communities are having success
TL;DR: Control of rodent-borne diseases is likely to be more difficult than control of cat diseases, but at least Cats can be vaccinated, and education programmes to get Cat owners to treat their pets against these diseases could be undertaken by health authorities, veterinarians, drug companies, and pet-food manufacturers.
TL;DR: The world is now so tied together by flows of energy, information, and commodities, that action in one part of it is likely to have implications for many other parts as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: The world is now so tied together by flows of energy, information, and commodities, that action in one part of it is likely to have implications for many other parts. Numerous biological resources — particularly wildlife and forests — are being depleted more by foreign demand than by direct local consumption. Money earned by depleting resources is then often invested in imported industrial products, which themselves may have had negative environmental impacts in the country of their production. As examples we may cite certain pesticides which, on being banned in the countries of their production, are exported to others.
TL;DR: Deforestation in Amazonia is eliminating wild genepools of many crop-plants, including the Rubber tree and Cacao, as well as several crops emerging from relative obscurity, such as Peach-palm, Annatto, and Brazil-nut.
Abstract: Deforestation in Amazonia is eliminating wild genepools of many crop-plants. Wild or spontaneous populations of at least 50 perennial crops are at risk, including the Rubber tree and Cacao, as well as several crops emerging from relative obscurity, such as Peach-palm (which is now being planted extensively for palmito production), Annatto (which produces a natural red dye), and Brazil-nut.
TL;DR: An Eelgrass (Zostera marina L.) bed in a very shallow subtidal habitat adjacent to a busy port in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, was the site of experimental transplants.
Abstract: An Eelgrass ( Zostera marina L.) bed in a very shallow subtidal habitat adjacent to a busy port in southwestern British Columbia, Canada, was the site of experimental transplants. Eelgrass populations were successfully established, using a variety of transplanting techniques, namely cores (plants with the sediment retained around the rhizomes and roots), sprigs (plants from which the sediment had been washed), and sprigs anchored to buried lengths of iron rod. Transplants took place in two sites — (1) a shallow channel that had eroded from the sea into the Eelgrass bed, and (2) at the landward edge of the existing vegetation.
TL;DR: The ability of global agricultural systems to supply sufficient food for our rapidly-growing human population is becoming constrained by physical and economic limits to traditional means of agricultural expansion as mentioned in this paper, which is a concern of the authors of this paper.
Abstract: The ability of global agricultural systems to supply sufficient food for our rapidly-growing human population is becoming constrained by physical and economic limits to traditional means of agricultural expansion. Pests consume or ruin a staggering proportion of crops and, in general, have not been satisfactorily controlled through the ‘broadcast’ application of pesticides.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of tropical deforestation on the global climate and biodiversity are investigated, and the authors suggest that the research community should place a high priority on applying data on refugia (documented sites of high endemism and species-richness) to conservation planning.
Abstract: Deforestation of the tropical moist forests is taking place at an alarming pace; some experts believe that the entire ecobiome will be virtually destroyed within the next ten years. Although the ultimate ecological effects of tropical deforestation remain controversial, our present scientific understanding is adequate to justify efforts to slow the deforestation trend. The impacts that this trend will probably have on global climate remain unclear, while the effects that it will have on biodiversity will clearly be disastrous. This suggests that the research community should place a high priority on applying data on refugia (documented sites of high endemism and species-richness) to conservation planning, and on investigating the probable combined effects of climatic change and habitat fragmentation on world biodiversity.
TL;DR: In this paper, the sampling process and the indicators and sampling process worked out well at Ranthambhore and they probably appropriate for comparable areas elsewhere, and significant human pressure is not always limited to cutting and grazing.
Abstract: The indicators and the sampling process worked out well at Ranthambhore, and they are probably appropriate for comparable areas elsewhere. However, significant human pressure is not always limited to cutting and grazing. Collecting of certain minor forest products may be a problem in some places, and a suitable indicator must then be found.
TL;DR: The nature of the moorlands of England and Wales is described and a brief outline of their postglacial ecological history is propounded in this article, where the human groups of the Mesolithic period of the mid-Holocene employed fire as a management tool for vegetation.
Abstract: The nature of the moorlands of England and Wales is described and a brief outline of their postglacial ecological history is propounded. Emphasis then switches to a particularly critical phase in this evolution, namely the later centuries of the Mesolithic period of the mid-Holocene, when the human groups of the period employed fire as a management tool for vegetation.
TL;DR: Data on population change is presented, and its relevance for changing patterns of resource use and economic opportunity is explored, using regions of agroclimatic potential as surrogates for indicators of economic development.
Abstract: This paper in compiling a case-study of six districts in Central and Eastern Provinces of Kenya addresses the two poles of theory regarding population environment and economy--restricted growth and degradation versus induced change and intensification. The paper presents data on population change and explores its relevance for changing patterns of resource use and economic opportunity....Changes in population density between the 1969 and 1979 censuses are compiled using regions of agroclimatic potential as surrogates for indicators of economic development....Trends in urbanization are also analysed to illuminate the dynamics of rural-urban linkages. (EXCERPT)
TL;DR: The minimum total breeding seabird biomass in the Australian Antarctic Territory was estimated to be 9,971.5% in 2011 as mentioned in this paper, and the 5° sector between 75°E and 80°E,n south-east Prydz Bay, held 35% of the total AAT seabirds biomass.
Abstract: SUMMARY The minimum total breeding seabir idn biomas the sAustralian Antarctic Territory was estimate to be 9,971.d 1t, dominate bd y Emperor Penguins, 3,86 t (38.7%3 ) andAdelie Penguins 5,82, 5 t (58.4%). The 5° sector between75°E and 80°E i,n south-east Prydz Bay, held 35% of thetotal AAT seabird biomass. Prydz Bay has been show tonbe an area of high productivity an, d the concentration ofseabird biomas isn this area reflect ths e high biomass ofprey species and the availabilit of nestiny g habita itn theVestfold Hills, a large ice-free area adjacent to Prydz Bay.Activities associated With research station are believes dto be the only factors that have impacted on breeding sea-bird population tso date, but minerals activities, tourismand support facilities and Kril a ,l fishery ar future, econservation issues that will have an impact on this majorconcentration of seabird biomass in East Antarctica.Long-term monitoring o f seabird populations at Davisin Pryd Baz y is collecting dat oan inherent populationfluctuations, and th value e of these monitoring effortswill increas ae s the time-scale over which these dat araecollected increases.
TL;DR: In this paper, the potential impacts associated with rising sea-level and the increased frequency, intensity, and seasonality, of tropical storms due to thermal expansion of the oceans, melting of land-based ice-sheets and glaciers, and local geological parameters are discussed.
Abstract: There is mounting evidence of global climate change. Analysis of near-surface temperatures over land and oceans during the past 130 years shows marked warming during the first half of this century, with relatively steady temperatures thereafter to the mid-1970s and rapid warming occurring during the 1980s. Of further significance is the fact that the warmest decade in the record is that of the 1980s, with some of the most pronounced warming occurring in the lower latitudes which include the wider Caribbean region. In the context of this study, the important consequences of this warming are the potential impacts associated with rising sea-level and the increased frequency, intensity, and seasonality, of tropical storms due to thermal expansion of the oceans, melting of land-based ice-sheets and glaciers, and local geological parameters. Within the wider Caribbean, rates of relative sea-level rise have been recently estimated at around 2.5 mm/yr. Also, meteorological changes are evident with the occurrence of unusually intense storms such as Hurricane Gilbert in 1988. Rising sea-level coupled with meteorological changes present the potential for increased coastal erosion, loss of wetlands, disappearance of special habitats such as mangroves, and destruction of coral-reef communities. These potential impacts may have a significant influence on future land-use and development practices that could alter the economic growth and development of the region not least through curtailment of tourism.