Convention on Biological Diversity

About: Convention on Biological Diversity is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2232 publications have been published within this topic receiving 65599 citations. The topic is also known as: CBD & United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity.

Marine biodiversity and the need for systematic inventories

Abstract: Despite universal recognition of coral reefs as the 'ocean's rainforest,' the focus of conservation is largely restricted to cnidarians, fish, larger sponges, and macroalgae. These span a wide taxonomic range and can be monitored non-invasively. But a biodiversity picture based on so few taxa is dismally incomplete. As in the rainforest, the overwhelming majority of species and clades on the reef are cryptic. Worms, mollusks, echinoderms, and crustaceans are numerically dominant, contribute to the trophic underpinning, and play pivotal ecological roles. Other than a few charismatic species (e.g., starfish, tube worms, conchs), they are underestimated and overassumed. Proper inventory of such taxa requires factors not routinely employed in conservation: physical sampling and systematic expertise. Yet scientifically robust results can be achieved with minimal damage and investment, and lead to recognition of key species, for which monitoring schemes can be developed. Examples of recent surveys by systematists are provided, involving echinoderms, mollusks, crustaceans, and worms from a variety of marine habitats, and each showing significant results. Despite this evidence of success, acquiring systematic expertise for inventorying marine invertebrates continues to be a limiting factor. After decades of de-emphasizing systematics, the cohort of trained systematists is aging and facing non-replacement, even in museums where extensive specimen collections, laboratories, and libraries provide the best available support for systematic work. In today's climate of biodiversity interest, new initiatives are attempting to reverse this trend. National Science Foundation's PEET [Partnerships for Enhancing Expertise in Taxonomy] Program is providing resources for training the next generation of taxonomists working on poorly known groups. At the international level, initiatives such as DIVERSITAS' Systematics Agenda 2000 International Program are supporting new agendas to document reef biodiversity and promote systematic inventory. The Convention on Biological Diversity is calling for more systematic inventories to facilitate their goals of conservation and sustainable development. Programmatic and financial support for inventories by national, regional, and local conservation and monitoring agencies are the next requirement.

IUCN SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group: invasive alien species information management supporting practitioners, policy makers and decision takers

Abstract: The Invasive Species Specialist Group (ISSG) is a global network of scientific and policy experts on invasive species, organized under the auspices of the Species Survival Commission (SSC) of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). ISSG aims to reduce threats to natural ecosystems and the native species they contain by increasing awareness of invasive alien species, and of ways to prevent, control or eradicate them. Since its establishment, over two decades ago, ISSG has taken the lead on collating, managing and disseminating global invasive species information, promoting practitioner networks and supporting development of policy and regulation aimed at reducing the insidious threat of biological invasions. All this has been accomplished through the development of knowledge products (such as the Global Invasive Species Database (GISD)), promoting dynamic networks such as Aliens-L, advocacy and publications. ISSG has actively catered to emerging needs with activities directed at key areas such as islands, threatened species, protected areas and developing invasive species indicators to support prioritising and monitoring management action. ISSG is working with partners advancing the adoption of a standardised framework of pathway categories and developing criteria for the ranking of known invasive species based on the type and magnitude of impacts. ISSG through participation in the Global Invasive Alien Species Information Partnership (GIASIPartnership) is working with other information providers supporting countries with current and authoritative information to effectively implement Article 8(h), Aichi Biodiversity Target 9 and other related decisions of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs) such as the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS) and the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Monitoring biodiversity loss with primary species-occurrence data: toward national-level indicators for the 2010 target of the convention on biological diversity.

Abstract: Development of effective indicators is indispensable for countries and societies to monitor effects of their actions on biodiversity, as is recognized in decision VI/26 of the Convention on Biological Diversity. Good indicators would ideally be scalable, at least for the different scales that characterize biodiversity patterns and process. Existing indicators are mostly global in scope, and often based on secondary information, such as classifications of endangered species, rather than on primary data. We propose a complementary approach, based on the increased availability of raw data about occurrences of species, cutting-edge modeling techniques for estimating distributional areas, and land-use information based on remotely sensed data to allow estimation of rates of range loss for species affected by land-use conversion. This method can be implemented by developing countries, given increasing availability of data and the open and well-documented nature of the techniques required.