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KEY PUBLICATIONS AND ONLINE RESOURCES

BIODIVERSITY AND WILDLIFE

This page was updated on: 01/12/10

 

 

YOUR RIGHT TO A HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT: A SIMPLIFIED GUIDE TO THE AARHUS CONVENTION ON ACCESS TO INFORMATION, PUBLIC PARTICIPATION IN DECISION-MAKING AND JUSTICE IN ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS
(UNECE, 2006)
This guide provides accessible information for governments and individuals about the rights set out in the Aarhus Convention: the right to information, the right to public participation and the right of access to justice.
The guide.

PAYMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES: A SOLUTION FOR BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION?
(Institut du développement durable et des relations internationales, 2006)
Authored by Sheila Wertz-Kanounnikoff, this paper synthesizes the conceptual approach and current experiences of payments for environmental services, and assesses the tool with respect to its economic, social and environmental impact. It concludes that such payments cannot be considered as panacea for biodiversity conservation, but that they can present a promising tool notably to internalize indirect use values derived from ecosystems that provide benefits to human beings and for which the traditional set of environmental policy instruments had long been deficient.
The paper.

COMMUNITIES, LIVELIHOODS AND NATURAL RESOURCES: ACTION RESEARCH AND POLICY CHANGE IN ASIA
(International Development Research Centre, 2006)

Edited by Stephen Tyler, this book responds to the question of how poor rural people can improve their living conditions and the productivity of their resource base through local interventions in natural resource management. It describes and analyses processes and outcomes from a set of action research projects in Asia. The book.

PROTECTING INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE AGAINST BIOPIRACY IN THE ANDES
(IIED, December 2006)

Authored by Alejandro Argumedo and Michel Pimbert, this paper presents the Indigenous Biocultural Heritage Register, an approach developed by Andean communities in Peru in order to protect their knowledge against biopiracy and gain legal rights relating to their knowledge. The main objective of the register is to ensure the conservation, protection and promotion of indigenous peoples' knowledge systems for sustaining their livelihoods and traditional resource rights. The report.

ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS OF GENETICALLY MODIFIED CROPS: EXPERIENCES FROM TEN YEARS OF FIELD RESEARCH AND COMMERCIAL CULTIVATION
(Swiss Expert Committee for Biosafety, October 2006)
Authored by Olivier Sanvido, Michèle Stark, Jörg Romeis and Franz Bigler, this report discusses the effects of genetically modified (GM) crop cultivation on the environment considering the impacts caused by cultivation practices of modern agricultural systems. It concludes that, to ensure that a policy is truly precautionary, one should compare the risk of adopting a technology against the risk of not adopting it, and both benefits and risks of GM crop systems should be compared with those of current agricultural practices. The
report.

GUIDANCE FOR PROMOTING SYNERGY AMONG ACTIVITIES ADDRESSING BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY, DESERTIFICATION, LAND DEGRADATION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
(CBD, May 2006)
This CBD Technical Series report highlights the major biological factors that contribute to ecosystem resilience under the projected impacts of global climate change, assesses the potential consequences for biodiversity of particular adaptation activities under the CBD thematic areas, provides methodological considerations when implementing these activities, and highlights research and knowledge gaps. The report recognizes the potential of, and stresses the need for, synergy in the implementation of activities that interlink biodiversity conservation, mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, and land degradation and desertification in the context of the objectives of the three Rio Conventions and other relevant multilateral environmental agreements. The report.

BUSINESS AND ECOSYSTEMS
(Earthwatch Institute, IUCN, World Business Council for Sustainable Development, World Resources Institute, November 2006)
This issue brief explores the six challenges identified by the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment –water scarcity, climate change, habitat change, biodiversity loss and invasive species, overexploitation of oceans and nutrient overloading- discusses their implications for businesses and provides examples of corporate responses. The brief.

WHEN ARE PAYMENTS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES BENEFICIAL TO THE POOR?
(FAO, April 2006)
Authored by D. Zilberman, L. Lipper and N. McCarthy, this working paper aims to develop a conceptual framework to analyze the conditions under which policies related to payments for environmental services can serve to reduce poverty and give insight into ways such programmes can be targeted to obtain poverty reduction benefits. The authors attempt to identify how the pursuit of environmental goals can be used to improve the lot of the poor in the developing world. The analysis concludes that there is a wide array of circumstances where payments for environmental services can both promote environmental quality and reduce poverty. However, the impact on the poor will vary considerably depending on the local circumstances of the poor. The paper.

VALUING WETLANDS: GUIDANCE FOR VALUING THE BENEFITS DERIVED FROM WETLAND ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
(Ramsar and CBD, 2006)
This report, published jointly as Ramsar Technical Report No. 3 and CBD Technical Series No. 27, provides guidance and updates on methodologies for wetland economic valuation. Rudolf de Groot and Miska Stiup of Wageningen University and the Foundation for Sustainable Development (FSD) in the Netherlands led the preparation of the report, which updates Ramsar's 1997 Economic valuation of wetlands: A guide for policy makers and planners by Barbier, Acreman, and Knowler. The report.

MIGRATORY SPECIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE: IMPACTS OF A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT ON WILD ANIMALS
(UNEP/CMS, November 2006) This report indicates that climate change is and will increasingly have dramatic impacts on migratory species from whales and dolphins to birds and turtles. Changes in the length, timing and location of migration routes are being documented, as well as habitat changes, reduced breeding success and feminization of populations. The report.

THE WTO GMO DISPUTE: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEVELOPING COUNTRIES AND THE NEED FOR AN APPEAL
(GeneWatch UK, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Forum for Biotechnology and Food Security and GM Freeze, November 2006) Authored by Alice Palmer, this note is a legal analysis of the WTO Dispute Panel's decision regarding the complaint by the US, Canada and Argentina against the EU over genetically modified organisms. It explains what the WTO Panel decided, what might be appealed, and what might be important to developing countries wanting to regulate GM imports and other products that could cause harm to health and the environment. The note reaches two conclusions. First, it stresses that developing countries currently considering what laws to introduce to regulate GM crops and products should be aware that the dispute was only about the implementation of the EC's rules. Secondly, it concludes that the EC should not leave the Panel's erroneous description and application of WTO law unchallenged. The report.

ECOSYSTEM CHALLENGES AND BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS
(Earthwatch Institute, IUCN, WBCSD and WRI, 2006)
This publication is based on facts and projections from the UN's multi-year Millennium Ecosystem Assessment as well as interviews with business leaders to assess the implications and strategies needed to respond to environmental challenges. It indicates that many companies recognize the risks associated with degrading ecosystems and are trying to adapt accordingly, but most fail to associate healthy ecosystems with their business interests. Four partners, the Earthwatch Institute (Europe), the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) and the World Resources Institute (WRI), produced the report, which is the first of three anticipated studies. The second will focus on how new business models, markets and entrepreneurs can profit from responding to ecosystem challenges, and the third will help business executives identify their dependences on ecosystem services and ways to retain them for the long term. The report.

PUTTING THE RIGHT PRICE ON NATURE: ENVIRONMENTAL ECONOMICS
(SciDev.Net, 2006)
This policy brief by Anantha Duraiappah (UNEP) discusses how environmental economics can be used to ensure that the benefits obtained from ecosystems are properly valued, enabling a framework to be built for sustainable use and conservation of the environment. The policy brief.

CGIAR VIRTUAL LIBRARY
(CGIAR, 2006) The recently launched Virtual Library of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) is an internet gateway allowing users to search the on-line libraries of the CGIAR centers. It provides access to over 4,000 e-journals and thousands of publications on agriculture, hunger, poverty and the environment. The Virtual Library.

LIVING PLANET REPORT 2006
(WWF and Global Footprint Network, October 2006) This year's Living Planet Report explores the overall impact of humankind on the planet, and confirms that humanity is using the planet's resources faster than they can be renewed and that populations of vertebrate species have declined by about one third since 1970. The report details the strain on the world's natural resources and the declining numbers of the animal species that depend on them, and offers solutions to reverse downward trends in both these areas. The report.

ARTICLES ON THE VALUE OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES
(Public Library of Science Biology, November 2006) A number of recently published articles focus on incorporating the value of ecosystem services into conservation and development planning: Mapping the economic costs and benefits of conservation, by Robin Naidoo and Taylor H. Ricketts; Conservation Planning for Ecosystem Services, by Kai M. A. Chan et al; and Assessing ecosystem services to identify conservation priorities, by Liza Gross.   

RESPONDING TO THE 2010 BIODIVERSITY CHALLENGE: GOVERNANCE, IMPLEMENTATION AND INFLUENCE: MEETING REPORT
(Chatham House, 2006) A report of the workshop "Responding to the 2010 biodiversity challenge: governance, implementation and influence," organized on 3-4 July 2006 by Chatham House and Countdown 2010, is available online. The report.

BILATERAL BIOSAFETY BULLIES
(GRAIN and African Centre for Biosafety, October 2006) This briefing looks at how governments, the agribusiness sector and transnational corporations use bilateral trade channels to weaken biosafety regulations and open markets for GM crops.
The briefing.

GUIDELINES FOR THE CONSERVATION AND SUSTAINABLE USE OF BIODIVERSITY IN TROPICAL TIMBER PRODUCTION FORESTS
(IUCN and ITTO, November 2006)
These guidelines set out how positive outcomes for biodiversity can be achieved in the management of tropical production forests. The guidelines.

NEW BCH FEATURES
(CBD, October 2006) New features of the Convention on Biological Diversity's Biosafety Clearing-House (BCH) include: a section on information-sharing, which provides improved access to the Biosafety Information Resource Centre, the recently released directory of biosafety organizations, and a database of country profiles; a facility to search all types of decisions, declarations and notifications, and information about finding field trials not covered by the Advance Informed Agreement procedure; and a section on reporting.