A Global Mitigation Hierarchy for Nature Conservation

Type Article
Date 2018-05
Language English
Author(s) Arlidge William N. S.1, Bull Joseph W.3, 4, 5, Addison Prue F. E.1, Burgass Michael J.2, Gianuca Dimas6, Gorham Taylor M.7, Jacob Celine8, Shumway Nicole9, 10, Sinclair Samuel P.2, Watson James E. M.9, 10, 11, Wilcox Chris12, Milner-Gulland E. J.1
Affiliation(s) 1 : Univ Oxfords, Dept Zool, Oxford, England.
2 : Imperial Coll London, Dept Life Sci, London, England.
3 : Univ Kent, Durrell Inst Conservat & Ecol, Canterbury, Kent, England.
4 : Univ Copenhagen, Dept Food & Resource Econ, Copenhagen, Denmark.
5 : Univ Copenhagen, Ctr Macroecol Evolut & Climate, Copenhagen, Denmark.
6 : Univ Exeter, Environm & Sustainabil Inst, Penryn, England.
7 : Marine Stewardship Council, London, England.
8 : IFREMER, UMR AMURE, Brest, France.
9 : Sch Earth & Environm Sci, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
10 : Ctr Biodivers & Conservat Sci, Brisbane, Qld, Australia.
11 : Wildlife Conservat Soc, Sci & Res Initiat, Bronx, NY USA.
12 : CSIRO, Oceans & Atmosphere Business Unit, Hobart, Tas, Australia.
Source Bioscience (0006-3568) (Oxford Univ Press), 2018-05 , Vol. 68 , N. 5 , P. 336-347
DOI 10.1093/biosci/biy029
WOS© Times Cited 112
Keyword(s) adequacy, biodiversity, development, no net loss, sustainability
Abstract

Efforts to conserve biodiversity comprise a patchwork of international goals, national-level plans, and local interventions that, overall, are failing. We discuss the potential utility of applying the mitigation hierarchy, widely used during economic development activities, to all negative human impacts on biodiversity. Evaluating all biodiversity losses and gains through the mitigation hierarchy could help prioritize consideration of conservation goals and drive the empirical evaluation of conservation investments through the explicit consideration of counterfactual trends and ecosystem dynamics across scales. We explore the challenges in using this framework to achieve global conservation goals, including operationalization and monitoring and compliance, and we discuss solutions and research priorities. The mitigation hierarchy's conceptual power and ability to clarify thinking could provide the step change needed to integrate the multiple elements of conservation goals and interventions in order to achieve successful biodiversity outcomes.

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Arlidge William N. S., Bull Joseph W., Addison Prue F. E., Burgass Michael J., Gianuca Dimas, Gorham Taylor M., Jacob Celine, Shumway Nicole, Sinclair Samuel P., Watson James E. M., Wilcox Chris, Milner-Gulland E. J. (2018). A Global Mitigation Hierarchy for Nature Conservation. Bioscience, 68(5), 336-347. Publisher's official version : https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biy029 , Open Access version : https://archimer.ifremer.fr/doc/00442/55323/