Enter email preview summary Forward to a friend | View in browser

ECOSYSTEM INSIDER The Ecosystem Insider brings you news from the Commission on Ecosystem Management

September 2017- Edition 3

Dear CEM member,

We are pleased to bring you the Third issue of the IUCN Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM) Newsletter for 2017.

Follow us for more news and updates

CEM HIGHLIGHT

We had time to visit El Palomar, a dry forest ecosystem regional reserve, guided by Humboldt Institute and Ecosistemas Secos de Colombia Foundation. Dry forests are among the most endangered ecosystems in Colombia. Institutional representatives (CRA, regional government of Atlántico), regional academia (UniNorte) and local community members accompanied us.

Steering Committee meeting in Cartagena Our 45th Steering Committee took place from the 31st July to August 4th in Cartagena, Colombia. We advanced in the discussions about Strategic Planning of the Commission,its organizational development and fund raising, the role of innovation in ecosystem management, and enhancing business engagement. You can access the summary records, documents and presentations through the IUCN Portal in CEM´s main page.

We held a joint session with the Species Survival Commission (SSC). We worked on “Red listing ecosystems and threatened species” and “Ecosystems, species and nature-based solutions”. There were discussion groups to set priorities on A: Biofuels and Systemic Pesticides, Ecosystem Restoration and Rewilding; B: Governance; Culture and Ecosystem Management and UN SD Goals and Aichi Targets.

RLE PRESENCE IN ICCB 2017;

Symposium: New tools for ecosystem assessment and

monitoring (July 24th) This symposium focused on new tools for tracking the status of ecosystems, including indicators of ecosystem collapse (Jess Rowland) and a global typological framework for ecosystems (David Keith) and conceptual models at multiple spatial scales (Eren Turak). Case studies examined the synthesis of multiple lines of evidence in ecosystem risk assessment of the Meso-American Reef and assessments of input data quality for applying Red List criteria in Chile (Alberto Alaniz). A discussion panel addressed how these advances promise an evidence-based monitoring process for ecosystems that will further enhance our ability to assess progress towards Aichi targets and support ecosystem conservation.

Workshop: “Innovative Tools and Approaches for Ecosystem

Risk Assessment in Latin America” (July 27th) A brief overview of currently available tools relevant for ecosystem risk assessments was followed by group discussions to identify some of the main challenges that assessors have faced, as well as identify which additional tools could prove to be the most useful in facilitating RLE assessments in the future. These include: tools to facilitate the construction of appropriate ecosystem typologies, constructing conceptual models of ecosystem functioning, and identifying key indicators/variables for assessing the functional criteria, as well as platforms to facilitate data sharing.

RLE in Latin America Planning meeting On Friday July 28th members of the RLE core team, CEM leaders and assessors from RLE national assessments had the opportunity to meet in order to learn more details about the RLE and CEM strategic plans as well as ongoing and planned initiatives taking place in Latin America. The group identified four key focal points to guide work in the near future: 1) a diagnostic of achievements (available data, capacities and RLE impact) in countries that have completed assessments, 2) further training and capacity building (incorporating new spaces and actors), 3) improved communication and outreach, 4) need to address policy and ecosystem management directly, work collaboratively with other IUCN commissions.

For more information on the International Congress for Conservation Biology (ICCB), please Click Here>>

LEADERSHIP CORNER

Forum on Biodiversity and Global Forest Restoration (Aug. 27th) Cara Nelson (Restoration TGL and former vice-chair of the Society for Ecological Restoration - SER) and Steve Edwards (chair’s advisor) organized the Forum that addressed the themes: 1) Assessing and Setting Priorities, 2) International Restoration Standards, and 3) Policy/Governance Needs. The key conclusions of the Forum frame a Plan of Action to Improve Biodiversity Conservation in Forest Restoration. The final edition of the Plan will provide the road map to initiate steps to ensure that biodiversity conservation is an integral part of forest restoration

THEMATIC AREAS

NbS meeting at IUCN Washington D.C.

On September 7-8, CEM organised a kick-off meeting for the development of the Nature-based Solutions operational framework, at the IUCN office in Washington DC, USA. Several CEM thematic group leads (NbS, Ecosystem Restoration, Eco-DRR, Resilience, Ecosystem Services, EbA & EbM) and a few people from the IUCN Secretariat working on NbS in the Gland and Washington offices, were invited to this brainstorming workshop. NbS is a priority for IUCN, we are seeking for stronger working links with academia on its conceptual development, and we are now constructing a working agenda.

Invasive Species

Congratulations to member Dr Emilie Ens who, along with Ngandi

Cherry Wulumirr Daniels, led the Ngukurr Wi Stadi Kantri (We study

country) Research Team which won the Australian 2017 Eureka Prize

for Innovation in Citizen Science, conferred by the Department of

Industry, Innovation and Science. More on the Award>>

Judy Fisher (TGL) attended the British Ecological Society’s Symposium at Durham University in July 2017: The Macro ecology of Alien Species: Patterns, Drivers and Consequences of Global Biotic Exchange. Exploring the major drivers behind the mixing of the world’s biotas and the consequences for conservation of biodiversity. Members of the Thematic Group including Jonathan Jeschke, Robert Tanner and Franz Ezzl gave outstanding presentations. The Thematic Group is extending connections with many others who attended the meeting. The Thematic Group is establishing a Partnership with the University of Western Australia’s Ocean’s institute as a key approach in strengthening our involvement in the Marine Environment (2017-2020).

See here for more information>>

Resilience Thematic Group

The Resilience Thematic Group launched a new blog focused on the practice of cultivating resilient landscapes through collaboration; it can be found at RTG BLOG. In coming months the blog will include guest entries from RTG members. Mike Jones led an introductory workshop on Resilience and Systems Thinking for Biodiversity Conservation at ICCB in Cartagena. Participants were introduced to the key concepts and then worked in groups analyzing a case of connectivity conservation: “Connectivity conservation of the Great Green Macaw’s and landscape resilience in Costa Rica and Nicaragua (1994-2016) (Chassot & Monge Arias).

Mike Jones led a Capacity Building Workshop on Cultivating Landscape Resilience in South East Asia at the

Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Science, China. Several CEM leaders participated

with case studies and components such as: Wicked problems, making sense of systems, differences between simple

and complex systems; resilience assessment as a sustainability assessment tool; discussion of the social-ecological

assessment tool illustrating concepts with examples. The 5-day workshop included a practical exercise day to apply

the framework to systems represented in the botanical garden and surrounding area.

RLE Colombia The Red List of Ecosystems of Colombia was launched the 16th of August in Bogotá. Javeriana University and Conservation International –Colombia led this national level assessment, with support from CEM-IUCN, Humboldt Institute-Colombia, INVEMAR (both institutes are part of the National Environmental System), Provita (Venezuela) and the Moore Foundation. This assessment suggests that 46% of Colombian ecosystems are in categories of Critical Danger (CR) and Endangered (EN) threat, where Tropical Dry Forests, Deserts, and Wetlands are among some of the most critically endangered. The results show these ecosystems are poorly represented in the Protected Areas National System. The assessment will serve to prioritize ecosystem restoration actions and focus research initiatives on the degradation of ecological processes and integrity state of ecosystems.

For more information contact Rebecca Miller

RLE Madagascar Progress toward a Red List of Ecosystems in Madagascar Several CEM members led a validation workshop for the Madagascar Red List of Ecosystems (RLE) in Antananarivo, Madagascar, from 24-28 July 2017. IUCN, through the CEM-RLE TG and GEMP, is currently working with the Madagascar Ministry of the Environment, Ecology and Forests, several international and national NGOs, and the University of Antananarivo, to conduct a risk assessment of Madagascar’s marine and terrestrial ecosystems. This pilot project will produce a preliminary classification of Madagascar’s ecosystems and broad ecosystem risk assessments under RLE criteria A and B (the spatial component of RLE assessments), which will lay the foundation for doing a comprehensive and systematic assessment of the risk to Madagascar’s ecosystems in future. It is also examining how to use integrated biodiversity datasets to aid decision-making, national reporting and implementation of biodiversity policy.

SUME: Cholpon Ata, Kyrgyzstan Falconry originated in the steppes of Central Asia, possibly 4,000 years ago, hunting with golden eagles - like the one carried by this young man;

Today, eagles and Saker Falcons on the open steppes have to be careful not to perch on medium-voltage power-lines, which kill thousands of these avian top predators of semi-arid ecosystems. This reduces predation pressure on species like Brandt’s vole, which can become common enough to be damaging to agriculture as well as over-grazed native vegetation. To make matters worse, rodenticides used to fight voles can kill even more raptors. Intensification of steppe agriculture is also worrying for the future of Sakers. However, the Saker Falcon is a valuable resource for falconers in the Middle East, who are therefore funding restoration work, both by modifying power lines to make them raptor-safe, and also by creating new breeding areas (which are in short supply) by installing artificial nest boxes. Thanks to a kind invitation from the International Association for Falconry and Conservation of Birds of Prey (IAF) SUME TG held a meeting in the Central Asian Region in Cholpon Ata, Kyrgyzstan, on 7 Sept. 2017 parallel to a conference on the Saker Falcon. Members of CEM-SUME have been working also with IUCN's specialist group on Sustainable Use and Livelihoods(SULi), towards sustainable trade in this species, which should in the long-term lead to conservation of its important steppe ecosystems. Previous CEM Chair Piet Wit gave the keynote talk where he presented the Ecosystem

The outcome of the work by SULi and SUME will be increasingly linked with sites for practitioners and for scientists involved in IAF's cooperation with UNEP-CMS for managing the Saker Falcon. SUME is helping IAF to encourage conservation of areas for Saker Falcons Plans for more systems are being taken to the next SUME meeting, in South America. Join us for interesting talks and planning in Lima during 26-27 October More information here>>

Please contact Robert Kenward

Approach and explained how it is relevant to falconry in landscapes across the world.

Drylands Integrated approaches for multi-functional landscapes: connecting LDN, biodiversity and climate change.

This side event was held at the UNCCD COP13 in Ordos, China. Co-organised by the IUCN (Global Drylands and CEM) and the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF), the event focused in the ongoing challenges of balancing the multiple demands on land for food, water, climate change mitigation and biodiversity conservation. Graciela Metternicht (CEM Dryland SG) discussed the importance of building on management and policy commitments to restoration, rehabilitation and sustainable land management to achieve Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN). A panel discussion followed touching on the synergy between global environmental goals and actions and national programmes; opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of responses, and the role of public policy in achieving multifunctional land use and the experience of LDN target setting in China. The event highlighted that holistic, cross-sector actions are needed to promote multifunctional land use and to ensure that the competing needs of society are effectively addressed with the finite land resources available. This presents a unique challenge for both land policies and land information: two critical factors for sustainable land use planning and management according to the LDN Conceptual Framework published by the UNCCD Science Policy interface.

From left to right: Jorge Luis Rodriguez Garcia (Conafor, Mexico); Lehman Lindeque (UNDP, Africa), Graciela Metternicht (IUCN CEM); Ermias Betemariam (ICRAF); Annette Cowie (GEF STAP); Jonathan Davies (IUCN Global Drylands); Prof Zhang Kebin (China). Credit: Andrew Stevenson (ICRAF)

Click here for more Information >>

REGIONAL NEWS

South East Asia Region

Planting indigenous fruit trees as a means for ecological restoration and sustainable livelihood in Son Kim 1 commune, Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province, northern central region of Vietnam With seed funds from CEM, the CEM SEA Regional Group initiated a small project of planting indigenous fruit trees in Son Kim 1 commune through the collaboration with Community Entrepreneur Development Institute (CENDI) of Vietnam. This project aims to restore the deteriorating habitat while enhancing the local sustainable livelihood. With the kind assistance of the local authorities and the Farmers Field School of Human Ecology Preservation Area (FFS-HEPA), land was prepared for planting. The indigenous fruit species included the local pomelo (buoi Phuc Trach variety), orange (two varieties), and another smaller citrus. To date, 113 tree seedlings had already been planted covering an estimated

land area of 2 ha. Subsequent to preparing the land for planting, a mini workshop was held on 13th Aug 2017 to socialize the farm-holders with the CEM project and the technical guidance (e.g., the distance between two trees) for planting the fruit trees.

North East Asia Region

North east Asia IUCN-CEM formed a network of researchers, educators, and practitioners in ecosystem management in Northeast Asia to support CEM's on-ground activities and education for sustainable development. The region co-chaired a “Xiang Shang Forum” (the top level academic form in China) on Eco-environment Protection and Sustainable Development.This CEM region also co-sponsored an International Workshop and Training on Innovative Learning and Teaching Approaches for Global Seminar Course. This conference brought together environmental educators to share their experiences and ideas about innovative teaching on sustainable development and provided a good platform to foster and support meaningful working relationships among the global educators who are interested in teaching global seminar course.

North America Region During the North American Summer season the Inaugural meeting of IUCN U.S. National Committee took place in Washington D.C. (June 14-15) and nominations were opened for executive committee members. Nominations are open for CEM members to serve as advisors for the North American & Caribbean region. If you have an expertise with broad regional application and have some time to give, please let us know. Contact Darwin Horning If you are interested in helping to coordinate CEM’s regional online communications, the Regional CEM group is looking for a volunteer

to grow the regional Facebook activity and help produce the online newsletter with news and events from the Arctic to the Caribbean. For details, contact Regional Chair Charlotte Moser

SPOTLIGHT ON ECOSYSTEMS

Wetlands The Parana-Paraguay Corridor: A new project for a unique system Wetlands International is starting in 2018 a new project called The Blue Corridor: Connecting People, Nature and Economies along the Parana-Paraguay River System in order to preserve the corridor connectivity, ecological integrity and livelihoods related to water resources. Such project will include different local and partners from abroad and has the overall goal to influence on policy makers about the need to preserve the ecological integrity of the corridor by promoting a

sustainable development. The main axis of the project will be: a) to implement policies and plans at local, national and regional levels to safeguard the free/flowing and connectivity and to assure that development do not impact on wetlands values; b) to apply innovative approaches and measures for sustainable livelihoods strengthening local stakeholders capacity and involving in management decision and policy making;

c) to acquire key knowledge about the values, opportunities and threats facing wetlands along the corridor as a basis for improving wetland management and maintaining its connectivity, and c) to involve key civil society, government and private actors to use knowledge and apply best practice to influence policy, investment and management.

Read more on the ecological conditions and context of the Pantanal here »

Wetland Restoration in Australia

Read more on wetlands and their management here »

Science evaluation of wetland system repair projects in the Great Barrier Reef catchments (Nathan Waltham) The Australian Government recently funded (2017 – 2019) through the National Environmental Science Programme (NESP) Tropical Water Quality Hub a scientific evaluation of wetland restoration sites, in an attempt to capture data and assist with future planned restoration projects. With the limited success of the chemical weed control strategy it was decided to investigate a more natural form of weed control using tidal ingress of seawater by removing the earth bund which restricted tidal intrusion into the wetland. The current round of Commonwealth of Australia research funding will be used to continue gathering water quality and ecological data to more fully understand the success of this bund wall removal program in the GBR catchments

YOUTH SECTION

2030 Agenda: The role of youth in peace, security and sustainability Dr. Nidhi Nagabhatla CEM member talks about the strategies to improve agri-food research and innovation towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals at the event of UN FAO hosted network – The Global Forum on Agricultural Research (GFAR), while pitching that youth and youth issues are schematically included in development related deliberations.

See here for more information>>

WHAT'S ON THE CALENDAR?

i) Cultural Practices and Ecosystem Management brainstorming

workshop

The CPEM TG will be organizing a workshop in Nov. 2017 to meet in person for an intensive brainstorming workshop to develop key criteria and indicators to guide the group’s main anticipated work plan output for the next years: a compendium of case studies of cultural practice in ecosystem management and publication of guidelines and criteria for best practices in recognizing and incorporating cultural practices, to be published in 2020. The work of compiling the eventual guidelines will come from the collection of a series of case studies of cultural practices developed by CPEM members. Our workshop will be held at the University of Maryland-College Park on Nov. 29. CPEM members and other CEM members who have related interests in attending should indicate interest in attending to Pam McElwee no later than Sept 30 so that we can get a preliminary headcount for the workshop.

We will also be able to include members via Skype for the day as well. Please note that we do not have funding for members to travel to DC so this will need to be in-kind contributions from members’ institutions (some people may be coming to DC for the American Anthropological Association meetings which begin on the evening of Nov 29). We will provide support for transport within DC to the university, as well as breakfast and lunch at the workshop, thanks to funding from CEM. Please get in touch with Pam or Minna Hsu, co-Thematic Group lead of CPEM, for any other questions about the workshop.

ii) The next Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP-9) World

Conference will be held in Shenzen-China. Dec. 11-15. With the

main theme: Ecosystem Services for Eco-civilization. Restoring

connections between people & landscapes through nature-based

solutions. The Ecosystem Services Partnership (ESP) connects over 3000

ecosystem services professionals from science, policy and practice

worldwide. Through our platform (www.es-partnership.org) members

share knowledge and collaborate in numerous working groups,

projects and other activities. See here for more information>>

iii) We are back! It’s the MOOC you have all been waiting for: Disasters and Ecosystems - Resilience in a Changing Climate (Round 2)

After our smashing success in 2015, we are back thanks to popular demand! This is what you will learn with this MOOC: Defines basic concepts of disasters, disaster risk reduction, climate

change adaptation and resilience; Recognizes key linkages between ecosystems, disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation; Approaches how ecosystems contribute to reducing impacts pre- and post- disasters; managing

resilience and transformation. We’ve transferred to a new platform. We’ve recorded new interviews with world leaders, and refreshed some

materials but all the essentials on Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction are there! You will have access to 6 units of the leadership track and our certificate upon completion.

We went live on Sept. 18, 2017, 2 pm (UTC +1) We launch our expert track on November 20, 2017 live from Bali, Indonesia.

We invite you to Pre-register here>> To receive our newsletter with updates>>

For more information, see here>>

PUBLICATIONS

This brief seeks to present the lessons learned, and general elements that should be considered when researchers collaborate with communities to define adaptation and resilience strategies. It makes an important contribution to the application of PAR as an integrated (social-ecological) approach to

1. Adaptation to Coastal Storms in Atlantic Canada. (L. Vasseur, M.J.

Thornbush & S. PLante) Springer Briefs in Geography. 1st ed. 2018, VIII,

91.In late 2010 and early January 2011, Atlantic Canada experienced a series

of severe winter storms that caused important damage in several coastal

communities due to storm surges and elevated waves. Some people

experienced flooding, while others coastal erosion. Subsequently, in 2011, a

large multi-site longitudinal project was initiated to (1) better understand

people’s experiences with storms and (2) define with targeted communities

adaptation plans for the future. Interviews were conducted in 2011-2012 and

again in 2014 as a follow-up and to examine their changes in perception.

Based on in-depth interviews and focus groups in 10 studied communities of

Quebec and New Brunswick, it was discovered that people felt resilient, but

at the same time vulnerable to storms and other extreme events. The hazards

that occurred were associated with storm surge, high waves, coastal erosion,

and flooding. The analysis covered a large multisite longitudinal project,

where a participatory action research (PAR) approach was used to

understand how people in 10 coastal communities perceive and experience

resilience and how such an approach can be adapted also to other communities.

extreme weather events and to enhance their capacity to adapt and improve

their resilience.

2. Coastal and Resilience article

Goussard J.J. & M. Ducrocq. 2017. Facing the future: Conservation as a precursor for building coastal territorial cohesion and resilience. Aquatic Conserv: Mar Freshw Ecosyst. 1–11. The paper highlights the main factors that characterize current coastal dynamics, and then briefly presents three future‐oriented pilot operations, implemented in Western Africa at different scales. It uses the Nexus approach, promoted by CEM’s Coastal SG, to place marine and coastal spatial planning as a key integrative element linking conservation, adaptation to climate change and coastal risk reduction, as a part of no‐regret adaptation strategies.

3. Wetlands in Food Security Rahman, A.M., Kang, S., Nagabhatla, N., and Macnee, R. 2017. Impacts of temperature and rainfall variation on rice productivity in major ecosystems of Bangladesh.Agriculture & Food Security, 6:10.

Full Text Available here>>

4. Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality

Orr, B.J., A.L. Cowie, V.M. Castillo Sanchez, P. Chasek, N.D. Crossman, A. Erlewein, G. Louwagie, M. Maron, G.I. Metternicht, S. Minelli, A.E. Tengberg, S. Walter, and S. Welton (2017). Scientific Conceptual Framework for Land Degradation Neutrality. What is the land degradation neutrality (LDN) conceptual framework? The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) target 15.3 states: “By 2030, combat desertification, restore degraded land and soil, including land affected by desertification, drought and floods, and strive to achieve a land degradation-neutral world”. The LDN conceptual framework focuses on the goal of LDN and the supporting processes required to deliver this goal, including biophysical and socio-economic aspects, and their interactions. The conceptual framework is applicable to all types of land degradation, so that it can be used by countries according to their individual circumstances. Setting national targets for LDN is voluntary. Countries are invited to do so in accordance with their specific national circumstances and development priorities. At present 111 countries are participating in the LDN Target Setting Programme (TSP) that applies the LDN conceptual framework. This global programme is implemented in

cooperation with numerous partners, including the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

For more on the Science-Policy Interface, click here>>

5. Global Land Outlook - Working Paper

The first edition of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification’s (UNCCD) Global Land Outlook (GLO) was launched on the 12th September 2017 at the UNCCD 13th Conference of the Parties. The GLO addresses the future challenges and opportunities for the management and restoration of land resources in the context of sustainable development, including: food, water and energy security; climate change and biodiversity conservation; urban, peri-urban and infrastructure development; land tenure, governance and gender; and migration, conflict and human security. It draws attention to the central importance of land quality to human well-being, assesses current trends in land conversion, degradation and loss, identifies the driving factors and analyzes the impacts, and presents a new and transformative vision for land management policy, planning and practice at global and national scales. Chapter 9 on Biodiversity and Soils, highlights the relevance of soils and biodiversity for underpinning functioning ecosystems and productive land-based natural capital.

The publication brought together a multi-disciplinary group of international experts and partners, including Professor

Graciela Metternicht, co-lead of the CEM’s Dryland Ecosystems Specialist Group, who wrote the background paper on

Land Use Planning. This working paper analyzes the role of land use and spatial planning tools, processes and

approaches to improve socio-economic opportunities through sustainable management of land resources (i.e., soil,

water, and biodiversity). The working papers are available here for download>>

The Journal of Threatened Taxa article available here>>

Copyright © 2017 IUCN. All rights reserved. | Rue Mauverney 28, 1196, Gland, Switzerland

Other commissions newsletters: CEC, CEESP, WCEL, SSC, WCPA

Unsubscribe from future emails here | Forward to a friend