Actors’ perceptions of forest biodiversity values and policy issues related to REDD+ implementation in Peru

Although synergies between reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD+) and biodiversity conservation are generally expected, they will not be achieved through poorly designed REDD+ schemes. Perceptions of actors in REDD+ implementation processes can guide the design of appropriate policies. Semi-structured interviews were conducted in Peru with actors in REDD+ working groups at the national and subnational level (n = 50) to explore how they relate REDD+ implementation to biodiversity conservation and other policy issues, and to identify the aspects of biodiversity they regard as especially important (biodiversity conservation values). Interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis; actors’ statements were summarised into nine policy issue categories. Issues raised often were related to governance, socioeconomic aspects and land management in REDD+ implementation (47 % of the statements). Biodiversity issues were mentioned less often (23 %). Direct synergies between REDD+ and biodiversity conservation were assumed by most actors and few concrete risks and corresponding safeguards were mentioned. Actors mentioned 177 biodiversity conservation values, which were classified into different value types. Most values were aspects of biodiversity with direct or indirect use values (68 %). Aspects which potentially provide future benefits (option values) or resilience values were mentioned less often (5 and 16 %, respectively). The opportunity to foster conservation of use values as additional benefits from REDD+ is generally recognised by the actors, but aspects of biodiversity that are important for the long-term integrity of forest ecosystems received less attention. It is thus important to push for the integration of respective safeguards in REDD+ strategies.     

“Yes,but does it work in the field?” The challenge of technology transfer in biological control

Thanks to the efforts and enthusiasm of research scientists, biological control today enjoys considerable popularity. An increasing number of decision makers have high expectations of biological control as the foundation of IPM, as a viable commercial alternative to chemical pesticides, as the self-perpetuating solution to exotic pest problems and as the restorer of parks and endangered habitats threatened by alien invasive species. All of these expectations require that biological control scientists engage a broader community, including farmers, extensionists, environmentalists, regulators, and the public at large, and that they succeed with them to transfer, scale up and implement biological control at a level far beyond its present use. Increased movement of alien pests due to changing patterns of trade, as well as their emerging importance as threats to biodiversity has increased demand for classical biological control. Meeting this demand effectively will require improved understanding of the risks posed by alien pests and introduced agents, as well as better mechanisms to inform and involve governments and scientists in selfregulation and sharing of benefits. A growing portfolio of commercial biological control agents indicates the potential for inundative methods, but the continued emphasis on developing mass-marketed, pesticide-like agents, increasingly with the help of biotechnology, will eventually limit their application in IPM systems unless a broader approach in taken. Finally, opportunities exist for the transfer of methods for natural enemy conservation on a scale far greater than that of the classical or inundative interventions mentioned above, but realizing these opportunities requires a new approach to research and extension, wherein farmers become active research partners and farmers and scientists explore together the complex and very local dynamics of natural enemy complexes. Thus, for all of these areas of biological control, “making it work in the field” will require new directions in scientific research and establishing new partnerships in the transfer and implementation of its results     

To which extent is the interdisciplinary evaluation approach of the CBD reflected in European and international biodiversity-related regulations?

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is a major step forward towards an integrated approach of biodiversity and conservation to sustainable development. The CBD mentions in its preamble the intrinsic value of biological diversity and the ecological, genetic, social, economic, scientific, educational, cultural, recreational and aesthetic values of biological diversity and its components. However, there are still grave implementation deficits in practise on global, European, and national level. Therefore, the following research analyses the extend to which the different values mentioned in the preamble of the CBD are already included into a selection of European and international regulations related to biodiversity and to which extent a condensed amount of the same criteria is applied for comprehensive, transparent, and comparable evaluations. The study reveals that the established European and international biodiversity-related regulations do not sufficiently consider the different values of biodiversity, but also do not relate them to the same incomplete criteria. They still follow the traditional nature conservation approach, which has failed to halt the loss of biodiversity. Democratic participatory processes are needed, which integrate the different measures of Agenda 21 while applying the interdisciplinary evaluation framework of biodiversity for sustainable development.     

Supporting conservation with biodiversity research in sub-Saharan Africa’s human-modified landscapes

Protected areas (PAs) cover 12 % of terrestrial sub-Saharan Africa. However, given the inherent inadequacies of these PAs to cater for all species in conjunction with the effects of climate change and human pressures on PAs, the future of biodiversity depends heavily on the 88 % of land that is unprotected. The study of biodiversity patterns and the processes that maintain them in human-modified landscapes can provide a valuable evidence base to support science-based policy-making that seeks to make land outside of PAs as amenable as possible for biodiversity persistence. We discuss the literature on biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa’s human-modified landscapes as it relates to four broad ecosystem categorizations (i.e. rangelands, tropical forest, the Cape Floristic Region, and the urban and rural built environment) within which we expect similar patterns of biodiversity persistence in relation to specific human land uses and land management actions. Available research demonstrates the potential contribution of biodiversity conservation in human-modified landscapes within all four ecosystem types and goes some way towards providing general conclusions that could support policy-making. Nonetheless, conservation success in human-modified landscapes is hampered by constraints requiring further scientific investment, e.g. deficiencies in the available research, uncertainties regarding implementation strategies, and difficulties of coexisting with biodiversity. However, information currently available can and should support efforts at individual, community, provincial, national, and international levels to support biodiversity conservation in human-modified landscapes.     

An assessment of the hospital exemption landscape across European Member States: regulatory frameworks,use and impact

The hospital exemption (HE) (Article 28(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1394/2007; the “ATMP Regulation”) rule allows the invaluable opportunity to provide patients with access to innovative, potentially life-saving treatments in situations of unmet clinical need. Unlicensed, developmental advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) - cell-, gene- or tissue-based therapies - can be used to treat patients under certain conditions. Such products should be produced on a non-routine basis, custom-made for an individual patient under the responsibility of the requesting physician, for use in a hospital setting within the same Member State in which they are manufactured. The HE rule, and the specific requirements permitting its use, is further regulated at the Member State level, which has led to divergence in the implementation of HE across the European Union (EU). As a result, HE use varies significantly across Member States depending on their respective national legal implementation, policy makers’ interpretation of HE, clarity of guidance at the national level, reimbursement opportunities and level of ATMP research and development activities carried out by academic and commercial organizations. With important variations in how quality, safety and efficacy standards are implemented and controlled across EU Member States for ATMPs provided via the HE rule and a lack of transparency around its use, the HE rule draws concern around its potential impact on public health. In this article, the authors report results of a legal analysis of the implementation of HE across the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and the Netherlands and research findings on its current utilization, highlighting divergences across countries as well as gaps in legislation and control in these countries. The significance of these divergences and the differing levels of enforcement are discussed as well as their associated impact on patients, industry and health care professionals.     

The role of public policy in biological control: Some global trends

The past decade has been a rapid development in the view that contemporary agricultural practices should meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations. This philosophy has broadened the priorities for research and development in primary production systems. Now there is reduced emphasis on efficiency and productivity, and an increased concern for ecological sustainability. This has had an impact on policies relating to biological control technologies and associated policies have been developed to enhance the uptake of biopesticides. At the same time international agreements on climate change, biodiversity and global trading have potential influences on the use of biological control agents and biological technologies. In this review some of these trends in public policy are highlighted as well as the likely effect they may have in the adoption, implementation and ongoing development of biological control technologies.     

生物多样性国际发展援助作用、现状与中国行动思考:基于CBD履约视角

生物多样性国际发展援助是在全球范围达成《生物多样性公约》(Convention on Biological Diversity,CBD)目标和联合国可持续发展目标(Sustainable Development Goals,SDGs)的主要途径,也是中国在全球范围践行习近平生态文明思想、参与国际环境治理、维护中国海外发...     

A Role for Research Ethics Committees in Exchanges of Human Biospecimens Through Material Transfer Agreements

International transfers of human biological material (biospecimens) and data are increasing, and commentators are starting to raise concerns about how donor wishes are protected in such circumstances. These exchanges are generally made under contractual material transfer agreements (MTAs). This paper asks what role, if any, should research ethics committees (RECs) play in ensuring legal and ethical conduct in such exchanges. It is recommended that RECs should play a more active role in the future development of best practice MTAs involving exchange of biospecimens and data and in monitoring compliance.     

New regulations for accessing plant biodiversity samples,what is ABS?

In Rio de Janeiro, in order to preserve biodiversity a virtuous circle was set up in 1992: The sustainable use of biodiversity (genetic resources) will generate benefits which will then be used to preserve biodiversity. The Nagoya Protocol elaborated in 2010 was designed to bring clarification and allow the practical implementation of this virtuous circle of access and benefit sharing. The scope was clarified: research on genetic and biochemical content of plants, animals, fungi and microorganisms. Since many countries have now implemented access rules, it is important for academic and industrial users of biological resources to be fully aware of the regulations and to respect them.     

IPBES评估报告对全球生物多样性保护的影响——以美国传粉者保护政策为例

作为生物多样性领域首个政府间、多学科、跨领域的综合性科学政策平台, 联合国生物多样性和生态系统服务政府间科学-政策平台(The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, IPBES)将会对全球生物多样性保护及其他领域产生重要影响。本文通过分析美国传粉者保护政策的制定和实施过程, 获得了生物多样性相关保护政策的制定为科学评估-政府关注-出台限制性政策措施的过程和模式。基于IPBES 2016年发布《传粉者、传粉与粮食生产评估报告》(The Assessment Report on Pollinators, Pollination and Food Production)的事实, 推测IPBES交付品可能促进对新烟碱类农药产业和蜂产品尤其是野生蜂产品交易限制性政策的产生。并进一步分析了IPBES交付品可能在全球以及我国生物多样性保护及其相关领域带来的影响, 比如可能通过促进生物多样性领域的科学评估, 进一步主流化生物多样性保护问题, 促使生物多样性保护成为重要的政治议题。本文旨在为我国建立生物多样性保护的适应性政策提供科学支持。     

Open exchange of scientific knowledge and European copyright: The case of biodiversity information

Background. The 7^th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development is helping the European Union to prepare for an integrative system for intelligent management of biodiversity knowledge. The infrastructure that is envisaged and that will be further developed within the Programme “Horizon 2020” aims to provide open and free access to taxonomic information to anyone with a requirement for biodiversity data, without the need for individual consent of other persons or institutions. Open and free access to information will foster the re-use and improve the quality of data, will accelerate research, and will promote new types of research. Progress towards the goal of free and open access to content is hampered by numerous technical, economic, sociological, legal, and other factors. The present article addresses barriers to the open exchange of biodiversity knowledge that arise from European laws, in particular European legislation on copyright and database protection rights.We present a legal point of view as to what will be needed to bring distributed information together and facilitate its re-use by data mining, integration into semantic knowledge systems, and similar techniques. We address exceptions and limitations of copyright or database protection within Europe, and we point to the importance of data use agreements. We illustrate how exceptions and limitations have been transformed into national legislations within some European states to create inconsistencies that impede access to biodiversity information.Conclusions. The legal situation within the EU is unsatisfactory because there are inconsistencies among states that hamper the deployment of an open biodiversity knowledge management system. Scientists within the EU who work with copyright protected works or with protected databases have to be aware of regulations that vary from country to country. This is a major stumbling block to international collaboration and is an impediment to the open exchange of biodiversity knowledge. Such differences should be removed by unifying exceptions and limitations for research purposes in a binding, Europe-wide regulation.     

Weeds and biodiversity conservation: A review of managing weeds under the New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995

Summary   In New South Wales, alien plants pose the second greatest threat to biodiversity behind land clearing and habitat loss, yet current weed management does not always address the biodiversity at risk or put in place mechanisms to ensure their recovery. The problem arises in part from an assumption that control programmes which focus only on the weed will result in a biodiversity benefit, rather than acknowledging the need for an assessment of the biodiversity at risk and subsequent incorporation of such information into management strategies. The New South Wales Threatened Species Conservation Act 1995 (TSC Act) has been used as a tool to integrate weed control and biodiversity management through the listing of weeds as key threatening processes and the development and implementation of Threat Abatement Plans (TAPs). Through this process, weed management is forced to focus on actual biodiversity conservation outcomes by directing control to areas where the likelihood of a positive biodiversity response is maximized. Bitou Bush ( Chrysanthemoides monilifera ssp. rotundata ) was the first weed species listed under the TSC Act as a key threatening process and to have a TAP prepared. Implementation of the Bitou Bush TAP is now potentially assisting the recovery of over 150 native plant species and 24 ecological communities at more than 160 sites. The TAP process is now being used for Lantana ( Lantana camara ) nationally and for all widespread weed species that threaten biodiversity within each of the 13 Catchment Management Authorities across New South Wales. By focusing the objectives of weed control on biodiversity protection and recovery, and ensuring that sites throughout the distribution of the weed are prioritized, threat reduction and conservation outcomes are more likely to occur at a landscape scale.     

Process of biodiversity research of Karst areas in China

Because the Karst environment is very sensitive to disturbance, once a strong disturbance occurs in a Karst ecosystem it will undergo reverse succession, and both its recovery and restoration might be difficult. So, biodiversity is an important factor in maintaining existing Karst landscapes and also provides the basis for recovery of degraded Karst ecosystems. Karst restoration has become the core issue in research related to environmental changes in Karst areas. With the implementation of the World Heritage List and Rocky Desertification Project in recent years, the number of related research papers has shown rapid growth and Karst has become one of the important topics of new research. This paper uses the CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure) and Springer databases as well as the Taylor & Francis UK database as data sources; the result shows: (1) the quantity of Karst related journal articles is on the rise, exceeding 20 articles per year since 2008; (2) Karst related journal articles focus on two major categories, ecology (51) and environmental engineering (41); (3) the literature mainly comprises jointly produced documents, and most are from the core research team of Wang Kelin, Su Weici, Xiong Kangning. Based on statistical results, we comprehensively review two theses and 89 academic papers and use combined data from the internet and correlation analysis to give a scientific overview of recent literature. The result can be seen in three ways. First, 39 papers have been published on mechanisms that maintain biodiversity > 20 papers on the characteristics of diversity > 20 papers on monitoring and evaluation of diversity > 13 papers on Karst restoration and reconstruction of diversity. Second, the research concentrated on three aspects, namely, 16 papers on the characteristics of native biodiversity, 17 on biological mechanisms that maintain biodiversity, and 15 on non-biological mechanisms for maintaining biodiversity. Third, for comparing natural Karst habitats with degraded habitat in two contrasting ecological landscapes, the paper elaborates on dynamic biodiversity research in Karst areas from different perspectives and different fields and scientifically analyses the correlations of literature from these different perspectives. This paper is based on a brief summary of research related to biodiversity in Karst regions, as well as research related to the perspectives of specific geological and geomorphological conditions of Karst regions and clarifies the basic condition of biological diversity in Karst areas. Four problem areas are identified that need to be the subject of future studies. First, research related to genetics, species and ecosystem research needs to be integrated and strengthened and further study of mechanisms related to genetic variation, species in Karst area flora and changes within Karst ecosystems is needed. Second, research on the mechanisms involved in habitat maintenance serves as the basis of the establishment of regional diversity surveys. On this basis, research related to maintaining diversity in light of economic development should be added with discussions on issues such as population variation and the ability of populations to evolve as well as changes in regional biodiversity on both the macro and microlevels. Third, species selection during habitat reconstruction is very subjective. If we want to balance economic development with ecological benefits, we need to study how we can coordinate the relationships among species in the reconstruction area, and maintain stable regional biodiversity. Last, designing a monitoring system is an important basis for status surveys and prediction of future conditions. Monitoring might provide scientific data to help maintain biological diversity in Karst areas.     

Role of traditional knowledge in marine bioprospecting

The “marine world” is endowed with diverse life forms. The life under the oceans is bestowed with a unique gene pool and characteristics owing to extreme conditions such as high salt concentration and temperature variations. The marine biodiversity is an extremely rich resource for the development of a wide array of applications in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics. Various forms of traditional knowledge, including traditional medicinal knowledge, have been silently developing over the centuries, with the coastal tribes in nations across the globe. Unfortunately, marine traditional knowledge has been underestimated both commercially and legally. It has still not gained its due importance at the international platform for sustainable use and development. An attempt has been made in the present study to collate information on marine traditional knowledge based medicine. Recent trends of marine bioprospecting by various nations including India have been discussed, followed by the study of legal provisions dealing with marine bioprospecting that aim at conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity and associated traditional knowledge. Convention of Biological Diversity, United Nations Convention on the Law of the Seas and World Intellectual Property Organization are the major international legal instruments that discuss the concepts of Prior Informed Consent, access and benefit sharing with regard to biopiracy and provide guidelines and limits for conducting marine scientific research.     

Understanding Power in Indigenous Protected Areas: the Case of the Tla-o-qui-aht Tribal Parks

This article draws on concepts of power from political ecology and political sociology to describe the ways that the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation (a Canadian indigenous people) have attempted to realize their goals under the broad rubric of their Tribal Parks initiative. Like some other Indigenous peoples’ and Community Conserved territories and Areas (ICCAs), the Tribal Parks example features de facto legal pluralism, lack of clear tenure and/or legal recognition, oppositional and/or cooperative relationships with other actors, and situations where local actors are influenced by intersecting global discourses on conservation and indigenous rights and culture. Globally, ICCAs are a form of protected area and are potentially critical in terms of meeting ambitious global protected area targets as well in addressing issues related to the rights and well-being of indigenous peoples. As such, understanding the ‘customary law or other effective means’, or the dynamics of power through which indigenous groups are able (or not) to realize their protected area goals is of global significance. This article illuminates the contours of power through two specific Tribal Parks case studies: the first involves contestations over industrial logging, while the second focuses on the establishment and implementation of what came to be called an ‘ecosystem services fee’ paid by ecotourism outfitters operating within a Tribal Park. Results highlight that the Tla-o-qui-aht have drawn power from different sources and exercised it by different means including turning to the Courts in a context of legal uncertainty, protest and direct action coupled with appeals to public opinion, developing and drawing on relationships with both local and non-local interests, and by strategically ‘tapping into’ prominent discourses.     

Biodiversity loss and the taxonomic bottleneck: emerging biodiversity science

Human domination of the Earth has resulted in dramatic changes to global and local patterns of biodiversity. Biodiversity is critical to human sustainability because it drives the ecosystem services that provide the core of our life-support system. As we, the human species, are the primary factor leading to the decline in biodiversity, we need detailed information about the biodiversity and species composition of specific locations in order to understand how different species contribute to ecosystem services and how humans can sustainably conserve and manage biodiversity. Taxonomy and ecology, two fundamental sciences that generate the knowledge about biodiversity, are associated with a number of limitations that prevent them from providing the information needed to fully understand the relevance of biodiversity in its entirety for human sustainability: (1) biodiversity conservation strategies that tend to be overly focused on research and policy on a global scale with little impact on local biodiversity; (2) the small knowledge base of extant global biodiversity; (3) a lack of much-needed site-specific data on the species composition of communities in human-dominated landscapes, which hinders ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation; (4) biodiversity studies with a lack of taxonomic precision; (5) a lack of taxonomic expertise and trained taxonomists; (6) a taxonomic bottleneck in biodiversity inventory and assessment; and (7) neglect of taxonomic resources and a lack of taxonomic service infrastructure for biodiversity science. These limitations are directly related to contemporary trends in research, conservation strategies, environmental stewardship, environmental education, sustainable development, and local site-specific conservation. Today’s biological knowledge is built on the known global biodiversity, which represents barely 20% of what is currently extant (commonly accepted estimate of 10 million species) on planet Earth. Much remains unexplored and unknown, particularly in hotspots regions of Africa, South Eastern Asia, and South and Central America, including many developing or underdeveloped countries, where localized biodiversity is scarcely studied or described. "Backyard biodiversity", defined as local biodiversity near human habitation, refers to the natural resources and capital for ecosystem services at the grassroots level, which urgently needs to be explored, documented, and conserved as it is the backbone of sustainable economic development in these countries. Beginning with early identification and documentation of local flora and fauna, taxonomy has documented global biodiversity and natural history based on the collection of "backyard biodiversity" specimens worldwide. However, this branch of science suffered a continuous decline in the latter half of the twentieth century, and has now reached a point of potential demise. At present there are very few professional taxonomists and trained local parataxonomists worldwide, while the need for, and demands on, taxonomic services by conservation and resource management communities are rapidly increasing. Systematic collections, the material basis of biodiversity information, have been neglected and abandoned, particularly at institutions of higher learning. Considering the rapid increase in the human population and urbanization, human sustainability requires new conceptual and practical approaches to refocusing and energizing the study of the biodiversity that is the core of natural resources for sustainable development and biotic capital for sustaining our life-support system. In this paper we aim to document and extrapolate the essence of biodiversity, discuss the state and nature of taxonomic demise, the trends of recent biodiversity studies, and suggest reasonable approaches to a biodiversity science to facilitate the expansion of global biodiversity knowledge and to create useful data on backyard biodiversity worldwide towards human sustainability.     

Trends in biological control: public interest,international networking and research direction

We investigated trends in biological control to both capture its evolution and explore future opportunities. We examined recent changes in public interest, international networking and peer-reviewed research. A Google Trends analysis revealed that the popularity of biological control is decreasing in terms of search hits on the internet. This trend is potentially worrying for the biological control community, given that public interest tends to drive political decisions regarding regulatory processes and governmental funding of research. To examine patterns of international collaboration, we established the list of authors who published their work in the three main biological control journals from the early 1990s to 2016. International co-authorship has intensified and the biological control sector is increasingly characterized by multilateral collaboration. We surveyed papers published in BioControl and Biological Control over the last 25 years to identify research trends with respect to target pests, commodities, biological control agents and biological control approaches. Finally, we report that articles on biological control are published in the broad-based scientific journals Science and Nature on a regular basis. This reflects contributions that biological control research makes to scientific discussions in general. Our analyses revealed a thriving scientific discipline with several major research trends in arthropod, plant pathogen and weed biological control.     

Best practices for the use and exchange of invertebrate biological control genetic resources relevant for food and agriculture

The Nagoya Protocol is a supplementary agreement to the Convention on Biological Diversity that provides a framework for the effective implementation of the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including invertebrate biological control agents. The Protocol came into force on 12 October 2014, and requires signatories and countries acceding to the Protocol to develop a legal framework to ensure access to genetic resources, benefit-sharing and compliance. The biological control community of practice needs to comply with access and benefit sharing regulations arising under the Protocol. The IOBC Global Commission on Biological Control and Access and Benefit Sharing has prepared this best practices guide for the use and exchange of invertebrate biological control genetic resources for the biological control community of practice to demonstrate due diligence in responding to access and benefit sharing requirements, and to reassure the international community that biological control is a very successful and environmentally safe pest management method based on the use of biological diversity. We propose that components of best practice include: collaborations to facilitate information exchange about what invertebrate biological control agents are available and where they may be obtained; knowledge sharing through freely available databases that document successes (and failures); cooperative research to develop capacity in source countries; and transfer of production technology to provide opportunities for small-scale economic activity. We also provide a model concept agreement that can be used for scientific research and non-commercial release into nature where access and benefit sharing regulations exist, and a model policy for provision of invertebrate biological control agents to other parties where access and benefit sharing regulations are not restrictive or do not exist.     

Import and export of biological samples from tropical countries–considerations and guidelines for research teams

‘Biodiversity’ is increasingly perceived as an important resource for research and conservation, but also for economy. Conservation, access and sustainable use of biodiversity (genetic resources, species, samples) are negotiated on different political levels, resulting in an internationally binding legal framework. Resulting legislation is binding for all parties involved in biological sampling, i.e. researches and (and in italics) countries, and especially applies for tissue or DNA samples and dervied products thereof. Understanding and awareness of export and import permits for biological samples is increasingly important for biologists to perform research projects legally and timely. Nevertheless, some biologists are still exporting and importing biological samples ignoring or non-compliant with national and international legislation, conventions, and regulations. Resulting difficulties may not only cause serious problems during field work, but may also delay the export, import or exchange of samples. Comprehensive a priori information regarding legal requirements helps to avoid or at least diminish potential problems. We identified four major factors facilitating export/import permits: (1) good personal (mutually trusted) contacts in the country of origin, (2) understanding and compliance with all relevant laws and regulations; (3) access to information regarding knowledge on permits, regulations and laws including their circulation within the researcher communities; and (4) access to consistent and up to date regulations     

The value of wetlands for water quality improvement: an example from the St. Johns River watershed,Florida

Wetlands provide many valuable ecosystem functions such as sediment and nutrient retention, high biological productivity and biodiversity, flood control, and opportunities to recreate. Despite their importance, estimating the value of wetlands is difficult as the worth of these functions and services is not easily quantified. The overall objective of this study was to estimate the value of freshwater wetlands in the Saint Johns River (SJR) watershed, Florida based on their ability to remove nutrients, namely nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P). We used a combination of literature review, geospatial analysis of land cover, and regression analysis to determine the total wetland area in the SJR watershed and the rates of nitrogen and phosphorus burial in the wetlands. We then estimated the economic value of these wetlands based on the replacement cost of nutrient removal by wastewater treatment plants. Nitrogen burial rates ranged from 27 g/m²/year to a background rate of 6.56 g/m²/year, and phosphorus burial rates range from 1.31 g/m²/year to a background of 0.11 g/m²/year. Using these rates, we calculate wetlands of the SJR catchment remove 79,873 MT of nitrogen annually just from burial in the soil, with a replacement cost of between $240 million to $150 billion per year. The amount of phosphorus buried yearly is more than 2400 MT with an annual replacement cost of $17 to $497 million. Though they are based on limited data and include a variety of watershed-scale research limitations, these findings highlight the significant potential value of conserving functional wetlands based solely on their nutrient retention functions. If we were to consider the benefits associated with other wetland functions such as flood control, biological productivity, and biodiversity in addition to their ability to retain nutrients, the value of the SJR wetlands would be even greater.