Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: In Brazil, implementing the Amazon Region Protected Areas (ARPA) Program, the largest effort to declare and implement protected areas in tropical forests requires innovation (institutional, managerial), strategic choice of conservation priorities, an effective monitoring system, and strong partnership between governments, NGOs, bilateral and multilateral institutions, and the private sector. A Conservation and Investment Strategy considers ecological representativeness. The financial model articulates with a new tool for evaluation of PA systems, created from an adaptation of GEF’s tracking tool: the Protected Areas Evaluation Tool (PAET). An online system is used for PAET implementation: ARPA’s Coordination and Management Integrated System (SISARPA, in Portuguese). PAs use PAET for planning of their main targets, and the government agencies responsible for PA system coordination at the federal and state levels use SISARPA for PA supervision. Through SISARPA, PAs create workplans for the support they need from ARPA. SISARPA’s public interface provides transparency. Through these innovations, inevitable conflicts have been negotiated and resolved. ARPA was created by the Brazilian government and have been implemented since 2003 through a partnership with donors (GEF/The World Bank, KfW, and WWF), seven state governments, and the Brazilian Biodiversity Fund (Funbio). Over 32 million hectares of PAs have been implemented by ARPA in the last five years.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: 189 countries that are Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, established the Program of Work on Protected Areas, which sets a 2010 deadline to complete national gap analyses of protected areas. The identification and prioritization of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs), Important Bird Areas (IBAs), and Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) sites can help fulfill the CBD mandate for gap analysis. These are sites of global significance for biodiversity conservation, identified using globally standard criteria and thresholds, based on the occurrence of species requiring safeguard at the site scale; they thus provide an effective, justifiable, and transparent set of conservation targets from which a gap analysis can be conducted. Overall, 24 (13%) of the 189 CBD countries have these baseline KBA data for multiple taxa readily at hand and can use them as a tool to quickly fulfill the gap analysis requirement. An additional 47 countries (25%) are in the process of identifying KBAs. Additionally, IBA identification has been completed for 143 of the countries (76%). Finally, the AZE analysis was conducted globally, and 80 CBD countries (42%) contain these ‘tip-of-the-iceberg’ KBAs. For countries (and, in the marine realm, EEZs) that do not yet have such data available, we explore options for quickly assembling the data on the highest priority subset of KBAs in order to use those data in national protected areas gap analyses.

Publication Type: Oral Presentation
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: All seabirds require both terrestrial (nesting) and marine (foraging) habitats to ensure their survival and reproduction. As a result, the conservation and recovery of threatened seabirds will likely hinge on the protection of critical habitats both at sea and on land. This study evaluates the potential conservation value of marine protected areas (MPAs) for a threatened coastal seabird, the marbled murrelet (Brachyramphus marmoratus), which nests in old-growth coastal forests but forages in nearshore marine habitat. Bird densities and distributions were collected in 1-minute transect segments (~170 to 300 m) using vessel-based surveys during five years (1995-1996 and 2004-2006). Bird data were linked to environmental variables that included depth, slope, seafloor substrates, shoreline substrates, sea-surface temperature and salinity, proximity to nesting habitat and prey availability. Classification and regression trees (CART) were used to model species-habitat associations incorporating both terrestrial and marine habitat features. Murrelets showed a wide range in habitat selection that included preference for shallow water (<16 m deep), associations with substrates (proximity to beaches or estuaries), and proximity to inland areas with high old-growth abundance (>42% old-growth index). Murrelets show high foraging site fidelity and associations with spatially fixed habitat components (e.g. beaches), suggesting that MPAs could have an important role to play in the conservation, management and recovery of murrelet populations. Marine planning would enhance conservation strategies which currently focus heavily on the protection of inland nesting habitats.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: I will examine four historical cases in the FATA region where money came in from outside sources, to see what the political and social effects of that money seem to have been: (1) attempts by British colonial authorities from 1879 through World War II to win the support of the Pashtun tribes for the presence of Indian military forces in the territories, at a time when the tribal belt was seen as a buffer zone between British India and outside threats (ranging from power plays by the Afghan Amir and the Russian empire at the start of this period, to Nazi Germany at its close); (2) attempts by Pakistani authorities in the early 1970s to provide development assistance to FATA, to head off local sentiments in favor of a separatist “Pashtunistan” in the wake of Bangladesh’s successful 1971 independence drive; (3) the attraction of jobs in the Persian Gulf for Pashtun migrants during the mid- to late-1970s oil boom, which provided an outside income stream to some of the region’s poorest inhabitants; and (4) the infusion of money and weapons into the area to support Islamist mujahadin following the 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, under the aegis of the Pakistani government, Saudi Arabia, and the United States.

Publication Type: Abstract
Abstract: Protected areas are the cornerstones of national and international conservation strategies. The establishment and management of a representative and effectively managed system of protected areas is a key strategic approach in the conservation of South Africa’s biodiversity. Using systematic biodiversity planning tools, the National Protected Area Expansion Strategy identifies priority areas where protected area expansion would contribute to meet national biodiversity targets. The National Spatial Biodiversity Assessment 2004 demonstrated that the current National Protected Area System does not adequately conserve a representative sample of the country’s biodiversity or maintain key ecological processes across the landscape and seascape. The study aimed at identifying national priority areas for protected area (PA) expansion including both stewardship and creation of large formal protected areas. In the current National Protected Area System, the majority of biomes and marine bioregions are not adequately protected. As a result only four of 11 biomes have more than their protected area target represented in the National Protected Area System. The identified priority areas for expansion have a total area of 122 782 km2. This represents 9.7% of the total surface area of South Africa, Lesotho, and Swaziland. The spatial assessment identified 42 priority areas with a total area of 16 925 700 ha, of which 12 278 200 ha are priority areas for PA expansion.