How does mankind, responsible for climatic and other anthropogenic changes including geo-political and cultural processes, interact with biodiversity, ecosystems and the services they provide?

The widespread recognition of the considerable value of biodiversity and ecosystems for man kind has led to an increasing need to understand and assess the role of biodiversity and ecosystem services and to assess the changing state of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and public attitudes towards them. Understanding the changing state there is a need to analyse the impact of the most significant drivers, including human behaviour, and their interactions on biodiversity. Analysing options for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and evaluating the effectiveness of policy and communication instruments should help with what to do about the changing state of biodiversity and ecosystem services (quoted from the Common Research Strategy of ALTER-Net, a long-term biodiversity, ecosystem and awareness research network.

How can we employ networks of cooperative observers and new technologies to map the geographical distribution of all species on earth to maximize their conservation?

Global biodiversity is being lost today at an unknown rate – unknown because there are not enough field biologists, nor funds, to support the required field expeditions to many parts of the world to document the existing biodiversity. Existing procedures prevent mapping the geographical distribution of all species on the planet with sufficient detail to determine the minimum areas needed for preserving a major fraction of the remaining diversity. Suitably-trained scientists and support staff cannot be increased fast enough to carry out such work in any reasonable time. However, it may be possible to enormously extend the reach of the research community through recent technical developments that include 1) the global expansion of the Internet 2) the widespread adoption of digital cameras by the general public, and 3) increasingly accurate knowledge of where pictures are taken – using GPS and GOOGLE Earth –type technology. It should be possible to rapidly increase the documentation of existing biodiversity and biological landscapes through the development of a digital photographic archive produced by individuals around the globe. All images could be made publicly available in a manner similar to those of current online digital imagery archives. Individuals might send digital photos with relatively detailed documentation to a central website, where they would then be forwarded to specialists who would attempt to identify them and, if needed, communicate further with the photographers. Scanned slides could also be sought out since these offer a valuable historical record of landscapes. The global research community would effectively have a greatly expanded team of international collaborators. The main problems to implementing such an idea would be the need for volunteer help in sorting the large number of images likely to be submitted, the guiding of photographers towards priority subjects, and help in maintaining the database.

What are the criteria for assessing the effectiveness of integrated conservation and development practices?

The paradigm shift in conservation and the commitment of international organizations to the goals of sustainable development gave birth to integrated conservation and development practices (ICDP). Naughton-treves et al. (2005) in the Annual Review of Environment and Resources concludes that ICDPs have had limited success in improvement of social welfare and biodiversity conservation. There is confusion in operationalising the multiple objectives, ambiguous mandates, and assessing the effectiveness of parks and reserves.

Contribution of conservation areas to development goals and poverty reduction is a complex endeavor and there is no set of conservation strategies for different regions and sub-regions of the world considering the fundamental differences between their institutional and historical context (Naughton-Treves et al. 2005). Combination of conservation and development without any change in market has an inherent contradiction and seeking a win-win situation might be elusive. Either conservation and development objectives should be separated (Berkes 2004) or there should be trade-offs between the two (Garnett et al. 2007) and the compromise would be development projects that minimize environmental degradation and conservation projects that minimize economic loss (Borgerhoff Mulder and Coppolillo 2005). Holland (2005) suggests that the challenge for ICDPs is shifted from “Parks vs people” to “park insiders vs outsiders” (Naughton-Treves et al. 2005).

Foot Note: Frank and Blomley (2004) describe ICDPs as “…approaches to the management and conservation of natural resources in areas of significant biodiversity value that aim to reconcile the biodiversity conservation and socio-economic development interests of multiple stakeholders at local, regional, national and international levels”.

What is the cost-effectiveness of different strategies for strengthening biodiversity science and acquiring baseline data for monitoring biodiversity in data poor areas of the world?

Biodiversity rich areas of the world, typically located in the tropics, have a marked deficit of trained personnel and adequate funding for monitoring, planning and prioritizing the conservation of its significant species and ecosystems. These pressing resource imbalances must be tackled through the combination of immediate remedies and long-term strategies for effective biodiversity protection, management, and capacity building.

A central problem is that the majority of tropical organisms remain unknown. Even among the better-known taxonomic groups (e.g. birds and mammals) new species continue to be described every year. For species that have already been described, there may be only limited knowledge on their distributions, no information on their relative abundances, and fewer data on their dynamics. Available data, such as those generated from specimens and deposited in natural history museums, are of limited use: sampling of tropical locations tends to be patchy, thus not adequately reflecting true patterns in the distributions of organisms.

Identifying and implementing cost-effective strategies to close these biodiversity-knowledge-scientific capacity gaps will be key for national reporting of progress towards the CBD 2010 Biodiversity Target and the Millennium Development Goals, ultimately seeking to halt and reverse biodiversity loss.

How are ecosystems responding to global efforts to curb changes?

In the face of climate change, management actions are important tool for ecosystem conservation – we need to know if local and global efforts are effective or not – This is very crucial for the future of life in earth. It is only important to take action, it is more important to see the impact and whether we are doing the right thing and whether it is enough to safe lives and maintain ecosystem ability to cope with this global challenge or not?? .

We humans monopolize much of the earth’s productive potential, and need to find better ways to take our harvest while maintaining some natural services. What incentives should be offered to encourage conservation plus production, and how can it be funded?

Vitousek has warned repeated about the excessive impact of humans on the environment. In many places, production has become more intensive, and increasingly excludes natural services. We urgently need to find ways for production and conservation to co-exist.

What are the net consequences for human wellbeing of converting remaining areas of wild nature for “mainstream” economic use?

This question is central to understanding whether conservation makes economic (as well as moral) sense. As the MA confirmed, nearly all studies to date focus on gross values of “intact” ecosystems, but policy makers need to know about changes net of the goods and services delivered during and after conversion. To date only ~5 studies anywhere in the world have addressed this crucial question. Obstacles include the misguided perception that such studies need to be comprehensive, covering all services. However, if they include just a handful but still (as in all examples to date) reveal a net cost of conversion, they can nevertheless provide a compelling case for conservation.

How can an environmental audit be conducted globally?

To cover up certain areas such as waste management, energy conservation, water conservation, green cover, pollution level, recycling processes, etc. are needed to be tackle on top priority level in order to sustain earth system. Such type of works should be encourage and make available for public. Which is possible by global environment audits.

How can humanity stop the destruction of habitats for plants and animals as well as the means of livelihood for future generations?

Ecological systems and their services to humans have been exposed to stress, exploitation and destruction for decades. Biodiversity is being lost at an almost unprecedented pace. Climate change will bring about changes everywhere in the world. Even strategies for the reduction of greenhouse gases, like the energetic use of biomass, came along with threats for biodiversity, water and soil. The challenge in the next decades is how to find a comprehensive strategy to stop the loss of biodiversity and habitats worldwide and to maintain natural resources as the base for the existence of future generations on earth.