Search publications of the members of the Royal Belgian institute of natural Sciences
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« Benoît Nzigidahera (1964-2018) : au service de la biodiversité et de la conservation de la nature »
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Communications on climate change and biodiversity loss with local populations: Exploring best-practices and postcolonial moments in eight case studies from across the globe
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Communications on climate change and biodiversity loss with local populations: Exploring best-practices and postcolonial moments in eight case studies from across the globe
- A common strategy to counteract global biodiversity loss is sustainable management of protected areas. However, as protection of nature sometimes conflicts with human livelihoods and involves stakeholders with different interests, conservation conflict is globally on the rise. These conflicts can hamper sustainable development, social equity and effective biodiversity conservation. Understanding perceptions of different stakeholders and mapping discourses is key in this respect. In this study, we investigated conservation conflict in the Pendjari National Park in Benin, West Africa. The conservation conflict was fueled in part by a shift from state-led collaborative management to a public-private partnership. Pendjari is the largest remaining savannah ecosystem in West Africa and home to several threatened megafauna species. Using Q methodology, we identified two distinct discourses among stakeholders. The first discourse, supported mainly by formally educated people with non-agricultural jobs, focuses on the limitation of anthropogenic activities in favor of biodiversity conservation. The second discourse is mostly supported by people with a lower education level and a direct dependency on the land. They agree there is a need for conservation but even more so for viable alternatives to ensure people's livelihoods. The identification of these discourses and their underlying drivers can be included into future decision-making processes and management of the Pendjari National Park.
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Monitoring biodiversity mainstreaming in development cooperation post-2020: Exploring ways forward
- From 2022 onwards the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) of the Convention on Biological Diversity will guide biodiversity conservation actions worldwide, which includes mainstreaming biodiversity into a wide range of activities, sectors and policies. Biodiversity mainstreaming in development cooperation is particularly relevant given the direct dependence of many communities in the Global South on biodiversity and on the benefits it provides. We conducted a Delphi survey among development cooperation practitioners at the aid provider (donor) side, to gain insight into current and future (post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework) biodiversity mainstreaming and its monitoring. Our results demonstrate that despite efforts towards biodiversity mainstreaming and its monitoring, biodiversity mainstreaming indicators remain inconsistent and difficult to compare. The lack of biodiversity data, as well as their low accessibility and suboptimal use, and the inherent complexity of addressing biodiversity loss are considered key challenges. Respondents indicated that they strongly orient their own biodiversity mainstreaming and monitoring approaches towards international biodiversity governance dynamics. We conclude that, at least on paper, the indicator ambitions of the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework are in line with the expectations and challenges of aid providers with respect to biodiversity mainstreaming. However, future effective mainstreaming of biodiversity requires indicator-based monitoring, exchange of good practices among aid partners, and a continued focus on awareness-raising regarding the linkages between biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction.
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Guidance for the Assessment of Ecosystem Services in African Biosphere Reserves: A Way Forward to Sustainable Development
- The wellbeing of populations is often directly dependent on ecosystem services. Furthermore, access to the benefits from nature contributes to poverty alleviation. Therefore, a better knowledge and integration of ecosystem services in the management of Biosphere reserves will contribute to their conservation and sustainable development. Developed in the context of the EVAMAB research project, and based on good practices from African biosphere reserves, this manual is a user-friendly ‘package’ or guidance to decision-makers, managers and stakeholders of African biosphere reserves, and beyond, in order to better harness the potential of ecosystem services for conservation and sustainable development
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Preface by CEBioS in: Guidance for the Assessment of Ecosystem Services in African Biosphere Reserves: A Way Forward to Sustainable Development
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Introduction. Biosphere reserves and people: emerging needs demand a better understanding of ecosystem services. In: Guidance for the Assessment of Ecosystem Services in African Biosphere Reserves: A Way Forward to Sustainable Development
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Chapter 1. Ecosystem services. In: Guidance for the Assessment of Ecosystem Services in African Biosphere Reserves: A Way Forward to Sustainable Development
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Chapter 2. Biosphere reserves. Living laboratories for sustainable development. In: Guidance for the Assessment of Ecosystem Services in African Biosphere Reserves: A Way Forward to Sustainable Development
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Chapter 3. Ecosystem services assessment tools. In: Guidance for the Assessment of Ecosystem Services in African Biosphere Reserves: A Way Forward to Sustainable Development
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Chapter 5. From ecosystem services assessment to actual change. In: Guidance for the Assessment of Ecosystem Services in African Biosphere Reserves: A Way Forward to Sustainable Development
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Comprendre le droit de la protection de la nature. La dimension scientifique
- Cette vidéo a pour objet de montrer un mouvement continu de scientifisation du droit de la nature. Elle s’articule autour d’un dialogue entre, d’une part, les sciences naturelles et, d’autre part, les règles juridiques. A la suite d'un interview sur les enjeux de la conservation de la biodiversité, les différentes approches conceptuelles de la conservation sont abordées par l'entremise d'une série d'interviews se déroulent à l'Institut royal des sciences naturelles de Belgique. Sont ainsi abordés: - l’approche par espèce, -l’approche par type d’habitat naturel, - le concept de réseau écologique, - l’approche par écosystème.
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0,7% investeren in een betere wereld is geen idealisme, het is een noodzaak
- ‘Ontwikkelingssamenwerking is een belangrijk en bewezen middel om mensenrechten te realiseren’, schrijft Els Hertogen van 11.11.11, die samen met een zestigtal ngo’s en prominenten onze regering herinnert aan haar belofte om 0,7% van het BNP aan ontwikkelingssamenwerking te besteden.
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La surexploitation des espèces sauvages menace des milliards d’humains
- La surexploitation d’espèces sauvages – animaux terrestres, poissons, algues, champignons, plantes ou encore arbres – menace le bien-être de milliards d’être humains, dévoile vendredi un rapport de l’Onu, qui donne des pistes pour un usage plus durable et met en valeur les savoirs des peuples autochtones.
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Ocean acidification modifies behaviour of shelf seabed macrofauna: A laboratory study on two ecosystem engineers, Abra alba and Lanice conchilega
- The feeding activity and burrow ventilation by benthic invertebrates importantly affect the biodiversity and functioning of seafloor sediments. Here we investigated how ocean acidification can modify these behavioural activities in two common and abundant macrofaunal ecosystem engineering species in temperate continental shelf communities: the white furrow shell Abra alba and the sand mason Lanice conchilega. Using time-lapse imagery and sediment porewater hydraulic signatures we show that both species adapt their behaviour in response to predicted future pH conditions (-0.3 units). During a three-week laboratory experiment, A. alba reduced the duration per feeding event when suspension and deposit feeding (by 86 and 53%, respectively), and almost completely ceased suspension feeding under reduced seawater pH in comparison to ambient seawater pH (pH ~ 8.2). This behavioural change reduces the intake of low pH water during feeding and respiration. L. conchilega increased its piston-pumping frequency by 30 and 52%, respectively, after one and two weeks of exposure to future pH conditions (-0.3 units) relative to ambient conditions. This change in irrigation activity suggests higher metabolic demands under low seawater pH, and also extended low water column pH conditions deeper into the seafloor. Because the distribution of other populations depends on the physicochemical setting by our focal species, we argue that the demonstrated behavioural plasticity will likely have cascading effects on seafloor diversity and functioning, highlighting the complexity of how ocean acidification, and climate change in general, will affect seafloor ecology.
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Review of Muricanthus Swainson, 1840 and some Recent species assigned to Hexaplex s.s. Perry, 1810, Hexaplex (Trunculariopsis) Cossmann, 1921 and Phyllonotus Swainson, 1833
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Catypnes marazziorum sp. nov. (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae: Prioninae) from Papua New Guinea
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Integration of landscape genomics, provenance trials and association mapping identifies genetic components underlying cold hardiness adaptation for coastal Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii var. menziesii)
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Effect of aggregate extraction on MSFD descriptor 7 (hydrographic condition) in the Hinder Banks area (Belgian Continental Shelf).
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Changes in bottom shear stress, due to aggregate extraction in the area of the Hinder Banks (Belgian Continental Shelf)
