Ecoregion Conservation: Theory and Practice

The scale and approach of conservation efforts around the world has recently been re-examined. WWF and other major institutions concerned with the use of natural resources (World Conservation Union (IUCN),World Resources Institute (WRI),The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Conservation International (CI) and UNEP) concluded that conservation in the 21st Century needs to:

• be driven by a common vision and raise a collective voice for conservation;
• use networks of protected areas within managed coastlines as the core component of conservation planning;
• be planned and implemented over time scales compatible with ecological processes (30-50 years);
• combine rigorous science, traditional knowledge and practical politics, and;
• be integrated in the broader social, economic, and policy factors critical to sustainability.

Together these institutions recognised that the traditional focus on species, protected areas, environmental policy and public information, though reasonably successful in the past, will not be enough to meet the challenges of the future. Instead, working with stakeholders at much larger geographical scales, and better integration into development planning is seen as the appropriate approach. The Ecoregion approach supports conservation of biological diversity and ecological processes at broader scales and the links between different species habitats within the bigger picture of national development.

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The ecoregion conservation approach

The Ecoregion Conservation approach is an important tool for bringing stakeholders together to set ambitious conservation goals, to lay out a strategy to reach those goals and to facilitate implementation. This approach aims at focusing even greater attention on regions and boosting the interest and commitment of individual national governments.

The potential benefits of the ecoregion approach are that it:

• builds collaboration for conservation;
• creates energy for stakeholder participation;.
• generates donor and government support;
• provides options for conservation effort;
• integrates conservation in the broader vision of coastal development;
• acts on geographical scales corresponding to major ecological processes that create and maintain biodiversity;
• attempts to maintain populations of species and ecological phenomena that require large scales to flourish and persist;
• provides a vision with long-term horizons; and,
• can address threats to biodiversity conservation at multiple scales

Ecoregion Conservation should not be seen as a separate initiative to replicate what other regional or local initiatives are trying to achieve, but rather to support them to accomplish the conservation of biodiversity. Marine Ecoregion Conservation attempts to harmonise local and international efforts to secure healthy marine and coastal environments in order to provide sustainable benefits for present and future generations. To be successful over the long term, Ecoregion Conservation must be multidisciplinary - involving, encouraging and depending upon the participation of all sectors who affect biodiversity or who are affected by it. These stakeholders range from local communities of coastal inhabitants, to national governments, international conservation organisations, and businesses, such as foreign investors and owners of industrial fishing fleets. To achieve this there needs to be a strong emphasis on creating and sustaining partnerships with a broad level of active participation.

Even with partnerships, many challenges continue to exist, especially in finding the balance between maintaining biodiversity conservation and resource use. For many areas of the coast, there is no scientific information on resources. In some areas, there is also a lack of even basic information on resource use, information critical for decision-making. This absence of data is partly as a result of a general lack of capacity for research and management and the need to create better links between scientists and resource managers. In most countries in the ecoregion, there is a general lack in coordination between sectoral management agencies. Finally, in some countries structural change inherent in the transition of centrally planned economies to market orientated economies is encouraging investments that often promote a narrow Sectoral approach to management. If these changes are not well planned, the appropriate-scale holistic approach to resource management can easily lose out.

To address this situation WWF has identified the need to develop a strategy that:

• Focuses conservation efforts on the most important areas for biodiversity and supporting ecosystems;
• Integrates research, management and policies nationally and across political boundaries;
• Integrates existing conservation efforts (to improve their effectiveness);
• Builds and ensures collaboration and participation of key stakeholders (government, provate sector and communities);
• Builds knowledge and the capacity for research and management;
• Manages for all species and ecosystems rather than for single species or resources; and
• Employs adaptive management approaches that not only protect biodiversity and resources but also satisfy the social and economic needs of human development within the ecoregion.

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