Conservation and Sustainable Development

EAS 517

what is sustainable development

...development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs

what are the three pillars of sustainability

social, economic, and environmental

what are common ecosystem conceptual states or goals

• Biodiverse (richness, evenness; genes, species, communities)

• High ecological integrity (appropriate composition, structure, function)

• Healthy (maintains function, provides ecosystem services)

• Stable/Resistant

• Resilient

• Sustainable

what are international efforts to achieve sustainable development

1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro

2000 Millennium Summit

2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development

2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development

1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro

• Agenda 21 – reduce human impact on the environment

• Rio Declaration on Environment and Development

• Rio Forest Principles – sustainable forest management

• Convention on Biological diversity

  • (1) biodiversity conservation

  • (2) sustainable use of biodiversity

  • (3) fair and equitable sharing of genetic resources.

• UN Convention on Climate Change

• Convention to combat desertification

what are concerns/critiques in the UN sustainable development goals

1. Gaps in Biodiversity goals?

2. Costs/who is funding?

3. Conflicts within and among goals?

Aichi Biodiversity Targets

Targets set by CBD in 2010 Aichi, Japan

are part of the Convention on Biological Diversity Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011–2020

20 Aichi Biodiversity targets

why did the Aichi targets fail

• Lack of clearly defined metrics to gauge progress made the Aichi goals tough to implement.

• A mismatch between countries with abundant natural assets and those with the resources to enforce protections.

• Insufficient funding to support conservation efforts.

where does funding for sustainable development come from

• Global Facility (GEF) Funding

• World Bank

• NGOs

• Individual governments

Global Environment Facility (GEF) Funding

Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding provided by countries in 4-year replenishment cycles

established at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit to help tackle environmental problems

Unites 183 countries in partnership with international institutions, civil society organizations, and private sector enterprises, who provide funding for environmental projects, many of which link to the UN SDGs.

World Bank contributions

• provides loans and grants to governments of poorer countries

• 3 of the agencies contribute to sustainable development projects

• require recipients to comply with Environmental and Social Standards (ESSs)

National Environmental Funds (NEFs)

formed by partnership of NGO’s (e.g., WWF, TNC) and international funders (e.g., World Bank)

USAID

• helps funding for sustainable development

• but funding freeze

options to integrate conservation and development

1. integrated mix of conservation & development ends

2. use development means in service of strict conservation ends

3. explicitly link the project’s conservation ends to broader development ends

option 1: integrated mix of conservation & development ends

most common, worst choice – may not reach both & have to choose; or reach one by a means that conflicts with the other

option 2: use development means in service of strict conservation ends

use resources to meet human needs as a strategy to reduce threats to biodiversity

cannot ignore development concerns. Instead, they need to consider human needs in the context of both the threats at the site and their strategies – to use development means to achieve their desired conservation ends.

option 3: explicitly link the project’s conservation ends to a broader development ends

conservation ends as a means to achieve development ends

Direct limited resources to achieve both goals