Transcript international obligations and lessons for Australia

Freshwater biodiversity conservation through protected areas:
international obligations and lessons for Australia.
Jamie Pittock
WWF Research Associate
Fenner School of Environment & Society, ANU
[email protected]
Australian Protected Areas Congress, 25th November 2008
Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment, March 2005
 “Freshwater ecosystems tend to have
the highest proportion of species
threatened with extinction.” [pg 19];
 “The use of two ecosystem services capture fisheries and freshwater - is
now well beyond levels that can be
sustained even at current demands,
much less future ones.” [pg 20];
 “… important gaps in the distribution
of protected areas remain, particularly
in marine and freshwater systems”
[pg 31].
Source: WWF Living Planet Report 2004
Figure: IPCC Technical Paper VI “Climate Change and
Water”, June 2008: Large-scale relative changes
in annual runoff for the period 2090–2099,
relative to 1980–1999. (Milly et al., 2005).
The litmus test for multilateral
agreements
 “Significantly reduce the rate of loss of biodiversity by 2010”
(WSSD & CBD)
 Halve the number of people without adequate access to water,
sanitation, food and energy by 2015 (UN MDG & WSSD)
 National “Integrated Water Resources Management” Plans
(commenced) by 2005 (WSSD).
 “Prevent dangerous” climate change “within a time-frame
sufficient to allow ecosystems to adapt naturally to climate
change, to ensure food production is not threatened and
enable economic development to proceed in a sustainable
manner.” (UNFCCC).
IUCN protected areas definition 2008
““A clearly defined geographical space, recognised,
dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective
means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature
with associated ecosystem services and cultural values”
IUCN categories of protected areas:
 I. Strict Nature Reserve/Wilderness Area
 II. National Park
 III. Natural Monument
 IV. Habitat/Species Management Area
 V. Protected Landscape/Seascape
 VI. Managed Resource Protected Area
> Embraces Ramsar sites and many other freshwater
Convention on Biological Diversity
 Programme of Work on Protected Areas (2004) :
ambitious targets 2010, including 275 M ha inland
waters habitats (but no environmental flows)
 Programme of Work on Inland Waters (2005):
commitments to species & basin scale conservation
(10%), reduce threats & sustainable use
 CBD track record on implementation limited thus far
 Need to simplify obligations for governments, eg.
‘Mountains to Sea’ ~ 100+ pages to 50
 Monitoring implementation & indicators
 Ramsar collaboration
Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
 ‘Three pillars’: a) wise us of all wetlands, b) international
cooperation, & c) Ramsar sites
 158 Contracting Parties to the Convention
 1822 wetland sites of 168 M hectares
 ~ 16% of ~10.3 M km2 of freshwater habitat globally
 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands’ Strategic Plan
commitment to reach 250 M ha of Ramsar sites by 2014
 Regional & ‘BasinWet’ initiatives
 Management indicators & measures
 Management: 2002 national reports – 40% had plans,
20% had plans in preparation
WWF instigated wetlands
reserves 1999-2007
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May 1999 – June 2007
Target = +100 M ha
Achieved = 84 M ha, 291 wetlands in 46 countries
Small grants of up to CHF 40,000
Total CHF 2.07 M (WWF = 1.2 M, others 0.8 M)
Cost per hectare = CHF 0.24
About ¾ designated as Ramsar sites
73% of all new Ramsar sites from 1999-2006
WWF & regional initiatives
Region
Wetlands (ha) WWF grants
(CHF)
Other funds
(CHF)
Lake Chad
12,500,122
213,333
23,634,000
Niger River
15,164,480
253,333
2,539,000
Lake Malawi
3,805,700
60,000
2,030,000
Algeria
3,453,925
80,000
725,00
Andes
547,888
80,000
370,000
5,333,232
220,500
388,600
40,805,347
907,166
29,686,600
Himalayas
TOTAL
Algeria Ramsar sites
conservation
 Joined Ramsar 1983
 WWF grants of CHF
160,000 from 2000
 Inventory work
 Designation: 42 sites,
covering 2.96 M ha
 Wetlands strategy in
preparation
 Management of oases
 Date exports - US$18 M in
2001
 Education centre
Niger River basin
Biological importance +
threats analysis
15 M ha / 7 yrs with CHF 253K
Basin wide activities
43 floodplains with high potential for flood risk mitigation
Total: >10,500 km2 remaining areas; >7,000 km2 restoration
source: WWF (2006)
New tools:
 Freshwater Ecoregions of the World (2008) http://www.feow.org/
 IUCN Guidelines for Applying Protected Area Management
Categories (revised 2008) - http://data.iucn.org/dbtwwpd/edocs/PAPS-016.pdf;
 Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (revised 2007) –
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/forests/our_soluti
ons/protection/tools/tracking_tool/index.cfm
 Wetland Management Planning - a Guide for Site Managers
(2008) –
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater/index.
cfm
 Buying time – manual for resistance and resilience building
Lower River Murray
Source: Victorian Department of Sustainability & Environment
Gwydir wetlands Ramsar site
 Environment Protection & Biodiversity
Conservation Act 1999
 Reactive regulation of developments
impacting Ramsar sites
 Increased profile for proactive conservation,
greater public participation & enforcement
So where is Australia?
 Governments promised action on representative
protected areas since 1994
 Signed up to Ramsar & CBD protected area targets
 No agreed bioregionalization
 No Ramsar Strategic Framework
 Ad hoc state government initiatives (+/-)
 No coherent freshwater conservation targets
 Ramsar designations stalled by timid governments
 Limited NGO action in southern Australia
 Academic arguments over protected area tools
ignore existing tools that can work
Conclusions:
1. Freshwater biodiversity most threatened, largely
overlooked by the protected areas community
2. Governments have signed up to ambitious freshwater
protected areas targets (Ramsar & CBD)
3. Some good progress overseas but not in Australia
4. Better freshwater protected areas tools now available
and lessons on what works (eg. Demonstrating other
benefits, grants programs, action following disasters,
publicity)
5. Rejuvenate use of Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
rather than inventing new tools.
Thank you!
Paper based in part on:
Pittock et al. (2008) Running
dry: freshwater biodiversity,
climate change & protected
areas, in Biodiversity 9(3-4):3038.
Acknowledgements:
• Support from NSW Dept
Environment & Climate
Change
•This research was part
funded by the HSBC Climate
Partnership & WWF
• Presentation is partly based
on the work of many WWF
staff and project partners
• Research supervisors: Prof
Steve Dovers, Dr Karen
Hussey, Dr Lara Hansen
Photo: A Campbell 2008