Prioritising challenges and actions for freshwater conservation in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Alexandra Zieritz and Christopher Gibbins and Yixiong Cai and Farah Diba and Lydia X. Gan and Manuel Lopes-Lima and Jose Christopher E. Mendoza and John Morse and Ting Hui Ng and Elysia X.P. Toh and John Pfeiffer and Bi Wei Low and Ristiyanti Marwoto and Khairul Adha A. Rahim and Brooke Shellman and Zohrah Sulaiman and Zhi Wan Tan and Daisy Wowor and Noor Syarifuddin Yusuf and Darren C.J. Yeo (2024) Prioritising challenges and actions for freshwater conservation in a tropical biodiversity hotspot. Biological Conservation, 299. pp. 1-14. ISSN 0006-320

Text FULL TEXT.pdf Restricted to Registered users only Download (3MB) | Request a copy

Abstract

Tropical fresh waters experience one of the highest rates of biodiversity loss globally. Effective tropical fresh water biodiversity conservation requires prioritised and concerted action that is informed by science, but efforts to synthesise the available expertise and knowledge remain lacking to date. Here, we identify the most important challenges for freshwater conservation in the tropical biodiversity hotspot Sundaland, and provide roadmaps towards addressing them. A Delphi technique for consensus building, adopted across a panel of 18 experts, identified challenges under the categories of threats, research needs, and social and policy-related challenges. Threats were ranked by their importance in terms of the spatial extent, severity and persistence, while research needs, and social and policy-related challenges were ranked according to how severely they impede conserva tion. The top-ranked challenges were (1) threats: deforestation, agriculture, urbanisation, water management; (2) research needs: lack of data on freshwater biodiversity, systematic biology, understanding multiple stressors and resilience of freshwater ecosystems; and (3) social and policy-related challenges: low priority of freshwater biodiversity, lack of expertise, lack of systematic conservation planning, and growth of population and affluence. Addressing these challenges requires an approach that integrates improved communication and collaboration among researchers and stakeholders, scientific outreach to improve public appreciation of freshwater biodi versity and build capacity, implementation of best practices to mitigate negative human impacts, systematic conservation planning, and adoption of novel tools and technologies to address important knowledge gaps. This

Item Type:	Article
Keyword:	Asia Conservation planning Freshwater biodiversity Sundaland Threats Tropical
Subjects:	Q Science > QH Natural history > QH1-278.5 Natural history (General) > QH1-(199.5) General Including nature conservation, geographical distribution Q Science > QH Natural history > QH1-278.5 Natural history (General)
Department:	INSTITUTE > Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation
Depositing User:	ABDULLAH BIN SABUDIN -
Date Deposited:	16 Dec 2024 11:35
Last Modified:	16 Dec 2024 11:35
URI:	https://eprints.ums.edu.my/id/eprint/42309

Actions (login required)

View Item