Search

Wetlands have been degraded and destroyed in many human-dominated landscapes worldwide, threatening vital ecosystem services. Landscape connectivity is critical for wetland biota, but is often reduced among remaining wetlands. With urban development, stormwater management (SWM) ponds are installed to hold runoff and associated contaminants. Unfortunately, SWM ponds do not adequately replace the ecosystem services and functions provided by a connected wetlandscape. We use a graph theory approach to analyze landscape connectivity of wetlands and stormwater management ponds in seven municipalities in southern Ontario, Canada. We analyze changes in connectivity through time, alongside potential effects of SWM pond creation on connectivity. We calculate the number of links (NL) and components (NC) at the landscape-level (i.e. connectivity within a municipality), and the probability of connection and two of its components (i.e. dPCflux and dPCconnector) at the habitat-level (i.e. contributions of individual wetlands and SWM ponds to landscape connectivity). Our results suggest that landscape connectivity has decreased with wetland loss, while SWM pond construction has improved connectivity. Wetlands appear to be more connected over the landscape, while SWM ponds might act as stepping-stones for species moving between wetlands. Our results point towards the need to protect and restore wetlands to safeguard critical ecosystem services. Stormwater ponds may not provide habitat of equivalent quality to wetlands; however, their strategic placement within urban areas could improve wetlandscape connectivity.

In 2004, the UN General Assembly resolved to establish a working group to consider issues pertaining to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The group met nine times between 2006 and 2015 before concluding its mandate by recommending the development of an international legally binding instrument on BBNJ under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Based on in-depth interviews with working group participants, this research examines how NGOs contributed to the working group process. Respondents from government delegations highlighted the usefulness of workshops and side events convened by NGOs, and the role of NGOs in bringing experts on technical issues – particularly marine genetic resources and the sharing of benefits – into the BBNJ negotiations. Respondents from both NGOs and government delegations emphasized the importance of fostering personal relationships in order to ensure a steady and constructive information flow. Social media efforts by NGOs were considered by some government representatives to have occasionally hampered open discussion, although they noted that conditions have improved. The lengthy working group process was marked by substantial fluctuation in participation, particularly within government delegations from developing states. Of 1523 individuals who participated in at least one of the working group meetings, only 45 attended more than half of the meetings, and 80% of these were representing NGOs or highly industrialized countries. Respondents felt that this comparatively small number of individuals provided a source of continuity that was crucial for moving the discussions forward.

Complex socio-environmental challenges require interdisciplinary, team-based researchcapacity. Graduate students are fundamental to building such capacity, yet formal opportunities for graduate students to develop these capacities and skills are uncommon. This paper presents an assessment of the Graduate Pursuit (GP) program, a formal interdisciplinary team science graduate research and training program administered by the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). Quantitative and qualitative assessment of the program’s first cohort revealed that participants became significantly more comfortable with interdisciplinary research and team science approaches, increased their capacity to work across disciplines, and were enabled to produce tangible research outcomes. Qualitative analysis of four themes—(1) discipline, specialization, and shared purpose, (2) interpersonal skills and personality, (3) communication and teamwork, and (4) perceived costs and benefits—encompass participants’ positive and negative experiences and support findings from past assessments. The findings also identify challenges and benefits related to individual personality traits and team personality orientation, the importance of perceiving a sense of autonomy and independence, and the benefit of graduate training programs independent of the university and graduate program environment.

This final manuscript in the special issue on “Funding for ocean conservation and sustainable fisheries” is the result of a dialogue aimed at connecting lead authors of the special issue manuscripts with relevant policymakers and practitioners. The dialogue took place over the course of a two-day workshop in December 2018, and this “coda” manuscript seeks to distil thinking around a series of key recurring topics raised throughout the workshop. These topics are collected into three broad categories, or “needs”: 1) a need for transparency, 2) a need for coherence, and 3) a need for improved monitoring of project impacts. While the special issue sought to collect new research into the latest trends and developments in the rapidly evolving world of funding for ocean conservation and sustainable fisheries, the insights collected during the workshop have helped to highlight remaining knowledge gaps. Therefore, each of the three “needs” identified within this manuscript is followed by a series of questions that the workshop participants identified as warranting further attention as part of a future research agenda. The crosscutting nature of many of the issues raised as well as the rapid pace of change that characterizes this funding landscape both pointed to a broader need for continued dialogue and study that reaches across the communities of research, policy and practice. SI

The research presented in this paper stems from a collaboration between researchers in the Benin Republic, Nigeria and Canada who are examining the opportunities to enhance the sustainable production of under-utilized indigenous vegetables through the micro-dosage of synthetic fertilizer. Because micro-dosing is a labour intensive technology, and is time sensitive in application, we sought to better understand how the availability of labour, as affected by changes in cooperative networks, might affect adoption and scaling up opportunities. The systems of cooperative labour described in this paper reflect the culture and traditions of the Betammaribe people, residing in the village of Koumagou B in northwest Benin. Our results indicate that cooperative labour systems among the Betammaribe are in transition and are being influenced by seasonal migration, the financial demands of formal education, the use of oxen by those with relative wealth, and off-farm employment. These pressures have led to the atomizing of Koumagou B households and a concomitant decline in the availability of cooperative labour. Interventions designed to improve the livelihoods of smallholder farmers must not inadvertently perpetuate social and economic inequalities or disadvantage those most vulnerable. It is this possibility that warrants careful consideration as we contemplate the benefits of adopting and scaling-up new agricultural technologies in the future.

In 2004, the UN General Assembly resolved to establish a working group to consider issues pertaining to the conservation and sustainable use of marine biodiversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ). The group met nine times between 2006 and 2015 before concluding its mandate by recommending the development of an international legally binding instrument on BBNJ under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Based on in-depth interviews with working group participants, this research examines how NGOs contributed to the working group process. Respondents from government delegations highlighted the usefulness of workshops and side events convened by NGOs, and the role of NGOs in bringing experts on technical issues – particularly marine genetic resources and the sharing of benefits – into the BBNJ negotiations. Respondents from both NGOs and government delegations emphasized the importance of fostering personal relationships in order to ensure a steady and constructive information flow. Social media efforts by NGOs were considered by some government representatives to have occasionally hampered open discussion, although they noted that conditions have improved. The lengthy working group process was marked by substantial fluctuation in participation, particularly within government delegations from developing states. Of 1523 individuals who participated in at least one of the working group meetings, only 45 attended more than half of the meetings, and 80% of these were representing NGOs or highly industrialized countries. Respondents felt that this comparatively small number of individuals provided a source of continuity that was crucial for moving the discussions forward.

Soil degradation and low crop productivity negatively affect the food security of smallholder farmers in West Africa. Various agricultural techniques have been developed as components of food security interventions, but their effectiveness in addressing food insecurity in part depends upon farmers’ abilities to adopt these techniques. In this paper we present the results of a social network analysis that tracked the flow of information on fertilizer microdosing from our Project Research team (PRs) to Demonstration Farmers (DFs), and from DFs to other Village Farmers (VF) in the village of Koumagou B in northwest Benin. Our findings indicate that both adoption and project awareness of microdosing were low following two years of field trails. Overall, the DFs failed to spread information or promote learning over the trial period, with only 3 of 20 DFs diffusing knowledge to a significant degree (i.e., out-degree >5). After 2 years of trials, the efforts of PRs and DFs were insufficient to mobilize the network to adopt the microdosing technique.

Approximately half of the world’s ice-free ocean coastline is composed of sandy beaches, which support a higher level of recreational use than any other ecosystem. However, the contribution of sandy beaches to societal welfare is under increasing risk from local and non-local pressures, including expanding human development and climate-related stressors. These pressures are impairing the capacity of beaches to meet recreational demand, provide food, protect livelihoods, and maintain biodiversity and water quality. This will increase the likelihood of social–ecological collapses and regime shifts, such that beaches will sustain neither the original ecosystem function nor the related services and societal goods and benefits that they provide. These social–ecological systems at the land–sea interface are subject to market forces, weak governance institutions, and societal indifference: most people want a beach, but few recognize it as an ecosystem at risk. CSIC: Grupos ID 32