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Indian Sunderban, part of the three river delta system and the world’s largest contiguous mangrove ecosystem is world heritage site with unique flora and fauna. It is also home for four and half million people living in acute poverty and developmental deficit, relying mostly on biological productivity of the land and related ecosystem. A conflict prevails between resource utilization, survival strategies of desperate poor people and protection of ecosystem in its natural state. There are many developmental and management related issues to be resolved apart from the ecological ones. The ecosystem of the region is in deep crisis for a number of historical and anthropogenic reasons including global climate change. A more sustainable path has to be achieved. The paper attempts to identify the key factors behind biodiversity loss adding to the vulnerability of livelihood of its residents through PRA technique and traces the ways and means for reducing the same in the form of comprehensive policy of biosphere management through community participation of the residents. The research is carried out using Participatory Rural Appraisal technique and points out the ways and means for reducing the level of vulnerability in the form of comprehensive policy of biosphere management through community participation.

This paper layout the challenges and opportunities in establishing a framework for a conservation system that focuses on maintenance. The study highlighted the requirements for, and constraints of managing and maintaining heritage buildings. Three case studies were considered and in addition, seventeen experts’ interviews, comparative field observations and deliberate archival records were employed to bring out the initial framework. Using focus group discussions of seven experts, the framework was reviewed and validated in order to ensure the development of a model for an effective maintenance management plan and monitoring of heritage buildings. The research investigated how maintenance and monitoring can successfully be implemented as part of the conservation plan.

Anticipating the effects of climate change on biodiversity and integrating them in planning protocols for the future are fundamental strategies to increase the effectiveness of conservation efforts. With climate change, species require dispersal skills to follow displacements of their suitable climates and therefore, spatial conservation interventions need to consider such dynamics. In general, common planning frameworks identify networks of conservation areas seemed important for species range shifts. However, it is highly unlikely that all the areas in a network present synchronous conservation value. Furthermore, given the continuous (spatial and temporal autocorrelated) nature of threats and ecological processes, the value of each area is largely dependent on the state of the neighboring areas in the recent past. In this study, a family of three models centered on the prioritization (not of single areas but) of temporal chains of areas as conservation units is presented. These models drive the use of financial investments through time in order to maximize the persistence of biodiversity in dynamic environments. Alike the most typical approaches, the here introduced models allow investments to be transferred between areas losing conservation relevancy to the areas that gain relevancy. A fictitious (but plausible) conservation plan for ten mammal species in Iberian Peninsula up to 2080 is used to illustrate the setting-up and outputs of the models. Results evidence that the conservation effectiveness achieved in each model depends on singular spatio-temporal distribution relationships among species and between species and distinct land-uses. Planners should then investigate the sensitivity of their goals to distinct decision-support tools even when driven by similar designs and constraints.

There is no doubt that one of the most difficult challenges facing the monument conservator is how to put a plan for conservation?, What is the criteria that control the success of such plan?.

This chapter describes a recent participatory effort coordinated by the Brazilian Government to update the Priority Areas for conservation, sustainable use, and shared benefits of the Caatinga biodiversity, which culminated in the determination of 282 Priority Areas as defined by the MMA Law 223 of 21 June 2016. This network, determined by systematic conservation planning techniques, specifies relevant areas for 691 conservation targets, including 350 red-listed plant species, 65 threatened birds, 31 mammals, 30 reptiles, 22 amphibians, and 126 fishes, besides additional special habitats (e.g., caves) and endangered ecosystems. A landscape connectivity analysis indicated the potential of each area for restoration programs. Furthermore, other potential conservation actions were proposed for each area, including the creation of Conservation Units of Integral Protection and Conservation Units of Sustainable Use. In fact, the analysis clearly identified 53 Priority Areas that are the best cost-effective proactive conservation opportunities in existence today. This chapter highlights that Brazil now has an updated systematic conservation plan for the Caatinga biome and a historically unique window of opportunity to protect its biodiversity for the centuries to come.

Περιέχει τη περίληψη When a long-term research finishes, there is always a question about implementation and further development. In the case of HER.M.e.S, the Digital Heritage Management System of the Historic City of Hermoupolis, in a Greek Aegean Island, Syros, it was also a question about raising awareness. The research proved that 2.4 historic buildings collapse every year, as a result of abandonment. This phenomenon was intensified by the severe economic crisis in Greece. The research proposed an optimal conservation plan for the city, after carefully evaluating variables through a multi-criteria model using GIS and an innovating point system. But in order to apply this plan, we need to be able to update the data, as buildings are constantly changing through time. Updating a database with more than 1000 historic buildings, with no funds, is a huge challenge. Soon, we decided that the only way to go is to use a crowdsourcing method. Developing a digital heritage collection portal, using free open source software and serving crucial data for every building, was the answer to our problem. We asked citizens to check the data base, report mistakes, updates, stories, photographs and use the portal to learn about their city. This effort led us to a big digitization project, with up to 1290 historic buildings, 14.400 geo-tagged photos and more than 15.000 fields of information. The project HERMeS, as a conservation plan and a heritage digitization project won the 2015 European Union Europa Nostra Award in Category Research & Digitalisation.