Implementation | PANORAMA

Promote benefit-sharing between enterprises and local communities/residents

Guangxi negotiated and implemented agreements on access to genetic resources and related traditional knowledge and benefit-sharing of Siraitia grosvenorii and Camellia nitidissima in Guilin and Fangchenggang, promoting the signing of more than 10 benefit-sharing agreements between enterprises and farmers in demonstration areas through measures such as value-insured recovery, benefit sharing, technology training, and enhanced resource protection. From 2019 to 2021, the campaign benefited more than 5,000 farmers in the major producing areas of Siraitia grosvenorii and Camellia nitidissima, helping nearly 300 poor households escape poverty.

From 2020 to 2021, the demonstration enterprise Guilin Monk Fruit Siraitia Grosvenorii Biotechnology Inc. has increased the returns from purchasing and recovering Siraitia grosvenorii by 50% year-on-year.

It is necessary to negotiate and implement access and benefit-sharing agreements for genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge.

Protect biogenetic resources and related traditional knowledge

The protection for wild genetic resources has been formalized, and 20 protection sites for chrysantha have been constructed; guidance is provided for demonstration enterprises to expand the nursery of Siraitia grosvenorii and Camellia nitidissima, which cover an area of 2,000 square metres and 500 square metres respectively.

The project helped to increase the area allocated for growing seedlings of Siraitia grosvenorii and Camellia nitidissima genetic resources, and planted Camellia nitidissima in the wild.

Reducing the utilization of wild resources is key to project success.

Conduct a baseline survey on biological genetic resources and related traditional knowledge

The project team investigated, collected, and summarized the protection, development, utilization, and benefit-sharing of 30 exemplar genetic resources in Guangxi, carried out case investigations and research on the development and utilization of traditional knowledge related to genetic resources of five ethnic minorities in Guangxi Zhuang, including Zhuang, Yao, Maonan, Mulao and Jing ethnic groups.

The establishment of a database for biogenetic resources and their related traditional knowledge in Guangxi, together with the Survey on the Status Quo of Biogenetic Resources and Their Development and Utilization in Guangxi and the Management Requirements, Guangxi Traditional Knowledge Case Study Report and Guangxi Traditional Knowledge Cataloging Report.

The provision of scientific guidance is required for the proper protection, development, utilization and sharing of biogenetic resources in Guangxi.

Improve the construction of the access and benefit-sharing system for biogenetic resources

Guangxi establishes a cross-sectoral coordination and cooperation mechanism and a stakeholder coordination mechanism. A management mechanism for access and benefit sharing of biogenetic resources is established under the comprehensive governance of the department in charge of ecology and environment and the supervision of the departments related to development and reform, agriculture and rural areas, forestry, etc. The project management is carried out at the provincial, municipal, and county levels so joint efforts can be made in ensuring the access and benefit-sharing of biological heritage resources.

Experts from 31 universities, research institutes, and other relevant units, such as Minzu University of China, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Guangxi University, were hired to form a provincial technical expert team to provide consultation and technical support for the access and benefit-sharing of biogenetic resources in Guangxi.

It is necessary to improve the construction of the access and benefit-sharing system for biogenetic resources.

Documentation and dissemination of results

Local

Subnational

National

Restocking

Release of the captive-bred toads at the study sites

Photo by Leonardo Vignoli

Three captive-bred Apennine yellow-bellied toads just released at the study site

Photo by Leonardo Vignoli

Bioparco facility where the Apennine yellow-bellid toads were reared

Photo by Leonardo Vignoli

Since no population increase has been observed two years after the threat mitigation actions, in 2014 we launched a four-year restocking project aimed at increasing the population size.
The project involves the collection in the wild of a fraction (30-40%) of Bombina pachypus population at the egg stage, their development in captivity and the subsequent release of metamorphs in the same site of collection.

All the ex-situ management of toads was implemented at Fondazione Bioparco facilities where individuals were kept until the ventral coloration pattern is fully defined so that they can be photographically marked for future identification and demographic studies in the wild.

Overall, 67 young individuals were released (20 in 2014, 19 in 2015, 16 in 2016 and 12 in 2017).

Post-release monitoring revealed that the toad recapture rate was highly variable over the years. In 2018, we re-captured a total of 21 individuals: 10 released in 2014, two in 2015, four in 2016 and five in 2017. The pristine population remained stable (13 individuals) with few new animals recruited and some losses. At the end of 2018, a net increase of 21 individuals released plus some from natural recruitment allowed the original population size to double.

The production of individuals one year old from the egg stage requires adequate facilities and a high commitment of personnel.

Monitoring the success of restocking needs a multi-year project and adequate effort (personnel and economic).

The release of metamorph individuals close to sexual maturity allowed individual recognition by ventral coloration pattern and should have significantly decreased the mortality rate that is known to peak at the egg and larval stages.

Toads bred in captivity can be used for the restocking of declining populations of Bombina pachypus.
Restocking should be done by releasing individuals in distinct phases along a multi-year project to overcome possible failure due to stochastic or unpredictable events.

The identification of the true causes behind the high inter-annual variability in the individual recapture rate and the failure to recapture many released animals (e.g. death or dispersal) can be very difficult, even at the local scale and with a high sampling effort.

Implementation

Local

Threat Mitigation

Before any concrete conservation action that involve traslocation of individuals (with or without ex-situ reproduction) an assessment of the occurring threats and their mitigation/eradication is mandatory for the success of the actions.

Since the main threats observed for the species at the study site were the high risk of pond desiccation in the early stage of the breeding season (i.e., June) and alteration of the ponds by wild boars, two main conservation actions were carried out in 2012 to mitigate them:
- four additional pools at each site fed by perennial springs were constructed to extend the hydro period from March to October;
- each puddle was fenced to prevent wild boars from using them for drinking and bathing.

A thorough knowledge of the species biology and ecology is needed to exhaustively uncover and depict the effective and potential threats acting and impacting the conservation status of the target species.

The mitigation / eradication of the main threats that impact the conservation of the target populations may be insufficient to achieve a significant impact (i.e. a reversal of the negative trend) in the short / medium term. It is possible that mitigation actions must be coupled with concrete conservation interventions that involve the translocation of individuals to increase the size of populations in the short term. The possibility of not observing impacts from threat mitigation actions in the short term is more likely if the target species is long-lived and has long generation rates. In fact, Bombina pachypus is a long-lived species, being able to reach about 30 years of age.

Implementation

Local

Collaborative and Comprehensive Training

WAB-Net brings together stakeholders from diverse sectors and backgrounds to participate in uniquely detailed and thorough capacity-building and hands-on trainings. Field teams consisting of ecologists, government officials representing health and environmental ministries, and students and academic faculty are trained to carry out research while keeping themselves and the bats safe. A bat ecologist will spend several weeks each year in the field teaching the team how to capture, handle, sample, and release bats with biosafety considerations woven throughout each step.

A bat ecologist familiar with the unique aspects of the taxonomic group and biosafety practices works in collaboration with regional project partners to design standardized field protocols and subsequently implements the field trainings in each country. This uniquely hands-on approach to training field teams ensures the standardization of field protocols across cultures and disciplines in the region.

WAB-Net serves as the central coordination point for these trainings across the Western Asia region. There is a wide diversity of stakeholders participating, including in their backgrounds and areas of expertise. WAB-Net facilitators learn from the individuals they’re training, creating more culturally relevant lessons. By bringing lessons from one country to another, WAB-Net can enable conversations and collaboration over areas of shared interest, furthering partnerships that would have otherwise been politically difficult to build.

Crisis Prioritization

Throughout the first months of 2020, there was an overwhelming amount of confusion and stress surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide. In the face of this drastically changing reality, the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group was able to come together quickly and efficiently to identify researchers’ needs, gather relevant information, and create an essential set of guidelines. A rapid mobilization of the global network of great ape specialists was able to translate the publication into multiple languages, disseminating this crucial tool to people working in the field across multiple regions.

The Primate Specialist Group’s active and participatory membership was key to their successful prioritization of work in the face of an unprecedented and deadly pandemic.

As the COVID-19 crisis swept the globe many people sought further purpose in their work. The members of the Primate Specialist Group were motivated by the sense of urgency gripping all walks of life and wanted to take action in a positive way. These guidelines were essential not only for people to safely continue field work, but also for the members looking to find meaning during a particularly bleak time.

Knowledge Synthesis

There was existing guidance on how to observe and interact with great apes while protecting both their health and that of humans. While previous guidelines addressed other respiratory diseases, there were no COVID-19 specific protocols as research and information were only just beginning to become available. The working group gathered intelligence from a wide array of sources, ensuring they were capturing the most up to date and relevant details, and synthesized it into a cohesive, clear document.

The guidelines previously published by the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group, and the group’s passionate memberships, were key enabling factors to the working group’s ability to quickly create COVID-19 specific protocols. Being able to draw directly from peer-reviewed resources streamlined the process and allowed the group to confidently create new guidelines despite the lack of COVID-19 information available at the time.

The working group drew knowledge from beyond just great ape primatologists. While their expertise was a guiding factor throughout the process, inviting other people to contribute ensured a diversity of knowledge bases were captured in the guidelines. The peer-reviewed COVID-19 information available was still lacking at the time, and broadening the contributing pool of experts lead to a more comprehensive and useful set of guidelines.

Linking policy and management to the World Heritage Convention and the Outstanding Universal Value

OUV key values of the Wadden Sea World Heritage

Common Wadden Sea Secretariat

Wadden Sea Management Cycle

Common Wadden Sea Secretariat

The purpose is to add World Heritage-specific criteria and values to complement the existing nature conservation management, thus emphasizing that the World Heritage designation is the utmost international acknowledgment for a natural area.

The Operational Guidelines for the Implementation of the World Heritage Convention (§ 111) state that an adaptive management cycle of planning, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, and feedback is among the elements of effective management. In the SIMP development process, the existing TWSC management instruments (activities, policies, plans, and strategies) are organised and visualised in the corresponding phases of the adaptive management cycle (see graph).

To assess existing and potential positive and negative effects on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the Wadden Sea World Heritage, ten key values were identified from the three criteria met by the Wadden Sea (method used in the Climate Vulnerability Index). A rapid expert assessment of the positive and negative effects of the SIMP key topics on each of the ten OUV key values supported the discussions of potential management activities (see graph).

An index-based rapid assessment of the vulnerability to climate change (Climate Vulnerability Index -CVI) using the OUV key values was done in 2021.

The World Heritage Convention sets out the duties of the State Parties, their roles in protecting and preserving the sites, and provides operational guidance on the Convention’s implementation.

TWSC was established in 1978 as a tool for cooperation and coordination of nature conservation. Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands have built independently, and jointly a comprehensive management system addressing key aspects.

Although much has already been achieved and the work towards important milestones is underway, there are still challenges to be faced.
On one hand, rapid expert assessments results of the positive and negative effects of the SIMP key topics on the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) key values, in general, coincide with the results from the discussions and views of the policy and site managers. On the other hand, in-depth studies that can be reviewed and updated regularly are preferred if resources and time are available. To solve this, the Trilateral Wadden Sea Cooperation (TWSC) chose to integrate these assessments with the Quality Status Reports updated periodically by experts.

Implementation

Multi-national

Climate Vulnerability Index