Responding to risks to conservation in multifunctional landscapes

Douglas Bardsley

Geographical & Environmental Studies, University of Adelaide.

Email: douglas.bardsley@adelaide.edu.au

Fourby40 seminarSA Department of Natural Resources & Environment

Adelaide, November 2010

Regional Adaptation Planning

• How big is this going to be? – need to inform

• Tough governance challenge – need to integrate

• When & how do we incorporate the climate change impacts into our future planning? – need to engage(Bardsley and Sweeney 2010)

(Source: McInnes et al. 2003)

Mediterranean climatic regions –

except for SA all are Global biodiversity

hotspots! (Bardsley 2010a)

Exposure Sensitivity Potential impact

Adaptive capacity

Vulnerability

Riparian flood management – Surface water XXX Groundwater XXX Coasts: flooding X Coasts: beaches X Biodiversity: terrestrial X Biodiversity: freshwater – Invasive species X Parks & Gardens XXX Revegetation XXX Agriculture: annual cropping XXX Agriculture: horticulture X Agriculture: livestock XXX Land management XXX Bushfires X Air quality XXX Colour Key for Exposure, Sensitivity, Potential impact & Vulnerability (not Adaptive capacity)

Low Low -Medium Medium Medium High- High

Key for Adaptive capacity

Limited Medium Significant

– X XXX (Bardsley 2006)

Issues for conservation

• Risks are likely to involve a fundamental re-organisation of the local ecology eg.

1o Changing climate: Drying, temperatures2o Changing ecological processes & interactions:

disturbance regimes - Bushfires3o Demands from other sectors for space &

adaptation responses: Bushfire management policies

• Do our policies respond to these levels of risk?

Designing & implementing strong adaptation policy: the NatureLinks example

Key Elements:• Connectedness• No species loss• Integration &

partnerships• People in Nature

(DEH 2004)

Comparative rating of the importance of current environmental issues

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Issue

Avera

ge r

ati

ng

*

All respondents (N=87) AMLR NRM Group members (N=26)

* Rating values: 1= Not relevant, 2= Unimportant, 3= Limited importance, 4= Important, 5= Very important, 6= Extremely important** Entries with the same letters are not significantly different - considering data from all respondents.

(a)** (ab) (ab) (bc) (bc) (cd) (cd)(d) (de) (ef)

(fg) (g)

(Bardsley & Liddicoat 2008)

                                                                                          

               EPIDEMIE study

(Bardsley & Edwards-Jones 2006; 2007)

Perceived importance of environmental issues (important many plants did not originate on the island = Group A, not important = Group B) (p<.001, p<.01, p<.01, p<.001)

Soil degradation Urban/tourism development

Invasive exotic species

Fire0

1

2

3

4

5

6

Environmental issue

Group A

Group B

Evaluations of the benefits of invasive exotic plant species (important many plants did not originate on the island = Group A, not important = Group B) (p<.001, p<.01, p<.01, p<.001)

Enhance biodiversity

Forestry uses Ornamental uses

Mean of positive impacts

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Benefits of invasives

Group A

Group B

A new era of environmental risk

Will require some strong policy responses

Needs the legitimacy of environmental governance to improve in the minds of many

stakeholders

Requires broad acknowledgement that both conservation management & governance will

go be passing through a period of learning

References• Bardsley D. (2003) Risk alleviation via in situ agrobiodiversity conservation: drawing from experiences in Switzerland,

Turkey and Nepal. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 99: 149-157.

• Bardsley D. (2006) There's a change on the way - An initial integrated assessment of projected climate change impacts and adaptation options for Natural Resource Management in the Adelaide and Mt Lofty Ranges Region. DWLBC Report 2006/06.

• Bardsley D.K. (2010) NatureLinks: A critical response to climate change impacts on biodiversity in South Australia. South Australian Geographer 25: 3-10, 42-44.

• Bardsley D.K. and Edwards-Jones G. (2006) Stakeholders’ perceptions of the impacts of invasive exotic plant species in the Mediterranean Basin. GeoJournaL 65: 199-210.

• Bardsley D.K. and Edwards-Jones G. (2007) Invasive species policy and climate change: social perceptions of environmental change in the Mediterranean. Environmental Science and Policy 10: 230-242.

• Bardsley D.K. & Liddicoat C. (2008) Community perceptions of climate change impacts on natural resource management in the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges. DWLBC Report 2008/14, SA Gov., Adel.

• Bardsley D.K. and Rogers G. (2011) Prioritising engagement for sustainable adaptation to climate change: An example from natural resource management in South Australia, Society and Natural Resources. 24 (1), January 2011. Available online.

• Bardsley D.K. and Sweeney S.M. (2010) Guiding climate change adaptation within vulnerable natural resource management systems. Environmental Management 45: 1127-1141.

• Beck U. (2009) World at Risk. Polity Press, Cambridge.• DEH (Department for Environment and Heritage) (2004) NatureLinks: Implementing the WildCountry Philosophy in South

Australia. South Australian• Government, Adelaide.

• McInnes K.L., Suppiah R., Whetton P.H., Hennessy K.J. and Jones R.N. (2003) Climate change in South Australia. CSIRO Atmospheric Research, Melbourne.