Research in Action: Biodiversity

• Pages: 56-56

Page 56 ❧ THE ENVIRONMENTAL FORUM Copyright © 2011, Environmental Law Institute®, Washington, D.C. www.eli.org.

Reprinted by permission from The Environmental Forum®, March/April 2011

ELI Report

ELI, in collaboration

with the University of

North Carolina Institute

for the Environment and

the Wisconsin Wetlands

Association, is working to

facilitate greater collabora-

tion between hazard and

emergency managers and

wetland and water quality

managers in order to f‌ind

and promote ways to more

ef‌f‌iciently and ef‌fectively

protect wetland and wild-

life habitat and strengthen

resilience to f‌looding in the

Rock River Basin, a wa-

tershed in Wisconsin that

frequently f‌loods.

e project, funded by

the McKnight Founda-

tion, builds on a recent

study conducted by ELI

and UNC in Wisconsin.

e study identif‌ied op-

hazard areas as well as the

information needed and

funding sources available

for joint projects, such as

purchasing f‌lood-prone

properties to reduce risks

from natural hazards and

protect wetland habitat.

e guidebook will

include recommendations

for how hazard reduction

management can be coor-

dinated with water quality

and wetland protection

and will identify funding

sources that can be used

to meet multiple benef‌its.

e guidebook will be dis-

tributed to wetland con-

servation agencies, state

and local hazard planners,

and conservation organi-

zations across the region

and throughout the upper

Mississippi River Basin.

portunities and obstacles

for wildlife conservation

and habitat restoration in

areas where people and

property are at risk from

natural hazards. e study

found areas where priority

habitats, as identif‌ied in

State Wildlife

Action Plans,

overlap with

natural hazard

areas, and

highlighted

opportunities

to capitalize

on existing

synergies and

promote col-

laboration

among land

use planners,

hazard mitigation planners,

and wetland and wildlife

managers.

According to ELI Sci-

ence and Policy Analyst

Rebecca Kihslinger, “We

plan to work with our part-

ners to develop a tailored

workshop followed by the

creation and dissemination

of a guidebook for local

and state

of‌f‌icials in

the region.

We will

design the

workshop to

explore how

agencies and

organizations

can work

ef‌fectively

together to

meet multiple

goals.”

Options will include

identifying locations where

wetlands overlap natural

Research in Action: Wetlands

ELI Science and Policy Analyst

Rebecca Kihslinger, Ph.D.

Research in Action: Biodiversity

In October, ELI hosted

a side event at the 10th

meeting of the Confer-

ence of the Parties to the

Convention on Biologi-

cal Diversity in Nagoya,

Japan. e event focused

on the recently completed

resource manual Legal

and Policy Tools to Adapt

Biodiversity Manage-

ment to Climate Change.

e manual is part of a

project ELI is undertaking

with partners from around

the world to strengthen

laws governing biodiver-

sity management. e

project is made possible

through the generous sup-

port of the John D. and

Catherine T. MacArthur

Foundation.

Over the last few de-

dition, protected area

borders may need to be

redrawn and connectivity

between areas strength-

ened to account for

changing ecological con-

ditions. With increasing

competition for resources,

expanding development,

and the growing ef‌fects of

climate change, new legal

regimes and approaches

are crucial.

ELI is now working

with its partners from

Bhutan, Dominican Re-

public, Madagascar, Peru,

Uganda, and Vietnam to

take the resource manual

and apply its lessons in

developing countries to

f‌ind the best ways to adapt

biodiversity management

to climate change.

cades, countries have de-

veloped and implemented

governance frameworks

designed to protect biodi-

versity. Yet there remains

a critical gap in most of

the existing frameworks

governing biodiversity: by

and large, they fail to con-

sider, much less address,

the impacts of climate

change.

ELI Vice President

for Climate and Sustain-

ability Scott Schang, who

chaired the event, said,

“e inability of current

laws governing biodiver-

sity to ef‌fectively address

climate change will have

momentous consequences.

Laws can present barriers

to actions necessary for

long-term adaptation, for

example by prohibiting

relocation of endangered

species.” He explained

that underlying assump-

tions in a world undergo-

ing climate change may be

fundamentally dif‌ferent:

adaptation increasingly

focuses on conserving cen-

ters of evolution, not just

conserving biodiversity.

Current laws emphasize

preserving the status quo.

is means that instead of

improving the resilience

of a broader ecosystem

to climate change, these

laws often require scarce

resources to be focused

on protecting the most

endangered species. e

result could be that more

species will be threatened

in the long-run. In ad-