Applications and implications of systematic planning for the Pantanal Wetland Biosphere Reserve - Brazil

Reinaldo Lourival (2008). Applications and implications of systematic planning for the Pantanal Wetland Biosphere Reserve - Brazil PhD Thesis, School of Integrative Biology, The University of Queensland.

       
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n40691507_PhD_abstract.pdf Abstract PhD final thesis lodgement_Reinaldo Lourival application/pdf 22.64KB 8
n40691507_PhD_totalthesis.pdf Thesis PhD final thesis lodgement_Reinaldo Lourival application/pdf 3.45MB 12
Author Reinaldo Lourival
Thesis Title Applications and implications of systematic planning for the Pantanal Wetland Biosphere Reserve - Brazil
School, Centre or Institute School of Integrative Biology
Institution The University of Queensland
Publication date 2008
Thesis type PhD Thesis
Total pages 231
Total colour pages 8
Total black and white pages 223
Subjects 270000 Biological Sciences
Formatted abstract The concept of Biosphere reserves has never been examined through the eyes of
systematic conservation planning. Two of the reasons behind this are: the lack of a
specific platform to perform such evaluation explicitly and the lack of knowledge transfer
to the stakeholders responsible for proposing and evaluating them. Recent
developments in conservation planning programming offered tools to perform such
analysis. I approached the problem using the newly developed Marxan for zoning, which
is an evolution of the widely used conservation planning software Marxan. Using this
software I was able to determine, the tradeoffs between concurrent objectives under a
multi-stakeholder environment. Furthermore we developed and tested new ideas and
tools for systematic conservation planning in an extremely dynamic landscape.
In the first chapter, I provided evidence of the inadequacies associated with
representation and efficiency of the existing conservation plans in the Pantanal. I then
framed the economic rationale behind the existing threats to the region and how they
relate to conservation strategies via their impact on land value. The third step was
associated with the challenges of incorporating ecosystem dynamics into conservation, to
secure long-term adequacy for such reserves. I developed, with my collaborators, a
model capable of simulating flood and succession dynamics into a comprehensive tool for
conservation planning, and then implemented the probabilistic approach in Marxan
decision support software to maximize persistence in a reliable fashion. My results
pointed to three levels of inadequacies associated with the existing and proposed
conservation plans for the Pantanal wetland. First, existing reserves were neither
comprehensive nor representative when trying to secure the persistence of simple
biodiversity surrogates. Second, none of the plans proposed for the Pantanal consideredthe costs involved in the implementation of such conservation plans, therefore also failing
to fully explore the principle of efficiency. Finally the existing conservation plans
considered biodiversity to be static, leading to a predictable failure of such plans in the
long run with respect to addressing the principle of adequacy, the second of the four
CARE principles.
I concluded by offering planners a suitable platform to accommodate apparently
conflicting objectives. We used Marxan with zones to optimize spatial allocation of
planning units to each of the zones of a revised Pantanal biosphere reserve. I generated
solutions that, in a spatially explicitly fashion, are able to deliver representation, efficiency
and adequacy, testing the behavior of a series of qualitative and quantitative parameters
(i.e. targets and costs) in achieving the objectives of biodiversity, socio-cultural and
economic sustainability.

 
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Created: Mon, 13 Oct 2008, 11:26:47 EST by Mr Reinaldo Lourival on behalf of Library - Information Access Service