Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
CHAPTER 15
Development of a Systematic,
Information-Based Approach to the
Identification of High Value Sites for
River Conservation in New Zealand
John Leathwick
1
, David West
1
, Atte Moilanen
2
and Lindsay Chadderton
3
1
Department of Conservation, Hamilton, New Zealand
2
Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Finland
3
The Nature Conservancy, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, USA
Introduction
prioritizing sites for protection and/or management
(Linke
et al
., 2007, Moilanen
et al
., 2008).
The requirement for protecting a representative
range of ecosystems is clearly recognized in New
Zealand both in legislation and in national policy
documents. For example, the Reserves Act 1977
legislates for reserves to 'ensure the survival or
preservation of
Systematic approaches to conservation planning
have undergone considerable development in the
10 years since the seminal review of Margules
and Pressey (2000), but to date have mostly
been applied to terrestrial and marine ecosystems.
Examples of systematic approaches in freshwater
ecosystems are relatively rare (Nel
et al
., 2009a),
in part reflecting the common focus on terrestrial
landscape elements in conservation planning while
freshwater ecosystems are more often protected
as 'bycatch' in terrestrial reserves rather than via
a deliberate process (Saunders
et al
., 2002). In
addition, there are real practical difficulties in
designing robust reserve networks to protect linear
systems in which management of land-use impacts
on freshwater biodiversity is complicated by
the inherent longitudinal connectivity of riverine
ecosystems (Abell
et al
., 2007; Nel
et al
., 2009a).
More recent approaches have begun to address
both the specific need for robust planning for
freshwater conservation (Nel
et al
., 2009b; Heiner
et al
., 2010, Barquin
et al
., this volume), and
the functional implications of connectivity when
a representative range of all
classes of natural ecosystems and landscapes'.
Similarly, a national biodiversity strategy (Anon.,
2000) lists several goals including the need
to 'progressively protect priority representative
freshwater habitats
...
'. However, a review of
progress in implementing this strategy (Green
and Clarkson, 2005) noted in particular both the
continuing decline of many freshwater ecosystems
and the limited progress on freshwater biodiversity
protection. Concerns continue to be raised over
widespread declines in the condition of lowland
rivers and streams as a result of land-use
intensification (Ministry for the Environment,
2007), and particularly in dairy farming where
increased fertilizer use is resulting in significant
increases in nitrogen pollution (Wilcock
et al
.,
2009).
...
