Prioritising challenges and actions for freshwater conservation in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Alexandra Zieritz; Christopher Gibbins; Yixiong Cai; Farah Diba; Lydia X. Gan; Manuel Lopes-Lima; Jose Christopher E. Mendoza; John Morse; Ting Hui Ng; Elysia X P Toh; John Pfeiffer; Bi Wei Low; Ristiyanti Marwoto; Khairul Adha A. Rahim; Brooke Shellman; Zohrah Sulaiman; Zhi Wan Tan; Daisy Wowor; Noor Syarifuddin Yusuf; Darren C.J. Yeo

doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110839

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Prioritising challenges and actions for freshwater conservation in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Journal article

Open access

Peer reviewed

Prioritising challenges and actions for freshwater conservation in a tropical biodiversity hotspot

Alexandra Zieritz, Christopher Gibbins, Yixiong Cai, Farah Diba, Lydia X. Gan, Manuel Lopes-Lima, Jose Christopher E. Mendoza, John Morse, Ting Hui Ng, Elysia X P Toh, …

Biological Conservation, Vol.299, pp.1-14

2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110839

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Abstract

Asia

Conservation planning

Freshwater biodiversity

Sundaland

Threats

Tropical

Tropical fresh waters experience one of the highest rates of biodiversity loss globally. Effective tropical freshwater biodiversity conservation requires prioritised and concerted action that is informed by science, but efforts to synthesise the available expertise and knowledge remain lacking to date. Here, we identify the most important challenges for freshwater conservation in the tropical biodiversity hotspot Sundaland, and provide roadmaps towards addressing them. A Delphi technique for consensus building, adopted across a panel of 18 experts, identified challenges under the categories of threats, research needs, and social and policy-related challenges. Threats were ranked by their importance in terms of the spatial extent, severity and persistence, while research needs, and social and policy-related challenges were ranked according to how severely they impede conservation. The top-ranked challenges were (1) threats: deforestation, agriculture, urbanisation, water management; (2) research needs: lack of data on freshwater biodiversity, systematic biology, understanding multiple stressors and resilience of freshwater ecosystems; and (3) social and policy-related challenges: low priority of freshwater biodiversity, lack of expertise, lack of systematic conservation planning, and growth of population and affluence. Addressing these challenges requires an approach that integrates improved communication and collaboration among researchers and stakeholders, scientific outreach to improve public appreciation of freshwater biodiversity and build capacity, implementation of best practices to mitigate negative human impacts, systematic conservation planning, and adoption of novel tools and technologies to address important knowledge gaps. This work can serve as a model for prioritising conservation actions in other regions that lose biodiversity at similarly rapid rates.

Details

Title: Prioritising challenges and actions for freshwater conservation in a tropical biodiversity hotspot
Authors: Alexandra Zieritz (Corresponding Author) - University of Nottingham
Christopher Gibbins - University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
Yixiong Cai - National Parks Board
Farah Diba - Tanjungpura University
Lydia X. Gan - National University of Singapore
Manuel Lopes-Lima - Centro de Investigação em Biodiversidade e Recursos Genéticos
Jose Christopher E. Mendoza - National University of Singapore
John Morse - Department of Plant & Environmental Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634-0310, USA
Ting Hui Ng - Universiti of Malaysia Sabah
Elysia X P Toh - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
John Pfeiffer - Smithsonian Institution
Bi Wei Low - National University of Singapore
Ristiyanti Marwoto - National Research and Innovation Agency
Khairul Adha A. Rahim - Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Brooke Shellman - United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Zohrah Sulaiman - Universiti Teknologi Brunei
Zhi Wan Tan - National University of Singapore
Daisy Wowor - National Research and Innovation Agency
Noor Syarifuddin Yusuf - University of Palangka Raya
Darren C.J. Yeo - National University of Singapore
Publication details: Biological Conservation, Vol.299, pp.1-14
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date published: 2024
DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2024.110839
ISSN: 1873-2917; 0006-3207
Copyright note: © 2024 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Data Availability: No data was used for the research described in the article.
Grant note: This project was funded by an International Research Collaboration Fund of the University of Nottingham.
Organisation Unit: School of Science, Technology and Engineering
Language: English
Record Identifier: 991083398002621
Output Type: Journal article

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Collaboration types: Domestic collaboration; International collaboration
Web Of Science research areas: Biodiversity Conservation; Ecology; Environmental Sciences

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