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Env. 621 Unit 2b. Conservation Approaches and Strategies

Traditional Conservation Approach

Conservation of biodiversity is protection and scientific management of biodiversity so as to maintain it

at its optimum level and derive sustainable benefits for the present as well as future generations. The

traditional conservation approach is based on the economic and utilitarian philosophy. It is purely a

traditional knowledge which has been practicing since a long time in the form of oral tradition passed

onto next generation and other are written in local language. Some conservation measures are also

written in ancient texts and ethics. The ancient text can be in the form of Sankrit, Purnas or Vedas. Few

examples of them are presented below.

Atharva Veda (800 BC)

Mentions Conservation and utilization principles

Conservation Earth should be forested

Human can sustain only when earth is protected

Ecosystem integrity should be maintained

Utilization principles

Human beings can use resources from earth

No damage should be done to earth during harvesting

One should plant trees on the bank of water

Vishnu Samhita

One of the Dharmasastrasoriginated in 1st or 2nd century 100 chapters ofDhamasatric and Puranas and

in chapter Prayaschitta considers sins and faults. It considers injuring or destroying plants, plant parts,

damaging the crops and stealing of plant parts and vegetables as offence and prescribes

punishment It also suggested various punishment for killing, stealing and hitting of sex organ of animals.

Nature of offence Punishment prescribed

Cutting of trees pay fine

Stealing of crops, cotton 3-11 times quantity of stolen

Killing of cow Offender will be killed

Different traditional practices for conserving biodiversity are,

1. Vegetation management:i. Religious tradition - Temple forest, monastery forest

ii. Traditional tribal tradition - Sacred forest

iii. Royal tradition- Royal gardens, hunting reserve

iv. Livelihood tradition - Forest and groves

v. Cultivation of useful trees

2. Biodiversity in sacred cliffs cliffs support different flora and fauna


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3. Farm biodiversity Strips of vegetation in the farm support different flora and fauna. They are

useful for attracting seed dispersing animal and pollinators, acts as wind breaks, acts as seed

trap.4. Traditional food system Intercropping, crop rotation, fallowing etc. used to maintain soil

productivity.In Bhutan During food scarcity period farmers cultivate crops, rear livestock andmanage communal grazing land and communal forest for leaf litter and forest based food

products to meet the household nutritional requirements

5. Cultivation of medicinal plants- Plantation on agricultural field

Some religious plants of Nepal

Ficus religiopsa - Pipa

Ficus benghalensis Bar

Prosopis spicigera SamiOcimum sanctum Tulsi

Elaeocarpus sphericus Rudraksha

These religious plant are considered as the incarnation of gods, and the Nepalese people

worship them and considered as sinners if they cut them. This helps in the protection of these

plants.

Community based biodiversity conservation approach

CBC was first advocated in 1982 at World National Parks Congress held in Bali, Indonesia. In 1990s the

CBC trying to establish a direct linkage between conservation and local benefits. Such linkage become

driving force leading to conservation by establishing a direct incentive for local people to protect

biodiversity in long term. Bajracharya et al. recognizes the role of local community reduces the

management cost by involving them in the process and also protects biodiversity and other resources. It

is the holistic approach to development that includes,

maintenance of socio-cultural practices,

community development,

promotion of indigenous knowledge,

development of ownership feeling and responsibility at individual,

Community and government level.

Wells et al considered CBC as the best way of achieving sustainable development in developing

countries. It is superior to the conventional approach to conservation in many ways. It is more ethical

than classical approach because it entails a more equitable and democratic treatment of communitymembers.

The purpose of introducing was to better understand the role and contribution of local people in:

Conserving biodiversity

Managing natural resources

Meeting social needs (maintaining local culture, increasing opportunities for income

generation and improving health and well-being)


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Lowering management cost

Sustaining outcomes over time

Major Area addressed by CBC approach

1. Resource management: The local community should be included in every phase of managing

resources from planning to decision making. It helps in deciding how the resource are utilized

and managed locally and effectively. But, community is lacking a clear idea on how to engage

communities in resource management. For ex. Nepal situation is excellent. It is durable but clear

guidance about implementation lacks.

2. Economic cost and benefits: The benefit is concrete i.e. income from ecotourism and

sustainable resource used or they may be in the form of non-economic cultural and social

enhancements.

3. Social and community impacts: It includes improved social status of women, improved health,

and social capital and infrastructure livelihood opportunities.

4. Biodiversity Conservation: Community is effective at enforcing locally determined regularities,

Nepal- Barbed wire fences were not needed around plantation if everyone of community not to

let their goats eat the trees.

5. Sustainability analysis: Community partnership in conservation requires (i) A true local

partnership vs. outside ground and (ii) local management approach that adapt to changing

ecological, economic and social dynamics.

Community Forestry in Nepal

It is initiated on 1978 which is a partnership between local communities and government for protection,

management and sustainable utilization of forest products and ecosystem services to meet the daily

need of local community. It is a Master plan for forestry sector fully recognized the need of people

participation and forest act 1993 provided detailed guidelines and policy framework for community

forestry.

Main components of program are;

Formation of community forest user groups

Preparation of operational plan

Approval of operational plan by DFO

Handover of the forest to the community

In this legal framework CFUGs have been managing, protecting and utilizing forest. 35% of population

involved in community forestry where 25% of total area of forest is managed by community forestry


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management program. At the end of 2008, 11.23 million ha of national forest have been handed to

14,431 CFUGs involving 1.66 million households.

Community forestry program are still conserving the higher plants and animals. The lower plants are stillneglecting. Some of major conservational issues that need to be addressed by community forest are,

a. Neglected lower plants:

CFUGs neglected shrubs, pteridophytes and ground vegetation and removed as weeds

They are not aware of the importance of pteridophytes in controlling soil erosion

Excessive removal of such plant has detrimental effect on soil conservation

b. Habitat alteration

Removal of litter and logged treesthreat the life of polypore sps(dead wood fungi)

Also affect microhabitats for invertebrates, mosses, fungi and lichens

Value of microhabitat is unfamiliar with CFUGs

c. Leaf litter collection Litter is used for animal bedding, compost making, and spread on the field to increase

the nutrient content of soil, prepare organic manure

Has detrimental effect on nutrient cycling and detritus food chain which ultimately

weakens the ecosystem function

d. Lack of knowledge

People do not understand and perceive the term biodiversity

Traditional knowledge on utilization of forest resources has been depleting day by day

e.g. People adopted modern medicine instead of traditional knowledge

e. Socio-economic Heterogeneity

Cultural, ethnic and religious diversity is reflected in CFUGs

Economic class, gender, ethnicity, religion and political affiliation are different amongthe members of a community. It reflects the needs and interest of people

e.g. Blacksmith- hardwood sps.

Women- fodder trees

Local healers- medicinal plants

Elites- greenery

It helps in maintaining the heterogeneity and species diversity

Women and disadvantage group are neglected

Species and Population based conservation approach

Most efforts aimed at conserving biodiversity have focused on protecting individual populations orspecies, although the means pursued usually involve conservation of habitat. The reasons for the

species-population oriented conservation approach are as follow.

a. Legal provisions: Legal mandates for preventing extinction often are explicitly centered on

individual species and populations. On global scale, IUCNs Red List of Threatened species and

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), for instance, listed


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threatened species in a number of appendices, primarily focusing on the species or population

protection. Further the nations like Australia, India, Canada, South Africa, and Brazil, mandate

protections that are modeled in part after the U.S. Endangered Species Act- including creating

and a maintaining a list of endangered and threatened species, identifying and protecting critical

habitat that sustains those species and developing individual recovery programs for the

protection of those species.

b. Conservation education: Efforts to engage the public on conservation issues are often tied to the

publics interest in certain high profile species, especially large mammals and birds, such as the

Giant Panda or the gray wolf. For instance, education conservation campaigns to promote the

conservation programs in Nepal are oriented in endangered species of mammals like one-

horned rhinoceros, Bengal tiger, in Chitwan National Park.

c. Theoretical base: Theories regarding the conservation are largely based on species andpopulation. Measurements of species diversity and richness emphasize counts of species,

making individual species the focus of attention. This approach is still a dominant driver of

conservation globally, particularly applied to conserve the greatest fraction of the worlds

biodiversity by protecting hotspots of species diversity.

Before applying the conservation approach to species and population, their dynamics at a variety of

temporal and spatial scales, and their complexity is an essential prerequisite for developing practical

theory of population ecology that aids in conserving biodiversity.

Populations and How They Change

It requires understanding the link between demographic processes like Birth, Death, Immigration and

Emigration (BIDE factors) and the environment in which population exist.

Views of ecologist regarding population are,

a. Constancy of population- Postulates equilibrium population size by density dependent factors-

prevents population from getting either too small or too large.

b. Extreme variation of species- World consists of many local sub-populations each having high

probability of extinction by unpredictable natural factors.

Organisms vary with regard to

Susceptibility to the vicissitudes of nature

Duration of life span in relation to the frequency of natural disturbances

To extend in which they live in one location or experience wide environmental conditions of

different locations.


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Conservation biologists can track changes in populations by using principles and techniques of

population demography by,

Demography focuses on factors that contribute to population growth and decline includingnatalities and mortalities.

Rate of dispersion among subpopulation (Immigration into and emigration out of habitat

patches) are also component of demography.

Sex ratio, age structure, stage structure, time of first reproduction also influences the

population dynamics thus considered as secondary factors also referred to as life history

characteristics.

The four BIDE factors where the changes in population size can be attributed to one of these.

Mechanism of Population Regulation

Mechanism of population regulation helps to understand the biologists to manipulate the size and

maintain viable population. A population is said to be regulated if it has the tendency to increase when

rare and to decline when common. Population regulation can be explained in terms of density and social

behavior. Howard and Fiske (1911) - differentiate between

a. Catastrophic mortality factors Kills constant proportion of population independent of its

density

b. Facultative mortality factors- Kills increasing proportion of population as density increases.

The same idea is embodied in Density independent factors influence birth and death rate in a

manner independent of population density. Density dependent factors changes with population

size.

Density has no influence on given parameter

a. Density dependence mortality

(parameter) increases at High density

b. Individual growth and clutch size

(Parameters) decrease at high density

The Shape of curve varies among species.


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Most prominent factor for population regulation in density dependent change is mortality and natality,

1. Increase mortality or decrease natality due to shortage of resources

2. Increase mortality due to increase predation, parasitism or disease

3. Increase mortality or decrease natality due to increased intensity of intraspecific socialinteraction

Social behavior

Play important role in population regulation In some animal

Interacts with resource shortage, disease, predation to determine size

Regulates access to resources e.g. food, cover, breeding sites thereby affects survival and

reproduction

Example: House Wrens interfere with breeding of many species by puncturing the egg in nests

built within its territory

Density and social behavior has opposite effect i.e. birth rate may increase or death rate may decrease

at intermediate to high densities. In some organism high population densities is required for breedingactivities or otherwise allow reproduction. This phenomenon called the Allee effect, may affect

breeding if population drops below required density.

Small Populations and their problems

Species reduced to a single or few small populations has special challenge to conservation.

Causes of extinction of small population are;

1. Genetic losses

2. Demographic variation

3. Environmental uncertainty and

4. Natural catastrophes

1. Genetic losses: Mate choice in small population is limited and individuals forced to breed with

close relatives - reduces the survivorship or reproductive capacity that results diminished

genetic diversity.

2. Demographic uncertainty: Demographic characteristics such as sex ratio, reproductive success

and mortality rate changes over short period in small population lead to rapid extinction.

3. Environmental Uncertainty: Causes extinction by causing a sudden increase in reproductive

failure or individual mortality.

4. Natural Catastrophes: Environmental events that are more irregular in timing and larger in

spatial scale than events that fall under the previous category of environmental uncertainty.

Sources and Sink Concept of Conservation

Population dynamics depends on relative quality of good and poor habitat known as source sink

dynamics. Source-sink dynamics have implication for conservation biology.

Source- good habitat (reproductive success is greater than local mortality)


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Sink- poor habitat (local productivity is less than local mortality)

Source and sink also used to describe the population found in the habitat as source population and sink

population. Excess individuals of source population can disperse to sink habitat and maintainpopulation. This has serious implications on conservation of species and population.

For example: Florida Key deer, a small subspecies found only in island chain of Florida peninsula, has

threat of habitat loss and fragmentation due to residential and commercial development. About 15 % of

fawns born in northern part of island emigrated to southern part while only 5% immigrated to northern

part to supports the idea immigration from source help to maintain sink population.

Metapopulation and Conservation

Levins (1969) introduced the concept of the Metapopulation to describe a collection of subpopulations,

each occupying a suitable patch of habitat in a landscape of otherwise unsuitable habitat. Sub-

population are linked together by emigration and immigration of individuals between patches, allowing

for local extinction and re-colonization. The subpopulation in each path can fluctuate in size and when a

subpopulation is very small, local extinction can be prevented by occasional immigrants that arrive from

neighboring patches. This has been termed the rescue effect, which may be important in maintaining

high levels of species diversity, because competitors will not be excluded form patches by poorer

competitors are maintained through immigration.

Metapopulation models useful to describe the structure of population that are found scattered in

isolated patches, threatened or of management interest. Main goal of metapopulation analysis is to

identify particular subpopulation, habitat patch or link between patches that are critical to maintenance

of overall population.

For example: in Nepal the One-horned Rhinoceros metapopulations are relocated artificially in Bardiya

National Park.

Critical Evaluation of Species Conservation

Species approach is too narrow to be used alone as a conservation tool and that additional approaches

should be implemented to balance the inherent limitations of species approach.

1. Niche Concept and Species Conservation

No two species occupy the same niche, every species unique in its needs

Single species is not enough to welfare of others

U.S. Forest Service Regulation specify- indicator species should be used to facilitate efforts to

monitor and maintain viable population of all species but not specify how many species are

needed to monitor the health of wildlife population or to assesses the effect of habitat

alteration


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Narrower the niche of an indicator species, the another species is less likely to occur within the

geographic and ecological limits of that indicator species.

If other approaches are excluded, the species approach often falls sort of legislative mandates

to protect all biodiversity2. Competition for public attention

Competition between two species represents the management indicators however biologists

took indicator species based on the objectives e.g. food, sports, threatened or endangered

3. Minimum viable population (MVP)

MVP is the number of subpopulations required to support metapopulation persistence

Problem to determine viable population (high abundance)

4. Incomplete data

Species has different needs at different points in space and time e.g. requirements in summer

differ from those in winter

It is difficult to monitor and conduct habitat analysis for a single species in numerous location, in

all seasons and different years Thus incomplete data is not best way to make decisions

5. Public support

People support may be strong for the protection of endangered species, public shows little

support that tend not to be featured

People support is declining in ever-increasing number of threatened and endangered species

6. Disproportionate focus on rare and endangered species

Species approach draw attention on the verge of extinction

It hinders overall effort to conserve biological biodiversity due to

o Focus on population of rarest species

o Rare and endangered species exert disproportionate influence on the development of

strategieso Activities like captive breeding, zoos etc. for the protection of rare species is expensive

7. Integrity of ecological patterns and processes

Species approach do not recognize anything valuable than or above the level of species

The whole is important than the sum of its parts but species approach is based on the

unlikely assumption that the entire ecosystem will be preserved if the indicator species are

preserved

Focused on gene banks and captive breeding but the integrity of patterns and process above

species level cannot be assured

Ecosystem approach of conservation

Ecosystem approach to conservation: An approach to maintaining or restoring the composition,structure, and function of natural and modified ecosystems for the goal of long-term ecological and

human sustainability. It is based on a collaboratively develop vision of desired future conditions that

integrates ecological, socioeconomic and institutional perspectives, applied within a geographic

framework defined primarily by natural ecological boundaries.


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Ecosystem approaches to conservation may be applied across many kinds of ecological systems ranging

form natural systems such as wilderness areas, to managed systems such as national forests, rangelands

highly modified areas such as agricultural and suburban and urban landscapes.

Figure: A conceptual basis for ecosystem management

A good way to envision an ecosystem approach to conservation is to conceive of it as three intersecting

circles of focus, interest or concern ecological, socioeconomic and institutional all of which influence

how we use and interact with natural systems. A successful ecosystem approach occurs at the

intersection of all three circles, where concerns for each circle have been satisfied; dwelling in any single

circle, or even at the intersection of two of the three circles indicates too narrow perspective. For

example, concern only for preservation of ecosystems is unrealistic because it ignores societys interests

in those systems or institutional momentum that could have a strong bearing on how those systems are

used.

Key Elements of Ecosystem Approach

1. Since the ecosystem approach concerned for health and vitality of ecosystem the time frame should be

beyond the next year include decade and century- temporal dimension

2. Includes larger landscape , seascape etc. that include sufficient heterogeneity to provide resources for

species during resource scarcity, Besides food it includes habitat cover that facilitate movement

throughout landscape, provide necessary resources for breeding- Spatial dimension


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3. Includes broader diversity of interests, talents and perspective in natural resource decision making and

conservation, top down approach, single institution, command and control decision are not tenable in

ecosystem approach- Human dimension

Figure: Ecosystem management as an expansion of traditional natural resource management in three dimensions

Principles of Ecosystem Management

Operating principles of ecosystem management are;

1. Maintain ecological integrity of management and affected area

2. Gather and use best available scientific information

3. Involve public in planning process

4. Determine desired future conditions

5. Minimize negative impacts to land

6. Base planning with short term and long term targets

7. Adopt holistic approach

8. Practice adaptive management

9. Continually update and disseminate information useful for stakeholders

Using Ecosystem approach to meet the goals of CBD

In October 2000 Conventions of the parties t the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), ecosystem approacheswere endorsed as the primary conceptual framework to use for achieving the goals of CBD. Accordingly, the parties

drew up guidelines for increasing the use of ecosystem approaches, and subsequently the IUCN dedicated a

Commission on Ecosystem Management (CEM). CEM defines an ecosystem approach as a strategy for the

integrated management of land, water and living resources that promotes conservation and sustainable use in a

equitable way. The CEM set forth 12 overarching principles and five points of operational guidance.

Overarching principles


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1. The management of land, water and living resources are matter of societal choice

2. Management should be decentralized to the lowest appropriate level

3. Ecosystem managers should consider the effects of their activities on adjacent and other ecosystems

4. Need to understand and manage the ecosystem in an economic context5. Conservation of ecosystem structure and function to maintain ecosystem services should be a priority

choice

6. Ecosystem must be managed within the limits of their functioning

7. Undertaken at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales

8. Recognizing the varying temporal scales and lag effects

9. Management must recognize change is inevitable

10. Seek appropriate balance between integration and conservation and use of biodiversity

11. Consider all forms of relevant information

12. Involve all relevant sectors of society and scientific disciplines

Operational Guidance

Focus on functional relationship and processes within ecosystem Enhance benefit sharing

Use adaptive management practices

Carryout management actions and

Ensure intersectoral cooperation

Landscape conservation approach

Extensive land degradation and associated environmental problems have occurred in many parts of the

world. The cumulative and interacting effects of habitat loss, grazing pressure, firewood collection and

other altered environmental conditions led to many problems associated with land degradation. These

environmental problems mean that efforts are required to conserve the vegetation and to restore the

biodiversity values of landscapes. Developing sound and practical strategies to restore landscapes is not

a straightforward. Many issues and processes must be individually and collectively understood for

effective action.

One of them is the understanding the biological requirement of focal species in time and space is useful

for identifying human activities that has greater impact on biological conservation. Lambeck (1997,1999)

proposed the focal-species approach in an effort to provide more scientific basis for landscape

restoration. He defined focal species as taxa targeted for management through vegetation-restoration

efforts because they are the ones most influenced by threatening process. For example, focal species

might be the most area-sensitive, dispersal-limited, resource limited and ecological process-limited taxa

in a landscape (Lambeck 1999). Lambeck (1997) claimed that because the most demanding species areselected, a landscape designed and managed to meet their needs will encompass the needs of all other

species.

The other is the Landscape ecology and GIS techniques used to map the healthy, functioning and viable

wildlife population and human activities and interests. Intersection of both allows the identification of

areas of conflict where conservation efforts are needed. Landscape species selected on the basis of,


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Area requirement

Habitat heterogeneity requirements

Ecological functionality

Sociocultural values and Vulnerability to threat

These requirements represent the greatest challenge for conservation because they often have a

greatest spatial requirement to maintain minimum viable population.

Some of the examples of landscape conservation of biodiversity in HKH region are as follow

Kanchenjunga landscape - Bhutan, India, Nepal

Mt. Kailash Sacred Landscape Nepal, India, china

Everest Landscape Nepal and China

Cherapunjee- Chittagong Landscape India and Bangladesh

Brahmaputra-Salween Landscape India, china and Myanmar

Wakhan Conservation Landscape Afghanistan, China and Pakistan

Karakoram Landscape Pakistan and China

National and International efforts on biodiversity conservation

CITES (Convention on International Trade on Endangered species of Flora and Fauna)

CITES is an international agreement between governments. CITES was signed on 3 March 1973, representatives of

80 countries in Washington DC and entered into force on 1 July 1975, CITES has been in operation for over 35

years. The Convention establishes an international legal framework together with common procedural

mechanisms for the strictest control of international commercial trade in species threatened with extinction, and

for an effective regulation of international trade in others This framework and common procedural mechanism are

now used to regulate and monitor international trade in listed species For many years CITES has been among the

conservation agreements with the largest membership, with now 175 Parties. It provides a framework to be

respected by each Party,

The purpose of CITES is

To ensure that wild fauna and flora in international trade are not exploited unsustainably

To ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten

their survival.

The text of the Convention outlines the basic provisions for trade and obligations of each Party, including:

- Trade procedures and requirements - Enforcement measures

- Trade facilitation - Exemptions and special procedures

- Marking - Confiscations

- Reporting - Trade with non-Parties -Amendment of the Appendices
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CITES Appendix

CITES have listed the different flora and fauna and enlisted in their appendix which manages for the conservation

and sustainable utilization. Under the convention there are three appendix viz. 1, 2 and 3. The texts in theappendix are listed below.

1. Appendix I: The species that are threatened with extinction adds further in the endangerment, so this

control trade of those species. For the conservation of enlisted species this has totally stopped the

trade between two countries.

The species that are threatened with extinction are included.

Exception, the enlisted species can be imported for scientific purposes, scientific exhibition or for

the zoo.

For the import and export of the enlisted species the two parties must have the permission

letter. Before this respective country must have given the permission with the resolution of the

scientific forum that the trade of the species will not harm the existence of the respective speciesand the importing parties must ensure they can take care of the respective species.

655 animal species and 298 plant species are enlisted in appendix I

2. Appendix II:

Species not necessarily threatened with extinction, but for which trade must be controlled to

avoid the future probability of becoming endangered

International trade is permitted but regulated. The permission letter must be taken form the

managing administration of the respective country.

4,399 animal species and 28,679 plant species

3. Appendix III

Species for which a country is asking Parties to help with its protection are included

The by-laws of the country singly cant provide sufficient protection of the species. Thus, for

seeking help with other countries the species are included in this list.

The permission letter must be taken from respective countries for the import and export of the

species.

International trade is permitted but regulated (less restrictive than Appendix II)

160 animal species and 10 plant species


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Note: Roughly 5,000 species of animals 29,000 species of plants are protected by CITES

CITES in Nepal

Nepal is signatories to the convention in 12 June, 1975. Since then Nepal is playing active and positive role for the

control of the illegal trade of endangered species and their sustainable utilization.

Nepal has not yet developed the separate act regarding CITES. But, a different article present in different laws has

helped for the illegal control of the trade of endangered species and their conservation. For the implementation of

CITES effectively different law regarding it are as follow.

National park and wildlife conservation act, 2029

Forest Act, 2049

Environment Protection Act, 2053

Import-Export (Control) Act, 2013

CITES Resolution, 2058

Government Offices related with CITES

Department of national parks and wildlife conservation

Department of Forest

Natural Science Museum

Nepal Army

Nepal Police

Revenue administration

Postal administration

National Science Laboratory


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Puratatwic bibhag

Other non-government organization,

National Trust for Nature Conservation

World Wildlife Fund Nepal Program World Conservation Union

Banysjantu nigrani samuha

Convention on Biodiversity Conservation

The CBD was opened for signature in Rio in 1992 which came in effective in 29 December 1993 and,

with 168 signatories and 193 Parties today, is the largest Multilateral Environmental Agreement.

It is the First global, comprehensive agreement to address all aspects of biological diversity: genetic

resources, species, and ecosystems which has recognized - for the first time that the conservation of

biological diversity is a common concern of humankind' and an integral part of the developmentprocess.

The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), known informally as the Biodiversity Convention, is an

international legally binding treaty. The Convention has three main goals:

1. Conservation of biological diversity (or biodiversity);

2. Sustainable use of its components; and

3. Fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from genetic resources

2010 was the International Year of Biodiversity. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity

is the focal point for the International Year of Biodiversity. At the 2010 10th Conference of Parties (COP)

to the Convention on Biological Diversity in October in Nagoya, Japan, the Nagoya Protocol was

adopted.On 22 December 2010, the UN declared the period from 2011 to 2020 as the UN-Decade on

Biodiversity. They, hence, followed a recommendation of the CBD signatories during COP10 at Nagoya in

October 2010.

Issues

Some of the many issues dealt with under the convention include:

Measures and incentives for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity.

Regulated access to genetic resources and traditional knowledge, including Prior Informed Consent

of the party providing resources.

Sharing, in a fair and equitable way, the results of research and development and the benefits

arising from the commercial and other utilization ofgenetic resources with the Contracting Party

providing such resources (governments and/or local communities that provided the traditional

knowledge or biodiversity resources utilized).

Access to and transfer of technology, including biotechnology, to the governments and/or local

communities that provided traditional knowledge and/or biodiversity resources.

Technical and scientific cooperation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treatyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_of_Biodiversityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagoyahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagoyahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_knowledgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotechnologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biotechnologyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneticshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_knowledgehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagoyahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagoyahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Year_of_Biodiversityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiversityhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty


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Impact assessment.

Education and public awareness.

Provision of financial resources.

National reporting on efforts to implement treaty commitments.

Bodies of CBD

Conference of the Parties (COP): The convention's governing body is the Conference of the Parties

(COP), consisting of all governments (and regional economic integration organizations) that have ratified

the treaty. This ultimate authority reviews progress under the Convention, identifies new priorities, and

sets work plans for members. The COP can also make amendments to the Convention, create expert

advisory bodies, review progress reports by member nations, and collaborate with other international

organizations and agreements.

The Conference of the Parties uses expertise and support from several other bodies that are establishedby the Convention. In addition to committees or mechanisms established on an ad hoc basis, two main

organs are:

Secretariat: The CBD Secretariat. Based in Montreal, it operates under the United Nations Environment

Program. Its main functions are to organize meetings, draft documents, assist member governments in

the implementation of the program of work, coordinate with other international organizations, and

collect and disseminate information.

Subsidiary body for Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA): The Subsidiary Body on

Scientific, Technical and Technological Advice (SBSTTA). The SBSTTA is a committee composed of experts

from member governments competent in relevant fields. It plays a key role in making recommendations

to the COP on scientific and technical issues.

CBD Implementation in Country

Figure: CBD Implementation process in Nepal

CBD

National

Government

Integration with other

areas

National BiodiversityStrategy and Action

Conservation initiatives

NationalGoals andobligations
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montrealhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programmehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programmehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programmehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Nations_Environment_Programmehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal


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"National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) are the principal instruments for

implementing the Convention at the national level (Article 6). The Convention requires countries to

prepare a national biodiversity strategy (or equivalent instrument) and to ensure that this strategy is

mainstreamed into the planning and activities of all those sectors whose activities can have an impact

(positive and negative) on biodiversity. To date [2012-02-01], 173 Parties have developed NBSAPs in line

with Article 6. In accordance with this article Nepal has also prepared the Nepal Biodiversity Strategy in

2002 A.D.

IPR and Patent Rights

Intellectual property rights (IPR) are exclusive rights, often temporary, granted by the state for the

exploitation of intellectual creations. Intellectual property rights regimes are national or international

systems that protect and enforce IPR through legally binding frameworks for registration and penalties.

Once IPR have been established, the property cannot be copied or used without the agreement of theowner.

Intellectual property rights fall into two categories: rights relating to industrial property (invention

patents, industrial designs and models, trademarks and geographical indications) and those relating to

literary and artistic property (copyright). The Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual

Property Rights (TRIPS) covers the main categories of intellectual property law.

IPR and CBD

The Convention on Biological Diversity seeks to create a holistic legal regime for the genetic, species and

ecosystem levels of biodiversity with the following objectives as in Article 1.

the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and

equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including appropriate

access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all

rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding.

Achieving these objectives has several implications for IPRs and the conservation of genetic resources.

Amongst the provisions most relevant to IPRs is the general regime on access to genetic resources and

benefit sharing as in Article 15.

The only provision of the Convention that relates directly to intellectual property rights is stated inArticle 16, whose title is "Access to and transfer of technology". Article 16 (5) states as follows:

The Contracting Parties, recognizing that patents and other intellectual property rights may have an

influence on the implementation of this Convention, shall co-operate in this regard subject to national

legislation and international law in order to ensure that such rights are supportive of and do not run

counter to its objectives.


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Another key CBD provision concerns Article 8(j), which relates to traditional knowledge. This provision

calls for Parties to:

Subject to national legislation, respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices ofindigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and

sustainable use of biological diversity and promote their wider application with the approval and

involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices and encourage the equitable

sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge innovations and practices.

The Bonn Guidelines include several references to IPRs. According to Paragraph 16(d), Parties should

consider taking measures to encourage the disclosure of the country of origin of the genetic resources

and of the origin of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local

communities in applications for intellectual property rights.

WTO Agreement on the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)

The WTO TRIPS Agreement is a global agreement that establishes minimum requirements for IPRs.

Article 7 lays out the objectives of the Agreement, which are to:

contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of

technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a

manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations.

The intellectual property areas covered by the TRIPs Agreement are:

Copyright and related rights

Trademarks

Industrial designs

Patents

Layout-designs (topographies) of integrated circuits

Undisclosed information, including trade secrets

Enforcement

Patents

Patents are exclusive rights granted to inventors that prevent others from making, using, selling or

importing the patented invention, for a term of at least 20 years. The criteria for granting patents are

novelty, inventiveness and industrial applicability.


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Article 27, 3(b) establishes what can be patented and the scope for exceptions for plants and animals:

Plants and animals other than micro-organisms, and essentially biological processes for the production

of plants or animals other than non-biological and microbiological processes. However, Members shallprovide for the protection of plant varieties either by patents or by an effective sui generis system or by

any combination thereof. The provisions of this subparagraph shall be reviewed four years after the date

of entry into force of the WTO Agreement.

For biodiversity prospecting, different kinds of agreements have been emerged such as

The Merck- INBio agreement

The Biotics-Polybiotika agreement

The national Cancer institutes Letter of Intent

Roche Agreement

Intellectual Property rights in Nepal

IPR laws not adequately developed in Nepal.

However, patent, design and trademark are defined by the Act in Nepal. For the right over any

product, patent, design or trademark should be registered

For patent right, application should be done to the Department of Industry with detailed

information including the invention, mode of operation or use of patent, special principle or

formula.

The department is empowered not to register the patent to someone's name if not invented by

the applicant himself or already registered or likely to have adverse effect on health, or againstany prevailing law of Nepal

Ramsar Convention

The Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, called the Ramsar Convention, is an

intergovernmental treaty that provides the framework for national action and international cooperation

for the conservation and wise use of wetlands and their resources.

Negotiated through the 1960s by countries and non-governmental organizations that were concerned at

the increasing loss and degradation of wetland habitat for migratory water birds, the treaty was

adopted in the Iranian city of Ramsar in 1971 and came into force in 1975. It is the only global

environmental treaty that deals with a particular ecosystem, and the Conventions member countries

cover all geographic regions of the planet.

Ramsar definition of wetlands, Wetlands are the sites including lakes and rivers, swamps and marshes,

wet grasslands and peat lands, oases, estuaries, deltas and tidal flats, near-shore marine areas,


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mangroves and coral reefs, and human-made sites such as fish ponds, rice paddies, reservoirs, and salt

pans.

Till date

Number of Contracting Parties: 160

Number of sites designated for the Ramsar List: 2,006

Total surface area: 192,822,023 hectares

Mission

Conventions mission is the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national

actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development

throughout the world.

Commitment

The Ramsar Contracting Parties, or Member States, have committed themselves to implementing the

three pillars of the Convention:

To designate suitable wetlands for the List of Wetlands of International and ensure their

effective management;

To work towards the wise use of all their wetlands through national land-use planning,

appropriate policies and legislation, management actions, and public education;

To cooperate internationally concerning trans-boundary wetlands, shared wetland systems,

shared species, and development projects that may affect wetlands.

Ramsar Sites in Nepal

Nepal has agreement on the Ramsar convention in 18th June 195 and came into force since 16th

September, 1975. Nepal showed its conservation commitment by signing the Ramsar Convention onApril 17, 1988. Koshi Tappu wetland is the first wetland site included in Ramsar List in December 17,

1987. Till date Nepal has 9 wetland included in Ramsar list. The area of Nepals Ramsar sites is 34,455

hectares (as of August 11, 2009) representing 0.019% of total area of global Ramsar sites. Nepals

Ramsar sites represent less than 0.5% of total number of Ramsar sites in the world.


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Table: A brief overview of Ramsar site in Nepal

Nepalese Legislation

The National Parks and Wildlife Conservation Act (NPWCA) 1973 and its ten associated regulations are

the principal legal instruments that govern the management of protected areas in Nepal. Section 3 of

the NPWCA categorically prohibits hunting of animals or birds; construction of any house, hut, or other

structure; clearing or cultivation of any part of the land; harvesting of crops; cutting, burning, or

damaging any tree, bush, or other forest product; and mining within national parks or protected areas.

The Act provides complete protection to 27 species of mammals, nine species of birds, and three species

of reptiles. Since its promulgation in 1973, five amendments have been made to this Act. The Fifth

Amendment in 2005 accommodated the provision handing over management responsibility over

protected areas to organizations established under the Act.

Nepal has formulated National Wetlands Policy in 2003 aiming at involving the local people in wetland

management and conserving wetlands biodiversity with wise use of wetland resources. Till date,

Nepal does not have any specific wetland law, and the responsibility of wetland management

solely has not been specified.


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Protected Animals of Nepal

Nepal has diverse wild fauna. There are many faunal species that need protection. According to National

Park and Wildlife conservation Act, there are 27 species of mammals, 9 species of birds and 3 species ofreptiles have been given legal protection. This list of protected species must be updated as given by

Smith, 1997 there are still 10 species of fish and 12 species of butterflies that need protection.

Table: Faunal diversity of Nepal

Source: Himalayan Biodiversity in Changing World, 2012

Nepal has been a signatory of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild

Flora and Fauna (CITES) since 1973 and a number of Nepali species are listed under various

CITES appendices as follows

Mammals - 58 species (29 species in Appendix I; seven species in Appendix II; 22 species in

Appendix III)

Birds - 40 species (16 species in Appendix I; nine species in Appendix II; 15 species in Appendix

III)

Reptiles - 13 species (seven species in Appendix I; four species in Appendix II; two species in

Appendix III)

Amphibians - one species (Appendix II)

Insects - two species (Appendix II)

According to protected list by IUCN altogether, 27 mammal species are listed as threatened: eight as

Endangered, ten as Vulnerable, four as Indeterminate, and five as Insufficiently Known. Additionally, 22

bird species, nine reptile species (one Endangered, two Vulnerable, one Rare, four Indeterminate and

one Insufficiently Known), and two insect species are listed under IUCNs Red List (1995) (Table 2.28).

Nine species of birds are regarded as threatened in Nepal.


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IUCN management categories

According to IUCN, there are six management categories of protected areas. They are listed as follow.

Protected Areas of Nepal

Nepal has established a network of- 20 protected areas of different categories (10 National parks, 6

conservation areas, 3 wildlife reserves and 1 hunting reserves, 11 buffer zone areas) which provides

conservation to at least 80 of the countrys 118 ecosystems.

Protected areas of Nepal can be classified into the following types:

National Park,

Strict nature reserve,

Wildlife reserves,


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Hunting reserves,

Conservation area and

Buffer zones

a. National Parks: An area set aside for the conservation and management of the naturalenvironment including ecological, floral, faunal, and geo-morphological including scientific and

aesthetic importance.

b. Reserve: A general term including strict nature reserve, hunting reserve and wildlife reserves.

Strict Nature Reserve, An area of unusual ecological or other significance, set aside for scientific

study.

c. Wildlife reserve-conservation and management of wildlife resources and their habitat.

d. Hunting Reserve: An area set aside for conservation and management of wildlife to provide sports

hunting for legal hunters.

e. Conservation Area: An area set aside for the conservation of the natural environment and

the natural resources, for its utilization in a balanced way on the basis of an integrated

management plan.f. Buffer Zone: An area designated surrounding national parks and reserves in order to provide for

the use of forest products to local people.

conservation approaches and strategies

Documents