A biodiversity monitoring framework for South Africa : progress and directions

Simple item page
dc.contributor.authorReyers, Belindaen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorMcGeoch, Melodie A.en_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2011-05-15T15:55:12Z
dc.date.available2011-05-15T15:55:12Z
dc.date.issued2007
dc.descriptionCITATION: Reyers, B. & McGeoch, M. A. 2007. A biodiversity monitoring framework for South Africa : progress and directions. South African Journal of Science, 103(7-8):295-299.
dc.descriptionThe original publication is available at http://www.scielo.org.za
dc.description.abstractGlobal declines in biodiversity, and the associated impacts on human wellbeing, have triggered national and international agreements to reduce or halt these trends. The Convention on Biological Diversity's 2002 commitment, 'to achieve, by 2010, a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss....', is an often cited example and has caused a flurry of activity in the development of biodiversity monitoring systems. At a national scale, South Africa's National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act and associated legislation have highlighted the need for a national biodiversity monitoring framework. The National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan makes a significant contribution to the development of this framework. As South Africa begins to implement the action plan, a review of existing national monitoring programmes in terms of global and national biodiversity monitoring requirements is important. This paper presents the results of a review of these national programmes, to provide a broad overview, assess alignment with national and global requirements, evaluate gaps and discuss a way forward in the devising of a national biodiversity monitoring framework. We find that the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan aligns well with the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2010 target objectives, but differs in terms of the indicators proposed. Existing national biodiversity monitoring programmes also exhibit these indicator differences and show several gaps in indicator development and data collation. These gaps raise concern around the country's ability to report on the Convention on Biological Diversity's 2010 target, but together with the sound platform provided by the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, provide a good indication of national priorities and a way forward through a combination of short-term achievable tasks and longer-term development of programmes.
dc.description.urihttp://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0038-23532007000400011
dc.description.versionPublisher's version
dc.identifier.citationReyers, B. & McGeoch, M. A. 2007. A biodiversity monitoring framework for South Africa : progress and directions. South African Journal of Science, 103(7-8):295-299
dc.identifier.issn1996-7489 (online)
dc.identifier.issn0038-2353 (print)
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/9643
dc.publisherAcademy of Science of South Africa
dc.rights.holderAuthors retain copyright
dc.subjectBiodiversity
dc.subjectBiodiversity--Monitoring
dc.subjectPopulation decrease
dc.titleA biodiversity monitoring framework for South Africa : progress and directionsen_ZA
dc.typeArticle
Files
Original bundle
Now showing 1 - 1 of 1
Thumbnail Image
Name:
buyers_biodiversity_2007.pdf
Size:
1.03 MB
Format:
Adobe Portable Document Format
Description:
Download article
Download
Collections
Research Articles (Geography and Environmental Studies)