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Changing conservation strategies in Europe: a framework integrating ecosystem services and dynamics

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Abstract

Protecting species and their habitats through the designation and management of protected areas is central to present biodiversity conservation efforts in Europe. Recent awareness of the importance of ecosystem dynamics in changing environments and of human needs for the sustainable provision of ecosystem services expose potential weaknesses in current European conservation management strategies and policy. Here we examine these issues in the light of information gained from reviews, workshops, interviews and discussions undertaken within the RUBICODE project. We present a new conceptual framework that joins conventional biodiversity conservation with new requirements. The framework links cultural and aesthetic values applied in a static environment to the demands of dynamic ecosystems and societal needs within social–ecological systems in a changing Europe. We employ this framework to propose innovative ways in which ecosystem service provision may be used to add value to traditional conservation approaches by supporting and complementing present European biodiversity conservation strategy and policy while remaining within the guidelines of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Richard Harrington and Paula Harrison for many helpful discussions and for their perceptive comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. We are grateful to the other members of RUBICODE and to all those stakeholders who attended the RUBICODE workshops or provided interviews or responded to the e-questionnaire for their valuable discussions and insights. This work was supported by the RUBICODE Coordination Action Project (Rationalising Biodiversity Conservation in Dynamic Ecosystems; www.rubicode.net) funded under the Sixth Framework Programme of the European Commission (Contract No. 036890). RUBICODE is an endorsed project of the Global Land Project of the IGBP. It was also supported by the Centre of Excellence FIBIR (Estonia) and by the basic research funding (KB1) of the Ministry of ANF, the Netherlands.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organismal Biology, Division of Zoology and Functional Anatomy, University of Salzburg, Hellbrunner Strasse 34, 5020, Salzburg, Austria

    John R. Haslett

  2. Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University Centre for the Environment, Oxford, OX1 3QY, UK

    Pam M. Berry

  3. Environmental Social Science Research Group (ESSRG), Department of Environmental Economics, Szent István University, Péter Károly u.1., 2100, Gödöllő, Hungary

    Györgyi Bela & György Pataki

  4. Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA, Wageningen, The Netherlands

    Rob H. G. Jongman

  5. Department of Conservation Ecology and Entomology, and Centre for Agricultural Biodiversity, Faculty of Agrisciences, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa

    Michael J. Samways

  6. Institute of Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Tartu, Lai St. 40, Tartu, 51005, Estonia

    Martin Zobel

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  1. John R. Haslett
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Haslett, J.R., Berry, P.M., Bela, G. et al. Changing conservation strategies in Europe: a framework integrating ecosystem services and dynamics. Biodivers Conserv 19, 2963–2977 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-009-9743-y

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