Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm, Sweden.

CEE is an open collaboration with a global mission to provide the best available evidence to inform decision making in the environmental sector. We are witnessing the beginning of a new age—the Anthropocene. Whether you are a scientist, policy maker, activist or concerned citizen, the challenges we are facing are enormous. Evidence about what works and what doesn’t in environmental management is needed to meet these challenges and CEE has developed to collate, synthesize and disseminate reliable evidence to meet this need.

We hope that this conference serves to raise awareness and facilitate increased adoption among policy makers, scientists, donor agencies, and concerned citizens of the work of CEE and the knowledge we currently have.

So who is this conference for? Anyone who believes that information about what works and what doesn’t. Better evidence is needed for people to make informed choices. Better decisions are needed about how to create a better environment, making the world a better place.

We hope that this conference will be the start of an ongoing conversation between CEE and the diverse actors at the science-policy interface and will raise awareness about methods used in obtaining high-level evidence as well as the value of evidence-informed decision-making.

Full details of the conference can be found at www.environmentalevidence.org/meetings

Please print out the flyer below and post on your notice boards and in your office.

First Announcement CEE Conference (PDF)

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Deforestation of peat swamp forest for oil palm plantation in Indragiri Hulu, Riau Province, Sumatra. (Image and caption courtesy of Wikipedia.)

While the study was conducted in Indonesia (which has suffered among the fastest rates of deforestation in recent decades), its findings have broad implications for other regions.

Perhaps the main take home of this work is that just as the causes of deforestation are complex, so are the solutions. Simply fencing off an area and limiting human access is not enough. Protection of forested areas must be supported by other approaches. Community engagement is crucial, in particular, education and buy-in of local people on the benefits of intact forest. Enforcement of existing laws, likewise needs to complement conservation efforts. And again, these must support other conservation strategies, such as restoration of degraded land adjacent to protected areas. (Conservation organization SavingSpecies is an example of this approach being implemented.)

There is no one solution to deforestation. It is a complex and ever-changing mix of different approaches. Only by understanding this, and developing the necessary tools and models, can we hope to ever conserve Earth’s fast-dwindling biodiversity.

The post Protecting forest is not enough to prevent deforestation appeared first on Biodiversity Professionals.

Site purpose

Screenshot of World Archive of Science Pinterest page, showing the variety of topics. (Click for full size image.)

Use of site content

All of the content is available under a Creative Commons License, so you can freely use it for non-commercial purposes provided attribution is given.

Site usability

Plate from Biologia Centrali-Americana. Insecta. Coleoptera. Volume I-VII, By Henry Walter Bates et al, Bernard Quaritch Limited, London., 1881.

How to use the site

Here’s how to navigate the site:

1. The base URL (http://www.was-archives.org) redirects to the Google Drive page. From here you have several options.
2. Click on the icons (roll over for text descriptions). The two of most interest (to me) are Books and Plates. Click on these for alphabetical lists of the available books and images in the archive. The Books section includes journals, articles and monographs as well as numerous volumes.
3. Alternatively, you can use the search field below the icons, as with any other website.
4. Click the Add to Drive button on any of the document pages to include it in your Google Drive folder for easy access.

Site issues and problems

There are some oddities and annoyances. For example, when you look for Darwin’s Origin of Species, it is buried in the third page of search engine results under the category of “Darwin’s books”. Also when you use the search function, you have to put up with a Google Ad. Sometimes the link goes to the museum blog and then back to the archive, which is a tad confusing.

Conclusions for biodiversity researchers

Overall, I found this website quite easy to use and chock full of biodiversity-related resources. The document reading interface is more user-friendly than the Biodiversity Heritage Library (although the latter’s search function is better). But there is so much here that it should prove an invaluable resource for researchers with the time and patience to explore the vast quantity of information.

Have fun exploring!

(Want us to review your biodiversity-related website? Send us the URL!)

The post Treasure trove of species and biodiversity info on World Archive of Sciences appeared first on Biodiversity Professionals.

Map of animal species richness worldwide. This kind of map may help conservationists prioritize conservation efforts. (Click image for full size.)

Biodiversity Professionals group member Dr. Clinton Jenkins has created a website Biodiversity Mapping dedicated to mapping Earth’s biodiversity.

Renowned for his beautiful maps depicting species diversity of various vertebrate groups, Dr. Jenkins announced the website today. According to the email announcement:
“The site was created to provide easy access to maps and GIS data that summarize patterns of species diversity. Current maps cover three vertebrate groups, the birds, mammals, and amphibians. For each taxa, there are maps of various subdivisions of the species (e.g., threatened, small-ranged, major Orders, etc.). More will be added in the future as time and data become available.

Content on the site is available free for educational and scientific use (i.e., non-commercial). For those interested in using the data in their research, details for an appropriate scientific citation are on the website.

Please do share widely, and feel free to offer suggestions on how to expand and improve the site.”

Please contact Dr. Jenkins through the new website if you have any questions or feedback.

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