 The
Biodiversity Partnership website is a Defenders of Wildlife
initiative dedicated to promoting and supporting regional and
statewide strategies to conserve biodiversity. The initiative
has its roots in the Oregon Biodiversity
Project, a collaborative effort begun in the mid-1990s that
resulted in one of the nation's first statewide biodiversity assessments. The Oregon project provided an early model for an emerging new
generation of regional and statewide conservation plans. The difficulties
Defenders and its partners confronted in that pioneering effort
also highlighted the need for a more effective way to share the
growing body of practical knowledge and experience gained through
similar conservation planning efforts in widely different settings
across the country.
The Biodiversity Partnership is an attempt to bring together
in one place a broad range of information about current broad-scale
conservation planning efforts and the challenges involved in developing
effective biodiversity conservation strategies. This website provides
both a broad overview of these topics and links to more detailed
information.
The biodiversity planning
section highlights special programs in a few states that initiated
assessments and strategies before they were required to do so.
Congress required fish and wildlife agencies to develop comprehensive
wildlife conservation strategies by October, 2005 in order to
continue to receive funding through the State Wildlife Grant Program.
Information on the status of the strategies and links to the states
is included.
The Conservation Economics section
provides applied socio-economic research related to biodiversity
wildlife habitat conservation. This activity includes three interrelated
components: research, policy formulation, and project implementation.
The section also provides research findings and policy recommendations
with respect to the use of economic and institutional incentives
for biodiversity conservation.
The habitat conservation
section begins with an interactive presentation on designing conservation
networks. A subsection on habitat and sprawl highlights the opportunties
and challenges associated with conserving land in developing landscapes.
A subsection on habitat in agricultural landscapes summarizes
issues unique to farmlands and profiles some landowners who have
done an exceptional job conserving biodiversity. We also feature
a subsection on managing habitat in reserved forests and lands
managed for timber production.
Because a great deal of important habitat and other elements
of biodiversity are found on private land, a summary of incentives
for private landowners is provided for each state.
High-quality, useful information about the overall status and
distribution of biodiversity needs to be readily accessible to
support effective conservation plans. Several states have developed
unique approaches to biodiversity
information, and some have initiated citizen science programs.
Competition from invasive species
is second only to habitat loss as a cause for species endangerment.
Many states have developed unique programs to address invasive
species.
Many states have laws addressing some aspects of biodiversity
conservation, but laws addressing biodiversity in an integrated
way are rare. Few states and regions have secure, dedicated funding
for habitat conservation. Go to the
policy and funding section to find biodiversity policy initiatives
and a compilation of funding mechanisms relevant to biodiversity
in each state.
Updated 11-2-06
|
