Journal Article

Conservation Focus on Europe: Major Conservation Policy Issues That Need to Be Informed by Conservation Science

BÁLDI, ANDRÁS, SOUSA-PINTO, ISABEL, MIHÓK, BARBARA, LÖVEI, GABOR, CAN, OZGUN EMRE, NEVIN, OWEN, LIVOREIL, BARBARA, DIETERICH, MARTIN, KATI, VASSILIKI, SELVA, NURIA, PULLIN, ANDREW S

2009

Overview

Europe is one of the world's most densely populated continents and has a long history of human-dominated land- and seascapes. Europe is also at the forefront of developing and implementing multinational conservation efforts. In this contribution, we describe some top policy issues in Europe that need to be informed by high-quality conservation science. These include evaluation of the effectiveness of the Natura 2000 network of protected sites, implications of rapid economic and subsequent land-use change in Central and Eastern Europe, conservation of marine biodiversity and sustainability of fisheries, the effect of climate change on movement of species in highly fragmented landscapes, and attempts to assess the economic value of ecosystem services and biodiversity. Broad policy issues such as those identified are not easily amenable to scientific experiment. A key challenge at the science-policy interface is to identify the research questions underlying these problem areas so that conservation science can provide evidence to underpin future policy development.

• Publisher: Blackwell Publishing Inc,Wiley-Blackwell,Blackwell Publishing Ltd
• Subject: Biodiversity / Biodiversity conservation / ciencia relevante para la política / Climate change / Climate change policy / Climate effects / conservación basada en evidencia / Conservation / Conservation biology / Conservation Focus: Priorities for Policy-Relevant Conservation Research: A View from SCB Regional Sections / Conservation of Natural Resources / Conservation policy / Continents / development policy / Eastern European region / economic valuation / Economics / Ecosystem / Ecosystem services / Environment / Environmental conservation / Environmental policy / Europe / evidence-based conservation / Fisheries / Habitat conservation / intercambio de conocimiento / interfaz ciencia-política / knowledge exchange / Land use / land use change / landscapes / Marine / Natural resources conservation / Nature conservation / policy-relevant science / Population density / science-policy interface / Sustainability / Sustainable agriculture