Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals: Ecological connectivity

January 7, 2023
Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
Category: DPN Topics

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Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals: Ecological connectivity

Subject : Environment

What is Ecological Connectivity?

Definition: Ecological Connectivity is the unimpeded movement of species and the flow of natural processes that sustain life on Earth.
Ecological connectivity is an essential part of nature. It is necessary for the functionality of ecosystems, is key for the survival of wild animals and plant species and is crucial to ensuring genetic diversity and adapting to climate change across all biomes and spatial scales.

Why Is Ecological Connectivity Important?

It is an important planning tool for governments to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in order to achieve economic, development and environmental goals.
Connectivity conservation (maintaining, enhancing or restoring connectivity) is a direct response to the destruction and fragmentation of vegetation, habitats and loss of Earth’s species.

Ecological connectivity in the IPBES assessment:

The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in 2019 revealed that maintaining and designing connectivity are essential for the functioning of many ecological systems and processes and highlighted how mainstreaming connectivity into economic growth and development is essential to achieve the 2030 Agenda.
Report findings:
- Only 9.3-11.7 per cent of protected areas are estimated to be adequately connected;
- Protected areas coverage of species distribution remains insufficient. For example, just 9 per cent of migratory bird species are adequately covered by protected areas across all stages of their annual cycle;
- The conservation status of migratory species and the ecological connectivity and resilience of their habitats are worsening;
- Protected area management strategies would be more effective if they took greater consideration of spatial and functional connectivity, among other factors.

Ecological connectivity and Sustainable development goals:

SDGs	Relation to ecological connectivity
SDG 9	One of the major cause of habitat distruction. The planning and deployment of infrastructures need to consider their ecological footprints by maintaining the connections among the different elements of the landscape.
SDG 11	The connectivity of urban green spaces promotes their ecological functionality and the ecosystem services associated with it.
SDG 12	Connectivity supports ecosystems and species that underpin agricultural productivity, fisheries and other natural resources that provide for food, livelihoods and economic benefits.
SDG 13	Connectivity improves the capacity of ecosystems to adapt to climate change -the distribution of species is expected to change due to global warming: if species are able to move and follow more favourable climates and shifting habitats, they can better adapt to climate change.
SDG 14	Considering connectivity among marine protected areas is key to avoid inconsistencies in management across and beyond national jurisdictions and is a key feature to maintain biodiversity persistence.
SDG 15	When defining conservation strategies, connectivity is key for the identification and planning of networks of protected areas or other area-based management tools but also for assessing the functional need for ecological corridors connecting different sites.

Ecological connectivity and Multilateral environmental agreements(MEAs):

MEAs	Ecological connectivity
1. Convention on Migratory Species (CMS)	In the CMS context, the concept of ecological connectivity also includes: Systems that maintain the cyclical and predictable movements of animals through and between areas which may or may not be contiguous; An expression of conservation objectives in terms of whole migration systems and functionality of the migration process itself, not just the status of populations or habitats.
2. Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD)	In the context of the CBD, ecological connectivity is relevant for the achievement of all three CBD objectives: conservation of biological diversity; the sustainable use of its components; and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources, including by appropriate access to genetic resources and by appropriate transfer of relevant technologies, taking into account all rights over those resources and to technologies, and by appropriate funding.
3. Ramsar Convention on Wetland	In the context of Ramsar, ecological connectivity includes: Hydrological connectivity at the river basin/river catchment scale; Scaled up wetland ecosystem restoration, linked to the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.
4. United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)	In the context of the UNCCD, ecological connectivity includes: Actions designed to achieve targets for Land Degradation Neutrality (maintaining or enhancing the amount and quality of land resources necessary to support ecosystem functions and services and enhance food security).
5. United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)	In the context of the UNFCCC, ecological connectivity includes: An element of internationally coordinated nature-based solutions, as a holistic and essential component of the overall global efforts for climate change mitigation, resilience and adaptation.
6. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)	In the context of the UNESCO, ecological connectivity includes: ecological or habitat connectivity as part of the basis for designation of serial sites of outstanding universal value under the World Heritage Convention; connectivity between different components of the landscape in Biosphere Reserves.

Migratory Species and Connectivity:

Connectivity is key for the identification and planning of the spatial structure of networks of sites (protected areas and other sites) managed for conservation purposes which support this functional need.
The Strategic Plan for Migratory Species 2015-2023 calls for taking a migration system approach into conservation strategies which give holistic attention not only to populations, species and habitats, but to the entire span of migration routes and the functioning of the migration process.
Mission: To promote actions to ensure the favourable conservation status of migratory species and their habitats, and to ensure the ecological integrity, connectivity and resilience of migration systems.
Target 9: International and regional action and cooperation between States for the conservation and effective management of migratory species fully reflects a migration systems approach, in which all States sharing responsibility for the species concerned engage in such actions in a concerted way.
Target 10: All critical habitats and sites for migratory species are identified and included in area-based conservation measures so as to maintain their quality, integrity, resilience and functioning in accordance with the implementation of Aichi Target 11, supported where necessary by environmentally sensitive land-use planning and landscape management on a wider scale.

Connectivity in the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework

COP13 endorsed the Gandhinagar Declaration on CMS and The Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, which outlines the CMS Priorities for the framework and reflected the key messages resulted from the COP13 High-Level Segment being focused on the importance of connectivity for the post-2020 framework.

Connectivity in Other Relevant Processes and Events:

Beyond the Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework, connectivity is also being addressed in various other processes and events:
- 7th session of the plenary of IPBES (2019)
- United Nations High level summit on Biodiversity (2020)
- IUCN world conservation congress (2021)
- UNFCCC CoP26 (2021)
- 75th session of UNGA (2021)

Connectivity and Ecosystem Restoration:

An improvement of the ecological continuum is needed in order to mitigate the effect of change in land use and climate change.
The UN Decade for Ecosystem Restoration 2020-2030 brings attention to scaling up the restoration of degraded and destroyed ecosystems as a proven measure to fight the climate crisis and enhance food security, water supply and biodiversity.
Ecological Connectivity and Ecosystem Restoration are interdependent: retaining or reinstating connectivity is crucial to securing healthy, resilient and sustainable ecosystems while restoring degraded habitat is a key management tool for improving connectivity in the landscape.