TY - JOUR
T1 - Conservation front lines need experienced troops
T2 - the role of a scientific trust in a changing world
AU - Battisti, Corrado
AU - Ambrosini, Roberto
AU - Assandri, Giacomo
AU - Balestrieri, Rosario
AU - Bassi, Enrico
AU - Bazzi, Gaia
AU - Berlusconi, Alessandro
AU - Bettega, Chiara
AU - Bogliani, Giuseppe
AU - Campioni, Letizia
AU - Catitti, Benedetta
AU - Chiatante, Gianpasquale
AU - Costanzo, Alessandra
AU - Dominoni, Davide
AU - Masoero, Giulia
AU - Montemaggiori, Alessandro
AU - Monti, Flavio
AU - Morganti, Michelangelo
AU - Passarotto, Arianna
AU - Ramellini, Samuele
AU - Ramello, Gloria
AU - Sarà, Maurizio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 Centro Italiano Studi Ornitologici. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - The active participation of scientific trusts, including CISO (Centro Italiano Studi Ornitologici), in applied conservation actions plays a crucial role in addressing the challenges faced by natural and semi-natural landscapes, which are increasingly impacted by improper land-use and land-cover. This is particularly true for those landscapes where Large Infrastructures and Big Events (LIBEs) are planned. In these circumstances, researchers, professionals, and environmentalists typically express their concerns on the impacts of LIBEs through mediatic campaigns, often highlighting the ecological importance of vulnerable areas. These actions form the first, useful level of engagement in conservation. However, we advocate for a more proactive role of scientific trusts, which should entail forming task forces of conservation experts and providing scientific support in management decisions when LIBEs are being considered. In our opinion, scientists should locally produce original field studies by using effective sampling designs such as Before-After-Control-Impact surveys. We highlight that such a targeted level of action may support the public agencies when authorizing (or not) LIBEs, by providing evidence-based information about the ecological value of the target area and the potential impacts of LIBEs on ecosystem functions and local biodiversity. The aim is to avoid emotion-based social media loops, conflicts, and polarizations in the discussions about the ecological impacts of LIBEs.
AB - The active participation of scientific trusts, including CISO (Centro Italiano Studi Ornitologici), in applied conservation actions plays a crucial role in addressing the challenges faced by natural and semi-natural landscapes, which are increasingly impacted by improper land-use and land-cover. This is particularly true for those landscapes where Large Infrastructures and Big Events (LIBEs) are planned. In these circumstances, researchers, professionals, and environmentalists typically express their concerns on the impacts of LIBEs through mediatic campaigns, often highlighting the ecological importance of vulnerable areas. These actions form the first, useful level of engagement in conservation. However, we advocate for a more proactive role of scientific trusts, which should entail forming task forces of conservation experts and providing scientific support in management decisions when LIBEs are being considered. In our opinion, scientists should locally produce original field studies by using effective sampling designs such as Before-After-Control-Impact surveys. We highlight that such a targeted level of action may support the public agencies when authorizing (or not) LIBEs, by providing evidence-based information about the ecological value of the target area and the potential impacts of LIBEs on ecosystem functions and local biodiversity. The aim is to avoid emotion-based social media loops, conflicts, and polarizations in the discussions about the ecological impacts of LIBEs.
KW - Big Events
KW - Biodiversity Conservation
KW - Environmental Impact Assessment
KW - Large Infrastructures
KW - Task Force
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85212262407&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.30456/AVO.2024112
DO - 10.30456/AVO.2024112
M3 - Review article
SN - 0404-4266
VL - 48
JO - Avocetta
JF - Avocetta
ER -