Boosting biodiversity without hurting local economies

With conservation, bigger isn’t always better

2024-06-21

(Press-News.org) DURHAM, N.C. -- Protected areas, like nature reserves, can conserve biodiversity without harming local economic growth, countering a common belief that conservation restricts development. A new study outlines what is needed for conservation to benefit both nature and people.

Conservation zones aim to preserve biodiversity, protect endangered species, and maintain natural habitats. “There’s long been uncertainty about the economic tradeoffs,” said Binbin Li, associate professor of environmental science at Duke Kunshan University, and lead author of the study published on June 20 in Current Biology. “Our findings show achieving both aims is more common than we previously expected. But that balance depends on socioeconomic conditions near a protected area,” said Li.

The study found that 91% of the nearly 10,000 protected areas studied lost no or less natural land than similar but unprotected areas – a conservation win. But perhaps surprisingly, almost half the surveyed protected areas safeguard natural land without hurting, and sometimes helping, local economic growth.

Several factors were key to their success, the researchers say. For one, having nearby roads and a higher level of economic development both help. There are trade-offs, otherwise: the local economy is hurt, or protected areas fail. Biodiverse regions with emerging economies, like the Amazon and Southeast Asia, face the biggest challenges meeting the needs of nature and people.

“Conservation does not happen in a silo,” said co-author Stuart Pimm, Doris Duke Distinguished Professor of Conservation Ecology at Duke University, and an expert on habitat loss and species extinction. “We must consider local development alongside biodiversity conservation to know where and how to protect areas to benefit both the environment and humans.”

In the study, 60% of the communities living around protected areas had similar or higher levels of economic growth than those living around unprotected areas. Protected areas that both safeguard nature while benefiting local development tend to be smaller in size, and closer to markets and cities. “Bigger isn’t necessarily better,” said Li.

“We need to get to a win-win outcome more often, especially in the most biodiverse regions that can ill-afford losing out on economic development or biodiversity,” said Li. “We cannot address biodiversity loss without addressing local development issues.”

CITATION: “The Synergy Between Protected Area Effectiveness and Economic Growth,” Binbin V. Li, Shuyao Wu, Stuart Pimm, Jingbo Cui. Current Biology, June 20, 2024. DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.044

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

ChatGPT is biased against resumes with credentials that imply a disability — but it can improve

2024-06-21

While seeking research internships last year, University of Washington graduate student Kate Glazko noticed recruiters posting online that they’d used OpenAI’s ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools to summarize resumes and rank candidates. Automated screening has been commonplace in hiring for decades. Yet Glazko, a doctoral student in the UW’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, studies how generative AI can replicate and amplify real-world biases — such as those against disabled people. How might such a system, she wondered, rank resumes that implied someone had a disability? In ...

Simple test for flu could improve diagnosis and surveillance

2024-06-21

Fewer than one percent of people who get the flu every year get tested, in part because most tests require trained personnel and expensive equipment. Now researchers have developed a low-cost paper strip test that could allow more patients to find out which type of flu they have and get the right treatment. The test, developed by a team from the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Princeton University, and supported by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, uses CRISPR to distinguish between the two main types of seasonal flu, influenza A and B, as well as seasonal ...

UT Health San Antonio researcher awarded five-year, $2.53 million NIH grant to study alcohol-assisted liver disease

2024-06-21

SAN ANTONIO, June 21, 2024 – Liver transplants associated with alcohol-related disease are growing at a rapid pace, shifting research to address pathologies behind the ailments in light of a limited supply of organ donors. At the forefront is Mengwei Zang, MD, PhD, an internationally recognized leader in chronic liver disease research at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) who was just awarded a groundbreaking five-year, $2.53 million grant from the National ...

Giving pre-med students hands-on clinical training

2024-06-21

A group of pre-medical students received valuable hands-on clinical training during a workshop in the new Smart Hospital at The University of Texas at Arlington. The Clinical Experience Workshop allowed 10 pre-med students to participate in experiential activities and to interact one-on-one with “patients” portrayed by students from the UTA Department of Theatre Arts. “This was a clinical opportunity for pre-med students with no clinical background to be immersed in clinical medicine, learn basic skills, and experience actual patient encounters with simulated patients ...

CAMH research suggests potential targets for prevention and early identification of psychotic disorders

2024-06-21

A new study by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH), entitled Mental Health Service Use Before First Diagnosis of a Psychotic Disorder and published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that nearly 75 per cent of young Ontarians with a psychotic disorder had at least one mental health service visit within the three years prior to their first diagnosis of the disorder. The retrospective cohort study—one of the largest of its kind—suggests that youth with a psychotic disorder are nearly four times as likely to have a previous mental health-related hospital ...

Mapping the heart to prevent damage caused by a heart attack

2024-06-21

Scientists at the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in Australia have produced a first of its kind integrated map of heart cells which unlocks the process of cardiac fibrosis – a major cause of heart failure. The discovery opens new avenues to develop targeted drugs to prevent scarring damage caused after a heart attack. During and after a heart attack, the heart’s muscles are damaged leading to the formation of scar tissue which lacks the elasticity and contractility of healthy heart muscle. This damage is permanent and can affect ...

Study challenges popular idea that Easter islanders committed ‘ecocide’

2024-06-21

Some 1,000 years ago, a small band of Polynesians sailed thousands of miles across the Pacific to settle one of the world’s most isolated places—a small, previously uninhabited island they named Rapa Nui. There, they erected hundreds of “moai,” or gigantic stone statues that now famously stand as emblems of a vanished civilization. Eventually, their numbers ballooned to unsustainable levels; they chopped down all the trees, killed off the seabirds, exhausted the soils and in the end, ruined their environment. Their population and civilization collapsed, with just a few thousand people remaining when ...

Chilling discovery: Study reveals evolution of human cold and menthol sensing protein, offering hope for future non-addictive pain therapies.

2024-06-21

Chronic pain affects millions worldwide, and current treatments often rely on opioids, which carry risks of addiction and overdose. Non-addictive alternatives could revolutionize pain management, and new research targeting the human protein which regulates cold sensations, brings scientists closer to developing pain medications that don't affect body temperature and don't carry the risks of addiction. Research published in Science Advances on June 21, led by Wade Van Horn, professor in Arizona State University’s School of Molecular Sciences and Biodesign ...

Elena Beccalli, new rector of Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, takes office on 1st July

2024-06-21

Elena Beccalli will be rector of the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore on 1st July for the four-year term 2024–2028. After being appointed by the University's Board of Directors, which convened today, Thursday 20 June 2024, Professor Beccalli succeeds Professor Franco Anelli. She is the first woman appointed to this role in the history of our university. The decision of the Board of Directors follows the appointment of Professor Elena Beccalli, Dean of the School of Banking, Finance, and Insurance ...

Pacific Northwest Research Institute uncovers hidden DNA mechanisms of rare genetic diseases

2024-06-21

Seattle, WA — June 21, 2024 — Researchers at the Pacific Northwest Research Institute (PNRI) and collaborating institutions have made a groundbreaking discovery that could significantly advance our understanding of genomic disorders. Their latest study, funded by the National Institutes of Health[1] and published in the journal Cell Genomics, reveals how specific DNA rearrangements called inverted triplications contribute to the development of various genetic diseases. Understanding the Study Genomic disorders occur when there are changes or mutations in DNA that disrupt normal biological functions. These can lead ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

National poll finds gaps in community preparedness for teen cardiac emergencies

One strategy to block both drug-resistant bacteria and influenza: new broad-spectrum infection prevention approach validated

Modular assembly of chiral nitrogen-bridged rings achieved by palladium-catalyzed diastereoselective and enantioselective cascade cyclization reactions