The Integration of Conservation, Biodiversity, and Sustainability
Biology Department, Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA 18104, USA
Sustainability 2019, 11(17), 4676; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174676
Received: 15 August 2019 / Accepted: 21 August 2019 / Published: 28 August 2019
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability, Biodiversity, and Conservation)
Our understanding of conservation biology and sustainability have been independently developing for a long time. Evidence suggests that biodiversity is critical for ecosystem function and services on which humans depend, and is directly linked to the economic, social, and environmental components of sustainability. Because of this, the integration of research from each of these areas should and is becoming a priority. In this article, the development of each of these fields and, ultimately, their integration are reviewed. From this, a number of research priorities that allow for the transition from conflict to mutual compatibility between conservation and sustainability objectives are explored. These priorities include research that will improve our understanding of (1) ecosystem services and function provided by biodiversity that benefit humans; (2) the connection between biodiversity and poverty reduction; (3) biodiverse agriculture; (4) issues surrounding indigenous knowledge; and (5) the development of indicators that allow for the integrative assessment of biodiversity conservation and sustainability objectives.
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Keywords:
agriculture; biodiversity; conservation; ecosystem function; ecosystem service; indigenous knowledge; indicators; poverty reduction
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Niesenbaum, R.A. The Integration of Conservation, Biodiversity, and Sustainability. Sustainability 2019, 11, 4676. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174676
AMA Style
Niesenbaum RA. The Integration of Conservation, Biodiversity, and Sustainability. Sustainability. 2019; 11(17):4676. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174676
Chicago/Turabian StyleNiesenbaum, Richard A. 2019. "The Integration of Conservation, Biodiversity, and Sustainability" Sustainability 11, no. 17: 4676. https://doi.org/10.3390/su11174676
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