Volume No. 11, 2002
INTERNATIONAL
While GAP is being implemented throughout the U.S., scientists from many other countries are interested in applying GAP methodology in their regions. The Gap Analysis Program represents an effective tool for identifying underprotected species and ecosystems to be targeted for conservation and management activities. In the process of accomplishing its main task, GAP generates a number of products that can be used to address various political, economical, social, legal, and educational challenges, which will lead to increased awareness of biodiversity and more effective conservation. GAP would provide a major advance to biodiversity and habitat conservation and management to the Republic of Georgia. Below I identify potential applications of GAP in Georgia.
The Republic of Georgia (Figure 1) is located in Transcaucasia on the eastern Black Sea coast (population 5.3 million, area 69,700 sq km [26,900 sq mi], elevation 0-5,500 m; capital Tbilisi). Its location and physico-geographical conditions have contributed to the richness and diversity of its wildlife and ecosystems. Georgia participates in a number of regional or international agreements and conventions on environmental conservation and has responsibility to protect biodiversity by improving the effectiveness of conservation initiatives.
Figure 1. Location maps of transcaucasion region.
Environmental management and the conservation of biological diversity in Georgia have suffered since the collapse of the USSR and continued socioeconomic hardship. On the other hand, rapid economic growth threatens long-term survival of species and ecosystems. Georgia’s diverse habitats, noted for their biological diversity, can become threatened by development activities. Existing topographic and land cover maps of Georgia are outdated. In the situation of expected economic expansion, agricultural change, and urban/industrial development, the lack of reliable land cover, habitat, and species distribution maps is a severe handicap for Georgia’s environmental managers.
There are a number of conservation projects in Georgia currently under way with significant support from international funding institutions. In fact, we have implemented a protected areas system of Georgia under which a number of protected territories were designated and are currently being established. Application of GAP would facilitate assessment and assist in the identification of a biologically defensible protected areas network. Besides, it could provide spatial mapping support for designing protected areas and planning management activities within those protected areas currently being established.
The Caucasus region was designated by Conservation International as one of 25 biologically rich areas around the world under significant threat of destruction (biodiversity hotspot). The area includes parts of Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan and small portions of Russia, Iran, and Turkey. The ecosystems that comprise the Caucasus hotspot contain more than twice the animal diversity found in adjacent regions of Europe and Asia. The potential of successful application of GAP for identification and targeting of conservation and management measures in the hotspots is very high.
I represent the Black Sea Regional Activity Centre for Biodiversity Conservation (Batumi, Georgia). I am in the United States on a grant under the Contemporary Issues fellowship program funded by the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs, under the Freedom Support Act, administered by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).
The main objective of my research is to understand how GAP objectives and methodology are applied in private cases. The survey methodology includes interviewing and consulting the reserve identification, selection, and design specialists involved in the execution of GAP at different levels. The cooperation and assistance of the Idaho Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit (CFWRU) and the National GAP Program will be invaluable. The subjects of discussions, among other things, are project management, data acquisition, image classification, wildlife habitat relationship models, data assessment and oversight, validation, and usability.
Part of my focus is to familiarize myself with information (articles, Internet resources) available on both terrestrial and aquatic GAP. The Web site of the National Gap Analysis Program contains a useful overview of the program and methodology. It provides links to all the state GAP Web sites, which have detailed descriptions of the project methodology and workflow for each particular state and therefore provide a wide variety of examples/solutions, some of which can be applied to Georgian reality.
An important part of my project will be a 1-month internship in one of the GAP field offices, where I can learn new data processing and analysis techniques. One of the short-term results of the study will be recommendations for implementation of the Gap Analysis Program in Georgia. In collaboration with local environmental organizations, notably the Georgian Centre for Conservation of Wildlife and WWF Caucasus, the results of the study and recommendations will be presented and disseminated to relevant regional and national governmental agencies, nongovernmental organizations, and mass media as a workshop. The workshop will introduce and justify the need for conducting GAP for Georgia, as well as obtaining recommendations for producing a project proposal for implementation. The U.S. National GAP Program as well as the Idaho CFWRU are interested in participating in and providing technical assistance to a Gap Analysis project in Georgia.
Hokkaido is the northernmost main island of Japan. The island is 78,037 km2 in size, is extensively forested, and has cold, snowy winters and cool, humid summers. Hokkaido Island is home to a diverse group of northern fauna and flora, including 71 freshwater fish species, 9 amphibians, 15 reptiles, 403 birds, 60 mammals, and 2,503 vascular plant species. Despite the important roles these species play in terrestrial ecosystems, a lack of conservation efforts and insufficient information on biological vulnerability resulted in listing many species in Hokkaido’s Red Data Book (RDB; a list of endangered species). For example, 20 species of mammals such as the least shrew (Sorex minutissimus), ermine (Mustela erminea), bats (myotis, noctule, and more), and many others have been listed in Hokkaido’s RDB. The loss of Hokkaido’s biodiversity is directly linked to habitat modification as well as the growing number of invasive alien species.
With the complex landownership and environmental management system of Japan, it is a challenge to identify priority areas for the protection of biodiversity. Although the Department of Environment produces GIS-based land cover maps at 1:50,000 scale, Japan’s vegetation classification system is not at the alliance level of the NVCS scheme. Consequently, only a few attempts of predicting or modeling distribution of vertebrates have been presented by academic research in Japan. Additionally, just as in many other nations, the availability of biological information of Japan varies among local administrations, institutions, and many research organizations. Because of these obstacles to biodiversity conservation and ecological planning, no effort had been planned to show how the Gap Analysis method of identifying gaps in biodiversity protection could be applied in Japan.
The Hokkaido conservation community has jointly recognized the need for species distribution data for key species of concern, including both invertebrates and vertebrates. To meet this need, the Hokkaido Gap Analysis Program (HGAP) was formed in 1999 as a study group of GAP methods and application. The members of HGAP believe that the methodology of GAP can help to coordinate information required for the biodiversity conservation of Hokkaido. Based on members’ continuous research and work for the last four years, HGAP has just published a report called “For Effective Conservation of Biodiversity – Applying Gap Analysis in Hokkaido” (HGAP 2002). Contents of this report include: (1) What is Gap Analysis? (2) Learning from the U.S. National GAP, (3) Getting Gap Analysis into conservation practice in Hokkaido, (4) Checklists of fauna and flora, (5) Species distributions and database, (6) Case studies of Gap Analysis on Hokkaido’s vertebrates and alpine flora, and (7) Comments for future biodiversity conservation. Cooperators in HGAP include many researchers from universities, national and local institutes, and several private consulting corporations. Tremendous additional support is also provided by a variety of member nongovernmental/nonprofit organizations.
To facilitate cooperative development and use of information among the members, HGAP produced a database containing detailed distribution of vertebrates based on over 500,000 biological records such as published journal articles, printed distribution maps, and museum records. One of the primary goals of HGAP was to engage numerous investigators and researchers at a variety of institutions in creating novel data sets on a described scale. To a certain degree, this has succeeded. Based on this database, relative abundance of vertebrates was mapped by using 5 km2 block-size in ARC/INFO and ARC/VIEW. This database maintains accuracy and facilitates accumulation of biological information, enabling the project to provide a better understanding of the distribution of species and application of the gap analysis approach.
HGAP is creating new opportunities for research and providing options for solving problems. Throughout the development of the HGAP database, many valuable scientific insights were found. Overcoming information gaps (Skerl 1999) is key to a better understanding of the protection of biodiversity. While coordinating the creation of a database among the HGAP members, a paucity of compiled information on distributions of certain vertebrate species was discovered. Distribution records on these species are available only in a few biological reports. These species include bats (i.e., Myotis spp., Rhinolophus spp., Pipistrellus spp., and Nyctalus spp.), Siberian salamander (Salamandrella keyserlingii), Ezo salamanders (Hynobius retardatus), and some mustelids (Mustela spp. and Martes spp.) While there may be a lack of adequate information sources to describe these species’ habitat, others have received more attention from the Hokkaido conservation community. For instance, over 2,000 biological records are available for describing distribution of black-faced bunting (Emberiza spodocephala) in Hokkaido. These information gaps may prohibit the inclusion of certain species in conservation planning. Clearly, further development of information on several species is needed and will depend on increased communication and collaboration among HGAP members and other scientists.
For our case study, efforts to identify gaps in the network of nature reserves have been conducted by using our preliminary database and GIS only if adequate data sources were available for species. These species include mountain hawk eagle (Spizaetus nipalensis), brown bear (Ursus arctos), sika deer (Cervus nippon), and alpine vegetation. This article, however, only briefly reports the results of some examples of GAP assessment.
Aquatic habitats (i.e., streams, lakes, and ponds) for waterfowl were evaluated. We determined that there is insufficient protection for waterfowl habitats, especially in several important hotspots. For instance, we identified some streams and ponds that are home to over 70 waterfowl species (the maximum number of waterfowl species for a single aquatic habitat is 85 in Hokkaido); however, these hotspots are not included in any type of habitat and population protection regime.
Another approach to assessing existing and proposed hotspots of biodiversity is to capture the variation in mountain geography. Alpine vegetation is one of the magnificent natural resources of Hokkaido Island. Members of HGAP used geographical and topographical variables to identify alpine vegetation distributions across 90 mountain ranges. They determined that 55 mountain ranges have gaps in protection.
Developing a comprehensive spatial database in Japan presented challenges for both spatial and tabular data acquisition. However, it provided opportunities for data sharing and standardizing procedures for assessment and conservation of biodiversity. We have only practiced GAP methodologies on several species groups, but the adaptation and refinement of GAP techniques and procedures will definitely help to identify priority areas for biodiversity protection. Further discussions and examples of case studies can be found on the HGAP Web page at http://www.HGAP.org. Finally, we acknowledge many friends in the GAP projects of the U.S. who guided us by showing their accomplishments for many years.
HGAP. 2002. For effective conservation of biodiversity – Applying Gap Analysis in Hokkaido. The Hokkaido Gap Analysis Program, Sapporo, Japan. 172 pp.
Skerl, K.L. 1999. Spiders in conservation planning: A survey of US natural heritage programs. Journal of Insect Conservation 3:341-347.
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