Leiden University Scholarly Publications

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Gogaladze, A. (2021)

Towards effective conservation and governance of Pontocaspian biodiversity in the Black Sea region

Doctoral Thesis
Freshwater and brackish water ecosystems are arguably the most vulnerable ecosystems on earth, due to concentrated human developments in and around them. The Pontocaspian (PC) region located at the border of Europe and Asia contains a variety of brackish water ecosystems and unique inhabitants, known as the PC biota. The current status and trends in PC biodiversity are poorly known, however, deterioration of PC habitats is evident in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea Basins. This thesis aims to support an establishment of effective PC biodiversity conservation regime. I use the Black Sea Basin as a study system and outline current status and trends in PC biodiversity and assess the direct and indirect anthropogenic drivers of the PC biodiversity change. I show that PC biodiversity is severely declining as a result of human action. Identified direct drivers of decline include damming of rivers; habitat modifications; pollution and eutrophication; invasive alien species and climate...Show moreFreshwater and brackish water ecosystems are arguably the most vulnerable ecosystems on earth, due to concentrated human developments in and around them. The Pontocaspian (PC) region located at the border of Europe and Asia contains a variety of brackish water ecosystems and unique inhabitants, known as the PC biota. The current status and trends in PC biodiversity are poorly known, however, deterioration of PC habitats is evident in the Black Sea and Caspian Sea Basins. This thesis aims to support an establishment of effective PC biodiversity conservation regime. I use the Black Sea Basin as a study system and outline current status and trends in PC biodiversity and assess the direct and indirect anthropogenic drivers of the PC biodiversity change. I show that PC biodiversity is severely declining as a result of human action. Identified direct drivers of decline include damming of rivers; habitat modifications; pollution and eutrophication; invasive alien species and climate change. Indirect drivers of PC biodiversity decline include current suboptimal legal arrangements, inadequate institutional design of environmental stakeholder organizations and non-inclusive governance systems, as well as the limited funding availability for PC biodiversity conservation, institutional instability and low recognition of the need for PC biodiversity conservation.
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Aquatic biodiversity
Brackish water ecosystems
Conservation policy
Conservation planning
Environmental governance
Human impact
Population trends
Institutions
Stakeholder networks
All authors
Gogaladze, A.
Supervisor
Biesmeijer, J.C.
Co-supervisor
Raes, N.; Wesselingh, F.P.
Committee
Snoo, G.R. de; Bodegom, P.M. van; Wilke, T.; Seddon, M.; Turnhout, E.; Tarkhnishvili, D.
Qualification
Doctor (dr.)
Awarding Institution
Institute of Environmental Sciences (CML), Faculty of Science, Leiden University
Date
2021-11-30
ISBN (print)
9789051911978

Funding

Sponsorship
This research was sponsored by the PRIDE (Pontocaspian RIse and DEmise) project, which received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 642973.