The Contribution of Digital Sequence Information to Conservation Biology: A Southern African Perspective.

Many recent contributions have made a compelling case that genetic diversity is not adequately reflected in international frameworks and policies, as well as in local governmental processes implementing such frameworks. Using digital sequence information (DSI) and other publicly available data is supported to assess genetic diversity, toward formulation of practical actions for long-term conservation of biodiversity, with the particular goal of maintaining ecological and evolutionary processes. Given the inclusion of specific goals and targets regarding DSI in the latest draft of the Global Biodiversity Framework negotiated at the 15 Conference of the Parties (COP15) in Montreal in December 2022 and the crucial decisions on access and benefit sharing to DSI that will be taken in the coming months and future COP meetings, a southern African perspective on how and why open access to DSI is essential for the conservation of intraspecific biodiversity (genetic diversity and structure) across country borders is provided.

Shifted distribution baselines: neglecting long-term biodiversity records risks overlooking potentially suitable habitat for conservation management.

Setting appropriate conservation measures to halt the loss of biodiversity requires a good understanding of species' habitat requirements and potential distribution. Recent (past few decades) ecological data are typically used to estimate and understand species' ecological niches. However, historical local extinctions may have truncated species-environment relationships, resulting in a biased perception of species' habitat preferences.

Standardized reporting of the costs of management interventions for biodiversity conservation.

Effective conservation management interventions must combat threats and deliver benefits at costs that can be achieved within limited budgets. Considerable effort has focused on measuring the potential benefits of conservation interventions, but explicit quantification of the financial costs of implementation is rare. Even when costs have been quantified, haphazard and inconsistent reporting means published values are difficult to interpret.

Distribution and population estimate for the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

We report the current species distribution and population estimate for the chacma baboon (Papio ursinus) in KwaZulu-Natal Province (KZN), South Africa, based on an analysis of estimated area of occupancy and estimated home range size. This estimate suggests a total population size of approximately 11,000 individuals for KZN. Much of the province is uninhabited, with a density in occupied areas of approximately 1.