Contingent valuation and biodiversity: measuring the user surplus of Kenyan protected areas

The financial returns to Kenyan tourism demonstrate the importance of the country's tourist potential to its economic development. Protected areas and their inhabitants are the principal focus of the tourist industry, the nations's main foreign exchange earner, and a source of wonder and value for a global population of non-users. It might be expected that such assets would be accorded some degree of security with sufficient funding to safeguard current and potential economic benefits. Yet park use is haphazard, and there is frequently little coincidence between those that benefit and those that pay for the continued existence of such areas. Growing economic and demographic pressures which threaten to swamp protected areas only emphasize the implicit subsidy currently paid by Kenyans to support conservation for the benefit of the world at large. In this climate the case for conservation depends on the measurement and capture of economic benefits. Using a contingent valuation survey of expressed preference this study estimates the consumer surplus attached to current non-consumptive use of protected areas by foreign visitors at some $450 million per annum. This sum alone is more than double the best available estimate of opportunity cost and appears to justify current resource use. The estimate is additional to current financial returns from tourism and makes no allowance for other direct and indirect benefits and potential returns from consumptive uses. Measured consumer surplus contains some margin of willingness to pay that could be captured through the current fee structure. Moreover, park fees represent the most accessible market mechanism to finance revenue sharing and additional park investment before potential recourse to emerging global market institutions.     

Rural change and nature conservation in Africa: A case study from Swaziland

High population growth and deteriorating economic conditions imperil Africa's natural environment. Conservationists are trying to cope with the threat by working in rural communities. Yet it is unclear whether they can be effective when social and economic change in rural areas is so rapid. Northeast Swaziland provides a case study. The landscape has been transformed since the 1950s, and conservationists are the only people now giving nature conservation a high priority. Land uses incompatible with local nature reserves are supported because they provide jobs. Thus, conservationists find themselves facing a world where wildlife is increasingly devalued as the forces of change accelerate. This paper concludes: (1) conservationists must expand their influence into rural communities, (2) an integrated development and conservation plan is required for northeastern Swaziland, and (3) only the alleviation of poverty will secure the future of nature conservation in Swaziland as well as the rest of Africa.     

分子生态学研究与运行多样性保护

分子生态学的发展揭开了生物多样性保护研究的新篇章,分子技术的应用克服了传统生态学法中的一些难题,如野外调查周期长,分辨率有限,实验条件不易控制等,应用各种分子标记（如：RFLP,VNTR,RAPD,DNA测序等）可以分析种群地理格局和异质种群动态,确定种群间的基因流,研究瓶颈效应对种群的影响以及确定个体间的亲缘关系等等,所有这些研究都是指导物种保护和淑危种群的恢复所必要的,种或品系特异性的分子标记技术能够解决形态分类中的模糊现象,确定基于遗传物质的谱系关系,还可以用来分析近缘种间杂交问题,这些问题的解决有助于确定物种优先保护顺序,选择保护地工,近年来引起重视的主要组织人性复合体（MHC）NDA异分析可能会在研究种群对疾病的易感性第一系列种群特异性问题方面非常有用,随着分子技术的不断发展,会有更多的保护生物学问题得到解决,尤其是结合野外调查统计数据应用多个分子标记对目标种群进行研究,所得到的结果会更精确,更有说服力。     

中国古籍与生物多样性保护

本文提出一种借助古代文献恢复自然生态系统的方法,而中国古籍在这方面可以发挥巨大的作用。生物多样性保护的技术性关键在于找到合适的生态系统,而自然生态系统就是其中之一。中国古籍,特别是中国医书、中国农书和中国方志的有关记载为寻找这种生态系统提供了大量的信息。因此我们可以参考中国古籍,使现存的复合生态系统逐步地接近自然生态系统,从而达到生物多样性保护的目的。     

Changing attitudes to nature conservation: The National Trust

The National Trust was founded in 1895 to preserve land and its associated flora, fauna and buildings. The Trust's land holding has since increased to over 220000 ha, of which almost one-third is of high nature conservation value. The protection provided by Trust ownership is particularly important for certain species. In recent years land management for nature conservation has been transferred from volunteers to professional staff and links with other conservation bodies have been developed. A special programme began in 1979 to survey the wildlife of Trust properties. Research is encouraged where it will benefit management. In some areas where traditional management has lapsed the Trust has invested considerable resources into restoring former regimes.     

长江流域的生物多样性及其与经济协调发展的对策

长江流域的生物多样性及其与经济协调发展的对策陈家宽李博（武汉大学生命科学学院,武汉４３００７２）吴千红（复旦大学生命科学学院,上海２００４３３）众所周知,生物多样性（ｂｉｏｄｉｖｅｒｓｉｔｙ）是当代国际社会日益关注的重大问题之一。生物多样性是人类赖以...     

Crocodile farming and conservation,the example of Zimbabwe

Crocodile farming is an important and lucrative activity in Zimbabwe which provides meat for human consumption and skins for the luxury leather industry. Because it gives an economic value to this otherwise unfriendly animal, farming crocodiles has a positive side effect on the conservation of this species in the wild. This paper gives an overview of the crocodile industry in Zimbabwe.     

The public's knowledge of and support for conservation of Australia's tree-kangaroos and other animals

After providing background on Dendrolagus species in Australia, two consecutive surveys ofBrisbane's residents are used to assess public knowledge of tree-kangaroos and the stated degree of supportfor their conservation in Australia. The responses of participants in Survey I are based on their pre-surveyknowledge of wildlife. The same set of participants completed Survey II after being provided with additionalinformation on all thewildlife speciesmentioned in Survey I.Changes in the attitudes of respondents and theirdegree of support for the protection and conservation of Australia's tree-kangaroos are measured, includingchanges in their contingent valuations and stated willingness to provide financial support for such conservation.Reasons for wanting to protect tree-kangaroos are specified and analysed. Furthermore, changesthat occur in the relative importance of these reasons with increased knowledge are also examined. Supportfor the conservation of tree-kangaroos is found to rise with the additional knowledge supplied about allspecies and is compared with variations in support for protection of other mammals. Support for the conservationof Australia's less well known tropical mammals is found to increase relative to better knownmammals (icons) present in temperate areas, such as koalas and red kangaroos. Possible implications of theresults for government conservation policies in Australia are examined.     

Land use and biodiversity congruences at local scale: applications to conservation strategies

The establishment of protected areas is traditionally considered indispensable to preserve biodiversity hotspots or areas inhabited by threatened species. The analysis of correlations between composition or richness of several taxonomic groups in a specific area has emerged as a useful mechanism to quickly identify areas of biological and conservation interest, and is currently used to select and design protected areas. The effect of habitat fragmentation on these correlations at a regional scale has been studied, but the effect of land use on the correlations obtained at local scale is poorly understood. We evaluated the relationships among different taxonomic groups frequently used in biological assessments for reserve design (vascular flora, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals), taking into account the effects of land use on these correlations. We compared richness and species composition of these groups in 1 km² quadrants within a total area of 75 km² in a low mountain Mediterranean area. Richness and composition were significantly correlated between several groups, both using the complete data set and also analyzing natural and disturbed areas separately. Species composition and species richness correlations were not congruent at the full landscape approach, nor natural and disturbed quadrants. Factors extrinsic to the communities also varied their influence in the assemblage of the community and species richness or not land uses were taken into account. According to our results, natural and human-disturbed areas should not be combined in cross-taxon congruences analysis at local scale.     

A collaborative GIS method for integrating local and technical knowledge in establishing biodiversity conservation priorities

Methods for establishing biodiversity conservation priorities are urgently required, as the number of species and habitats that are threatened increases relative to the material resources available for their conservation. The identification of priority areas demands the integration of biophysical data on ecosystems together with social data on human pressures and planning opportunities. But comprehensive and reliable data are rarely available to demarcate where the need for action is most urgent and where the benefits of conservation strategies can be maximized. Strategic conservation initiatives cannot wait for the creation of comprehensive databases. In order to fill the missing data gaps, the combined knowledge of local and technical experts can be used. This study presents a collaborative geographic information system (GIS) method for integrating the knowledge of local and technical experts with existing spatial environmental data to establish priority areas for biodiversity conservation. Procedures for structuring and framing the discussions, establishing assessment criteria, integrating knowledge with data, and building consensus are incorporated into the method. The method provides a novel cooperative mechanism to aid spatial knowledge management and inclusive biodiversity planning.     

Coastal-marine discontinuities and synergisms: implications for biodiversity conservation

Coastal-marine biodiversity conservation must focus increasingly at the level of the land- and seascape. Five cases illustrate discontinuities and synergisms and how system changes may take place. For Caribbean coral reefs, the result of overfishing and disease has been a shrinkage in the entire system, the effects of which may cascade through the coastal seascape. For Beringia, patterns of benthic diversity are best understood in a manner that matches the multiscale, integrated dynamics of weather, ice, marine mammal feeding, and community structure. In the case of US East Coast estuaries, oyster reefs may be keystone elements, with important effects on functional diversity. Large-scale coastal systems depend upon the connectivity of fresh and marine waters in the coastal zone, having implications for the apparent stochasticity of coastal fisheries. And, for a coastal barrier-lagoon site, a state change may be described in terms of a combination of succession, the attainment of a quasi-equilibrium state, and disturbance. A profound problem for conservation is that there is very little information about the relationship between species diversity and ecological function. Coastal-marine biodiversity conservation is best addressed at the level of the land- and seascape.     

A review and a framework for the integration of biodiversity monitoring at the habitat level

The monitoring of biodiversity at the level of habitats is becoming widespread in Europe and elsewhere as countries establish national habitat monitoring systems and various organisations initiate regional and local schemes. Parallel to this growth, it is increasingly important to address biodiversity changes on large spatial (e.g. continental) and temporal (e.g. decade-long) scales, which requires the integration of currently ongoing monitoring efforts. Here we review habitat monitoring and develop a framework for integrating data or activities across habitat monitoring schemes. We first identify three basic properties of monitoring activities: spatial aspect (explicitly spatial vs. non-spatial), documentation of spatial variation (field mapping vs. remote sensing) and coverage of habitats (all habitats or specific habitats in an area), and six classes of monitoring schemes based on these properties. Then we explore tasks essential for integrating schemes both within and across the major classes. Finally, we evaluate the need and potential for integration of currently existing schemes by drawing on data collected on European habitat monitoring in the EuMon project. Our results suggest a dire need for integration if we are to measure biodiversity changes across large spatial and temporal scales regarding the 2010 target and beyond. We also make recommendations for an integrated pan-European habitat monitoring scheme. Such a scheme should be based on remote sensing to record changes in land cover and habitat types over large scales, with complementary field mapping using unified methodology to provide ground truthing and to monitor small-scale changes, at least in habitat types of conservation importance.     

Marine longitudinal biodiversity: causes and conservation

The horizontal temperature zones of the earth tend to restrict the latitudinal ranges of species but allow the possibility of exceedingly broad longitudinal dispersals. In the Tropical Zone, biodiversity on the continental shelves is not homogeneous but is concentrated in two conspicuous peaks, one in the Indo‐Pacific Ocean and the other in the Atlantic. The Indo‐Pacific biodiversity peak is located within a relatively small area called the East Indies Triangle. The Atlantic peak is located in the southern Caribbean Sea. Evidence that has been accumulated over the years indicates that each area functions as a centre of origin and evolutionary radiation. What are the causes of these concentrations and their present functions? A newly published model indicates a positive relationship between environmental temperature and the rate of speciation. While this helps to explain the generally high tropical diversity, and the negative relationship between diversity and latitude, it does not provide a reason for the longitudinal concentrations. But, other new research serves to substantiate previous indications of a positive relationship between speciation rate and species diversity. The existence of this positive feedback, together with some contributory factors, provides the reason why concentrations occur. The evolutionary radiation probably begins when the build‐up of species diversity reaches a critical level. The warm‐temperate biotas are derived from the tropics. Their northern longitudinal relationships tend to be minor but, in the southern hemisphere, the West Wind Drift is an important dispersal mechanism for both warm‐temperate and cold‐temperate species. The cold‐temperate biotas peaked in two areas, the North Pacific and the Antarctic; each has developed into a centre of origin. The continuous dispersal of well‐adapted species from the centres helps peripheral communities maintain diversity.     

Monitoring endangered freshwater biodiversity using environmental DNA

Freshwater ecosystems are among the most endangered habitats on Earth, with thousands of animal species known to be threatened or already extinct. Reliable monitoring of threatened organisms is crucial for data‐driven conservation actions but remains a challenge owing to nonstandardized methods that depend on practical and taxonomic expertise, which is rapidly declining. Here, we show that a diversity of rare and threatened freshwater animals—representing amphibians, fish, mammals, insects and crustaceans—can be detected and quantified based on DNA obtained directly from small water samples of lakes, ponds and streams. We successfully validate our findings in a controlled mesocosm experiment and show that DNA becomes undetectable within 2 weeks after removal of animals, indicating that DNA traces are near contemporary with presence of the species. We further demonstrate that entire faunas of amphibians and fish can be detected by high‐throughput sequencing of DNA extracted from pond water. Our findings underpin the ubiquitous nature of DNA traces in the environment and establish environmental DNA as a tool for monitoring rare and threatened species across a wide range of taxonomic groups.     

Zimbabwe's wildlife conservation regime: Rural farmers and the state

This article examines the rhino and elephant conservation policies of Zimbabwe, focusing on the historical experiences of rural farmers with colonial and post-colonial wildlife policies. It begins by defining the social and political ramifications of the current environmental conservation debate in Africa, and how these are crucially affected by rural people's perceptions of environmental goods. Next, the paper explores the exploitative colonial legacy of wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe, and how that legacy has or has not been transformed since independence. The paper pays close attention to the development of linkages between rural farmers, local conservation NGOs, and local and national governmental bodies. Finally, the paper finds that, while many positive linkages have been made between conservation authorities and rural farmers and ranchers in elephant conservation programs, few such linkages have been made in the various rhino conservation schemes. Since Zimbabwe has been relatively successful in conserving its elephant population, but relatively unsuccessful in stopping rhino poaching, the paper concludes that the development of positive linkages between rural farmers and the state, which include heavy doses of popular participation at the grassroots level, is crucial for any successful natural resource policy.     

Pastoralism and conservation

Traditional subsistence pastoralists are often seen as causing environmental degradation through overgrazing, and are also seen as responsible for a decline in wildlife numbers through resource competition and habitat change. This paper investigates recent ideas on the interaction of pastoralism and conservation that question the validity of the concepts of overstocking and overgrazing as applied to arid and semiarid rangelands. The Ngorongoro Conservation Area, a Maasai pastoralist/wildlife conservation joint land use area in northern Tanzania, shows no clear signs of pastoralist-induced environmental degradation despite a preoccupation with this possibility by successive administrations. Ecological studies together with other considerations suggest that joint land use works to the long-term benefit of both pastoralism and conservation in this and other areas.     

海南岛生物多样性保护优先区评价与系统保护规划

选择海南岛140个濒危物种为指示物种,在物种栖息地评价的基础上,利用系统保护规划工具MARXAN模型进行迭代运算,提出了海南岛生物多样性保护优先区域,并对保护优先区进行评价.结果表明:海南岛保护优先区面积5383.7km2,占海南岛陆地面积的15.6%,集中分布于鹦哥岭、尖峰岭、五指山等林区和北部湿地;在保护优先区中,11个I级指示物种栖息地的保护比例均超过各自栖息地总面积的65%.通过对保护优先区与现有自然保护区的空缺分析,建议扩充尖峰岭保护区群、鹦哥岭-黎母山保护区群、五指山-吊罗山保护区群;新建抱龙林场-林鼻岭-福万岭保护体系;在海南岛北部建立以水源保护为主,同时兼顾珍稀物种保护的水源地保护带.     

Understanding investment in biodiversity conservation in Mexico

Documenting financial resources in biodiversity conservation is a key aspect worldwide in order to set priorities and use effectively the limited resources available. In Mexico, a megadiverse country, studies on financial resources invested in biodiversity conservation are scarce and do not address funding for conservation comprehensively. Using recent data from several sources and applying criteria based on the national priorities for conservation, we compiled, systematized and analyzed data at a national scale on financing sources, financial resources and conservation organizations and their projects. The information obtained is presented in various ways and part of it (case study) is already an information system that can be continuously up-dated. Some of the results show the following: a steady diversification of mechanisms and methods for raising funds for conservation; an increase in governmental budgets; the acknowledgment by the private sector of the importance of biodiversity conservation; a greater technical capacity in people and organizations working in conservation; a greater accessibility of financial resources to support and maintain conservation projects; yet a short term vision in conservation projects; among other. Although the results obtained through this study are a first approach, they can now be used as a baseline to continue gathering and analyzing information on conservation financing in Mexico.