Outcomes of a community controlled wildlife utilization program in a Zambezi Valley community

Zimbabwe is devolving substantial wildlife management responsibility to local government, and ultimately to local communities, through its Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) program. This paper's purpose is to explore the notion that CAMPFIRE offers a useful model for sustainable development discussions by examining the program's impacts in one case study location. It presents a legislative history of the CAMPFIRE Program before specifying the spatial criteria that explain ideal CAMPFIRE sites. Thereafter, it reports results from a study of the development impacts of locally controlled wildlife management in Masoka, an isolated CAMPFIRE community in the Zambezi Valley. The village has developed a land use plan, fenced its fields and settlements, reduced wild animal attacks on people and crops, provided access to primary education for both boys and girls, created local employment, and provided money for household food purchases during a severe drought. In Masoka, the implementation of CAMPFIRE seems to successfully provide incentives to protect megafauna and their habitats. For Masoka, CAMPFIRE has provided an alternative model to statist solutions emphasizing centralized control for biodiversity conservation purposes.     

The practice and principles of community-based wildlife management in Zimbabwe: the CAMPFIRE programme

This paper describes Zimbabwe's wildlife-based CAMPFIRE programme. It suggests that community-based natural resource management is a potential solution to the inter-linked problems of poverty and conservation if it is based on sound management principles that also incorporate transparency, accountability and democracy because the unit of management is a community.This first section suggests that many of the causes of these natural resource problems in communal lands are a result of the failure of mechanisms to price and allocate resources efficiently. The second section describes the evolution of CAMPFIRE, while the third section summarizes the principles that underpin the programme. The fourth section discusses the governance of natural resources and describes the process by which rights to wildlife have been devolved. This emphasizes how important political and administrative systems are to wildlife conservation. CAMPFIRE can be viewed as a five-step process: getting an enabling political, legal, administrative and economic environment; creating awareness and a demand for the programme; generating revenues; using these revenues effectively; and, finally, setting in place the institutions and capacity for locally-based natural resource management. The first four sections of the paper deal with step on — the enabling environment, what it is and how it came about. The final section describes the actual implementation of the programme and is rather brief.     

Primate Conservation in Vietnam: Toward a Holistic Environmental Narrative

Vietnam is home to a considerable diversity of primates: Indeed, five of the world's top 25 most endangered primate species are found within Vietnam. To understand and ultimately address Vietnam's conservation crisis, the complex interplay of history, demography, economics, international relations, and culture must be analyzed within Vietnam's specific context. Conducting a holistic analysis with the example of hunting represents how seemingly disparate factors such as the U.S. war, increased tourism and globalization, population density, and cultural traditions converge to significantly impact wildlife.     

Environmental NGOs,dispossession, and the state: The ideology and praxis of African nature and development

Zimbabwe provides a significant context to examine the interplay of the new development rhetoric, the actions of powerful conservation organizations, donor policies, a relatively strong and stable government, and the empowerment of local communities. This interplay exists in diverse rural areas where the Communal Areas Management Program for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) is in various stages of experimentation and implementation. CAMPFIRE has been described as a philosophy of sustainable rural development that enables rural communities to manage, and benefit directly form indigenous wildlife. It is the best known of African efforts to permit African communities to re- assert their management of selected natural resources. The program has the official support of the Zimbabwean government. Nonetheless, there are many potential areas of serious conflict. Three case studies are utilized to explore how the challenges of repossession of critical environmental resources by marginalized communities in the changing context of state and NGO relationships where international tourism is a revenue generator for both the private sector and government.     

四川藏族地区藏传佛教与野生动物保护的关系初探

笔者于1999年7～8月在四川省甘孜藏族自治州的石渠、白玉2个藏族聚居县进行藏传佛教与野生动物保护关系的调查。结果发现虽然当地藏民都信教,寺庙也都反对捕杀野生动物,但还有50％的被调查乡有打猎现象,对于狼（Canis lupus）和鼠兔（Ochotona spp.）,分别有96％和98％的被访者认为应该消灭;对猛禽和有蹄类有好感的被访者分别有57％和45％。所有藏民都知道野生动物受国家法律和佛教的保护,当地寺庙给予藏民的约束力对野生动物保护有很大影响。政府应与寺庙合作进行野生动物保护及宣传工作。     

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.     

Valuing biodiversity and nature conservation at a local level

At a time where much of the discussion about major issues in nature conservation is necessarily undertaken at a global level, it is still important to consider the needs of the smaller organizations who do much of the grass roots work in the protection of wildlife and biodiversity. This study focuses on one such group, and examines how the contingent valuation method can be used to help to inform its decisions relating to the management of its portfolio of reserves in order to maximize benefits to its members. This paper argues that at a local level, where actions will not have significant global effects, contingent valuation methodology can inform decisions by assessing the value of additional reserves or particular conservation programmes to members in terms of their willingness to pay to acquire or implement them.     

Do Birdwatchers Care about Bird Disturbance?

ABSTRACT

Little is known about how non-consumptive recreationists perceive their impacts on animals and how this relates to recreationist behavior. We surveyed attitudes and behaviors relating to bird disturbance of 179 birdwatchers who visited a world-renowned, restricted-access birdwatching destination (the Western Treatment Plant [WTP], Victoria, Australia). We distributed a 10-page, 49-question survey to birdwatchers at the WTP and posted it to a mailing list of those who held birdwatching access permits. The questionnaire explored socio-demographic profiles of respondents, and their bird- watching behaviors and attitudes to bird disturbance. Birdwatchers regarded vehicles as particularly disturbing and some bird groups, and breeding birds, as especially sensitive to disturbance. They generally disagreed with the contention that birdwatchers and plant workers disturb birds. All respondents reported using strategies to mitigate bird disturbance (e.g., keeping quiet and distant). Those who adopted more strategies to mitigate disturbance agreed more with the contention that birdwatchers and workers cause disturbance, and that breeding birds are especially sensitive to disturbance. Our results suggest that birdwatchers who perceive that their activity disturbs birds are more likely to modify their behaviors to minimize the disturbance. As such, wildlife managers and educators must clearly communicate possible impacts of birdwatching to birdwatchers to maximize the uptake of ethical birdwatching practices.     

新冠肺炎时期公众对野生动物消费和贸易意愿的调查

新冠肺炎疫情的暴发, 使得对野生动物的消费与贸易中的公共健康安全问题引起广泛关注。为了给相关的立法和政策制定提供参考, 我们通过网络对于全国及部分海外华人发放问卷进行了调查, 共收回74,040份有效问卷。根据问卷调查结果, 本文对普通公众对于野生动物消费和贸易立法意愿及影响因素进行了分析。研究结果包括: (1)公众对全面取缔野味餐馆和集市、禁止消费野味、禁止野生动物及其制品的买卖以及禁止野生动物商业性活体展演的立法动议持赞成态度的比例均超过90%; (2)现有野生动物消费群体经历新冠肺炎疫情后倾向于停止消费行为; (3)曾经消费野生动物或周围有人从事野生动物相关产业的群体相比其他人群更有可能不支持全面禁止对野生动物的消费和贸易。结果表明, 全国人民代表大会常务委员会禁食野生动物的决定和修改野生动物保护法的动议在受高等教育者和城镇居民中有良好的公众基础。     

《国家重点保护野生动物名录》和其他保护名录对比分析

《国家重点保护野生动物名录》是指导开展物种保护工作, 尤其是受威胁物种拯救计划的重要法律依据之一。新版《国家重点保护野生动物名录》于2021年公布和实施, 这是32年来首次对该名录的重大调整。本文以新版《国家重点保护野生动物名录》为基础, 归纳整理后确定其共有1,520种(含亚种), 通过选取具有代表性和与保护相关的4种野生动物名录, 统计分析同一物种在不同名录间的保护与受威胁或受关注等级。结果显示, 新版《国家重点保护野生动物名录》扩大了保护范围, 在我们前期整理的1989年旧版名录收录的482种(含亚种)基础上, 增加了1,038种(国家一级新增43种, 国家二级新增995种), 物种的保护等级也有调整(一级降级3种, 二级升级66种, 等级不变共413种), 但依据《中国生物多样性红色名录: 脊椎动物》(2021版), 我国仍有超过半数的受威胁物种未被新版《国家重点保护野生动物名录》收录。建议未来对《国家重点保护野生动物名录》进行调整时全面关注物种的受威胁等级, 将受威胁物种全部纳入重点保护物种之列, 以推进我国受威胁物种全面和有效保护。若将受威胁等级为极危和濒危的物种列为国家一级重点保护野生动物, 则可将现有的164种国家二级重点保护野生动物升级为国家一级重点保护野生动物, 并新增162种国家一级重点保护野生动物; 若将受威胁等级为易危的物种列为国家二级重点保护野生动物, 则新增340种国家二级重点保护野生动物。同时, 建议构建国家重点保护野生动物名录综合数据库以实现对名录的规范化和动态管理。     

Human impact on wildlife populations within a protected Central African forest

This paper addresses the effect of human activities on the density of large mammals in the Dzanga‐Ndoki National Park and the adjacent Dzanga‐Sangha Reserve in the Central African Republic. Between six and eight 20 km long permanent transects were walked on a monthly basis from January 1997 to August 1999 to assess large mammal populations as well as human intrusion. There were no obvious seasonal or monthly trends in elephant, gorilla or non‐human primate densities. Overall, it appears that human activities negatively influence the distribution of most of the large forest animals in Dzanga‐Sangha. Elephants in particular were significantly less common in areas used by humans, but also other species such as non‐human primates showed lower densities closer to the main road and the town of Bayanga. This study confirms the findings of previous studies that roads have a negative impact on wildlife populations. Results of this study stress the need for conservation of large uninterrupted forest blocks to maintain wildlife populations at normal levels. Simply creating roads, even within a protected Central African forest, is likely to have negative impacts on wildlife populations.     

野生动物就地保护与其分布地经济发展的相容性

生态文明建设对野生动物资源保护提出了新的要求。在实践中,需要借鉴国内外研究成果和成功案例,并克服目前我国野生动物保护中存在的问题。综述了国内外相关文献,认为:目前世界上的野生动物就地保护方式主要是建立保护区和国家公园,在发挥保护作用同时,也给周边居民带来负面影响,从而制约了野生动物保护与当地社区经济的协调发展。传统的\"命令-控制型\"保护政策忽略了当地居民的生活需求,不利于形成居民积极的保护态度;居民的保护态度除了受来自野生动物造成的损害的影响,还和周边居民的年龄、受教育程度、经济收入等密切相关;为提高居民保护积极性,经济激励机制有着重要作用。目前,国内外保护工作中一般应用的经济激励措施主要包括直接经济补偿、生态旅游、现代狩猎、生态补偿等。     

Crop raiding around Lake Mburo National Park, Uganda

In areas around Lake Mburo National Park, large wild animals wander in close proximity to human settlements. This poses serious conflict in terms of crop damage. The integration of conservation with other land uses is difficult where densely settled agricultural land surrounds a protected area potentially containing problem animals, as is the case for several parks in Africa and Asia. The intensity of crop raiding was quantified through the use of random crop quadrants/plots and area estimation techniques in a portion of raided fields. The animal species concerned were documented from observations, footprints and any other marks left behind. Three variables were tested as predictors of damage: human population density, distance from the park boundary and season. In this study, data is presented regarding crop loss in the different seasons of the year, analysis of crop damage variation and animal species involved in crop loss. A diverse assemblage of animals foraged on subsistence crops and analysis of crop damage revealed significant crop depreciation by wildlife.