An ontological crisis? A review of large felid conservation in India

The need for a solid knowledge base to inform conservation activity is now universally recognised. We critically scrutinised the scientific knowledge of large felids in India located in peer-reviewed research papers to assess the information available to make landscape-level management decisions that aid conservation, which is a stated goal of both the Indian government and the international community. We found two striking patterns: the biological sciences dominate in the published literature, and nearly all the research has been carried out in protected areas, though a substantial number of large felids also live outside protected areas. We argue that these patterns are not incidental, but the result of the dualistic ontology of science that uses processes of ‘purification’ and ‘translation’ to fit complex realities into disciplinary prerogatives organised around creating dichotomies (like nature–culture). In addition, since this body of scientific knowledge locates large felids in ‘pure’ biological landscapes, there is little or no insight from multi-use landscapes. These findings, we believe, highlight important knowledge gaps in our present research-based knowledge of large felids in India, which urgently need to be addressed if progress is to be made in conservation.     

The Park is Ruining our Livelihoods. We Support the Park! Unravelling the Paradox of Attitudes to Protected Areas

Despite considerable field-based innovation and academic scrutiny, the nexus between conservation approaches, local support for parks and park effectiveness remains quite puzzling. Common approaches to understanding notions of environmental justice are to understand distributional and procedural issues, representation in decision making, and recognition of authorities and claims. We took a different approach and analysed environmental justice claims through institutional, ideational and psychological lenses. We sought to understand how the national park could have such broad support from local communities despite their acknowledgement that it severely curtailed their livelihoods. We conducted 100 household interviews in three villages that border Nam Et-Phou Louey National Protected Area. Our study found that villagers 1) hold on to broken promises by the State for agricultural activities and alternative revenues without fully changing forest use behaviours; 2) were influenced heavily by the ‘educational’ programmes by the State; 3) accepted the authority of the State and lack of participation in decision-making based on historical experiences and values; 4) justified their burdens by over-emphasising the positive aspects of the park. Our findings present a complementary framework to explain environmental justice claims, allowing for a nuanced analysis of how people respond to justices and injustices, and specifically how injustices can be identified through proven social science concepts.     

Ecological impacts of non-native Pacific oysters (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Crassostrea gigas</Emphasis>) and management measures for protected areas in Europe

Pacific oysters are now one of the most ‘globalised’ marine invertebrates. They dominate bivalve aquaculture production in many regions and wild populations are increasingly becoming established, with potential to displace native species and modify habitats and ecosystems. While some fishing communities may benefit from wild populations, there is now a tension between the continued production of Pacific oysters and risk to biodiversity, which is of particular concern within protected sites. The issue of the Pacific oyster therefore locates at the intersection between two policy areas: one concerning the conservation of protected habitats, the other relating to livelihoods and the socio-economics of coastal aquaculture and fishing communities. To help provide an informed basis for management decisions, we first summarise evidence for ecological impacts of wild Pacific oysters in representative coastal habitats. At local scales, it is clear that establishment of Pacific oysters can significantly alter diversity, community structure and ecosystem processes, with effects varying among habitats and locations and with the density of oysters. Less evidence is available to evaluate regional-scale impacts. A range of management measures have been applied to mitigate negative impacts of wild Pacific oysters and we develop recommendations which are consistent with the scientific evidence and believe compatible with multiple interests. We conclude that all stakeholders must engage in regional decision making to help minimise negative environmental impacts, and promote sustainable industry development.     

The impact of recreational use and access on biotic and abiotic disturbances on areas protected by local communities and a state conservation agency

Local communities often conserve nearby natural areas to support recreational activities and other benefits these areas provide. Areas protected by local communities could contribute to wider efforts to achieve large-scale conservation goals, such as biodiversity protection, provided the ecological conditions on-site are compatible with achieving these goals. To explore the potential contribution of locally established protected areas, we focus on areas protected by local communities in California, USA, using ballot initiatives, a form of direct democracy. We compare the ecological condition of wooded habitat on protected areas funded by local communities through the ballot box to that of similar habitats on protected areas funded by a state conservation agency. As an indicator of ecological condition, we focus on coverage by exotic plant species. We examine whether protected area characteristics or aspects of human-mediated onsite disturbance related to recreational use explain exotic plant cover found on each type of protected area. Exotic plant cover did not differ between areas protected by local communities and those protected by our larger scale conservation actor. Instead, elevation was the best predictor of exotic plant cover. Our results suggest protected areas established by local communities may be in no worse a condition than those established by a state public agency and warrant inclusion when tracking progress towards large-scale conservation goals for protected areas.     

Three challenges for a real people-centred conservation

Many commentators attest to a paradigm shift in biodiversity conservation, away from exclusive protected areas towards more people‐centred or community‐based conservation. This has been referred to as ‘new conservation’. However, new conservation could be thought of as an attempt to re‐label and re‐package conservation and to ‘get people on board’ existing strategies. According to its critics even so‐called new conservation policy, practice and institutions remain expert‐driven, undemocratic and autocratic. I argue that for new conservation to become reality, then more fundamental changes in priority‐setting, decision‐making and organization are required. This paper presents three challenges for a real people‐centred conservation: a more pluralist approach to understanding knowledge and values of different actors, greater deliberation and inclusion in decision‐making, and a remodelling of institutions to support conservation.     

The Great Lakes in East Africa: biological conservation considerations for species flocks

The three largest water bodies of East Africa, Lake Victoria, Tanganyika, and Malawi contain an estimated number of 2,000 endemic cichlid fish species, in addition, to a mostly uncounted wealth of invertebrates. While the terrestrial diversity is reasonably well protected, as economic and touristic interests coincide with biological conservation strategies, this is not the case for most African lakes and rivers. Nonetheless, it must be promoted that these aquatic ecosystems also deserve protection. Conservation strategies for aquatic biota have so far been the same as for terrestrial environments, i.e., by declaring biodiversity hotspots national parks. Such parks also contain rivers and lake shores. Here, I argue that it seems questionable that this strategy will work, given strong micro-geographic structure of the species flocks and the great degree of local endemism. I suggest a novel strategy for protecting African Lake communities that accounts for local endemism, derived from recent molecular phylogenetic and phylogeographic studies on East African cichlid fishes. While connectivity is the major problem for terrestrial and marine national parks, to ensure a large enough effective population size of the protected animals, this is not the case in most taxa of African rivers and lakes, where local endemism prevails. For example, most littoral cichlid species are subdivided into numerous distinct “color morphs” with restricted distribution, and unlike marine fishes with planktonic larvae display brood care with small offspring numbers. It is argued that the establishment of “micro-scale protected areas,” a large number of small stretches of strictly protected coast line, each only some hundreds of meters long, is likely to work best to preserve the littoral communities in African lakes. Such protected zones can sustain a reasonably effective population size of littoral species, serve as protected spawning ground or nursery area for pelagic species, and at the same time re-seed neighboring populations that are exploited continuously. As long-term stability of littoral fishing grounds is in the immediate interest of village communities, such small protected areas should be managed and controlled by the local communities themselves, and supervised by governmental institutions.     

What can conservation strategies learn from the ecosystem services approach? Insights from ecosystem assessments in two Spanish protected areas

Biodiversity conservation strategies that overlook the interests of local people are prone to create conflicts. The ecosystem service approach holds potential for more comprehensively integrating the social dimension into decision-making in protected areas, but its implementation in conservation policies is still in its infancy. This research assesses the extent to which ecosystem services have been implemented in conservation strategies in protected areas. The study was conducted in two outstanding Spanish protected areas, covering a wetland (Doñana Natural and National Parks) and a Mediterranean mountain system (Sierra Nevada Natural and National Parks). Data were collected from deliberative workshops with managers and researchers, face-to-face surveys with users and a review of management plans. We found that, beyond intrinsic values of ecosystems and biodiversity, these areas provide multiple ecosystem services that deserve further attention to ensure their sustained delivery. Our research shows that environmental managers and researchers have different perceptions and priorities regarding ecosystem services management compared with ecosystem service users. Environmental managers and researchers in both protected areas perceived that human-nature relationships and ecosystem services are already widely included in management plans, if often not explicitly. We found that different ecosystem service categories receive uneven attention in management plans. These contained measures to manage provisioning and cultural services whereas measures for managing regulating services were perceived to be largely absent. We conclude by summarizing insights on how the ecosystem service approach may enhance the consideration of social interests in the management of management protected areas.     

“We Want Our Children to Grow Up to See These Animals:” Values and Protected Areas Governance in Canada, Ghana and Tanzania

Environmental governance research has paid insufficient attention to scholarship on values even though environmental values is a well-studied field. This paper begins to unpack the relationship between values and governance with a particular focus on protected areas governance and in light of ideas such as the distinction between held values and assigned values. We report on research from four case studies in Canada, Ghana and Tanzania, each of which investigated the values, interests and objectives of people in a rural community and ways in which these are reflected, or not, in governance arrangements for an adjacent protected area. Despite very diverse contexts, two held values that were encountered in each of the four case studies could be described as responsibility toward future generations and respect for and appreciation of nature. The existence of what may be universal values does not negate the importance of culture and place: similar held values are translated, through the particular circumstances of different individuals, communities and cultures, into a diversity of assigned values, interests and positions. The attention that governance processes have given to local people’s fundamental held values in three of the cases, and the ignoring of such values in the fourth, have had important implications for the relationship between community members and the adjacent protected area. We argue that systems for governance would do well to explicitly engage with values by supporting local articulation of values and by facilitating dialogue and deliberation amongst diverse stakeholders around their values.     

Unstable relations: a critical appraisal of indigeneity and environmentalism in contemporary Australia

The 1970s witnessed the emergence of a protest‐based environmental movement in Australia. We outline here the history of the unstable meeting of environmentalism and Aboriginal interests, before turning to Marcia Langton's recent critique of the progressive ‘green left’ in Australia. 1 We summarise Langton's argument: environmentalists would deny Aboriginal groups the benefits that flow from native title‐related agreements; environmentalists live at luxurious distance from the realities of remote and rural Aboriginal poverty and social problems; environmentalists exalt ‘noble savages’. We critique these claims on the basis that they pay inadequate attention to the structural inequities that underpin the market in native title interests and, further, deny the reality that Aboriginal groups often seek to form strategic alliances with green groups, arguing for conservation of their country on their own—or shared—terms. We argue that any appraisal of the present status of ‘green‐black’ relations needs to consider these factors seriously.     

Environmental migrants,structural injustice,and moral responsibility

Climate change and environmental problems will force or induce millions of people to migrate. In this article, I describe environmental migration and articulate some of the ethical issues. To begin, I give an account of these migrants that overcomes misleading dichotomies. Then, I focus attention on two important ethical issues: justice and responsibility. Although we are all at risk of becoming environmental migrants, we are not equally at risk. Our risk depends on our temporal position, geographical location, social position, and the kind of society in which we live. We all contribute to environmental problems, but we do not contribute equally. About 11% of the world population is responsible for 50% of carbon emissions. These inequalities raise issues of justice because many of the people who are at high risk have contributed little to the problems. Since the issues of justice are relatively clear and compelling, I focus more attention on issues of responsibility. I use Iris Marion Young’s account of responsibility for structural injustice to address four key questions about moral responsibility and environmental migration.     

Eating money: Narratives of equality on customary land in the context of natural resource extraction in the Solomon Islands

Why do Solomon Islands’ villagers continue to engage with large scale logging projects by foreign companies when they have decades of experience of the disadvantages of such deals? This paper explores village level narratives of equality surrounding a logging dispute in a village on Kolombangara Island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. Drawing on empirical evidence I seek to understand firstly, why villagers continue to engage with logging companies, and secondly, why seemingly viable and financially attractive alternative forestry projects may not be taken up. Additionally, I examine legal recognition of a local conservation Non‐Government organisation as an environmental ‘stakeholder’, with an accepted interest in customary land as distinct from the categorisation of ‘landowners’. I conclude that village communities may continue to engage with foreign logging companies, despite their clear knowledge of the disadvantages of such projects, partly as a means of maintaining some measure of social equality in the village.     

Reviewing Biosphere Reserves globally: effective conservation action or bureaucratic label?

The Biosphere Reserve (BR) model of UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme reflects a shift towards more accountable conservation. Biosphere Reserves attempt to reconcile environmental protection with sustainable development; they explicitly acknowledge humans, and human interests in the conservation landscape while still maintaining the ecological values of existing protected areas. Conceptually, this model is attractive, with 610 sites currently designated globally. Yet the practical reality of implementing dual ‘conservation’ and ‘development’ goals is challenging, with few examples successfully conforming to the model's full criteria. Here, we review the history of Biosphere Reserves from first inception in 1974 to the current status quo, and examine the suitability of the designation as an effective conservation model. We track the spatial expansion of Biosphere Reserves globally, assessing the influence of the Statutory Framework of the World Network of Biosphere Reserves and Seville strategy in 1995, when the BR concept refocused its core objectives on sustainable development. We use a comprehensive range of case studies to discuss conformity to the Programme, the social and ecological consequences associated with implementation of the designation, and challenges in aligning conservation and development. Given that the ‘Biosphere Reserve’ label is a relatively unknown designation in the public arena, this review also provides details on popularising the Biosphere Reserve brand, as well as prospects for further research, currently unexploited, but implicit in the designation.     

What Is Tana Ulen Good For? Considerations on Indigenous Forest Management, Conservation, and Research in the Interior of Indonesian Borneo

Nongovernmental organizations active in the field of biodiversity conservation such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), have contributed to the legitimation of unproven assumptions and romantic notions about forest people as traditional conservationists. In this paper, I will look at a form of indigenous forest tenure, tana ulen, in the area of the Kayan Mentarang National Park, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. I explore how tana ulen has been used and interpreted by local communities and WWF staff in relation to emerging issues of community rights and conservation of biodiversity in the area. In doing this, I argue that without an account that discloses the ways in which forms of forest management are variably affected by and effecting the social, economic, and ecological circumstances in which they are situated, we would be unable to understand local practices and, consequently, would be unprepared to design viable policy alternatives with regard to community-based management of conservation areas.     

Impacts of Community-based Conservation on Local Communities in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal

Approaches to the management of protected areas that involve the participation of local communities are now being widely promoted. However, the impacts of such community-based conservation initiatives on local communities remain poorly defined. This research examines the socio-economic impacts of community-based conservation within the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), Nepal, through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey with local residents, situated both within and outside the protected area. Results indicate that local communities have received a number of benefits from conservation, including improvements in access to forest resources, improved basic infrastructure such as drinking water, trails and bridges, and improvements in health, sanitation and social services. However, relatively few people (14.9%) within ACA receive direct financial income from tourism. Local communities also experience a number of costs of being involved in conservation, the most significant of which is increased crop damage by wildlife. Eighty-four percent of respondents within ACA have experienced problems of crop damage, accounting for 6% (rice) to 23% (maize) of total production. Depredation of livestock by wildlife is also experienced; mean losses per household being the equivalent of ￡3.9 (Rs. 479.70) each year. However, 66% of respondents within ACA reported that they had never experienced this problem. These results indicate that the socio-economic benefits of community-based approaches to conservation can outweigh the costs, even though the latter are significant. However, a participatory approach to management of problematic animal species will need to be developed within ACA, if conflicts between local communities and protected area management are to be avoided in future.     

Interacting Social and Environmental Predictors for the Spatial Distribution of Conservation Lands

Conservation decisions should be evaluated for how they meet conservation goals at multiple spatial extents. Conservation easements are land use decisions resulting from a combination of social and environmental conditions. An emerging area of research is the evaluation of spatial distribution of easements and their spatial correlates. We tested the relative influence of interacting social and environmental variables on the spatial distribution of conservation easements by ownership category and conservation status. For the Appalachian region of the United States, an area with a long history of human occupation and complex land uses including public-private conservation, we found that settlement, economic, topographic, and environmental data associated with spatial distribution of easements (N = 4813). Compared to random locations, easements were more likely to be found in lower elevations, in areas of greater agricultural productivity, farther from public protected areas, and nearer other human features. Analysis of ownership and conservation status revealed sources of variation, with important differences between local and state government ownerships relative to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and among U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) GAP program status levels. NGOs were more likely to have easements nearer protected areas, and higher conservation status, while local governments held easements closer to settlement, and on lands of greater agricultural potential. Logistic interactions revealed environmental variables having effects modified by social correlates, and the strongest predictors overall were social (distance to urban area, median household income, housing density, distance to land trust office). Spatial distribution of conservation lands may be affected by geographic area of influence of conservation groups, suggesting that multi-scale conservation planning strategies may be necessary to satisfy local and regional needs for reserve networks. Our results support previous findings and provide an ecoregion-scale view that conservation easements may provide, at local scales, conservation functions on productive, more developable lands. Conservation easements may complement functions of public protected areas but more research should examine relative landscape-level ecological functions of both forms of protection.     

Assessing protected area network effectiveness through the temporal change in avian communities’ composition

Current rates of land use are driving temporal changes in avian communities. Thus, it is essential to properly designate and manage protected areas since they mitigate the adverse effects of temporal changes on species populations. By using common bird monitoring data in Czechia from two periods (2005/2006 and 2014/2015), we calculated two indices of temporal change per each site, the Jaccard dissimilarity index (temporal dissimilarity between the community composition) and the difference in bird species richness between both periods (delta bird species richness). We tested three main predictions on temporal change in bird communities between protected and unprotected areas: (i) bird species richness will be higher inside protected areas, (ii) temporal changes in avian communities will be lower inside protected areas, (iii) the effect of protected areas will interact with land-use types, land-use richness, and altitudinal zones. Bird species richness was higher inside protected areas in 2014/2015, ten years after the implementation of Natura 2000 in Czechia. Both indices of temporal change were lower inside protected areas. The interactions of protected areas and land-use types on the indices of temporal change were not significant. However, interactions with altitudinal zones had a significant positive effect on the indices, i.e., in higher altitudes, delta bird species richness and higher dissimilarity levels. Our study underlines the importance of protected areas for conservation by buffering the consequences of factors driving temporal community changes. Together, our results indicate a positive ‘umbrella’ effect of protected areas on avian communities that was likely facilitated by the implementation of Natura 2000.     

Caring for Country,a Form of Bureaucratic Participation. Conservation,Development, and Neoliberalism in Indigenous Australia

‘Conservation-as-development’ policies are increasingly implemented for and by Indigenous peoples across the world. In particular, such policies have been introduced and adopted in many Indigenous communities of northern Australia since the 1990s. In this context, the transnational model of community-based natural (and cultural) resource management has produced the ‘ranger system’: a multi-actor, multi-rationale, and multi-level system articulated around job opportunities in the domain of ‘caring for country’. In this paper, I explore how the ranger system reflects and extends a process of neoliberal bureaucratisation into Indigenous communities, and to what extent this process can be described as a form of ‘bureaucratic participation’. I argue that the notion of ‘bureaucratic participation’ contributes to the investigation of existing entanglements between rationales of empowerment and neoliberal principles in Australia and beyond. My analysis is based on the ethnography of the daily work of the Indigenous rangers operating from a remote community in Arnhem Land in 2009 and 2010. I examine the complex relationships between local practices and bureaucratic requirements imposed by the Australian state at the core of the Indigenous ranger jobs.     

Fragments of a Composite Identity: Aspects of Australian Nationalism in a Sports Setting1

I argue that it is erroneous to view nations as culturally homogeneous entities. Rather, all nations are riven by multiple divisions. What characterises a nation is that the people constituting it believe that they share a sameness with their co-nationals. So, the idea of cultural homogeneity is a myth that breathes life into nationalism: it is a cohering leitmotiv, a predicate of the ‘imagined community’ that can be subscribed to in different ways by people of diverse social locations and of disparate interests. Whereas most writers on nationalism write from a top-down perspective, I side with Hobsbawm in posing the question of how ‘ordinary’ people embrace a belonging to their nation. I maintain that there is no single, simple axis of national cohesion: rather, in any nation, there are multiple ways of identifying with and intuiting the collectivity. The emergence of the axioms of Australian nationhood, particularly with regard to how ideas of Australian distinctiveness emerged in counterpoint to British based discourses, is explored. I suggest that people ‘lock-in’ to these axioms through the symbology of specific events and situations. Attention is directed to the Stawell Easter Gift professional running carnival as an event that, amongst other things, provides occasions that enable participants to ‘lock-in’ to the meta-discourse of national identity.     

Applying complementary species vulnerability assessments to improve conservation strategies in the Galapagos Marine Reserve

Marine biodiversity can be protected by identifying vulnerable species and creating marine protected areas (MPAs) to ensure their survival. A wide variety of methods are employed by environmental managers to determine areas of conservation priority, however which methods should be applied is often a subject of debate for practitioners and scientists. We applied two species vulnerability assessments, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list of threatened species and FishBase’s intrinsic vulnerability assessment, to fish communities in three coastal habitats (mangrove, rocky and coral) on the island of San Cristobal, Galapagos. When using the IUCN red list of threatened species, rocky reefs hosted the greatest number of vulnerable species, however when applying the FishBase assessment of intrinsic vulnerability mangroves hosted the greatest abundance of ‘very-highly’ vulnerable species and coral ecosystems hosted the greatest abundance of ‘highly’ vulnerable species. The two methods showed little overlap in determining habitat types that host vulnerable species because they rely on different biological and ecological parameters. Since extensive data is required for IUCN red list assessments, we show that the intrinsic vulnerability assessment from FishBase can be used to complement the IUCN red list especially in data-poor areas. Intrinsic vulnerability assessments are based on less data-intensive methods than the IUCN red list, but nonetheless may bridge information gaps that can arise when using the IUCN red list alone. Vulnerability assessments based on intrinsic factors are not widely applied in marine spatial planning, but their inclusion as a tool for forming conservation strategies can be useful in preventing species loss.     

Paying attention to pigs: negotiating equity and equality in global environmental governance in Suau,Papua New Guinea

The idea of ‘equity’, largely grounded in Western legal tradition, has come to permeate evaluations of what is fair and just within environmental governance programmes. But what constitutes equity in climate change and conservation projects? And does everyone affected by such projects see equity as desirable? Local encounters with global environmental governance interventions in Suau, Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea, provide an entry point to explore these questions. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork with communities implicated in the Central Suau Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Pilot Project and in Save the Forest conservation projects, we examine tensions around conceptions of equity and equality between project proponents and local communities, as well as between individuals within those communities. By paying attention to talk about pigs in Suau, and tracing the intersections between reciprocity and trade, we explore how people negotiate equity and equality. We emphasize that this negotiation is central to Suau ideas of fairness. While the REDD+ and Save the Forest projects work to ensure ‘equitable’ distribution of benefits among supposedly equivalent actors, we show how this may actually close down possibilities for negotiation of outcomes that local people consider fair.