Institutional Adaptation and Community-Based Conservation of Natural Resources: The Cases of the Tao and Atayal in Taiwan

Traditional institutional rules, values, and beliefs help support conservation regimes of natural resources in many indigenous communities. Such traditional conservation regimes may break down as a result of influences from the outside world. This paper examines two cases in Taiwan—the Tao communities on Orchid Island and the Atayal community in Smangus. The former illustrates a process in which traditional institutions supporting local conservation broke down as a result of external influences, leading to the loss of the local community’s ability to govern the use of a coastal fishery. The latter, in contrast, demonstrates how local people are able to adapt their traditional institutions to meet the challenges from the outside world while preserving a local forest. The paper concludes by examining factors that affect institutional adaptation in community-based conservation of natural resources.     

宁夏农牧交错带村域景观演替及驱动机制

人类活动与景观格局的关系及其调控,一直是景观生态学研究的核心领域之一。农牧交错带因其环境波动、土地宜农宜牧和政策摇摆,自然生态和地方文化逐渐式微,保护和恢复现有的半自然景观以及由此产生的生物、生态和文化等功能的任务越来越紧迫。本研究以位于农牧交错带的宁夏盐池县皖记沟村为对象,运用遥感资料和访谈调查、地学考察相结合的方法,分析1964—2019年景观变化特征,探讨其景观演替规律及其自然和社会驱动机制,以及景观类型之间的互作机制。结果表明: 研究期间,皖记沟村由草地、耕地、沙地为主的景观结构演变为以草地、灌木林地、沙地、耕地为主的景观结构,由景观功能分离竞争向初步整合转变,形成了草地-耕地-沙地-灌木林地等确定的演替路径。景观演变的主要驱动机制是政策、人类需求和环境的综合作用。政策往往通过大型的、集中的人类活动促进景观发生改变,而环境通过生态系统内在驱动力,促使景观朝着与本底条件相适应的方向演替。景观演替的主要机理是土壤物理结构变化引起的土壤水分变化以及能适应新环境的植被变化。在资源密度较低的农牧交错带,景观功能分离是引起土地沙化的主要原因之一,景观功能的整合、协同大大缓解了生态恶化的局面。将景观分离竞争转化为景观共生,实现景观类型的互补乃至与外来资源的整合,是维持农牧交错带可持续发展的关键途径。     

中国北方农牧交错带土地利用/覆盖变化研究综述

土地利用/覆盖变化(LUCC)是人类活动行为与自然生态系统相互作用最为直接的表现形式.近年来由于人类活动的日益加剧使区域生态环境发生了剧烈变化,中国北方农牧交错带作为人类活动的强烈影响区和生态环境敏感区,是土地利用/覆盖变化研究的“热点区域”.本综述基于众多学者对于北方农牧交错带LUCC的研究成果,梳理了关于北方农牧交错带范围界定的进展,总结了当前有关本地区LUCC的研究手段、研究内容以及环境效应与应对措施等方面的最新进展,最后指出了本地区LUCC研究中存在的综合性模拟研究较少、生态环境效应不足等问题,并提出了未来研究中应多手段、多学科、多尺度研究的发展方向.     

Plant Knowledge and Current Uses of Woody Flora in Three Cultural Groups of the Brazilian Semiarid Region: Does Culture Matter?

Patterns of plant use in human populations are context-specific and influenced by many different ecological and social factors like plant diversity and availability, and gender, age, and household structure. The aim of this study is to evaluate current levels of knowledge and use of native plant species in different sociocultural groups living in the same ecological area. We examine the association between an individual’s species knowledge and use and (1) species availability and (2) individual age, gender, and group pertinence. Data were collected through interviews with three different groups living in the municipality of Açu, Rio Grande do Norte (n = 233): an urban community, a local community of fishers, and a traditional community of self-identified indigenous people (Caboclos de Açu). The results show no correlation between knowledge/use and resource availability. Elders know and use more species than younger interviewees. Men know more species than women, but there is no difference between the number of species used by men and women. Group pertinence was related to both current levels of species knowledge and use: the urban community had less knowledge of the flora than the local and traditional communities. Regarding species uses, the traditional community uses more plants than the local community, and informants in the urban community use the least. Our results dovetail recent anthropological research suggesting that, despite other important cultural changes, the Caboclos de Açu continue to maintain at least part of their traditional knowledge system, probably because they depend on the use of plant resources for their livelihood. Overall, our results highlight the predominance of culture above the environment in driving plant use and knowledge.     

Adapting to the Impacts of Climate Change on Food Security among Inuit in the Western Canadian Arctic

This study examined critical impacts of climate change on Inuit diet and nutritional health in four Inuit communities in the Inuvialuit Settlement Region, Western Arctic, Canada. The first objective was to combine data from community observation studies and dietary interview studies to determine potential climate change impacts on nutritional quality. The second objective was to address the scale of data collection and/or availability to compare local versus regional trends, and identify implications for adaptation planning. Information was compiled from 5 reports (4 community reports and 1 synthesis report) of climate change observations, impacts and adaptations in 12 Inuit communities (2005–2006), and from a dietary report of food use from 18 Inuit communities (1997–2000). Changing access to, availability of, quality of, and ability to use traditional food resources has implications for quality of diet. Nutritional implications of lower traditional food use include likely reductions in iron, zinc, protein, vitamin D, and omega-3 fatty acids, among others. The vulnerability of each community to changing food security is differentially influenced by a range of factors, including current harvesting trends, levels of reliance on individual species, opportunities for access to other traditional food species, and exposure to climate change hazards. Understanding linkages between climate change and traditional food security provides a basis for strengthening adaptive capacity and determining effective adaptation options to respond to future change.     

农牧交错带农牧复合系统的可持续机制

农牧复合系统具有综合资源、兼顾生态与生计、环境与经济发展的作用,是农牧交错带脱贫富民的必由之路。目前,农牧复合实践迫切需要建立可持续的运行机制。针对于此,运用农户调查、土地养分测定和农牧测产、分室模型等方法,对宁夏盐池县皖记沟村农牧复合系统的资源支持、农户农牧复合生产方式、农牧复合系统的物质流开展研究。结果表明,促进农牧复合系统发展的主要原因是资源基础和耕地、灌木林地、草地系统耦合的生产方式。目前主要生产饲草料的水浇地和柠条林地的水资源可持续性是农牧复合系统能否长期持续的关键。加强水土资源、饲草料生产和滩羊养殖之间的系统调控和整体协同,是农牧交错带农牧复合系统可持续发展的必然选择。     

Traditional Water Resource Management and Water Quality in Rural Tanzania

Traditional resource management (TRM) is largely based on local ecological knowledge (LEK). In regions where formal institutional control of natural resources is limited due to a lack of coordination or stakeholder involvement, communities rely on TRM to manage common-pool resources. This paper examines TRM among the Sonjo in rural Northern Tanzania, with particular reference to catchment forest protection and water quality. We first document the ecological knowledge of traditional resource managers, and then describe the differences between traditionally managed water sources and formal, government managed resources. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods to examine water use, perceptions of water quality, and bacterial water quality, significant differences were detected among river basins within seasons and between seasons. Our findings indicate that the Sonjo, well known for their traditional forest conservation practices and irrigation management, may also benefit from TRM through improved water quality. The examination of traditional methods of water conservation provides insight into how communities in resource-stressed regions thrive despite seasonal droughts and flooding.     

The role of cross-border transhumance in influencing resident herders’ cattle husbandry practices and use of genetic resources

For centuries, the humid West African coastal country of Benin attracts cattle herders from neighboring Sahelian countries such as Niger, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. Each year, several thousands of cattle are trekked over hundreds of kilometers to Benin following established and non-established transhumance corridors. This cross-border mobility has been shown to play an important role in ensuring the productivity of the transhumant herds through adequate late dry season access to pastoral resources. Yet, its effects on the traditional agro-pastoral production systems that are encountered along the routes in Benin have never been explicitly investigated. Therefore, we collected socio-economic household data, herd characteristics and management data from 104 resident herders and 38 transhumant herders in 2 vegetation zones of Benin. To determine whether or not the proximity to transhumance corridors affects sedentary production systems, characteristics of cattle herds and farmers’ management practices were compared between villages close to (within a 25 km buffer) and far from (outside a 25 km buffer) transhumance corridors within and between vegetation zones using non-parametric statistical tests. Existing relationships between resident and transhumant herders were also identified and characterized. Subsequently, herd characteristics and management practices were compared between resident herders having relationships with transhumant herders and those without. Herd sizes of resident herders living close to transhumance corridors were larger (P < 0.01) than those of their counterparts living far away. Also, proximity to transhumance corridors had positive effects on herd management practices. The relationships between resident and transhumant herders were governed by a variety of interests including encampment/manuring contracts, exploitation of grazing lands and watering points, trading and bartering of cattle. This exchange of cattle is an important driver of change in the breed composition of local herds and represents an opportunity for resident herders to enhance their herds’ productivity through crossbreeding. However, the mere replacement or indiscriminate crossbreeding of local cattle breeds with those kept by transhumant herders threatens the sustainability of the traditional resident herding systems by increasing the risk of genetic erosion and loss of valuable adaptive traits in indigenous animal genetic resources.     

Lifelong foraging and individual specialisation are influenced by temporal changes of resource availability

Resource availability largely determines the distribution and behaviour of organisms. In plant–pollinator communities, availability of floral resources may change so rapidly that pollinator individuals can benefit from switching between multiple resources, i.e. different flowering plant species. Insect pollinator individuals of a given generation often occur in different time windows during the reproductive season. This temporal variation in individual occurrences, together with the rapidly changing resource availability, may lead individuals of the same population to encounter and use different resources, resulting in an apparent individual specialisation. We hypothesized, that 1) individual pollinators change their resource use (flower visitation) during their lifetime according to the changing availability of floral resources, and that 2) temporal variation in individual occurrences of pollinators and in resource availability will partly explain individual specialisation. To test these hypotheses, we observed flower visitations of individually marked clouded Apollo butterflies Parnassius mnemosyne during one reproductive season. We found temporal changes in lifetime individual resource use that followed the changes in resource availability, indicating that butterflies can adjust foraging to varying resource availability. Individuals differed considerably in their resource use. This variation was partly explained by temporal variation in both floral resource availability and temporal occurrence of individual butterflies. We suggest the butterfly as a sequential specialist, i.e. short‐term specialist and long‐term generalist. This foraging plasticity can be essential for short‐living insect pollinators in rapidly changing environments. Although flowering dynamics do not fully explain the variability in foraging, our results highlight the importance of temporal dimension in resource use studies. Ultimately, the relative pace of environmental change compared to individual lifespan may be a key factor in resource use plasticity.     

Concepts of illness and treatment practice in a caboclo community of the Lower Amazon

Comparatively little has been written recently about the health consequences of social change and economic development in Amazonia. This study focuses on patterns of morbidity, treatment practices, and illness beliefs among caboclos of the Lower Amazon. It suggests that for these people traditional medicine is a salient marker of ethnic identity. An understanding of beliefs concerning disease etiology is critical to an appreciation of individual treatment choices in a plural medical system such as that found within the Lower Amazon region, where traditional healers can play a pivotal role in developing effective linkages to clinical services, [traditional healers, Amazonia, caboclos, medical pluralism]     

Water,land and carbon footprints of sheep and chicken meat produced in Tunisia under different farming systems

Meat production puts larger demands on water and land and results in larger greenhouse gas emissions than alternative forms of food. This study uses footprint indicators, the water, land and carbon footprint, to assess natural resources use and greenhouse gas emissions for sheep and chicken meat produced in Tunisia in different farming systems in the period 1996–2005. Tunisia is a water-scarce country with large areas of pasture for sheep production. Poultry production is relatively large and based on imported feed. The farming systems considered are: the industrial system for chicken, and the agro-pastoral system using cereal crop-residues, the agro-pastoral system using barley and the pastoral system using barley for sheep. Chicken meat has a smaller water footprint (6030 litre/kg), land footprint (9 m²/kg) and carbon footprint (3 CO₂-eq/kg) than sheep meat (with an average water footprint of 18900 litre/kg, land footprint of 57 m²/kg, and carbon footprint of 28 CO₂-eq/kg). For sheep meat, the agro-pastoral system using cereal crop-residues is the production system with smallest water and land footprints, but the highest carbon footprint. The pastoral system using barley has larger water and land footprints than the agro-pastoral system using barley, but comparable carbon footprint.     

北京香山公园自然景观价值二十年变迁

自然景观是由自然环境、物质和景象构成,具有观赏、游览、休闲、疗养等效用和价值的风景综合体或景物。然而,人们在开发利用自然资源时,并没有将自然景观的价值纳入到费用效益分析中,这种对自然景观价值的忽略和低估导致了各种不可逆转的环境问题。如果赋予自然景观合适的经济价值并探究其价值变化,能为其开发利用提供决策支持。以北京香山公园为例,构建了价值评估的指标体系:即自然景观价值为使用价值与非使用价值之和。并对这两种价值分别运用个体旅行费用法和条件价值法进行评估,得出2012年香山公园的使用价值为19.25亿元,非使用价值为3.46亿元。对香山公园在1992—2012年20年间的自然景观价值变化进行深入的研究发现,其景观价值由1992年的0.175亿元增长到2012年的22.71亿元,增长近130倍,速率为1.13亿元/a,游客量的加倍增长、人们游览支出的提高,以及支付意愿的增长是产生该变化的主要原因。随着环境污染和生态破坏的日益加剧以及人们对健康生活的迫切向往,香山公园自然景观价值仍将持续增长,景区当局应全面认识香山公园所承载的价值,在发展旅游的同时也要积极探索解决现有生态环境问题的新思路。     

Participatory Resource Monitoring as a Means for Promoting Social Change in Yunnan,China

Recent international forest policies stimulate involvement of communities in forest management as a strategy to improve biodiversity conservation and the quality of local livelihoods. Increasingly, the role of local people in monitoring forest resources is also acknowledged. This paper presents a participatory resources monitoring (PRM) system developed and implemented by representatives of 12 villages, six each within and adjacent to two nature reserves in Yunnan, China. The short-term objectives are to monitor resource and wildlife abundance, resource use, wildlife damage to crops, and land use. Main methods used by the village monitoring team are: (1) observation through forest walk, (2) village interview, and (3) market survey. Monitoring is implemented throughout the year to fit in the daily work of villagers. Staff from the nature reserve or forestry bureau provide support by visiting the villages several days per year. Results indicate that participatory monitoring is a valuable tool for villagers to engage in self-owned management actions. We discuss how monitoring is also a process which could lead to social change. Based on narratives we suggest that participatory monitoring builds trust between stakeholders, changes perceptions and attitudes and leads to more democratic and transparent decision-making. In discussing accuracy, we argue that all stakeholders perceive and interpret nature differently based on different worldviews, knowledge systems, values and beliefs. We argue that if participatory monitoring is to be sustainable, community-based monitoring – preferably linked to scientific monitoring and patrolling – should be designed as a discursive institution where the process of building social capital and inter-actor learning is extremely important. Finally, we briefly reflect upon efforts to scale up participatory monitoring.     

The Dynamics and Social Organization of Tropical Deforestation in Northwest Ecuador, 1983-1995

This paper examines the regional dynamics and natural resource use strategies related to the deforestation of tropical rain forests west of the Ecuadorian Andes for the period 1983–1995. Research was based on regional level analysis of remotely sensed and secondary data and local level analysis of the ways local populations use the resources at their disposal. The process observed departs significantly from what has been described in the literature for Latin America and should be seen as a window into a broader environmental process occurring in most tropical forests on the Pacific side of northern South America. Deforestation in the Northwest Ecuador is primarily related to a complex productive structure, made up a countless number of timber producers and middlemen, ranging from fully informal to fully formal, and from small scale to large scale. A key finding is that local traditional populations play a critical role through productive coalitions between small primary producers and large timber firms. These have been shaped by the articulation of local conditions with external markets, settlement processes, and the convergence of local populations in an economic system which relies on the unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. If deforestation rates in Northwest Ecuador remain at current levels, forests in the region will disappear completely within 30–35 years, a fate that is likely to be the same for most tropical rain forests west of the tropical Andes.     

A community perspective on participatory conservation in western Tanzania

Local participation is a key component of sound management of protected areas. The starting point for achieving this goal is to establish factors influencing it. In the Ugalla ecosystem of western Tanzania, the government in collaboration with other conservation organisations has initiated efforts to engage local people in conservation. However, the area is under increasing pressure especially from local livelihood activities and exploitation of natural resources. This study used focus group discussions and key informants to explore factors that would promote local engagement in conservation. Fifty-two activities were mentioned and ranked in terms of their effectiveness in reducing illegal use of natural resources. Improving household-level livelihoods ranked highest, followed by improving subsistence agriculture and stopping game rangers from harassing villagers. Reducing land use conflicts between local people and conservation authorities was also commonly mentioned. Capacity building and alternative sources of livelihood cannot be overstated. Additionally, Ugalla should be managed appropriately and transparently, and used effectively to improve participatory conservation. Overall, local communities were interested in a participatory conservation that would strike a fair balance between the improvement of their living standards and the conservation of natural resources. Further, research should include household interviews to reveal household level factors that affect participation in conservation.     

野生大熊猫与放牧家畜的空间利用格局比较

空间利用是野生动物对环境资源的利用模式和活动格局,影响着种群之间的基因交流和生存发展。我们于2010～2012年在四川卧龙国家级自然保护区的“核桃坪”及其附近区域,采用GPS颈圈跟踪技术对分布和放养于该区域的野生大熊猫和放牧家畜—马群进行了定位监测和样地调查。分别选择了3只大熊猫和3个马群的代表性个体的GPS颈圈数据,在地理信息系统（GIS）中通过数字高程模型（DEM）、动物移动模块等工具提取和计算了它们活动区域的地形地势、巢域大小、日移动距离和核域数量,并检验了野生大熊猫和放牧家畜空间利用的差异性。结果表明：野生大熊猫和放牧家畜不同月份和整体之间在海拔高度、坡度坡向、巢域面积、日移动距离和核域数量等方面都具有显著性的差异。野生大熊猫表现为随季节和食物类型（竹笋、竹秆、枝叶）丰度的变化分别活动于拐棍竹林、短锥玉山竹林和冷箭竹林中,活动空间较大（海拔范围、巢域大小）、日移动距离较短和核域数量多等特征的随机扩散模式,且不同个体和月份之间波动性较大;放牧家畜则因初始放养于不同区域的竹林（拐棍竹林、冷箭竹林）和人为干涉程度的大小差异,显示出不同的空间利用格局,但与大熊猫相比,总体而言都具有巢域面积小、日移动距离略大、核域数量极少等“步步为营”空间利用模式的特征,且不同畜群和不同时间之间的变化幅度也小于大熊猫。不同的空间利用格局对环境资源的影响强度截然不同,大熊猫的利用模式有利于竹子资源的更新恢复和生境结构的持续发展,而放牧家畜的利用模式将造成竹子资源的死亡衰败和生境结构的破坏退化。因此,加强放牧家畜的管控,有效协调社区经济发展和生物多样性保护成为卧龙自然保护区（特区）今后工作和管理的当务之急。     

宁夏东部农牧交错区可持续发展草地生态农业体系建设研究

1　研究地区概况宁夏盐池四墩子试区位于盐池县中北部城郊乡四墩子行政村 ,地处毛乌素沙漠西南缘 ,为黄土高原向鄂尔多斯台地过渡地带。海拔高度在 1 380～ 1 6 0 0ｍ之间 ,年平均气温 7 7℃ ,1月份平均气温为-8 9℃ ,7月份平均气温 2 2 5℃、绝对最高和最低气温分别为 38 1℃和 -2 9 6℃ ,≥ 0℃的年积温为 3430 3℃ ,≥ 1 0℃年积温为 2 949 9℃ ,年日照时数 2 86 7 9ｈ ,日照率 6 5%。年均降水量为 2 89 4ｍｍ ,年蒸发量 2 1 31 8ｍｍ ,年无霜期 1 6 2天左右 ,为典型大陆性气候。地貌为缓坡丘陵 ,地带性土壤为灰钙土和风沙…     

Local perceptions of grassland change and priorities for conservation of natural resources of Banni, Gujarat, India

This study was conducted in the Banni region of the Gujarat State, India, which is located in the western-most end of the country. The main objective was to investigate the local perceptions of grassland change, regeneration potentiality, socio-economic status and fac-tors that cause degradation of the vegetation resources in Banni. Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) was employed to generate the socio-economic profile of interviewed villages or hamlets. Information on vegetation deteriora-tion and changes in species composition significant for sustainable management of grassland was obtained through interviews with 51 elderly maldharies (pastoral-ists) and local inhabitants living in 31 villages in Banni. Local people had observed a change in the local surrounding habitats from grassland to woodland (domi-nated by Prosopis juliflora, locally called Gando Bavar) during their lifetime and considered it primarily a result of frequent intensive drought, constructed dams on flooding rivers in Banni, and declining rainfall. The socio-economic survey showed that the Banni communities are highly dependent on the natural grassland for various purposes. In particular, nine woody species were useful for construction of the traditional house called Bhunga, four for medicine and 22 for livestock fodder. Highly preferred and declining species were characteristically large wild thorny trees with edible fruits, viz. Acacia nilotica subsp, indica (Bavar), Prosopis cineraria (Kandho), and Salvadora persica (Kharijar). Some of the locally highly preferred grass species were also considered to be declining in the local environs; they included Dichanthium annulatum (Jinjvo), Cenchrus ciliaris (Dbaman), Sporobolus fertilis (Khevai) and Chloris barbata (Siyarpuchha). The study furthermore identified a close coincidence between the interest in conserving tree species diversity nearby the natural water resources and priorities of local inhabitants, which included protection of plenty of large trees (including many fruit tress, viz. Mangifera indicia (Ambo), Cordia dichotoma (Gunda)and Pithecellobium dulce (Gora-samli)), improvement of woody fodder tree and grass species regeneration, and reduction of overgrazing pres-sure on grasslands. Focusing management strategies on increasing the populations of such declining and highly preferred tree and grass species, by active restoration and grazing policies, would enhance the natural resource value and biodiversity wealth considerably and thereby the quality of life for the local inhabitants. The implications of the results are discussed and recommendations are suggested for conservation, management, and sustainable utilization of the fragile grassland ecosystem of the Banni region.