A bioeconomic analysis of community wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe

This paper uses a bio-economic model to analyze wildlife conservation in two habitats adjacent to a national park by two types of communities in Zimbabwe. One community is made up of peasant farmers operating under a benefit-sharing scheme such as CAMPFIRE, while the other is made up of commercial farmers practicing game farming in a conservancy. Both communities exploit wildlife by selling hunting licenses to foreign hunters but with different levels of success. The park agency plays a central role by authorizing the harvest quota for each community. We formulate a bio-economic model for the three agents, optimize the market problem for each agent and compare the outcomes with the social planner’s solution. Our results show that the level of anti-poaching enforcement by the park agency is suboptimal, while anti-poaching effort exerted by the conservancy community achieves social optimality. CAMPFIRE communities exert more poaching effort than what the social planner would recommend. Our model shows that institutional reforms in benefit-sharing schemes could result in the decisions of CAMPFIRE communities gravitating towards the social optimum.     

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.     

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.     

自然保护区生态旅游对野生动物的影响

目前中国的很多自然保护区开展了生态旅游,但这类活动对野生动物的影响研究却十分薄弱,因此十分有必要在介绍欧美、澳洲学者的研究进展基础上,针对我国的研究现状,提出该领域的研究方向、监测和管理策略.自然保护区的生态旅游活动主要有野生动物观赏、徒步行走、摄影、野外宿营、山地车或雪地车、电动或机动艇游湖、溪涧漂流、环境教育、社区访问等,旅游活动类型、范围、强度、时空分布等是影响对野生动物干扰大小的主要因素.生态旅游对野生动物的影响包括直接影响(个体的行为反应和生理指标改变、繁殖力降低、种群分布和物种组成的改变等)和间接影响(生境破坏、外来种散布和环境污染等).国外生态旅游对鸟类的影响研究较多,主要集中鸟类的惊飞反应、取食、能量消耗、繁殖等方面;对兽类影响的研究主要集中在行为、生理指标改变、种群数量等方面.我国未来的研究应注重收集基础性研究数据和深入探讨一些理论与应用问题,要运用多种技术手段对自然保护区野生动物的行为、生理、种群动态、物种多样性、生境质量、游客的时空分布、态度和行为等进行长期监测,而后将其结果应用到野生动物、生境以及游客的管理决策中去.另外,研究中应重视自然科学和社会科学的多学科交叉融合.     

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。     

卧龙自然保护区野生动物肇事农地特征及影响机制

野生动物肇事是保护区内部和周边地区的普遍现象,严重影响了保护区生物多样性保护的有效性,是当前保护区管理面临的新问题。以四川卧龙国家级自然保护区为例,于2014年7—8月以问卷调查方式获取了170个农地的野生动物肇事信息,建立了野生动物肇事与不同农地特征之间的二元logistic回归模型,并通过赤池信息量准则筛选出3个拟合优良的回归模型。研究结果表明,野生动物肇事与农地特征之间存在密切关系,其中农地种植作物类型、农地与森林、公路的距离、围栏的使用等农地特征意义显著(P值均小于0.01)。进而探讨了上述农地特征对野生动物肇事的影响机制及原因,并据此结果提出了野生动物肇事地的评价和管理、调整作物种植结构、统一规划和管理防护措施、减轻当地居民对农业的依赖等缓解人与野生动物冲突的对策。     

A new program for biomonitoring status and trends in the environment

Environmental contaminants threaten the biological integrity of aquatic and semi-aquatic communities both inside and outside of U.S. National Wildlife Refuges (Refuges). The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the U.S. National Biological Survey are developing a new biomonitoring program, the Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) Program. The BEST Program is being designed to respond to the effects of contemporary environmental contaminant problems associated with fish and wildlife and their habitats. When fully operational, BEST will evaluate the effects of contaminants on fish and wildlife resources; identify and prioritize national, regional, and local contaminant issues for decision makers; monitor national trends of the presence and effects of contaminants; and provide baseline information to support various contaminant investigation activities. The BEST Program will use an integrated network to evaluate contaminant impacts at the tissue, organism, population, community, and ecosystem levels. The sampling approach will be designed around two major components, trust resources on FWS lands (primarily Refuges) and trust species and their habitats outside of FWS lands. The BEST Program is adopting bioassessment techniques from four broad categories including ecological surveys, biomarkers, bioassays and toxicity tests, and residue analysis. Pilot and demonstration projects will be conducted through fiscal year 1997.     

Population genomics as a new tool for wildlife management

Admixture and introgression have varied effects on population viability and fitness. Admixture might be an important source of new alleles, particularly for small, geographically isolated populations. However, admixture might also cause outbreeding depression if populations are adapted to different ecological or climatic conditions. Because of the emerging use of translocation and admixture as a conservation and wildlife management strategy to reduce genetic load (termed genetic rescue), the possible effects of admixture have practical consequences ( Bouzat et al. 2009 ; Hedrick & Fredrickson 2010 ). Importantly, genetic load and local adaptation are properties of individual loci and epistatic interactions among loci rather than properties of genomes. Likewise, the outcome and consequences of genetic rescue depend on the fitness effects of individual introduced alleles. In this issue of Molecular Ecology, Miller et al. (2012) use model‐based, population genomic analyses to document locus‐specific effects of a recent genetic rescue in the bighorn sheep population within the National Bison Range wildlife refuge (NBR; Montana, USA). They find a subset of introduced alleles associated with increased fitness in NBR bighorn sheep, some of which experienced accelerated introgression following their introduction. These loci mark regions of the genome that could constitute the genetic basis of the successful NBR bighorn sheep genetic rescue. Although population genomic analyses are frequently used to study local adaptation and selection (e.g. Hohenlohe et al. 2010 ; Lawniczak et al. 2010 ), this study constitutes a novel application of this analytical framework for wildlife management. Moreover, the detailed demographic data available for the NBR bighorn sheep population provide a rare and powerful source of information and allow more robust population genomic inference than is often possible.     

国家公园原住民对野生动物肇事的认知、意愿及其影响因素——以武夷山国家公园为例

国家公园原住民对野生动物肇事的态度直接影响野生动物保护政策有效实施以及人与野生动物共存机制。迄今,学术界鲜有从原住民认知与意愿角度探讨野生动物肇事的成果,基于自然保护地国家公园的相关研究尚未见报道。根据449份有效调查问卷及深度访谈数据,论文采用有序多分类Logistic回归方法,探讨武夷山国家公园原住民对野生动物肇事的认知、意愿及其影响因素。结果表明：（1）多数原住民经历过野生动物肇事,其农作物及牲畜受到严重损害,野猪（Sus scrofa）为研究区域主要的肇事动物。（2）种群数量增加、食物短缺和生存空间受限是野生动物肇事的主要原因。（3）学历、经历及认可政府应对肇事的方式对原住民防范野生动物肇事意愿的影响显著。在此基础上,提出遵循生态规律、保护栖息地、提升认知与意愿、实行社区共管、建立野生动物致害补偿机制以及引入野生动物致害赔偿保险等对策,希望能够深化对野生动物肇事特征及机理的科学认识,为有效缓解人与野生动物冲突、推进国家公园人与野生动物和谐提供政策参考。     

Protecting wildlife from predation by owned domestic cats: Application of a precautionary approach to the acceptability of proposed cat regulations

Abstract While it is undeniable that owned domestic cats Felis catus (Mammalia: Felidae) kill large numbers of wildlife, it is contentious if this has significant impacts on wildlife populations. Under the precautionary principle such uncertainty does not preclude measures to reduce putative risk, but action should follow consultation with stakeholders. To initiate such consultation for the City of Armadale, Western Australia, we surveyed urban and rural residents to determine their opinions regarding putative impacts of owned cats on wildlife and the acceptability of proposed regulations. Key statements accepted by 70% or more of respondents, irrespective of their residence, gender or cat ownership status, included: (i) there is a need to regulate owned domestic cats; (ii) the presence of cats in nature reserves is harmful to wildlife; (iii) cats not owned by licensed breeders should be desexed; and (iv) local councils should be empowered to restrict the maximum number of cats per household. Seventy per cent or more of owners agreed to keep their cats on their property from sunset to sunrise and to register them if these measures became compulsory. All groups except urban men also indicated 70% or greater willingness to keep their cats on their property constantly if required. However, fewer than 40% of owners supported empowering local councils to enforce cat‐free zones. In this community, cat regulation excluding cat‐free zones should enjoy support. Similar approaches should be effective wherever the environmental impacts of owned domestic cats are debated, because compliance with such regulations should be high.     

Wildlife tracking data management: a new vision

To date, the processing of wildlife location data has relied on a diversity of software and file formats. Data management and the following spatial and statistical analyses were undertaken in multiple steps, involving many time-consuming importing/exporting phases. Recent technological advancements in tracking systems have made large, continuous, high-frequency datasets of wildlife behavioural data available, such as those derived from the global positioning system (GPS) and other animal-attached sensor devices. These data can be further complemented by a wide range of other information about the animals'' environment. Management of these large and diverse datasets for modelling animal behaviour and ecology can prove challenging, slowing down analysis and increasing the probability of mistakes in data handling. We address these issues by critically evaluating the requirements for good management of GPS data for wildlife biology. We highlight that dedicated data management tools and expertise are needed. We explore current research in wildlife data management. We suggest a general direction of development, based on a modular software architecture with a spatial database at its core, where interoperability, data model design and integration with remote-sensing data sources play an important role in successful GPS data handling.     

人与野生动物冲突研究现状及经验启示

人与野生动物冲突是人与自然耦合系统不可避免的负向产物,对冲突的治理是实现保护与发展协调的重要路径。国内外学者对此展开了大量的研究。本文从冲突生成、影响、成本和治理四个方面对现有研究进行梳理,结果表明人与野生动物冲突对保护与发展都造成负面影响,包括社区直接经济损失、人身安全受威胁、福祉降低以及野生动物被伤害、栖息地被挤占。现有研究还存在缺乏跨学科系统研究框架、忽视冲突隐性成本以及对冲突影响研究不深入等不足,未来在科学测度冲突成本、从生态和社会经济视角对冲突影响进行评估以及冲突治理措施多元化方面研究需要深入。在此基础上,从建立中央政府为主、地方政府为辅的野生动物冲突补偿专项基金;政府为主导,企业、社区、国际组织和高校多方利益群体参与机制;人与野生动物冲突分区管理制度;冲突损失核算和申报管理系统;多元化冲突治理模式;冲突减缓土地利用规划体系方面提出现有研究对治理我国人与野生动物冲突的启示。     

Impact of land use and tenure changes on the Kitenden wildlife corridor,Amboseli Ecosystem,Kenya

This study assesses the ecological pressure exerted by changing land use and tenure on the Kitenden wildlife corridor, a critical cross‐border link between the Amboseli and Kilimanjaro national parks. The implications on viability of the two high‐value protected areas and their respective dispersal areas are both negative and serious. The extent of land use change and its impacts were assessed through household and vegetation surveys, while wildlife abundance was measured using transect walks. Approximately 30% of the study area has shifted from community to private land ownership over the last two decades. Except for baboon and vervet monkey, most wildlife avoided the cultivated area. Vegetation composition on the noncultivated area has been greatly altered by intense wildlife and livestock use, where mean herbaceous vegetation cover differed significantly among range‐plant categories (F_{3, 524} = 29.015, p < 0.05). The frequency of increaser I (21.4%) differs greatly from that of decreaser and forbs, at 8.3% and 7.4%, respectively Tree recruitment was low, with a significant difference in mean density among age classes (F_{2, 110} = 3.663, p < 0.05). Only through land leasing agreements between landowners and conservation organisations, and a widely supported land use plan, can the spread of cultivation be controlled and complete cessation of wildlife movement be prevented.     

Perceptions of Veterinarians in British Columbia of Cat Management Strategies to Reduce Cat Overpopulation and Impacts on Wildlife Populations

ABSTRACT

Free-roaming cats present a multidisciplinary challenge for wildlife conservation and feline welfare. Veterinary professionals are critical stake-holders in the issue of free-roaming cats, making it imperative that their attitudes and perspectives are well understood. In this study, we conducted an electronic survey of veterinarians practicing across British Columbia to evaluate their perceptions of 1) whether cat overpopulation is a concern, 2) the impacts of cats on wildlife, and 3) alternative management strategies for dealing with cat overpopulation. Of the 389 respondents, 56% agreed that cat overpopulation was a local problem, and 91% agreed that veterinarians play a role in reducing cat overpopulation. Veterinarians in rural communities had a greater involvement in cat overpopulation and perceived it as more problematic than their urban colleagues. The majority (70%) of veterinarians reported that they performed early-age sterilization, supported the principle of low-cost spay-neuter services (67%), and 65% of them were involved in these services. Just over half (54%) of respondents reported that they provide permanent identification to cats, typically offering both microchips and tattoos. Veterinarians were less cohesive on their perceptions of the impact of free-roaming cats on wildlife: 53% agreed that after habitat loss cats are one of the most significant, direct causes of bird and wildlife mortality, while 30% were neutral and 17% disagreed. Fifty-six percent of veterinarians felt that keeping cats indoors would be one of the most effective strategies to reduce cat impacts on wildlife, but they also felt that public education programs and low-cost spay-neuter programs would be effective and more popular with cat owners. Most veterinarians (79%) recommended against unsupervised outdoor access, citing safety and disease risks. Rodent control was the most common reason for not recommending an indoor lifestyle. Overall, our survey results suggest that veterinarians are committed participants in the prevention of cat overpopulation. Conservationists need to focus on increased engagement with veterinarians regarding the impact of cats on wildlife.     

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.     

Securing Alternative Funding for Wildlife Management: Insights from Agency Leaders

Abstract: State wildlife management is in a period of change unlike any other in its history. The growing human population in most states is having unprecedented impacts on the natural environment. At the same time, society's interests and expectations regarding wildlife and wildlife management, respectively, are changing. Increasing demands on state wildlife management agencies and subsequent costs, as well as the declining relative numbers of hunters, the traditional funding source for state wildlife management, have caused the state wildlife management institution to acknowledge and address the need to find and secure nontraditional funding sources. We interviewed administrators from 24 state wildlife agencies to understand these leaders' perspectives on how their agencies have responded to pressure to develop alternative funding mechanisms. Specifically, we wanted to know if agency behavior was generally consistent with a typology of strategic organizational response, ranging from passive conformity to active resistance. We found evidence that state wildlife agencies exhibited strategic behavior consistent with this typology and, in some cases, were innovative in their efforts to secure alternative funding. In other cases, agency behavior was limited by real or perceived external constraints, particularly political factors. We provide a modified typology of organizational response reflecting the context of state wildlife management. Not all responses are appropriate or feasible for all agencies, so agencies must evaluate their environments to determine which strategies offer the greatest potential benefits and least potential costs. Agencies unable to behave strategically due to political or other constraints would benefit from establishing broad-based partnerships, including traditional and nontraditional stakeholders, with the purpose of building support for alternative funding of state wildlife management.     

Steering the impacts of ungulates on temperate forests

Ungulate game damage to growing forest stock is recognised as being part of a larger landscape-forest-ungulate-human problem to be tackled on a landscape as well as a forest scale. Whether ungulate impacts are seen as “damage” or not depends on the targets of the different land users. Possibilities for a flexible, integrated pattern of ungulate, forest, hunting and landscape management are highlighted.

The impacts of forestry practices on food supply and food-independent settling stimuli for ungulates affect (1) the habitat quality, (2) the density, structure and dynamics of wildlife stocks, (3) the predisposition of forest to game damage, and (4) the scale of game damage that arises. Though silvicultural measures are seen to be of prime importance in controlling game damage, they alone cannot sustainably solve the problems of wildlife management; complementary inputs are required from all stakeholders – foresters, hunters, farmers, tourist authorities, conservationists, regional planning authorities and local communities – with plans coordinated over large enough regions to be relevant for the game species of interest.

The management tools for steering ungulate behaviour and forest-ungulate interactions derive from field research. However, communication of results to stakeholders appears to be a major weakness. Suggestions for improving collaboration between stakeholders and researchers are presented, along with future research needs.     

Wildlife control,access and utilisation: Lessons from legislation,policy evolution and implementation in Zimbabwe

This paper retraces: (1) the promulgation of protectionist wildlife policies by colonial administrators at the turn of the 19th Century in Zimbabwe, and their evolutionary trajectory over distinct time periods, (2) the paradigmatic shift and the extent of evolution of wildlife policies with respect to the devolution thrust and local community participation to date. The aim is to re-ignite and keep alive the debate for the improvement of local community livelihoods by meeting their aspirations and addressing poverty. Another section explores the robustness of local community institutional framework following decades of research on their efficacy in the face of internal weaknesses and external pressures. This is discussed in the context of contested devolution and decentralisation concepts which not in the distant past became fashionable rhetoric in the field of local community empowerment in natural resource management. Areas of contests have been explored using a case study approach. Extensive literature consultation and gleaning of 127 published and relevant sources cutting across national, regional and global realms reveal that Zimbabwe and most southern African countries have evolved progressive policies. However, consistent with most literature, the implementation of these otherwise progressive policies remains problematic. Hence, the question, ‘when will community-based wildlife conservation initiatives like communal areas management programme for indigenous resources (CAMPFIRE) achieve their initially intended goals of devolution?’ remains largely unaddressed.     

Shelter availability and human attitudes as drivers of rock hyrax (Procavia capensis) expansion along a rural–urban gradient

While anthropogenic land‐use changes threaten wildlife globally, some species take advantage of such changes and disperse into urban areas. The wildlife in urban areas often promotes conflicts with humans, notably when the animals are associated with the spread of zoonotic diseases. In Israel, current urban invasion of rock hyraxes (Procavia capensis) draws public attention, since the species is a reservoir host of cutaneous leishmaniasis, a serious skin disease. The rock hyrax, however, has seldom been studied in densely populated areas, and the drivers for its urban expansion, as well as its abilities to live and spread in core urban areas, are relatively unknown. Here, we explore the rock hyrax expansion to urban areas process by examining the availability, characteristics and use of shelter along an urban gradient. Our findings suggest that a series of factors determines shelter availability and quality for the rock hyrax, which facilitates its dispersion across the urban gradient. We found that rock hyraxes from the Judean Desert expand to the peri‐urban region of Jerusalem by colonizing new rocky shelters formed as by‐products of urban development. With their populations reaching extreme densities in this area and saturating the available shelters, there is some spill over to the adjacent core urban areas where they colonize littered sites, which are made available due to the local socio‐economic conditions and cultural norms of waste disposal and illegal placement of temporary structures. Our work emphasizes the significance of the urban gradient approach for studying the mechanisms promoting wildlife expansion to cities. Our findings suggest that changes in shelter availability and quality due to urban development, and cultural norms promote shifts of the hyrax population by pushing from the already established areas and pulling into new environment across the urban gradient.     

Can Public Meetings Accurately Reflect Public Attitudes Toward Wildlife Management?

Abstract: State wildlife agencies often use input obtained through public meetings to develop management policies. Because public meetings can be dominated by single stakeholder groups, these policies may not reflect the attitudes of new wildlife stakeholders. In 2000 the Utah Wildlife Board, after a series of public meetings, adopted a statewide policy for winter-feeding mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). The policy was implemented by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources from 2001 to 2007 in Cache County of northern Utah, USA. In 2007, we surveyed Utah households representing metropolitan, nonmetropolitan, and Cache County residents (n = 1,800) to evaluate whether the winter-feeding policy reflected the attitudes of all wildlife stakeholders. Survey respondents, regardless of residence strata, believed winterfeeding programs were essential for managing mule deer in Utah (χ²₆ = 7.02, P = 0.32). However, most respondents were reluctant to support feeding programs at the expense of habitat restoration projects (χ²₆ = 11.64, P = 0.07). Our results suggest that the winter-feeding policy represented the attitudes of the Utah residents surveyed, though few had participated in its development. Respondents' strong utilitarian attitudes toward wildlife (e.g., strong support for hunting and feeding) influenced those respondents' perceptions of the policy. Given the effects of increased urbanization on utilitarian attitudes toward wildlife in many parts of the United States, coupled with decreasing numbers of traditional wildlife stakeholders, state wildlife agencies should continually reevaluate their public involvement processes to ensure new wildlife stakeholders' attitudes and concerns are represented.