Implications of land cover change on ecosystems services and people’s dependency: A case study from the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve,Nepal

Protected areas, a corestone of biodiversity conservation, provide a vast array of ecosystem services to support livelihoods of people. However, protected areas, especially freshwater, are under threat with overexploitation of resources changing the land covers and degrading their capacity to supply services. Information on land cover changes and its implications on ecosystems, its services and people, especially in developing countries at a local scale, is largely absent. This study, therefore, seeks to understand people's dependency on ecosystem services and implications of land cover change on ecosystem services and people, with a case study in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve of Nepal. Using both qualitative and quantitative methods, our findings show high dependency of the locals on a vast array of ecosystem services provided by the reserve. More than half of the sampled households were found to directly derive income from ecosystem services of the reserve. However, land cover changes especially declines in forest (16%), swamps/marshes (4%), rivers (14%) and other ecosystems over a period of 34-years impacted the provision of ecosystem services and people’s dependency notably. The services from forests declined by about 94%, swamps services by 36% and services from river by 57% which were reported to be the high service suppliers. People's dependency, as perceived by the locals, was reduced by 67% over the last ten years. The study highlighting the supply, demand and implications on ecosystem services and people helped to better understand the complex interaction between humans and ecosystems. These results can be used to develop holistic approaches to restore, conserve and manage the ecosystems, and its services by balancing equal supply and demand of ecosystem services required for a self-sustaining human-environment system. It can also contribute to development of important environmental policies and programs in the area.     

The economic determinants of land degradation in developing countries

The following paper investigates the economic determinants of land degradation in developing countries. The main trends examined are rural households'' decisions to degrade as opposed to conserve land resources, and the expansion of frontier agricultural activity that contributes to forest and marginal land conversion. These two phenomena appear often to be linked. In many developing areas, a poor rural household''s decision whether to undertake long-term investment in improving existing agricultural land must be weighed against the decision to abandon this land and migrate to environmentally fragile areas. Economic factors play a critical role in determining these relationships. Poverty, imperfect capital markets and insecure land tenure may reinforce the tendency towards short-term time horizons in production decisions, and may bias land use decisions against long-term land management strategies. In periods of commodity booms and land speculation, wealthier households generally take advantage of their superior political and market power to ensure initial access to better quality resources, in order to capture a larger share of the resource rents. Poorer households are confined either to marginal environmental areas where resource rents are limited, or only have access to resources once they are degraded and rents dissipated.<br>Overall trends in land degradation and deforestation are examined, followed by an overview of rural households'' resource management decisions with respect to land management, frontier agricultural expansion, and migration from existing agricultural land to frontiers. Finally, the discussion focuses on the scope for policy improvements to reduce economic constraints to effective land management. <br>     

社区对普氏原羚的保护态度和意愿及其影响因素

普氏原羚(Procapra przewalskii)是我国的特有种,青海湖地区是其唯一的分布区,青海湖国家级自然保护区对普氏原羚的有效保护、社区发展与保护之间矛盾的协调,对于生物多样性保护具有重要意义。了解青海湖国家级自然保护区周边社区对普氏原羚的保护态度、意愿及其影响因素,可以为自然保护区开展生物多样性保护工作,维持当地生态和平发展提供保障。基于问卷调查法对自然保护区周边社区的牧民和居民进行了调查,研究表明:(1)受访者认为草场质量退化(n=92,65.25%)和草场围栏设置(n=80,56.74%)是威胁普氏原羚的主要因素;在以保护普氏原羚和给予生态补偿为前提下,牧民拆除围栏的意愿有所提高(由20.78%分别提高至34.21%和40.79%);(2)管理部门的宣教活动(79.43%)、手机(31.91%)和电视(28.37%)等媒体报道是受访者了解野生动物保护相关政策法规的主要渠道,可以增进受访者对政策法规的了解,积极影响受访者对普氏原羚的认知(P < 0.01)、保护态度(P < 0.01)和保护意愿(P < 0.01);(3)受访者一致认为自然保护区的严格管理与保护(牧民94.81%,居民96.87%)、当地牧民对普氏原羚的包容与保护(牧民97.40%,居民87.50%)是普氏原羚能够在自然保护区周边生存的主要原因;(4)受访者对普氏原羚的保护态度和意愿均较高,且愿意参与宣传教育(92.91%)和社区共管(87.94%)工作;(5)除了受访者的文化程度、年龄、宗教信仰和家庭年收入的影响,对政策法规的了解及拆除围栏认同度是影响受访者对普氏原羚保护态度和意愿的关键因素(P < 0.01)。因此,建议自然保护区以国家公园建设为契机,加强协调保护与发展的科学研究,深入开展宣传教育,增进社区对自然保护区生物多样性的认识,提升社区共管参与度。     

Arapaima co-management through the lens of the Protected Areas Assets Framework

An extensive network of Protected Areas (PA) has been established across the Brazilian Amazon, but this PA system still suffers from a shortage of funding resources and environmental managers. New conservation strategies that successfully align social aspirations with biodiversity conservation are therefore imperative. Although approaches exist that demonstrate the value of biodiversity conservation for society and the local/national economy, these do not always manage to capture intrinsic values or local perspectives on natural resource conservation, and this can generate limitations in the use of these approaches as conservation tools. Here, we assessed the case of arapaima (Arapaima spp.) co-management, a well-consolidated community-based conservation initiative, through the lens of the Protected Areas Asset Framework (PAAF) to investigate the material and immaterial value of PA assets. Arapaima was clearly recognized as a key biophysical natural asset by local communities, with a significant role in terms of food, cultural, economic and conservation importance, in addition to its status as an iconic and emblematic species. This study reinforces the potential of the PAAF to identify the diverse range of values associated with PAs. Our results also encourage wider support to strengthen collaborative sustainable natural resource management programmes such as arapaima co-management, which is achieving remarkable social and ecological outcomes in rural Amazonia.     

Impacts of co-management on western chimpanzee (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Pan troglodytes verus</Emphasis>) habitat and conservation in Nialama Classified Forest,Republic of Guinea: a satellite perspective

The first model for co-management between local communities and government towards the sustainable utilization of forested regions in Republic of Guinea was established in the Nialama Classified Forest in 1999. Technical and financial support was provided by USAID to develop local natural resource management capacity. Long-term local chimpanzee monitoring provided the basis for delimiting the boundaries of core areas for strict protection which continue to provide refuge to the resident chimpanzee population. Using satellite imagery, we reviewed the impacts of co-management on key chimpanzee habitat between 1986 and 2009. Degradation statistics show that land cover change within areas delimited as critical chimpanzee habitat inside of the Classified Forest was far less compared to the Classified Forest as a whole, or within a 5 km buffer zone. Comparatively, critical chimpanzee habitat located outside of the Nialama Classified Forest suffered the most degradation. Here we discuss the impacts of co-management on chimpanzee habitat and causal factors surrounding the continued survival of chimpanzees in Nialama.     

Perception of local people towards conservation of forest resources in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve,north-western Himalaya,India

This article examines the perception of the Bhotiya tribal community on the use and conservation of natural resources in Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve (NDBR), north-western Himalaya in India with an objective of identifying the bottlenecks in the sustainable management of forest resources of NDBR through people’s participation. Despite, 85% of the respondents supporting the concept of conservation of forest resources, management decisions such as ban on mountaineering activities by creation of the Nanda Devi National Park (NDNP) in 1982 and NDBR in 1988, developed negative attitude among local people towards NDBR management, mainly because of restricted access to the forest resources for their livelihood. Promotion of some alternative income generating activities to reduce the dependence on natural resources was responded positively by the local people.     

候鸟类型国家级自然保护区保护成效评估指标体系构建与案例研究

建立自然保护区是对生物多样性及其生境最直接、最有效的保护措施,构建一套科学、完整的国家级自然保护区保护成效评估指标体系,对促进国家级自然保护区的有效管理和宏观决策具有重要的意义。截止2014年3月,我国已建立407个国家级自然保护区,其中野生动物类型105个。尽管国家已投入大量的人力、物力和财力,但目前仍不清楚这些国家级自然保护区的保护成效如何,故很有必要对国家级自然保护区保护成效开展评估。基于保护目标物种,以10a为时间尺度,采用集成分析法、专家咨询法和示范研究法,率先构建了我国候鸟类型国家级自然保护区(第一保护对象为候鸟的野生动物类型国家级自然保护区)保护成效评估框架和指标体系,并用层次分析法(AHP)法对指标进行赋分。评估框架包含1个目标层、2个系统层(生态有效性评估,分值占60%;管理有效性评估,分值占40%)、9个因素层、36个指标层,另增加人为影响赋分区(-12分—+8分)。其中,生态有效性评估包含代表性、适宜性、稀有性、多样性、完整性共5个因素层及15个指标层;管理有效性评估包含管理对象、管理行动、管理保障、管理效果共4个因素层及21个指标层。为进一步验证与完善评估指标体系的科学性和可操作性,我们以青海湖国家级自然保护区和湖南东洞庭湖国家级自然保护区为案例进行了研究。结果表明:该评估指标体系具有良好的科学性和可操作性。近10年,青海湖国家级自然保护区在针对保护目标物种种群动态与生境的科研监测、宣传教育、野外巡护、社区共管方面的保护成效较好,但快速发展的生态旅游对候鸟的活动造成了一定的影响,建议加强生态旅游管理;湖南东洞庭湖国家级自然保护区在针对候鸟的宣传教育、野外巡护方面的保护成效较好,但土地管理权属的混乱使候鸟的生境遭到一定的破坏,建议进一步争取土地所有权和落实管理权,并通过发展生态旅游来提高当地居民收入,达到减少人为影响与恢复候鸟生境的目的。     

Conserving biodiversity efficiently: what to do, where, and when

Conservation priority-setting schemes have not yet combined geographic priorities with a framework that can guide the allocation of funds among alternate conservation actions that address specific threats. We develop such a framework, and apply it to 17 of the world's 39 Mediterranean ecoregions. This framework offers an improvement over approaches that only focus on land purchase or species richness and do not account for threats. We discover that one could protect many more plant and vertebrate species by investing in a sequence of conservation actions targeted towards specific threats, such as invasive species control, land acquisition, and off-reserve management, than by relying solely on acquiring land for protected areas. Applying this new framework will ensure investment in actions that provide the most cost-effective outcomes for biodiversity conservation. This will help to minimise the misallocation of scarce conservation resources.     

Practical Environmentalism on the Pine Ridge Reservation: Confronting Structural Constraints to Indigenous Stewardship

Parallels exist between the academic theory of a dwelling approach to resilience and the Indigenous Stewardship Model developed on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. In both approaches, sustainable resource management depends on a practical environmentalism that creates linkages between local community members and their surrounding ecosystem. Research on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation reveals that Lakota people possess a conservation ethic that stems from their physical connection to place. However, tribal, state, and federal land policies create structural barriers that reduce access of Lakota households to the land, which in turn reduces adaptability and resilience in their ecological practice. To overcome these barriers, Lakota households envision local stewardship of reservation lands and resources. Particular emphasis is placed on the intergenerational transfer of knowledge to Lakota youth, to transcend local and political conflict, and to reestablish social and cultural relationships with the reservation’s ecology.     

Conservation Reserve Program Benefits on Henslow's Sparrows Within the United States

ABSTRACT Henslow's sparrow (Ammodramus henslowii) is one of North America's fastest declining songbirds. Population declines combined with a small global population have led to heightened conservation concern. I used data from the North American Breeding Bird Survey to assess the impact that the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) has had on Henslow's sparrows throughout their United States breeding range. My analysis suggests local Henslow's sparrow population trends are correlated with CRP enrollment, with populations increasing more in areas with relatively high local CRP enrollment, and that CRP appears to be playing a significant role in reversing long-term population declines.     

Ten years of co-management in Greek protected areas: an evaluation

The present study attempts an evaluation of the first co-management framework that has been adopted and implemented in Greece over the last 10 years for the management of its protected areas. To get insight as to how efficient it has been, we evaluate the performance and outcomes of the 28 management authorities of the protected areas of the country that substantiate it and the conditions under which they have been operating. The study involved a large part of the Greek conservation community. It was conducted via a questionnaire dealing with issues of financing and administration, environmental management and guarding, and connection with the local community. For co-management, it is essential that the actors involved undertake their share of responsibility, which should be clearly defined and delimited; this was not usually the case. Decentralization of the power of management requires capacity building locally and active involvement of the local community; these have been addressed and achieved only to a limited degree. Most importantly, the support and commitment to conservation of state actors were often missing. Funding discontinuities, delays in responding to needs associated with biodiversity monitoring and protection and inefficient guarding were the major problems resulting from the inadequacies detected. Despite its weaknesses, the co-management framework contributed considerably to the conservation of environmental values of Greece. We propose improvements and measures that can substantially increase its overall effectiveness towards nature conservation. However, under the severe crisis that the country has been facing, its future is currently unknown.     

The challenge of participatory natural resource management with mobile herders at the scale of a Sub-Saharan African protected area

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the management of rangelands used by mobile populations, such as transhumant herders, must include large scale, sometimes cross-border, components. This mobility, common and significant in transhumant livestock production systems is, in most cases, not taken into account in conservation and natural resources management strategies around protected areas. Most conservation projects which include a development goal are designed to provide support to sedentary subsistence agricultural populations. Securing “pastoral lands” is seldom included as part of protected areas land management approaches. This paper focuses on the difficulty of integrating pastoral, agricultural and conservation issues into a regional land management plan. Based on a case study in Chad (Zakouma National Park), we pay particular attention to local mechanisms of land tenure negotiation, the mobile actors and the complex political landscape that this creates.     

Can engaging local people’s interests reduce forest degradation in Central Vietnam?

Governments in tropical countries are still responding to increasing forest degradation by implementing different types of protected areas. In general, due to their negative image as causes of deforestation, local communities are being excluded from any management role in these conservation areas. However, in Vietnam, since 1986 various incentives have been proposed for alternative conservation models. Our surveys used a multidisciplinary combination of methods to work with one Pahy ethnic minority around the degraded forests of the proposed Phong Dien Nature Reserve in Central Vietnam. From the results of these surveys we obtained clear indication that conservation can be enhanced if local priorities, perspectives and wishes are better identified and taken into account. The local communities identified the need for, at least, limited extractive activities in the protected area. They also frequently stressed their willingness to participate in the monitoring and control of the area, and in the selection of local species for reforestation programmes. Communities can and should be actively involved in building a shared understanding of what the forest provides, how it can be conserved and the benefits to be obtained. Conservation in Vietnam has much to gain from local participation. However, suitable safeguards and incentives need to be in place to insure sustainable use of the forest resources.     

The Power of Environmental Knowledge: Ethnoecology and Environmental Conflicts in Mexican Conservation

Theory in political ecology emphasizes the role of competing interests in shaping resource use. Although supportive of these approaches, this article draws on the importance of meanings assigned to ecological systems to question how epistemological differences also contribute to environmental conflicts. Following calls to examine the interface between environmental knowledge and action, consideration is given to ethnoecological constructs of forests on Mexico's southern Yucatan peninsula, home to the Calakmul Biosphere Reserve. To quiet opposition to the Reserve, government agents increased financial aid to the region in the form of conservation development projects. With the counsel of a Reserve director, local residents effectively used these projects to press for an environmentalism based on sustainable resource use. This position has associations with a local ethnoecology of land as a place of work. In examining how ethnoecologies played out in contests surrounding conservation, possibilities for a localized, alternative environmentalism are discussed, as well as the importance of environmental constructs for research in political ecology.     

Fire as a tool in the management of a savanna/dry forest reserve in Madagascar

Abstract. The possible use of fire for the management of the Ankarafantsika Reserve in the northwest of Madagascar and of its surrounding area is studied. Within this savanna landscape large parts of the remaining dry forests still exist with a unique biotic diversity, both in terms of total number of species and endemism. Unfortunately, mainly man-induced uncontrolled fires threaten these forests. Actual and former fire regimes of the local communities are analysed. The use of fire is an integrated part of land use and is also governed by socio-cultural traditions. The impact of fire on the dynamics of dry forests and grass savannas is studied considering the specifics of different fire regimes. We propose that a deliberate and controlled use of fire respecting the vegetation stage and the defined objectives could be an appropriate management tool. The strategy of a fire management is elaborated considering both the conservation of biodiversity and improvement of the livelihood of the local population depending upon the Reserve's resources. Obviously, a sustainable management of the natural resources requires a substantial participation of the community.     

Representation of global and national conservation priorities by Colombia's Protected Area Network

Background

How do national-level actions overlap with global priorities for conservation? Answering this question is especially important in countries with high and unique biological diversity like Colombia. Global biodiversity schemes provide conservation guidance at a large scale, while national governments gazette land for protection based on a combination of criteria at regional or local scales. Information on how a protected area network represents global and national conservation priorities is crucial for finding gaps in coverage and for future expansion of the system.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We evaluated the agreement of Colombia''s protected area network with global conservation priorities, and the extent to which the network reflects the country''s biomes, species richness, and common environmental and physical conditions. We used this information to identify priority biomes for conservation. We find the dominant strategy in Colombia has been a proactive one, allocating the highest proportion of protected land on intact, difficult to access and species rich areas like the Amazon. Threatened and unique areas are disproportionately absent from Colombia''s protected lands. We highlight six biomes in Colombia as conservation priorities that should be considered in any future expansion of Colombia''s protected area network. Two of these biomes have less than 3% of their area protected and more than 70% of their area transformed for human use. One has less than 3% protected and high numbers of threatened vertebrates. Three biomes fall in both categories.

Conclusions

Expansion of Colombia''s Protected Area Network should consider the current representativeness of the network. We indicate six priority biomes that can contribute to improving the representation of threatened species and biomes in Colombia.     

广西拉沟自然保护区维管束植物资源

据调查,广西拉沟自然保护区有维管束植物186科657属1078种（含变种、亚种）,包括材用植物88种、药用植物358种、油脂植物36种、纤维植物70种、淀粉植物29种、杂果植物25种、芳香植物28种、栲胶植物39种、保健饮料植物12种、饲用植物49种、花卉观赏植物75种、水土保持植物23种、珍稀濒危植物43种等资源植物,保护植物资源迫切而重要,对此提出植物资源保护与可持续利用的建议。     

Fiddling in biodiversity hotspots while deserts burn? Collapse of the Sahara's megafauna

Biodiversity hotspots understandably attract considerable conservation attention. However, deserts are rarely viewed as conservation priority areas, due to their relatively low productivity, yet these systems are home to unique species, adapted to harsh and highly variable environments. While global attention has been focused on hotspots, the world's largest tropical desert, the Sahara, has suffered a catastrophic decline in megafauna. Of 14 large vertebrates that have historically occurred in the region, four are now extinct in the wild, including the iconic scimitar‐horned oryx (Oryx dammah). The majority has disappeared from more than 90% of their Saharan range, including addax (Addax nasomaculatus), dama gazelle (Nanger dama) and Saharan cheetah (Acinonyx jubatus hecki) – all now on the brink of extinction. Greater conservation support and scientific attention for the region might have helped to avert these catastrophic declines. The Sahara serves as an example of a wider historical neglect of deserts and the human communities who depend on them. The scientific community can make an important contribution to conservation in deserts by establishing baseline information on biodiversity and developing new approaches to sustainable management of desert species and ecosystems. Such approaches must accommodate mobility of both people and wildlife so that they can use resources most efficiently in the face of low and unpredictable rainfall. This is needed to enable governments to deliver on their commitments to halt further degradation of deserts and to improve their status for both biodiversity conservation and human well‐being. Only by so‐doing will deserts be able to support resilient ecosystems and communities that are best able to adapt to climate change.     

Bees, farmers, tourists and hunters: conflict dynamics around Western Tanzania protected areas

Following important donor funding in Tanzania since the 1990s to support community based natural resource management, several cooperation agencies have implemented projects aiming at developing innovative conservation strategies combining protected and sustainable use areas. Based on data gathered in the Katavi Rukwa Lukwati and Ugalla core areas of Western Tanzania, this paper compares and analyses how projects developed their strategy and objectives to address conflicts between local population and conservation agents, and how this led to changes in conservation practices. The projects managed to achieve their objectives in conservation and poverty reduction at various degrees. Enhanced conflict resolution capacity involving private stakeholders, conservation agents and local communities, as well as improved collaboration between projects, helped to solve part of the conflicts. This was the case with the negotiation of rights of access for beekeepers to Rukwa game reserve. However, enduring sector based approaches continue to hinder opportunities for developing multiple use approaches. Contrasted results of the projects can be explained by factors inherent to projects’ planning and management, but also by factors that are beyond projects’ influence such as the historical and contemporary context in terms of governance of natural resources and more globally, of power relationships between the state, private organisations and the communities.