Keeping the Home Fires Burning: The Changed Nature of Householding in the Kofyar Homeland

In the early 1960s, Robert Netting described households in the Kofyar homeland in Nigeria and explained their size, composition, and other characteristics as adjustments to agrarian ecology. Household changes attending movement to a frontier were analyzed in the same framework. By the 1980s, the economic rationale for homeland farming had all but disappeared, and some villages seemed on the verge of abandonment. Yet deliberate strategies for preserving homeland settlements had prevented abandonment. The demographic characteristics and household composition in the homeland now provide a window into a wholly different set of processes than what Netting described 30 years ago. Home settlement is kept viable as a facility to support ethnic identity and to attract government resources. Beneath superficial similarities are profound changes in the nature of the household and factors shaping it, reflecting the changed rationale for keeping the home fires burning.     

New Technological Interventions in Conservation Conflicts: Countering Emotions and Contested Knowledge

New technologies have increasingly featured in environmental conservation conflicts. We examined the deployment of imaging devices such as sonar equipment and cameras to survey the Fal estuary in Cornwall, UK. Due to heavy use of these waters, there have been several disputes coalescing around protected marine features, including the estuary’s rare maerl beds. A comparison of two cases, scallop dredging and docks development, showed technical instruments being deployed to produce information about the marine environment as evidence to inform decision-making. The use of imaging devices stimulated political action and was regarded as a move away from emotion-based decision-making towards desired objectivity. Simultaneously, however, the process of deploying these devices was challenged and there was recognition that the resultant information could be used to construct the estuary as a politically charged space. Thus, rather than clarifying and resolving contentious issues, technological interventions generated new baselines for knowledge contestation and amplified ongoing battles for credibility and authority.     

Integrating Indigenous Resource Management with Wildlife Conservation: A Case Study of Batang Ai National Park, Sarawak, Malaysia

This paper examines the indigenous land and forest management systems of the community of seven Iban longhouses whose territories comprise the area of Batang Ai National Park in Sarawak, Malaysia. It also discusses the integrated conservation and development program (ICDP) at the park. This project is attempting to work within the existing system of customary law to build on traditional legislative infrastructure and management practices, in order to enlist the cooperation of local people and their leaders in implementing a new conservation strategy. In addition to reinforcing local authority, park planners recognize the need for local people to be given strong incentives to participate in co-management of the protected area. This paper argues that, despite a history of conflict with indigenous peoples, State officials have in this instance demonstrated a willingness to work with local people and community leaders. At the same time, they are encouraging community development, helping people to find alternatives to activities that threaten the park's wildlife.     

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.     

Cattle Raiding and Its Correlates: The Cultural-Ecological Consequences of Market-Oriented Cattle Raiding Among the Kuria of Tanzania

Among the agro-pastoralist Kuria people of Tanzania, many young men are engaged in an illicit livestock trade in which cattle stolen in Tanzania are sold to Tanzanian and Kenyan buyers for cash. In contrast to earlier theoretical formulations that have focused on pastoralist livestock raiding's presumed benign human-ecological functions of redistribution and herd management, this paper argues that Kuria cattle raiding is the driving force behind deleterious, and severe, human-ecological consequences in the study area, including a plummeting cattle population and a steady decline in food production in northern Tanzania's agriculturally bountiful Tarime District.     

People and wildlife: Conflicts arising around the Bia Conservation Area in Ghana

Human–wildlife conflicts have drastically increased around conservation areas in Africa over the last decades. Underlying causes are similar across regions and can most often be attributed to land-use changes and increasing human populations. However, wildlife species composition involved in conflicts can vary tremendously across sites. Conflict assessment often focuses on prominent species such as elephants or other large mammals, and information on smaller wildlife species involved in conflicts is often lacking. We conducted 100 interviews in 10 communities around the Bia Conservation Area (BCA), Ghana, to address the type and extent of damage as well as possible factors influencing the risk of crop-raids. We assessed wildlife presence and relative densities through indirect observations on transects and spoor-plots in the transition zone between BCA and agricultural land. Crop-raiding was present across all communities interviewed but was more than twice as high in the north compared to the south. Squirrels (Sciuridae spp.) were the most frequent crop-raiding species (92% of farmers experienced damage), but elephants (Loxodonta africana cyclotis [Matschie, 1900]) were nevertheless the major conflict generating species (84% of farmers experienced damage). Squirrel signs were 75 times as frequent as any other species recorded in the farmland. Cocoa (Theobroma cacao) was most frequently raided (99%), followed by cassava (Manihot esculenta) and yam (Dioscorea spp.). Raiding might have been promoted through inappropriate agricultural practices while only few current mitigation strategies have been successful so far. Promising strategies include chili fences and buffer zones, in which less susceptible crops such as chili pepper are planted. Further education of farmers on mitigation measures is needed, including training on improved farming practices.     

The Politics of Indigenous Environmental Knowledge in Vietnam

Human Ecology - Studies of Indigenous environmental knowledge (IEK) provide valuable information helpful for resource management, yet there remain gaps for many countries. This paper reviews the...     

Model-based Conservation Decision Aiding in the Presence of Goal Conflicts and Uncertainty

Goal conflicts and uncertainty are two major problems in decision-making for conservation and species protection. Conflicts can often be found between ecological goals on the one hand and socio-economic goals on the other, but also among different ecological goals. They can be formally analysed by methods of multi-criteria analysis. As the solution of a multi-criteria decision problem usually depends on the weights put on the individual criteria (objectives), sensitivity and robustness analyses are necessary to understand the decision problem, concentrate on the essential aspects, and support actual decision processes fully. Uncertainty in the decision problem is often caused by scarcity of information needed to predict the consequences of management actions. The so-called outranking concept proved very useful in the consideration of such uncertainty. Based on a simple fictitious case study the paper demonstrates how multi-criteria decision analysis (in particular the PROMETHEE outranking method) in combination with population model analysis can assist in conservation biological decision-making.     

Resolving the Conflicts Between Biodiversity Conservation and Socioeconomic Development in China: Fuzzy Clustering Approach

Resolving the conflicts between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development is a global pursuit for the long-run prospects of the human species. Based on Wenchuan County, a typical county in southwestern China, a group of 20 indicators quantifying regional biodiversity and socioeconomic development was established to classify and evaluate the county area spatially. A fuzzy c-means clustering (FCM) algorithm was used as the classification method. Three indices including BD, DL and DR characterizing the value of biodiversity, the level and rate of socioeconomic development of the delineated regions were formulated. The results indicated that Wenchuan County was optimally classified into 4 types of regions (region I to IV). The area percentages of the regions vary widely from 4.3 to 65.7%. The sequences of the regions on biodiversity, socioeconomic development level, and socioeconomic development rate were, respectively, IV > II > III > I, I > III > II > IV and III >I >II >IV. The spatial strategy on coordinating biodiversity conservation and regional development is to develop mainly from the east(I, II, III) and to conserve mainly in the west(IV). Eco-industry, such as eco-tourism and eco-agriculture, need to be emphasized in the process of regional development. The quantitative methods used here may have a wide applicability.     

Primate Conservation in Vietnam: Toward a Holistic Environmental Narrative

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

Conflicts of Interest in Environmental Management: Estimating the Costs and Benefits of a Tree Invasion

Some alien tree species used in commercial forestry cause major problems as invaders of natural ecosystems. One such case, the black wattle tree, was introduced into South Africa from Australia in the 19th century. It is an important commercial species, as well as an aggressive invader, giving rise to significant environmental impacts and conflicts of interest. This paper provides an analysis of costs and benefits associated with this species in South Africa at a national level. The results suggest that a do nothing scenario (with no attempts being made to control the spread of the species beyond the limits of plantations) is not sustainable, as the benefit–cost ratio is around 0.4. The most attractive control option will be to combine physical clearing and plant-attacking biological control with the continuation of the commercial growing activities. In case this is not practically feasible the next best option is a combination of seed-attacking biological control, physical control and the development of secondary industries based on wood products from clearing programmes. There is, however, a 40% loss of benefits involved with this option when compared with the first best option. The techniques used in this study, and the findings relating to the scenarios that deliver the best returns on investment, should be of broad relevance to the problem of dealing with conflicts of interest relating to invasive alien plants that have commercial value.     

The Evolution of Conservation Management Philosophy: Science, Environmental Change and Social Adjustments in Kruger National Park

In this ‘perspectives’ article, we share experiences gained from the century-old Kruger National Park (KNP) in South Africa to illustrate the dynamic complexity of biophysical and socio-political systems, the interactions that occur between them, and the consequences for ecosystem-scale functions and resources and for their management. As in KNP, the social-ecological milieu surrounding many national parks and protected areas is changing rapidly. There will be significant managerial adjustments as human populations grow and the needs for resources accelerate. The changes, driven largely by global-scale environmental shifts as well as by new knowledge, are intimately intertwined with evolving societal perceptions, values, and expectations. Many KNP resource-related issues of the past century originated more internally and were largely environmental, whereas the emerging issues are more external and largely social. Here, we illustrate how interrelated scientific and managerial advances in integrating biophysical and social systems are acting to conserve and rehabilitate resources within KNP, and to aid in their conservation. Where appropriate, we relate these advances to similar examples in the region or other protected areas in the world. Strategies to address emerging issues are identified and discussed—and their combined effects on resource conservation and management are evaluated. In our experience the approach to conservation within KNP has been successful, despite well-intended but damaging management actions in the past. We believe that the perceived success stems from a willingness to continually incorporate new knowledge into management, to foster close working and personal associations among scientists, managers, and rangers, to acquire an intimate knowledge and understanding of the social-ecological system by the administrators as well as by the staff, and to be actively ‘forward’ thinking in an increasingly complex and uncertain world. We accept that many decisions taken today will be challenged by future managers and scientists, and we expect that some will be found wanting as emerging knowledge and continued learning shape future decisions. Further, evolving political, social, and environmental contexts may mean that protected areas will need to be managed in different ways. Therefore, we emphasize the importance of minimizing the permanency and impact of decisions so that today’s actions do not compromise future decisions when meaningful changes need to be made.

Survey of the bryophytes of arable land in Britain and Ireland 1: a classification of arable field assemblages

Abstract

Knowledge of the distribution of arable bryophytes lags behind that of bryophytes of many other habitats, and we have almost no information on their occurrence in relation to crop type and agricultural management regime. A survey of arable fields in Britain and Ireland carried out by members of the British Bryological Society in 2001–05 was designed to provide such baseline data. We surveyed a stratified random sample of 200 fields in the main areas of arable agriculture and a further 620 fields in these areas and in areas where arable fields are less frequent. The species present in each field were listed and their frequency within the field assessed. Data on the crop, the cover of vascular plants, bryophytes, trash and bare soil, and the pH and texture of the soil were recorded for each field. Six species assemblages are described on the basis of a classification of the species recorded in each field and their frequency values. The Tortula truncata–Anthoceros and Dicranella staphylina–Riccia glauca assemblages are the most species-rich and are concentrated on acidic soils in northern and western Britain and in Ireland. By contrast, the Barbula unguiculata–Bryum klinggraeffii and Phascum cuspidatum–Microbryum davallianum assemblages are mainly found on calcareous soils in southern and eastern England. The Bryum dichotomum–Marchantia polymorpha assemblage is characterised by widespread, weedy generalist species and is concentrated in East Anglia. The final assemblage, Brachythecium rutabulum–Fissidens taxifolius, characteristically occurs in late-successional fields and was scattered throughout the area sampled. A comparison of the results from Kent with those of a survey of Kentish fields (using a different methodology) by A.G. Side in 1973–74 suggests that the Bryum dichotomum–Marchantia polymorpha assemblage may possibly have replaced the Dicranella staphylina–Riccia glauca assemblage on acidic soils in the last 30 years. The considerable geographical variation within the arable flora of Britain and Ireland revealed by the survey should be taken into account when assessing the meagre evidence for historic changes in the arable bryophyte flora.     

Water policy in southern Africa: A brief synopsis of some of the macro driving forces

The water sector reforms that are underway in many parts of southern Africa are a manifestation of a global phenomenon. This is rooted in the human response to the undesirable consequences of development, and seeks to introduce the notion of sustainability into the modern development discourse. This has given rise to an academic discipline that is known as political ecology, which seeks to understand the political construction of environmental knowledge. As it is currently formulated, political ecology is highly Eurocentric, meaning that African scholars should become engaged in its intellectual development. This political ecology discourse is relatively new in southern African academic circles, and can be helpful in explaining dynamics that are shaping the World Water Vision, Global Water Partnership, World Commission on Dams and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, all of which are relevant in the contemporary water sector.     

Power/Knowledge,Power/Ignorance: Forest Fires and the State in Mexico

For over a century the Mexican state has justified its control of forests by claiming that rural people are ignorant and destructive fire setters, in the face of abundant evidence to the contrary. Academic and popular stereotypes of the state have tended to assume that official power and knowledge go hand in hand. In an institutional ethnography ofthe Mexican environment agency, SEMARNAP, I. show how official ignorance is deployed both within and outside state forestry institutions, and how ignorance and complicity may be as important as knowledge in asserting state power. Rather than internalizing official fire discourse, rural people in Mexico learn to mouth polite fictions in their encounters with officials. I argue that the scholarship on governmentality derived from Foucault has uncritically internalized the link between power and knowledge. A closer attention to the production and translation of knowledge within state institutions leads to a more nuancedunderstanding of various forms of obscurity and ignorance which accompany official knowledge claims. This paper is drawn from my fieldwork and archival research in Mexico in the summer of 1998 and between April 2000 and August 2001.     

The Distributional Ecology of the Maned Sloth: Environmental Influences on Its Distribution and Gaps in Knowledge

The maned sloth Bradypus torquatus (Pilosa, Bradypodidae) is endemic to a small area in the Atlantic Forest of coastal Brazil. It has been listed as a threatened species because of its restricted geographic range, habitat loss and fragmentation, and declining populations. The major objectives of this study were to estimate its potential geographic distribution, the climatic conditions across its distributional range, and to identify suitable areas and potential species strongholds. We developed a model of habitat suitability for the maned sloth using two methods, Maxent and Mahalanobis Distance, based on 42 occurrence points. We evaluated environmental variable importance and the predictive ability of the generated distribution models. Our results suggest that the species distribution could be strongly influenced by environmental factors, mainly temperature seasonality. The modeled distribution of the maned sloth included known areas of occurrence in the Atlantic Forest (Sergipe, Bahia, Espírito Santo, and Rio de Janeiro), but did not match the observed distributional gaps in northern Rio de Janeiro, northern Espírito Santo or southern Bahia. Rather, the model showed that these areas are climatically suitable for the maned sloth, and thus suggests that factors other than climate might be responsible for the absence of species. Suitable areas for maned sloth were located mainly in the mountainous region of central Rio de Janeiro throughout Espírito Santo and to the coastal region of southern Bahia. We indicate 17 stronghold areas and recommended survey areas for the maned sloth. In addition, we highlight specific areas for conservation, including the current network protected areas. Our results can be applied for novel surveys and discovery of unknown populations, and help the selection of priority areas for management and conservation planning, especially of rare and relatively cryptic species directed associated with forested habitats.