Monitoring Matters: Examining the Potential of Locally-based Approaches

Monitoring of biodiversity and resource use by professional scientists is often costly and hard to sustain, especially in developing countries, where financial resources are limited. Moreover, such monitoring can be logistically and technically difficult and is often perceived to be irrelevant by resource managers and the local communities. Alternatives are emerging, carried out at a local scale and by individuals with little formal education. The methods adopted span a spectrum, from participatory monitoring where aims and objectives are defined by the community, to ranger-based monitoring in protected areas. What distinguishes these approaches is that local people or local government staff are directly involved in data collection and (in most instances) analysis. In this issue of Biodiversity and Conservation, 15 case studies examine whether these new approaches can address the limitations of professional monitoring in developing countries. The case studies evaluate ongoing locally-based monitoring schemes involving more than 1500 community members in 13 countries. The papers are based on a symposium held in Denmark in April 2004 (www. monitoringmatters.org). Here, we review how the case studies shed light on the following key issues concerning locally-based methods: cost, sustainability, their ability to detect true local or larger-scale trends, their links to management decisions and action, and the empowerment of local constituencies. Locally-based monitoring appears to be consistently cheap relative to the costs of management and of professional monitoring, even though the start-up costs can be high. Most local monitoring schemes are still young and thus their chances of being sustained over the longer term are not yet certain. However, we believe their chances of surviving are better than many professional schemes, particularly when they are institutionalised within existing management structures, and linked to the delivery of ecosystem goods or services to local communities. When properly designed, local schemes yield locally relevant results that can be as reliable as those derived from professional monitoring. Many management decisions emanate from local schemes. The decisions appear to be taken promptly, in response to immediate threats to the environment, and often lead to community-based actions to protect habitats, species or the local flow of ecosystem benefits; however, few local schemes have so far led to actions beyond the local scale. Locally-based monitoring schemes often reinforce existing community-based resource management systems and lead to change in the attitude of locals towards more environmentally sustainable resource management. Locally-derived data have considerable unexplored potential to elucidate global patterns of change in the status of populations and habitats, the services they provide, and the threats they face, but more effort is needed to develop effective modalities for feeding locally-derived data up to national and international levels.     

Does Monitoring Matter? A Quantitative Assessment of Management Decisions from Locally-based Monitoring of Protected Areas

Biodiversity monitoring is criticized for being insufficiently relevant to the needs of managers and ineffective in integrating information into decision-making. We examined conservation management interventions resulting from 2½ years of monitoring by 97 rangers and 350 community volunteers over 1 million hectares of Philippine protected areas. Before this monitoring scheme was established, there was little collaboration between local people and park authorities, and park monitoring was restricted to assessments of the quantity of extracted timber. As a result of the scheme, 156 interventions were undertaken in terrestrial, marine and freshwater ecosystems. In total 98% of these interventions were meaningful and justified, 47% targeted the three most serious threats to biodiversity at the site, and 90% were implemented without external support, suggesting that the interventions were relevant and could be sustained over time at the local level. The mean time from sampling to decision-making was only 97 days, probably because 82% of the interventions were initiated by the same people and institutions that had compiled the underlying data, bypassing potential government bureaucracy. Many of the interventions were jointly undertaken by community members and the management authorities or consisted of local bylaws in support of park management. As a result of the monitoring, indigenous resource use regulation schemes were re-established with government recognition in several parks. The monitoring led to more diversified and realistic management responses on the part of the authorities, including a more socially acceptable and effective approach to enforcement. Of the four field monitoring techniques used, the most participatory one generated more interventions aimed at ensuring a continued resource supply for local communities (χ²₃ = 69.1, p <0.01). Although this suggests that the interest of community members is associated with their possibilities to influence the flow of ecosystem goods and services, the 156 interventions targeted, directly or indirectly, all known globally threatened species of mammals, birds and butterflies in the parks.     

Cofán Indians’ Monitoring of Freshwater Turtles in Zábalo,Ecuador

The Cofán Indians of Aguarico and Zábalo Rivers in Ecuador in 1990 began a turtle recuperation effort by raising turtle hatchlings (Podocnemis expansa and P. unifilis) in small pools. To evaluate the effectiveness of this program, the Cofán developed and tested three methods to document changes in the populations of turtles. The first method consisted of interviews with people from neighbouring communities about their perceptions of changes in turtle abundance. The second method was a direct count of turtles observed along the rivers from canoe. The third method was an indirect count, involving turtle nest censusing along community beaches. Two of the methods yielded numerical, statistically positive turtle population trends. The turtle program has influenced the community's perception of turtle conservation issues so that, instead of hunting the adults and eggs, they now protect them. The training in record-keeping permits them to make a transparent history of the equitability of access to the turtle egg resource. The Cofán monitoring experience strengthened their successful petition to the Ecuadorian government for the rights to manage their territorial lands within the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, and to receive protected area status and management rights to other ancestral lands. The experience gained by the Zábalo monitors is now serving as a model for the design and implementation of the park monitoring system of the newly-established Cofán Park Ranger Corps, which will be patrolling three Ecuadorian Ecological Reserves which overlap Cofán inhabited areas.     

Association of the ABCA1 gene polymorphisms with type 2 DM in a Japanese population

To examine the association of the ATP-binding cassette transporter 1 (ABCA1) gene with type 2 diabetes (DM), we studied genetic polymorphisms of the ABCA1 gene including its linkage disequilibrium (LD) and haplotype analyses using a Japanese population. A sample set (DM:72, IGT:75, and NGT:227) was genotyped with 34 SNPs distributed from the promoter region to the last exon of the ABCA1 gene. LD between SNPs was assessed in pairwise manner. Among 13 LD blocks constructed, an LD block at the 5'-region showed a significant difference in the haplotype distribution between the study groups (NGT vs. IGT + DM: overall p = 0.0180; NGT vs. DM: 0.0001). Fisher's exact probability test (NGT vs. DM) showed a significant association of the haplotype 2 of the LD block (p = 0.0001), with an odds ratio (OR) of 2.53 (95%CI:1.62-4.12). Diplotype analysis also showed a significant association of the diplotypes with the haplotype 2 (OR:2.59, 95%CI:1.48-4.54, p = 0.0013).     

Non-management of Natural Resources: The Case of Inland Fisheries in the Mayan Zone,Quintana Roo,México

This study explores the management of inland fisheries on common lands (ejidos) within the Mayan Zone of Quintana Roo, Mexico. Qualitative survey data are used to examine whether there are (a) ongoing fishery conservation activities; (b) local caretakers of fishing sites; (c) restrictions on where fishing can take place; and (d) particular groups of individuals who lack the right to fish within the ejidos. Results indicate that in contrast to other local resources, fisheries in the ejidos have less defined use rights, being viewed as largely “open access”. In particular, most feel that outsiders can fish in an ejido if they abide by local rules (notably not damaging the local water bodies, asking consent to fish, and having a friend or relative in the community). However, there are within-community differences in views concerning management and conservation, with those more dependent on fishing being more likely to support exclusion of outsiders.     

Marine invasive species: validation of citizen science and implications for national monitoring networks

Approximately 1,000 volunteers assessed the presence of invasive (Carcinus maenas and Hemigrapsus sanguineus) and native crabs within the intertidal zone of seven coastal states of the US, from New Jersey to Maine. Identification of crab species and determination of the gender of the observed crabs was documented at all 52 sites across a 725-km coastal transect. Using quantitative measures of accuracy of data collected by citizen scientists, a significant predictor of a volunteer’s ability was determined and eligibility criteria were set. Students in grade three and seven had the ability to differentiate between species of crabs with over 80% and 95% accuracy, respectively. Determination of gender of the crabs was more challenging and accuracy exceeded 80% for seventh grade students, while 95% accuracy was found for students with at least 2 years of university education. We used the data collected by citizen scientists to create a large-scale standardized database of the distribution and abundance of the native and invasive crabs. Hemigrapsus sanguineus dominated the rocky intertidal zone from Sandy Hook, New Jersey to Boston Harbor, Massachusetts while C. maenas dominated the northern extent of the sampled coastline. A citizen scientist of this monitoring network detected a range expansion of H. sanguineus. We identified obstacles to creating a national monitoring network and proposed recommendations that addressed these issues.     

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

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

Genetic associations with micronutrient levels identified in immune and gastrointestinal networks

The discovery of vitamins and clarification of their role in preventing frank essential nutrient deficiencies occurred in the early 1900s. Much vitamin research has understandably focused on public health and the effects of single nutrients to alleviate acute conditions. The physiological processes for maintaining health, however, are complex systems that depend upon interactions between multiple nutrients, environmental factors, and genetic makeup. To analyze the relationship between these factors and nutritional health, data were obtained from an observational, community-based participatory research program of children and teens (age 6–14) enrolled in a summer day camp in the Delta region of Arkansas. Assessments of erythrocyte S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH), plasma homocysteine (Hcy) and 6 organic micronutrients (retinol, 25-hydroxy vitamin D3, pyridoxal, thiamin, riboflavin, and vitamin E), and 1,129 plasma proteins were performed at 3 time points in each of 2 years. Genetic makeup was analyzed with 1 M SNP genotyping arrays, and nutrient status was assessed with 24-h dietary intake questionnaires. A pattern of metabolites (met_PC1) that included the ratio of erythrocyte SAM/SAH, Hcy, and 5 vitamins were identified by principal component analysis. Met_PC1 levels were significantly associated with (1) single-nucleotide polymorphisms, (2) levels of plasma proteins, and (3) multilocus genotypes coding for gastrointestinal and immune functions, as identified in a global network of metabolic/protein–protein interactions. Subsequent mining of data from curated pathway, network, and genome-wide association studies identified genetic and functional relationships that may be explained by gene–nutrient interactions. The systems nutrition strategy described here has thus associated a multivariate metabolite pattern in blood with genes involved in immune and gastrointestinal functions.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12263-014-0408-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Community-based Monitoring of Natural Resource Use and Forest Quality in Montane Forests and Miombo Woodlands of Tanzania

A community-based monitoring system that focuses on natural resource use and forest quality in montane evergreen forest and miombo woodland areas was developed and implemented in 23 villages in 2002 as part of a participatory forest management regime in Iringa District, Tanzania. The scheme was developed to suit the needs and capacities of locally-elected natural resource committees managing and monitoring natural forests. Rather than measuring biodiversity, the monitoring is focused on resource extraction and disturbance. High levels of commitment to the monitoring were displayed by village level managers, and the preliminary feed-back indicates that the monitoring scheme provides them with the relevant information needed to suggest appropriate management interventions. While external support has been essential to cover development costs, natural resource revenue generated at village level can provide most of the running costs. Once developed, the scheme can, however, be transferred to similar areas at significantly lower costs that can be met by Tanzanian District budgets. Natural resource revenue generated from montane forests is generally much lower than in woodland areas due to restrictions on resource extraction imposed as a consequence of national and international interests. Opportunities to provide economic incentives for montane forest managers through direct utilisation of the resource are limited and it remains to be seen whether other non-economic incentives can sustain long term commitment in these biodiversity rich areas. Findings indicate that the key elements of this local resource utilisation monitoring scheme are simplicity, incentive mechanisms, transparency and accountability, and autonomy for local managers. However, the methods may not provide sufficient data on changes in biodiversity values in the high value forests and may need to be augmented by conventional monitoring by scientists funded by national or international institutions. Elements of the scheme are now being institutionalised within the forestry sector in Tanzania.     

Integrated conservation and development project life cycles in the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal: Is development overpowering conservation?

The merits of integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs), which aim to provide development incentives to citizens in return for conservation behaviors, have long been debated in the literature. Some of the most common critiques suggest that conservation activities tend to be strongly overpowered by development activities. We studied this assertion through participant observation and archival analysis of five Conservation Area Management Committees (CAMCs) in the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA), Nepal. Committee activities were categorized as conservation activities (policy development and conservation implementation), development activities (infrastructure, health care, education, economic development, and sanitation), or activities related to institutional strengthening (administrative development and capacity building activities). Greater longevity of each ICDP was associated with greater conservation activity in relation to development activities. Project life cycles progressed from a focus on development activities in their early stages, through a transitional period of institutional strengthening, and toward a longer-term focus that roughly balanced conservation and development activities. Results suggest that the ICDP concept, as practiced in ACA, has been successful at building capacity for and interest in conservation amongst local communities. However, success has come over a period of nearly a decade, suggesting that prior conclusions about ICDP failures may have been based on unrealistic expectations of the time needed to influence behavioral changes in target populations.