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Society for Conservation Biology: 2002 Annual Meeting

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Society for Conservation Biology: 2002 Annual Meeting



Society for Conservation Biology 16th Annual Meeting July 14-July 19 2002
co-hosted by DICE and the British Ecological Society


Abstracts for Conservation and People
Session Two

Monday 15th July, 13.30 - 15.00, Grimond Lecture Theatre 1

Chair: Jill Sutcliffe




(BLOCK CAPITALS indicate the presenting author)


13.30 - 13.45
LEME, ANDREA, Alpina Begossi and Jorge Tamashiro. NEPAM, UNICAMP, CP 6166, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil, <andrea@nepam.unicamp.br> (AL), NEPAM, UNICAMP, CP 6166, CEP 13083-970, Campinas, SP, Brazil (AB, JT).

PLANT AND ANIMAL USE IN MEDICINE BY CABOCLO FROM MIDDLE NEGRO RIVER, AMAZONIA, BRAZIL

This study compares the medicinal uses of plants and animals between rural and urban riverine populations of Rio Negro, Amazon, Brazil. Procedures included interviews and direct observations of 37 households in Barcelos (urban area) and 10 households in Carvoeiro (rural area). We recorded 130 plant species used for medicine, which include plants cultivated in home gardens or collected in forest and kept at home for medicinal purposes. Rural households showed higher diversity use of medicinal plants (Shannon Diversity Index =3,7) in comparison to urban ones (Shannon=2,8). Fifty-one percent of medicinal plants used are native and 49 percent are introduced. We registered 33 animal species kept at home by local people for medicinal purposes. In general, rural people rely more on medicinal plant and animals for diseases treatments, and women are responsible for the cultivation of medicinal home gardens and for the animals parts used in medicine at home. Migrants to urban areas substitute traditional practices for industrial drugs, helping increase the loss of traditional knowledge. Thus, women and rural inhabitants should play a role in local management and medical care, and this group should be included in any conservation process.



13.45 - 14.00
PURI, RAJINDRA K., Anthropology Department, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NS, UK. Email: R.K.Puri@ukc.ac.uk.


CONSERVATION ALONG A COMMODITY CHAIN: LINKING CAUSES AND SOLUTIONS OF THE TRADE IN CAGEBIRDS IN EAST KALIMANTAN, INDONESIA

The causes of trade in cagebirds in East Kalimantan vary depending on which part of the commodity chain one examines. Collectors are driven by a need for cash to buy food during shortages, consumer goods and pay taxes and fees. Traders are driven to create markets at both ends by sponsoring collectors (who buy their goods) and selling birds to local elite, who compete with traders for political and economic control. Consumers clearly enjoy birds, but they appear to be driven by a desire to audibly display their new wealth and status, typical of societies where a strong hierarchical social and political organization promotes the importance of looking rich and powerful. While the trade examined here was limited to a watershed, many species are now locally rare or extirpated. Conservation policies need to address the variety of underlying causes for all parts of a commodity chain, and thus must be multivariate as well as multi-sited. As in the case of the ivory or fur trade, attitudes and values toward status-laden animals and products can change through legislation and awareness-raising campaigns, but it may take a generation for changes to become cultural, in the sense of taken for granted.

14.00 - 14.15
PARKER, GUY and Ferrel V. Osborn.
Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent at Canterbury <gep2@ukc.ac.uk> (GP) Mid-Zambezi Elephant Project, 37 Lewisam Avenue Chisipite Harare Zimbabwe (FVO)


CAN COMMUNITIES PROTECT THEIR OWN CROPS? HUMAN-ELEPHANT CONFLICT IN ZIMBABWE

Human-elephant conflict is a major conservation and management issue across Africa. Over 80% of elephant range exists outside protected areas, and as human agricultural communities expand, the potential for conflict increases. Rural farmers may be severely affected by conflict with wildlife. Crop damage is a common form of conflict, and has serious implications for a rural farmer’s livelihood. Current measures of crop protection are ineffective. Disturbance shooting and electric fencing are either controlled by the wildlife authority, or by NGOs, and there are numerous logistical and financial failings. Farmers often resort to their own methods of chasing elephants. All measures currently in use are only partially effective at protecting crops and property from direct damage. Elephants appear to habituate to all deterrent methods in a short period of time. This paper will explore current deterrent methods employed in the Mid-Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe, and will present the results of research to assess the effectiveness of different approaches. The complications of assessing such methods in situ will be discussed. An argument for the development of community-based deterrents will be presented.



14.15 - 14.30
ZIMMERMANN, ALEXANDRA. Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, Department of Anthropology, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NS, UK, <az2@ukc.ac.uk>.

ATTITUDES OF RANCHERS IN BRAZIL’S PANTANAL TO CONFLICTS WITH JAGUARS

In many parts of the world, human-wildlife conflict is an economic, social and conservation problem for which solutions are difficult to find. The jaguar, Panthera onca, is threatened by habitat loss and persecution throughout its range in Latin America. The Pantanal of Brazil is a region of widespread traditional cattle raising where jaguar-rancher conflict is common and presents a serious threat to both jaguars and the well being of the human community. This study used a questionnaire survey to determine ranchers’ attitudes to jaguar depredation patterns, to conservation and protected areas, including sustainable use, tourism, education and incentive measures. The results showed the potential of ranchers as advocates and facilitators of regional conservation programmes, and indicate that ranchers share a strong inherent appreciation of their local natural heritage. Hence, a strategy for jaguar-rancher conflict resolution needs to be based on incentive measures and rewarding schemes. Compensation, translocation and similar approaches are not recommended, while trophy hunting may prove a useful tool in the future but requires further investigation.



14.30 - 14.45
ROWEN, MARY. Terilyn Allendorf, Cynthia Gill and Robin Martino. United States Agency for International Development (USAID). EGAT/ENR Biodiversity Team. Rm. 3.08. 1300 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. Washington, DC. 20523-3800. (mrowen@usaid.gov)

THINK GLOBALLY, REMEMBER YOU ARE ACTING LOCALLY: A THREATS-BASED APPROACH TO CONSERVATION.

USAID has taken a threats-based approach to biodiversity conservation in our Global Conservation Program (GCP), which works in partnership with Africa Wildlife Foundation, Conservation International, EnterpriseWorks Worldwide, the The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society, and World Wildlife Fund. We present a summary of a threats-based approach and describe how our partners have identified, prioritized, and developed activities to abate common threats such as destructive fishing practices, overharvesting, and illegal poaching at over twenty-five sites around the world. Descriptions of the impact on the conservation target and the source(s) of the threat will be discussed. In using this approach, the participation of the users and keepers of the resources is important in the identification and prioritization of threats, and in the selection of activities to abate threats to biodiversity, environmental processes, and livelihoods. We demonstrate that a site-specific threats-based approach is critical in the design of effective interventions and in the communication of the program rationale to all stakeholders.




14.45 - 15.00
NELSON, KRISTEN C. Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Biology, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA,<knelson@forestry.umn.edu>.

LOCAL RESPONSE TO GLOBAL ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVES: CARBON MITIGATION PROJECTS IN CHIAPAS, MEXICO

Global, environmental initiatives and policy negotiations create macro-level agreements that may work in theory, but the true test of these initiatives is how local communities and social actors respond to these policies. From 1995-2001, we investigated the evolution of Fondo Bioclimatico using participant observation, open-ended interviews, and document review. Even under tremendous uncertainty the project grew seven-fold. Its social structure shifted from a development emphasis to a private brokering relationship, from shared to concentrated power, from a social fund to a carbon bank. The project has become more rigorous in its administration and identifies the limits of its ability to serve farmers with carbon contracts. Social selection of systems with fewer species and single ecosystems is a major concern for biodiversity goals and conservation of diverse ecosystems. We should remain critical, continue to monitor, and support our indigenous colleagues in their local endeavour to respond to a global, environmental initiative.