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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 Economic and Social Context
Session One

Monday 15th July, 10.15 - 12.15, Grimond Lecture Theatre 3

Chair: Kent Redford




(BLOCK CAPITALS indicate the presenting author)


10.15 - 10.30
REDFORD, KENT H. and Steven E. Sanderson. Wildlife Conservation Society, International Conservation, 2300 Southern Blvd., Bronx, NY 10460, USA, <kredford@wcs.org>, <ssanderson@wcs.org> (KHR, SES).

CONTESTED RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION

The relationship between human poverty and biodiversity conservation is a contested one. Some argue that conservation activities are responsible for causing or continuing poverty, while others argue that poor people are responsible for environmental destruction. What no one contests is that most areas of biodiversity importance are also homes to poor people. In recent years, major international donors have decided to develop significant new programmes in poverty alleviation, often in place of previous biodiversity, or environmental, programmes. The logic used by such groups is that in many cases poverty alleviation will result in biodiversity conservation. In this paper we detail the logic underlying these different perspectives and their explicit and implicit assumptions. We demonstrate the gaps in current thinking governing expectations that investments in poverty alleviation will result in biodiversity conservation. We conclude that both poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation are worthy societal goals, but that linking them causally may result in losses for both poor people and biodiversity.

10.30 - 10.45
HEARN, MICHAEL, Bob Smith, Blythe Loutit and Simson Uir-khob. Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury CT2 7NS, UK, m.e.hearn@ukc.ac.uk (MH,BS), Save the Rhino Trust, PO Box 2159, Swakopmund, Namibia (BL, SU-K).

RECONCILING OBJECTIVES OF BIOLOGICAL MANAGEMENT AND CBNRM: THE DESERT-DWELLING BLACK RHINO IN NAMIBIA

Over the last 20 years Namibia’s Community Based Natural Resource Management programme has provided an innovative means for communities to be actively involved in and directly benefit from wildlife management. Over the same period black rhino numbers in the arid communal land of the northwest have more than doubled. Consequently, recent growth rates have declined and are now below the minimum 5% target in some areas. As more conservancies register and develop land use plans there is a need to reconcile aspects of biological meta-population management with development goals for communities. Using a geographic information system (GIS) we both examined the ranging patterns of females to identify ecological factors that are limiting spatial movement and fecundity, and mapped conservancies to investigate how land use, primarily ecotourism, might further impact the black rhino. Fecundity was limited by the availability of surface water and forage, and decreases in black rhino population growth rates were related to these key ecological factors. Therefore, proposed conservancy land use must take account of these spatial factors to allow the successful recovery of black rhinos to continue, and maximise benefits to communities beyond only small "pockets" of benefit in areas where population performance remains good.



10.45 - 11.00
ZHANG, ENDI, George B. Schaller, Lü Zhi and Hong Zhang. Wildlife Conservation Society, Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx 10460, USA, <ezhang@wcs.org> (EZ, GBS), College of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China (LZ), Tibet Forestry Bureau, Lhasa 850000, China (HZ).

TIGER PREDATION ON LIVESTOCK IN GEDANG, MEDOG, SOUTHEAST TIBET, CHINA

Medog County holds the last remnant tiger population in Tibet. From May to June, 2000, we conducted a survey in Gedang Xiang, the only place where losses of livestock to tigers are high. The xiang’s cattle population dropped by 11% in 1990s. In 1999, the xiang lost 7.8% of its cattle and 1.9% of its horses to tiger predation. A total of 21 households were interviewed. Of these a household lost on average 0.8 cattle and 0.2 horses during the previous 12 months; nine households had no losses. One reason that tigers are tempted by livestock is lack of sufficient wild prey. Widespread illegal hunting has greatly reduced tiger’s principal prey populations. Until recovery of wildlife populations, an effort must be made to reduce tiger predation on livestock. Conservation recommendations were as follows: 1) villagers should herd and guard their animals cooperatively instead of permitting livestock to wander untended, 2) overgrown abandoned fields, slopes covered with tall bracken fern, and thickets near villages should be cleared and converted to open pastures to remove cover in which tigers can hide, and 3) Some animals could also be housed in stalls, especially in winter when much of the predation occurs.



11.00 - 11.15
ORCHARD, STAN, WWF/Rio Tinto Frogs! Program, World Wide Fund for Nature Australia, G.P.O. Box 528, Sydney, New South Wales 2000, Australia, <sorchard@bigpond.com>.

COMPARING ATTITUDES IN CANADA, INDIA AND AUSTRALIA TOWARDS AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES

The maligning of amphibians and reptiles, at least in western society, is usually taken for granted. But what do we really know about the actual proportions of society who, at any given moment in history, would profess to either like or dislike them. Do attitudes change with age? Are there gender differences? Are there cultural differences? Where is the most enthusiasm? Where is the least? If herpetological education programs and conservation campaigns can ever actually change people’s attitudes and behaviour then we should be routinely monitoring and measuring these effects. Only then can we really claim our successes and improve our techniques. None of this is possible without reliable benchmarks. This study investigates and compares the attitudes of children aged 6 to 17, and their teachers, from urban and rural communities in Canada, India and Australia. These results show that clear differences are demonstrable between cultures, genders, and age-classes — and these should be routinely factored into educational programs and conservation campaigns prior the planning stage.


11.15 - 11.30
KLAPPA, STEFANIE. Department of Anthropology, Eliot Extension, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7RU, UK, <ask2@ukc.ac.uk>.

LOGGING IN SEARCH OF PARADISE, OR: HOW LOCAL IDEAS ABOUT DEVELOPMENT MATTER FOR CONSERVATION

Conservation and Development are typically perceived as connected in the context of protected area management, with the natural environment and/ or local environmental knowledge commodified for preservation. In contrast, I am looking at the Conservation — Development connection outside protected areas, with an initial focus on development and local knowledge about development. My material derives from long-term anthropological field research in the northwest of Papua New Guinea, in a tropical lowland rainforest area recently affected by large scale logging. Local people originally encouraged logging in expectation of a better life, but are now frustrated by its economic and environmental outcome. Their ideas about the process make clear that their undue anticipation and ensuing letdown follow from an acute misconception of the West as paradise and simplistic assumptions on the mechanics of development. The case illustrates how local people must decide about their future in a modernising world based on utter lack of information about this world. As a result, they may deprive themselves of their very means of sustenance, and the World of its natural heritage. It is therefore imperative that Anthropologists and Conservationists alike pay attention to local knowledge about development and encourage development awareness.



11.30 - 11.45
COOPER, NIGEL S. and David Lonsdale. Diocese of Chelmsford, The Rectory, Church Road, Rivenhall, Witham CM8 3PQ, UK, <nscooper@essex.ac.uk> (NSC) and 33 Kings Road, Alton, Hampshire GU34 1PX, UK (DL).

VETERAN TREES: A STUDY IN CONSERVATION MOTIVATION

In Britain there has been a growing concern with the conservation of veteran trees. This has been rooted in efforts to restore traditional management of lapsed pollards and thereby to help prevent their mechanical break-up. It has also found justification in the conservation of saproxylic invertebrates and fungi and in recent theories that veteran trees in today’s pasture woodlands had their ancestral counterparts in a largely park-like primal forest. This movement is analysed in terms of four conceptual vectors one of us has previously identified. The movement began with an emphasis on traditional management (the vector of nature as historic countryside); attention then moved to rare associated species (vector of nature as biodiversity); now there is interest in the primal forest (nature as wilderness). There is also the veneration of individual trees. We argue that these shifts have been partly independent of biological conservation, being a social phenomenon. We conclude by arguing that recognition of the above vectors may be helpful in formulating and implementing the management of reserves.



11.45 - 12.00
Anderson, Anthony B. and SOPHIA M. BICKFORD. World Wildlife Fund USA, 1250 Twenty-Fourth Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA (AA), Sustainable Development and Conservation Biology Program, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20783, USA, <sbick1234@aol.com> (SB).

ENGAGING STAKEHOLDERS TO IMPLEMENT BIOLOGICAL CORRIDORS: INTERNATIONAL CASE STUDIES

Serving as more than just linear conservation areas, biological corridors play a unique role in connecting habitats and wildlife populations across human-dominated landscapes. Most research on corridors has focused on corridor design and function. Yet the success of many corridor initiatives ultimately depends on the ability of conservation practitioners to resolve complex socioeconomic issues of stakeholder engagement, land tenure and governance. We compiled case studies of eight corridor initiatives underway in Europe, Asia and the Americas to examine strategies for building stakeholder support. The most promising initiatives feature (i) consensus-based decision making by stakeholder representatives, (ii) leadership by charismatic local leaders, (iii) hands-on exposure of stakeholders to resources targeted for protection and, in some cases (iv) support from local governments and NGOs. A number of innovative economic incentives, including direct purchase of land and conservation easements, valuation of ecosystem services, small grants for ecotourism development and various forms of technical assistance were also instrumental in gaining stakeholder support. A top-down initiative by a national government to preserve a corridor through protected area designation generated the most stakeholder resistance. Governance arrangements that ensure continued participation of diverse stakeholder groups appear to be an important factor in successful corridor implementation.



12.00 - 12.15
OGLETHORPE, JUDY, Sarah Christiansen, Bronwen Fyfe-Golder, Sheila O’Connor, Doreen Robinson, and Jenny Springer. World Wildlife Fund-US, 1250 24th St, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037, USA, <judy.oglethorpe@wwfus.org> (JO, SC, SO, DR, JS), 12 Upton Tce, Thorndon, Wellington 60001, New Zealand (BG).

PEOPLE AND CONSERVATION: MAKING THE SCIENCE COUNT AT BROAD SCALES

In response to limitations of previous conservation approaches, many conservation organisations are now taking a broad-scale approach to conserving the world’s biodiversity. Large-scale conservation presents a wider range of biological, social and economic issues, opportunities and challenges. Broad-scale, science-based priority setting enables establishment of much more comprehensive conservation targets than is possible solely through protected area networks or ICDPs. Achieving these visionary targets at broad scale requires working in areas with many different land and water uses that have varying degrees of compatibility with conservation objectives. It is necessary to work with a wide range of stakeholders, achieving conservation through reconciliation of conservation and development needs. A collaborative approach is essential, working across disciplines and institutional sectors at a variety of scales to take action at the most effective points of intervention. Experiences from selected broad-scale conservation initiatives will be presented to highlight the process of moving from targets to planning and action for long-term conservation success. These efforts emphasise the need for conservation biologists, planners and managers to develop a broad understanding of the multifaceted social dynamics influencing conservation, learn new skills, and develop new partnerships to link conservation science to conservation action at larger scales.