conservation management (lecture 9) Flashcards
What disciplines does conservation management involve?
- biology
- legal/regulatory frameworks
- social sciences
- economics
How are declines economically driven?
- long-term economic value usually increased by sustainable management
- short-term economic value increases with high demand and low supply e.g. rarity
e. g. european eel: pop decline reduced trade volume by 50%, export value increased tenfold
When is non-sustainable management ecologically viable?
- tragedy of the commons: because others are also exploiting resource, future economic gain isn’t viable
- population growth rates are lower than interest rates
- usually true for slowly reproducing animals like whales as sustainable harvest rates are low
How to deal with economic externalities?
- smoking example
- costs imposed on some that aren’t paid for by those doing the damage
- e.g. smokers impose cost of passive smoking and cost of health care due to smoking related diseases
- internalise the external costs
- force person causing damage to pay for it, e.g. high taxes on cigarettes
- internalising costs reduces damage
What are the economic externalities of deforestation?
forests:
- stabilise soils, regulate water flow, increase water quality
intensive logging reduces these
benefits:
- mud-slides, fluctuating river levels, sedimentation
changes to down-stream water quality & quantity impact farmers & fishermen:
- logging companies don’t pay for costs imposed downstream
- instead poor farmers/fishermen subsidising wealthy logging company owners
How to deal with economic externalities of deforestation?
- internalise the costs
- force logging companies to compensate people affected downstream
- reduces logging profitability and deforestation rates
- very difficult to work out compensatory scheme details
What’s the difference between internalisation vs compensation?
- industry compensated for lost revenue from changing damaging practices to wildlife friendly ones
- polluter pays vs paid not to pollute
e. g. agri-environment scheme, REDD+
What are the two main legislative processes?
regulatory/control
- e.g. trade in endangered species (CITES), persecution, pollution
facilitating legislation
- e.g. green certification schemes
What is CITES? What are the three CITES categories?
- CITES = convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora
Category 1:
- species threatened with extinction
- international trade usually banned
- trophy hunting may be allowed in some circumstances
- ~800 species
Category 2:
- species that may be threatened with extinction if no action taken
- international trade controlled
- ~32500 species
Category 3:
- species included at the request of a party that regulates trade and needs cooperation
- ~300 species
Do trade bans work?
- yellow crested cockatoo
e. g. yellow crested cockatoo (Cahill, 2006)
- 1981: CITES appendix 2
- heavy trade continued
- total trade ban in 1994
- increase in numbers by 2002
Do trade bans work?
trade spikes:
- massive increase in trade after plan to ban trade announced but before implemented
- (Rivalan et al., 2007): 50% mature population size traded during trade spike, 10% of Geofroy’s cat
decreased price:
- large carnivore influence on farmers profits
- negative on livestock predation
- positive on trophy hunting
- banning trophy hunting of carnivores imposes net negative effect on profits & thus persecution
crime:
- trade bans can drive trade underground and promote armed conflict
- both hinder monitoring and increase conservation cost
- illegal logging makes $100B/y for organised crime
How do the social sciences interact with conservation management?
- can’t ignore people
- places with high conservation importance often have a lot of people
e. g. threatened bird species richness maps onto human population density - population growth high around protected areas
- historical response to kick people out of protected areas
- leads to intense resentment of conservation
- not sustainable
How did social sciences improve local perception of Kossi Tapu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal?
- 65% local people did not like the protected area
- thought water buffalo broke fences and raided crops
- disliked resource use restriction
research demonstrated:
- thatch collection is economically viable
- fence damage is from lifestock entering reserve
- education disseminating this info made local perceptions more positive
How did social sciences improve local perception of Siamese crocodiles?
- 250 mature individuals left
- pressure from hunting & deforestation
conservation programmes:
- doubled rice yields during food insecurity
- increased non-timber forest product sales
- significantly decreased logging and poaching
- crocodile populations recovering
To manage or not to manage in a crisis?
- rapid decisions often have to be made on limited knowledge base
- wrong decisions can be highly detrimental
- no action may sometimes be best option
lack of action can also be bad though:
- slender billed curlew went extinct
- conservation action not implemented until well after decline began
- max 19 left in 1990s when conservation efforts begam
