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
What are the five general principles of conservation management?
- critical biodiversity composition and ecological processes must be maintained
- minimise external threats and maximise external benefits
- conserve capacity for ecological processes
- management must be minimally intrusive
- management must be monitored and adaptive
The five general principles of conservation management:
- critical biodiversity composition and ecological processes must be maintained
- natural processes & disturbances key to maintaining biodiversity
- ecosystem management encourages/mimics these processes
hindered by:
- lack of data on natural disturbance regimes
- small management areas that limit development of large diverse habitats
ecosystem management can work
- e.g. north american fire regimes
- encouraged regeneration, reduced major fire damage
ecosystem management can also fail
- e.g. restoring natural water flow in everglades failed to prevent wood stork population declines
- specific habitat needs not met
The five general principles of conservation management:
- minimise external threats and maximise external benefits
e.g. ethiopian wolf & rabies control
- endemic to ethiopian highlands
- endangered, 500 adults and sub adults, in 7 isolated populations surrounded by numerous villages
external threats: - canine distemper & rabies outbreaks spread by dogs external benefits: - public health - ecotourism
primary management:
- dog vaccination & sterilisation
- uptake rates less than ideal
secondary management:
- reduce livestock predation and perception of risk
- education regarding external benefits
- ensure external benefits are realised
The five general principles of conservation management:
- conserve capacity for ecological processes
- adaptive potential requires natural selection and individual death, conflicting with conservation goals
- amahiki populations at low elevations are recovering despite high rates of malaria infection
- probably evolving resistance
(Woodworth et al., 2005)
The five general principles of conservation management:
- management must be minimally intrusive
Chatham Island Black robin
(NZ): a success story but one
that made major errors
- tom-tit exterminated on island with sole robin population due to competition - double clutching & cross fostering, but failed with 1st trial species Chatham island warbler - only worked with tom-tit so eggs had to be transferred to another island
The five general principles of conservation management:
- management must be monitored and adaptive: island fox example
Island fox:
- critically endangered
- feral pigs: habitat destruction & attract golden eagles that also predate foxes.
- pig control: increases eagle predation on foxes
- similar to meso-predator release with control of rats and cats
The five general principles of conservation management:
- management must be monitored and adaptive
Conceptualise:
- define initial team/scope/vision/targets
- identify critical threats
- complete situation analysis
Plan Actions and Monitoring:
- develop goals, strategies, assumption, objectives
- develop operating/monitoring plans
Implement Actions and Monitoring:
- develop work plan/timeline/budget
- implement plans
Analyse, Use, Adapt:
- prepare data for analysis
- analyse results
- adapt strategic plan
Capture and Share Learning:
- document learning
- share learning
- create learning environment
What is the centre for evidence based conservation (CEBC)?
- limited access to data for conservation managers
- poorly connected to scientists and each other
- much data in grey literature/not written down
- time and financial constraints on data access
CEBC conducts systematic reviews & freely publishing results to combat this
