The disciplines of conservation Flashcards
IUCN red list index
Proportion of species expected to remain extant (not threatened) in the near future without conservation action
0 = all spp extinct
1 = all spp least concern
E.g. corals are rapidly decreasing in the index (coral bleaching)
Economics and their driven declines
Driven declines…
•Long-term = economic maxed by sustainable management
•Short-term - value of produce increases with rarity, viscous cycle of exploitation
•Caused by humans being economically rational
•Will drive animals to extinction thinking economically - as exploitation seems more beneficial
Not sustainable but economically viable when
•Tragedy of the commons (future gain unreliable so take loads now)
•Pop growth rate lower than financial gain you could get by investing money into exploitation
-e.g. large whales are long-lived and slow at reproducing
Externalities (economics)
Impose costs that were previously not present when exploiting (second hand smoke on others = tax smoking)
•working out compensatory schemes is complex
•Compensation - paid not to pollute, agri-environmental schemes - if yield changes due to new green scheme they’re reimbursed
•REDD - ‘reducing emissions from deforestation and degradation’
Externalities biological example
Deforestation - forests stabilise soil, regulate water flow and increase water quality
- intensive logging reduces these benefits & cause problems (mud-slides, fluctuating rivers and sedimentation)
- impacts fishermen and farmers
- loggers don’t pay anything = costs externalised
- costs need to be internalised
- reduce profitability of logging, force companies to compensate
Legislation
2 major approaches:
- Regulatory/control - e.g. trade in endangered species, persecution and pollution
- Facilitating legislation e.g. green certification schemes
CITES
3 categories:
1. Spp threatened with extinction and international trade banned in most circumstances - 800spp
2. Spp would be threatened unless trade is controlled 32,500spp
3. Spp included at request of part that regulated trade and co-operation (common spp similar to endangered - so no confusion, or if populations are threatened)
E.g. in Yellow Crested Cokapoo - pops increasing except 1 after ban
Problems with CITES
• Have to make public aware of when ban will be made = massive spikes in that trade till that point
-successful after this though
-e.g. in Kleinmann’s tortoises saw 50% traded
• Animals that become rare increase in price = incentive for poaching
E.g. black rhino - value increased followed ban = pop decreased massively
•Drives trade underground & promotes conflict - military now protecting rhinos
-makes costs of conservation increased and monitoring trade difficult
Trophy hunting (legislation)
Large carnivores influence farmers profits as they predate live stock - can earn money allowing trophy-hunters onto land
Banning trophy hunting = net lose for farmer, who will otherwise shoot/poison the animal = pop decline
Social sciences
Conservation can’t ignore people!
•Overlap between places of conservation importance and people
•Historical approach was to kick people out of protected areas = resentment (not sustainable)
•Social sciences assessing conflicts that could arise as human pop grows near PAs
•SSs needed to understand local interactions
Social science wildlife reserve example
Nepal - home to very rare water buffalo
•most didn’t like the reserve 65%, buffalo damage fence and raid crops = reduced livelihood
•locals couldn’t use PA
•researched system = thatch collection as economic income for locals and fence damage by livestock causing competition
SO - educated locals on this (management of livestock and locals using PA for thatch) = positive response to park :)
Social science species example
Siamese crocodile - 250 mature individuals (hunting and deforestation pressures)
•Conservation programmes helped farming, doubled rice yields = lower food insecurity
•Increased non-timber forest product sales (wild honey etc.)
•No longer needed to illegally hunt the crocodiles - decrease in logging and poaching
Population recovering ! :)
