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Clark M, Hamad HM, Andrews J, Hillis V, Mulder MB. Effects of perceptions of forest change and intergroup competition on community-based conservation behaviors. CONSERVATION BIOLOGY : THE JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY FOR CONSERVATION BIOLOGY 2024; 38:e14259. [PMID: 38571448 DOI: 10.1111/cobi.14259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/02/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/29/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Abstract
Approximately one quarter of the earth's population directly harvests natural resources to meet their daily needs. These individuals are disproportionately required to alter their behaviors in response to increasing climatic variability and global biodiversity loss. Much of the ever-ambitious global conservation agenda relies on the voluntary uptake of conservation behaviors in such populations. Thus, it is critical to understand how such individuals perceive environmental change and use conservation practices as a tool to protect their well-being. We developed a participatory mapping activity to elicit spatially explicit perceptions of forest change and its drivers across 43 mangrove-dependent communities in Pemba, Tanzania. We administered this activity along with a questionnaire regarding conservation preferences and behaviors to 423 individuals across those 43 communities. We analyzed these data with a set of Bayesian hierarchical statistical models. Perceived cover loss in 50% of a community's mangrove area drove individuals to decrease proposed limits on fuelwood bundles from 2.74 (forest perceived as intact) to 2.37 if participants believed resultant gains in mangrove cover would not be stolen by outsiders. Conversely, individuals who believed their community mangrove forests were at high risk of theft loosened their proposed harvest limits from 1.26 to 2.75 bundles of fuelwood in response to the same perceived forest decline. High rates of intergroup competition and mangrove loss were thus driving a self-reinforcing increase in unsustainable harvesting preferences in community forests in this system. This finding demonstrates a mechanism by which increasing environmental decline may cause communities to forgo conservation practices, rather than adopt them, as is often assumed in much community-based conservation planning. However, we also found that when effective boundaries were present, individuals were willing to limit their own harvests to stem such perceived decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matt Clark
- Human-Environment Systems, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA
- Centre for Environmental Policy, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Haji Masoud Hamad
- Department of Forestry, Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, Wete, Tanzania
| | - Jeffrey Andrews
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Vicken Hillis
- Human-Environment Systems, Boise State University, Boise, Idaho, USA
| | - Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
- Department of Anthropology, Evolutionary Wing, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA
- Department of Anthropology and Archaeology, University of bristol, Bristol, UK
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New land tenure fences are still cropping up in the Greater Mara. Sci Rep 2022; 12:11064. [PMID: 35794166 PMCID: PMC9259569 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-15132-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2021] [Accepted: 06/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Expanding and intensifying anthropogenic land use is one of the greatest drivers of changes of biodiversity loss and political inequality worldwide. In the Greater Mara, Kenya, a trend of private land enclosure is currently happening, led by smallholders wishing to protect and uphold their land titles. Here we expand on previous work by Løvschal et al. quantifying the rapid, large-scale development of fencing infrastructure that began in 1985 but has increased by 170% from 2010 onwards. We provide fine-scale analysis of the spatial and temporal trends in fencing using high-resolution Sentinel-2 imagery. The formally unprotected regions have distinctly more fences than the rest of the Mara, one experiencing a 740% increase in fenced land in four years. Conservancies have an effect in stemming fencing but fences crop up within and along conservancy boundaries. We estimate the actual geographical coverage of the fences in the Mara to be 130,277 ha (19% of the total region) using an error margin of 8%, derived by calibrating our satellite mapping with ground-truth data. The study suggests the need for revising community-based eco-conservation efforts and pursuing a richer understanding of the socio-political and historical dynamics underlying this phenomenon.
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Ma J, Tam C, Li T, Yu G, Hu G, Yang F, Wang J, Wu R. Sacred natural sites classification framework based on ecosystem services and implications for conservation. CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 2022. [DOI: 10.1111/csp2.12638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Jianzhong Ma
- Yunnan Academy of Forestry and Grassland Kunming Yunnan China
| | - Christine Tam
- World Wildlife Fund in Tanzania Dar es Salaam Tanzania
| | - Tianjiang Li
- Yunnan Academy of Forestry and Grassland Kunming Yunnan China
| | - Guangzhi Yu
- The Paulson Institute (U.S.) Beijing Representative Office Beijing China
| | - Guanghui Hu
- Yunnan Academy of Forestry and Grassland Kunming Yunnan China
| | - Feiling Yang
- Conservation Biogeography Research Group, Institute of International Rivers and Eco‐Security Yunnan University Kunming Yunnan China
- Yunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Ecosecurity Yunnan University Kunming Yunnan China
| | - Junjun Wang
- Conservation Biogeography Research Group, Institute of International Rivers and Eco‐Security Yunnan University Kunming Yunnan China
- Yunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Ecosecurity Yunnan University Kunming Yunnan China
| | - Ruidong Wu
- Conservation Biogeography Research Group, Institute of International Rivers and Eco‐Security Yunnan University Kunming Yunnan China
- Yunnan Key Laboratory of International Rivers and Transboundary Ecosecurity Yunnan University Kunming Yunnan China
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Lewis SM, Thancharoen A, Wong CH, López‐Palafox T, Santos PV, Wu C, Faust L, De Cock R, Owens ACS, Lemelin RH, Gurung H, Jusoh WFA, Trujillo D, Yiu V, López PJ, Jaikla S, Reed JM. Firefly tourism: Advancing a global phenomenon toward a brighter future. CONSERVATION SCIENCE AND PRACTICE 2021. [DOI: 10.1111/csp2.391] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/14/2023] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Sara M. Lewis
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Department of Biology Tufts University Medford Massachusetts USA
| | - Anchana Thancharoen
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Entomology Kasetsart University Bangkok Thailand
| | - Choong Hay Wong
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Malaysian Nature Society Kuala Lumpur Malaysia
| | - Tania López‐Palafox
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Department of Evolutionary Biology, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CDMX Mexico
| | - Paola Velasco Santos
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Institute for Anthropological Research, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, CDMX Mexico
| | - Chiahsiung Wu
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- TreeGarden Taipei City Taiwan
| | - Lynn Faust
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Emory River Land Company Knoxville Tennessee USA
| | - Raphaël De Cock
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Department of Biology University of Antwerp Antwerp Belgium
| | - Avalon C. S. Owens
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Department of Biology Tufts University Medford Massachusetts USA
| | | | - Hum Gurung
- BirdLife International Cambridge United Kingdom
| | - Wan F. A. Jusoh
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum National University of Singapore Singapore
| | - Daniel Trujillo
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Tujlux Ecoviajes TourAgency, San Sebastián Atlahapa Tlaxcala Mexico
| | - Vor Yiu
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Hong Kong Entomological Society Hong Kong
| | - Pablo Jaramillo López
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Instituto de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas y Sustentabilidad CONACYT Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Morelia Michoacán Mexico
| | - Soraya Jaikla
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Department of Entomology Kasetsart University Nakhon Pathom Thailand
| | - J. Michael Reed
- IUCN Firefly Specialist Group Gland Switzerland
- Department of Biology Tufts University Medford Massachusetts USA
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