PCLG Digest
March 2019
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This edition of PCLG digest features 43 new resources.
Chulalongkorn University and SEI are recruiting three joint PhD students/research associates in fields related to water resources management; policy analysis and development; or gender, environment and development. Apply by the 21st April and find out more here.
The University of Cambridge in partnership with Anglia Ruskin University also have a PhD studentship looking at the social impacts of protected areas in Europe. Find out more here and apply by 26th May.
Also, the Conservation Optimism Summit this September is looking for abstracts. Find out more here and submit yours by 20th April.
- Olivia and Francesca (pclg@iied.org)
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Biodiversity and development
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1. Nkongho A (2019) Fiscal decentralisation system and sustainable forest management in Cameroon: A myth or reality towards sustainable local development. Journal of Taxation and Regulatory Framework. Available here (Open access)
This paper looks at how the forest taxation system in Cameroon from industrial logging can benefit local communities and enhance sustainable local development. The paper also examines the consequences of the suppression of the 10% Annual Forestry Revenue to adjacent local communities and concludes with some robust recommendations to establish an equalisation fund to redistribute taxes from the forests to forest-rich communities that mostly depend on this forest for their livelihood.
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Community-based governance/management
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2. Baral S, Meilby H and B Chhetri (2019) The contested role of management plans in improving forest conditions in Nepal's community forests. International Forestry Review. DOI: 10.1505/146554819825863799
Nepal's forest legislation requires community forest user groups to prepare inventory-based management plans. Based on a case study of nine community forests in the mid-hills of Nepal, this paper discusses the role of plans in changing the forest conditions. Results indicate the role of the plan remains contested since it largely serves as a basis for controlling communities with little connection to effective forest management practice.
3. Bempah G, Monney K and K Dakwa (2019) Evaluation of the community resources management area (CREMA) programme around Ankasa conservation area, Ghana. Cogent Environmental Science. DOI: 10.1080/23311843.2019.1592064 (Open access)
The authors evaluate the Community Resources Management Area (CREMA) programme around the Ankasa Conservation Area of Ghana. The results indicate that the programme has yet to meet expectations and that communities’ interests have already waned through mistrust.
4. Gross-Camp N, et al (2019) The type of land we want: Exploring the limits of community forestry in Tanzania and Bolivia. Sustainability. DOI: 10.3390/su11061643 (Open access)
The authors explore local people’s perspectives of community forests on their land in Tanzania and Bolivia. They find that communities are generally supportive of existing community forests but cautious of their expansion and that an increase in community forest area is associated with increasing opportunity costs and constraints on agricultural land use, but not an increase in benefits.
5. Lescuyer G, et al (2019) Are community forests a viable model for the Democratic Republic of Congo? Ecology and Society. DOI: 10.5751/ES-10672-240106 (Open access)
The authors conduct a financial feasibility analysis to estimate the costs of developing community-based forest management activities and the benefits expected for the communities within the next five years. They find that community forestry is unlikely to develop in the DRC unless local people are guaranteed that it will contribute to improving their livelihoods, notably their financial and physical capital.
6. Martin A, et al (2019) Fair ways to share benefits from community forests? How commodification is associated with reduced preference for equality and poverty alleviation. Environmental Research Letters. DOI: 10.1088/1748-9326/ab114f (Open access)
This paper discusses the trend towards commodification of forestry, in the context of community forest governance for sustainable development in the tropics, specifically in Bolivia, China and Tanzania. The authors show that forest commodification is associated with a lower likelihood of selecting pro-poor or egalitarian approaches to benefit sharing and higher likelihood of selecting to distribute benefits in a way that rewards individual contributions or compensates losses.
7. Smallhorn-West P, et al (2019) Predicting impact to assess the efficacy of community‐based marine reserve design. Conservation Letters. DOI: 10.1111/conl.12602 (Open access)
The authors predict conservation impact to compare recently implemented community‐based marine reserves in Tonga to a systematic configuration specifically aimed at maximising impact. They estimate that the community‐based approach provides 84% of the recovery potential of the configuration with the greatest potential impact. Results provide strong support for community‐based marine management.
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8. Barakagira A and A de Wit (2019) The role of wetland management agencies within the local community in the conservation of wetlands in Uganda. Environmental & Socio-economic Studies. DOI: 10.2478/environ-2019-0006 (Open access)
This study explores how wetland management agencies influence members of the local community on matters concerning the conservation of wetlands in Uganda. The study recommends that members of the local community should be allowed to practice wetland edge farming, fish farming in ponds constructed in wetlands, and to leave some parts of these vital wetlands that have been reclaimed to regenerate.
9. Johns D (2019) Conservation politics: The last anti-colonial battle. Cambridge University Press. Available here
The author argues that the loss of species and healthy ecosystems is best understood as human imposition of a colonial relationship on the non-human world – one of exploitation and domination. The book draws on political lessons from successful social movements, including human anti-colonial struggles, to provide conservation biologists and practitioners in scientific and social science disciplines and NGOs with the tools and wider context to accelerate their work's impact.
10. Wiederkehr C, Berghöfer A and K Otsuki (2019) Ostrom’s governance principles and sustainable financing of fish reserves. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-0052-0 (Open access)
The authors apply the principles of sustainable commons governance to the case of the Sikunga Channel Fish Protection Area, a recently established fish reserve in the Upper Zambezi in Namibia. Results indicate that the lack of a sustainable financing mechanism is both a major source of resentments at Sikunga and the main obstacle for sound resource management, endangering the long-term effectiveness and social acceptance of the fish reserve.
11. Woods K (2019) Green territoriality: Conservation as state territorialisation in a resource frontier. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-0063-x (Open access)
The author advances the concept of “green territoriality” to describe how conservation practiced beyond the state can serve counterinsurgency aims based on a two-year field case study in a global biodiversity hotspot in south-eastern Myanmar. Findings reveal how military offensives, economic concessions, and conservation activities threaten to bring state agencies, administration, and management into rebel forests where Karen fled from war but have not yet returned.
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Displacement, dispossession and conservation
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12. Chiaravalloti R (2019) The displacement of insufficiently 'traditional' communities: Local fisheries in the Pantanal. Conservation and Society. DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_18_58 (Open access)
This paper uses data from a long-term ethnography of both the local people and the conservation agenda in the Pantanal wetland, Brazil, to discuss how environmentalists have appropriated the National Policy for the Sustainable Development of Traditional Peoples and Communities to justify the displacement of local people. The author explores how narrow notions of indigenous identity are used to oppress communities in Brazil.
13. Hitchcock R (2019) The impacts of conservation and militarisation on indigenous peoples. Human Nature. DOI: 10.1007/s12110-019-09339-3 (Open access)
Utilising cases of how the San have been affected by military forces and wildlife conservation agencies in southern Africa, this article shows that indigenous peoples have been treated differentially by state and nongovernmental organisations involved in anti-poaching, shoot-to-kill, and forced resettlement policies. Principal conclusions are that conservation and militarisation efforts have led to a reduction in land and resources available to indigenous people, higher levels of poverty, increased socioeconomic stratification, and lower levels of physical well-being.
14. Koot S and R Hitchcock (2019) In the way: Perpetuating land dispossession of the indigenous Hai//om and the collective action law suit for Etosha National Park and Mangetti West, Namibia. Nomadic Peoples. DOI: 10.3197/np.2019.230104
The authors delve into the complex history of land dispossession in Namibia. They argue that the recent decision by the Hai//om to file a lawsuit against the government of Namibia over Etosha and Mangetti West must be seen in a context of ongoing processes of land dispossession, as a result of marginalisation and structural disempowerment.
15. Menon A and M Karthik (2019) Genealogies and politics of belonging: People, nature and conservation in the Nilgiri Hills of Tamil Nadu. Conservation and Society. DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_17_149 (Open access)
This article focuses on how the politics of belonging in Gudalur has resulted in a sedentarist metaphysics shaping state policy and contestations around conservation. The authors highlight how the state increasingly sees adivasis (=indigenous people) as a possible ethno-environmental fix for conservation and how non-adivasis project their environmental subjectivities to claim that they too belong. By unpacking the politics of belonging through a historical account of the making of conservation in the region, the article attempts to illustrate how conservation includes and excludes people from the hill landscape.
16. Milgroom J and J Ribot (2019) Children of another land: Social disarticulation, access to natural resources and the reconfiguration of authority in post resettlement. Society & Natural Resources. DOI: 10.1080/08941920.2019.1590668
This article shows that social disarticulation results from the dissolution and reconstruction of authority through which people gain, maintain, and control access to essential resources in response to changes in the material conditions inherent in resettlement. The authors explore this access realignment and differentiation process in the case of the resettlement of two natural resource-dependent communities out of the Limpopo National Park in Mozambique.
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17. Kunjuraman V and R Che Aziz (2019) Community-based ecotourism (CBE) development in Lower Kinabatangan of Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. Turismo: Estudos & Práticas. Available here (Open access)
This study observes local participation in ecotourism activities. The findings reveal that although the local community supports the ecotourism activities in Abai (Malaysia), they still encounter challenges such as (1) lack of capital resources, (2) out migration of youths, (3) lack of public facilities, (4) leadership, local capacity and communication issues, and (5) threats to wild animals.
18. Mkono M (2019) Positive tourism in Africa. Routledge. Available here
This book provides a crucial counter-narrative to the prevailing colonial and reductionist perspective on Africa’s tourism trajectory and future. The author explores themes such as community-based tourism, wildlife tourism, tourism governance and leadership, the role of indigenous knowledge, and the impact of smart technologies.
19. Voda M, et al (2019) Community-based tourism for natural conservation in Pohsanten Village in Bali. Journal of Applied Sciences in Travel and Hospitality. DOI: 10.31940/jasth.v2i1.1282 (Open access)
This article discusses the role of tourism in conserving the natural environment in Pohsanten village, Bali province, Indonesia. Trekking to a waterfall is a main attraction and the authors discuss how this reinforces forest conservation, potentially creates additional work opportunities for locals and helps to prevent illegal actions conducted in the forest that damage the environment.
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20. Bradford K and R Eliakim Katikiro (2019) Fighting the tides: A review of gender and fisheries in Tanzania. Fisheries Research. DOI: 10.1016/j.fishres.2019.04.003
By reviewing available literature regarding fisheries and gender in Tanzania, this study identifies current challenges faced by Tanzanian women in the fisheries sector based on four different categories: cultural barriers, economic barriers, access to fisheries resources, and policy. The authors argue that it is critical to understand the current barriers Tanzanian female fishers face in order for effective implementation of these policies.
21. Cruz-Garcia G, et al (2019) He says, she says: Ecosystem services and gender among indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon. Ecosystem Services. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.100921
The authors conduct research with nine indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon to understand which ecosystem services men and women perceive as most important for their wellbeing. Results suggest that taking gender differences into account in ecosystem services assessments may result in the prioritisation of different services in conservation and sustainable development programs, and may lead to different outcomes for ecosystem service provision and local livelihoods.
22. de la Torre-Castro M (2019) Inclusive management through gender consideration in small-scale fisheries: The why and the how. Frontiers in Marine Science. DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00156 (Open access)
This paper presents an assessment of findings from literature of the positive aspects when considering gender in environmental governance of small-scale fisheries. The central argument is that in view of ongoing coastal/ocean degradation and the moderate governance and management success, it is worth trying management approaches that consciously and explicitly consider gender and diversity of actors.
23. Kleiber D, Cohen P, Gomese C and C McDougall (2019) Gender integrated research for development in Pacific coastal fisheries. WorldFish Program Brief. Available here (Open access)
The project ‘Strengthening and Scaling Community-based Approaches to Pacific Coastal Fisheries in Management Support of the New Song’ (the Pathways project) aims to improve the wellbeing of Pacific coastal communities through more productive and resilient fisheries and better food and nutrition security. This brief illustrates the applied and diverse ways the Pathways project is integrating gender.
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24. Blackie I and J Sowa (2019) Dynamics of social ecology of elephant conservation in Botswana and implications on environmental development. Journal of African Interdisciplinary Studies. Available here (Open access)
The authors adopt a critical social theory to the understanding of current complex environmental and social issues affecting contemporary elephant conservation in Botswana. They establish that resources rich African countries need to focus both on the global goal of protecting the environment and the local one of providing the means of co-existence and development. Mitigation measures such as compensation for property damaged by wildlife are found to be unsustainable.
25. Frank B, Glikman J and S Marchini (2019) Human–wildlife interactions turning conflict into coexistence. Cambridge University Press. Available here
This book explores a variety of theories and methods currently used to address human-wildlife interactions, illustrated by case studies from around the world. It presents some key concepts in the field, such as values, emotions, social identity and tolerance, and a variety of insights and solutions to turn conflict into coexistence.
26. Lamichhane B, et al (2019) Contribution of buffer zone programs to reduce human-wildlife impacts: The case of the Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-0054-y (Open access)
The authors study the fund utilisation pattern of buffer zone programs, mitigation measures practiced, and attitudes of residents in buffer zone programs of Chitwan National Park, Nepal. Results show human-wildlife conflicts were inversely related to investment in direct interventions for conflict prevention and mitigation. The authors recommend that buffer zone funds be concentrated into direct interventions (prevention and mitigation) to reduce wildlife conflicts.
27. LeFlore E, Fuller T, Tomeletso M and A Stein (2019) Livestock depredation by large carnivores in northern Botswana. Global Ecology and Conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.gecco.2019.e00592 (Open access)
The authors investigate livestock depredation events in the Okavango Delta between 2014 and 2016 and compare these investigations with concurrent Problem Animal Control information from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks compensation program. They discuss that compensation programs designed to provide monetary resources for losses caused by predators should require timely reporting and in-depth investigation of depredation events.
28. Rai J (2019) Displacement versus co-existence in human wildlife conflict zones: An overview. Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International. DOI: 10.9734/jgeesi/2019/v19i430093 (Open access)
This paper reviews literature notable for its polarised assessment of human-wildlife conflict. On one side are the biological sciences, devoted to understanding the mechanisms of biodiversity loss and its consequences for conservation. On the other side are the social scientists, concerned with livelihood issues in and outside protected areas. To avoid some of the bias towards biological sciences present in the literature, the author examines the underlying conditions required for co-existence and develops a ‘human-wildlife interaction model’.
29. Western D, et al (2019) Variability and change in Maasai views of wildlife and the implications for conservation. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-0065-8 (Open access)
This paper discusses how traditional pastoral practices and cultural views that accommodated coexistence between livestock and wildlife are dwindling and being replaced by new values and sensibilities as pastoral practices give way to new livelihoods, lifestyles, and aspirations. Unless the new values offset the loss of traditional values, wildlife will continue to decline.
30. Western G, Macdonald D, Loveridge A and A Dickman (2019) Creating landscapes of coexistence: Do conservation interventions promote tolerance of lions in human-dominated landscapes? Conservation and Society. DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_18_29 (Open access)
This paper explores the individual and societal desire to maintain current lion populations alongside communities in, or surrounding, Zimbabwe's Hwange National Park, Tanzania's Ruaha National Park, and Kenya's southern Maasailand. In Maasailand, 88% of the respondents express a desire to see current lion populations maintained, while only 42% of the respondents in Ruaha and only 5% of the respondents in Hwange express this desire. Results show that twinning personal benefits and conservation education together is the most likely to increase an individual's desire to see current lion populations maintained.
31. Wilson-Holt O and P Steele (2019) Human-wildlife conflict and insurance: Can insurance decrease the costs of living with wildlife? IIED discussion paper. Available here (Open access)
Developing solutions for human–wildlife conflict is an urgent conservation priority. Tried and tested approaches to conflict resolution include schemes to financially offset affected individuals for their loss. To succeed, these schemes need to ensure cost effective verification, fair and timely payments, incentives for damage prevention and financial sustainability. This paper reviews how existing wildlife insurance programmes and agricultural microinsurance schemes have addressed these challenges.
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32. Roe D and F Booker (2019) Engaging local communities in tackling illegal wildlife trade: A synthesis of approaches and lessons for best practice. Conservation Science and Practice. DOI: 10.1111/csp2.26 (Open access)
The authors provide a synthesis of existing approaches to community engagement to tackle international illegal wildlife trade (IWT) and review the evidence on their effectiveness. They illustrate the wide range of different community engagement approaches that have been utilised to date and could be explored by others, but also highlight the lack of regular, robust monitoring of such initiatives.
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33. Rai J (2019) Why are narratives that place the blame for deforestation on the rural poor so pervasive and so persistent? Journal of Geography, Environment and Earth Science International. DOI: 10.9734/jgeesi/2019/v20i130099 (Open access)
One of the most common narratives explaining deforestation places the blame on the rural poor. While rural poverty and deforestation are closely connected, the relationship is a complex one. This article discusses the causes that explain why are narratives that place the blame for deforestation on the rural poor so pervasive and so persistent?
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Social impacts of protected areas
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34. Louder E and K Bosak (2019) What the Gringos brought: Local perspectives on a private protected area in Chilean Patagonia. Conservation and Society. DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_17_169 (Open access)
The authors explore the case of a privately protected area (PPA) in Chile, asking: what are the impacts of this particular PPA on local residents? They find that the park has been detrimental to local livelihoods, disrupted systems of production, and elicited emotional responses of pain, sadness, and loss. They conclude that the social impacts of the PPA are similar to those that have long been documented and criticised in state-run, 'fortress conservation' models.
35. Manwa H and T Modirapula (2019) The role of Botsalano Game Reserve in sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation through community-based tourism development in South Africa. African Renaissance. DOI: 10520/EJC-14ab718194
This study adopts the sustainable livelihood framework to assess the potential for Botsalano Game Reserve to alleviate poverty and improve the livelihoods of communities. Results reveal a population over-reliant on government social grants for livelihoods who do not significantly benefit from their proximity to the Botsalano, but concludes that there are possibilities for Botsalano to contribute towards sustainable livelihoods and poverty alleviation.
36. Naidoo R, et al (2019) Evaluating the impacts of protected areas on human well-being across the developing world. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aav3006 (Open access)
The authors synthesise environmental and socioeconomic conditions of >87,000 children in households situated either near or far from >600 protected areas (PAs) within 34 developing countries, to isolate the impact of living near a PA on human well-being. Results show that households near PAs with tourism have higher wealth levels (by 17%) and a lower likelihood of poverty (by 16%) than similar households living far from PAs.
37. Sarkar D, et al (2019) A tiered analysis of community benefits and conservation engagement from the Makerere University Biological Field Station, Uganda. The Professional Geographer. DOI: 10.1080/00330124.2018.1547976
The authors consider whether community benefits accruing from field research stations are effective and indicate how they could promote community–park relationships, using a field station located in Kibale National Park, Uganda. Although benefits of the research station do not eliminate community–park conflict, they find that the presence of a research station provides long-term direct employment, as well as other important community benefits.
38. Woodhouse E, Bedelian C, Dawson N and P Barnes (2018) Social impacts of protected areas: Exploring evidence of trade-offs and synergies. In Schreckenberg K, Mace G and M Poudyal (eds) Ecoystem Services and Poverty Alleviation: Trade-offs and governance. Routledge. Available here (PDF)
The aim of this chapter is to inform both conservation science and practice by: (i) providing an overview of the state of knowledge on the impacts of protected areas on human wellbeing; (ii) characterising the nature of trade-offs and synergies within and between social and ecological outcomes; and (iii) reflecting on the implications for protected area governance and management.
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39. Chausson A, et al (2019) Understanding the sociocultural drivers of urban bushmeat consumption for behaviour change interventions in Pointe Noire, Republic of Congo. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-0061-z (Open access)
Through qualitative interviews with urban bushmeat consumers in Pointe Noire, the authors investigate perceptions of bushmeat and other animal proteins, and social norms regulating urban demand for bushmeat. The perception of bushmeat as natural, tasty and healthy, and a rare luxury product functioning as a symbol of social status, underpins social norms to provide bushmeat, but the main barriers to purchasing are cost and availability.
40. Di Minin E, et al (2019) Identifying global centres of unsustainable commercial harvesting of species. Science Advances. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau2879 (Open access)
The authors identify global concentrations, on land and at sea, of 4543 species threatened by unsustainable commercial harvesting. Regions under high-intensity threat cover 4.3% of the land and 6.1% of the seas and contain 82% of all species threatened by unsustainable harvesting. Urgent actions are needed in these centres of unsustainable harvesting to ensure that use of species is sustainable and to prevent further species’ extinctions.
41. Schmitt L and D Rempel (2019) The role of well-regulated hunting tourism in Namibia – in effective conservation management. Universities, Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development in Africa – Conference Proceedings 2018. DOI: 10.18418/978-3-96043-071-1_98 (PDF)
This research investigates how well-regulated hunting tourism in Namibia is an important part of biodiversity conservation and explores the consequences of closing hunting. The results outline that hunting tourism is crucial for the value of wildlife and means wildlife can have a greater benefit than livestock and crop farming in Namibia.
42. van Gils E, Ingram V, Midoko Iponga D and K Abernathy (2019) Changes in livelihood practices, strategies and dependence on bushmeat in two provinces in Gabon. International Forestry Review. DOI: 10.1505/146554819825863753
This study investigates how villagers believe livelihood practices and dependence on bushmeat has changed over the last decade and if alternative income and food generating strategies can be sustainable. Results show that changes in livelihood practices were driven either by resource depletion or urbanisation and that the ability to change depended on proximity to facilities and infrastructure.
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43. Benyei P, Arreola G and V Reyes-García (2019) Storing and sharing: A review of indigenous and local knowledge conservation initiatives. Ambio. DOI: 10.1007/s13280-019-01153-6 (Open access)
The authors review and systematically code 138 indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) conservation initiatives published in academic papers to explore trends in participation, digitalisation, timing, location, and approaches. Findings reveal that ILK holders are generally absent from most phases of the studied conservation initiatives.
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