PCLG Digest
June and July 2019 (edition two)
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The second edition of the June and July PCLG digest features 38 new resources. And remember, we always welcome you sharing your latest publications with us, email pclg@iied.org
In other news, several universities have open positions. Lancaster University are looking for an interdisciplinary academic in Political Ecology at the Chair/Reader level, apply by 8th September. The Department of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University is looking for an Assistant Professor in the field of Indigenous Resurgence and Development, deadline 9th September.
Applications for the Whitley Awards 2020 are now open, apply by 31st October.
And, if you haven’t already – register for the Conservation Optimism Summit. Registration is open until 20th August.
- Olivia and Francesca (pclg@iied.org)
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Featured publications - PCLG's top reads this month!
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1. Bennett N, et al (2019) Just transformations to sustainability. Sustainability. DOI: 10.3390/su11143881 (Open access)
The authors draw on the transformations, just transitions, and social justice literature to advance a pragmatic framing of just transformations. They offer practical and methodological guidance to help navigate just transformations in environmental management and sustainability policies and practice, and argue that sustainability transformations cannot be considered a success unless social justice is a central concern.
2. Boles O, et al (2019) Historical ecologies of pastoralist overgrazing in Kenya: Long-term perspectives on cause and effect. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-0072-9 (Open access)
With reference to three case studies from Kenya, the authors argue that the impacts of pastoralism are contingent on the diachronic interactions of locally specific environmental, political, and cultural conditions. They suggest that the impacts of the compression of rangelands and restrictions on herd mobility driven by misguided conservation and economic policies are emphasised over outdated notions of pastoralist inefficiency. The authors review the application of ‘overgrazing’ in interpretations of the archaeological record and assess its relevance for how we interpret past socio-environmental dynamics.
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Equitable / Just conservation
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3. Gill D, et al (2019) Social synergies, tradeoffs, and equity in marine conservation impacts. Annual Review of Environment and Resources. DOI: 10.1146/annurev-environ-110718-032344
The authors review recent literature on the social impacts of four marine conservation interventions to understand the synergies, tradeoffs, and equity (STE) of these impacts. They find that STE literature has increased dramatically since 2000, particularly for marine protected areas, but remains limited, with significant research gaps regarding specific wellbeing domains, social groups and impacts over time.
4. Fleishman E and H Brown (2019) Use of macroecology to integrate social justice and conservation. Global Ecology and Biogeography. DOI: 10.1111/geb.12965
The authors examine applications of macroecology to analysis of the effects of climate change on social justice and biological conservation; relations among climate, violence among humans and conservation; and the response of the spread of disease to social and ecological factors. They believe that macroecology is a means of providing transparent inferences that can inform conservation, health and social policies.
5. Kockel A, Ban N, Costa M and P Dearden (2019) Evaluating approaches for scaling up community‐based marine protected areas into socially equitable and ecologically representative networks. Conservation Biology. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13368
The authors use a Philippines case study to assess and compare three alternative marine protected areas (MPA) planning approaches for biodiversity representation and equitable distribution of costs to small‐scale fishers. The results demonstrate the utility of systematic conservation planning to address key elements of Aichi Target 11 and highlight opportunities and pitfalls for planning MPAs in similar contexts.
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Governance quality and diversity
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6. Bonilla-Mejía L and I Higuera-Mendieta (2019) Protected areas under weak institutions: Evidence from Colombia. World Development. DOI: 10.1016/j.worlddev.2019.06.019
The authors estimate the causal effect of protected areas (PAs) in different institutional contexts in Colombia. The main results indicate that PAs significantly reduce deforestation, with larger effects for collective lands than national PAs, and no impact for regional PAs. The results highlight the extent to which natural PAs rely on the institutional capacity of the national and local governments, while collective lands protect forests even when state presence is weak.
7. Donald P, et al (2019) The prevalence, characteristics and effectiveness of Aichi Target 11′s “other effective area‐based conservation measures” (OECMs) in Key Biodiversity Areas. Conservation Letters. DOI: 10.1111/conl.12659 (Open access)
The authors assess the prevalence of potential “other effective area‐based conservation measures” (OECMs) in 740 terrestrial Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) outside known or mapped protected areas across ten countries. The results show that local or central government bodies managed the highest number of potential OECMs, followed by local and indigenous communities and private landowners.
8. Dung N (2019) Institutionalising co-management for a sustainable future of protected areas: The case of Xuan Thuy National Park, Vietnam. IntechOpen. DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.86930 (Open access)
Vietnam has established 164 protected areas to conserve nature and biodiversity, however the country has been facing many institutional challenges to govern the system. To overcome obstacles, this paper argues that the state needs to support diverse forms of governance (?) from multilevel government, community, and international, private, and civil societies. The author discusses how co-management has been suggested and implemented as a form of governance that can help mobilise the engagement of diversified stakeholders as well as harmonise conflicts over the areas.
9. Eugene H, Rivero A and I Huitron (2019) Social-ecological system constraints of protected areas. A case study of Mexican protected forests. Journal of Social, Technological and Environmental Science. Available here (PDF)
This paper investigates social-ecological system constraints which lead to unsuccessful situations in protected forests in Mexico. The results show that constraints are imbedded into attributes of governance of these resources by local communities through a set of variables whose patterns of interactions lead to successful or unsuccessful situations.
10. Ross H, Adhuri D, Abdurrahim A and A Pheland (2019) Opportunities in community-government cooperation to maintain marine ecosystem services in the Asia-Pacific and Oceania. Ecosystem Services. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecoser.2019.100969
A participatory diagnosis on the island of Selayar, eastern Indonesia, highlights opportunities for communities and government to improvement alignment of their efforts towards sustainable management of marine ecosystems. The findings from this study can inform strategies in Oceania and elsewhere in the Asia Pacific towards improved management of marine and coastal ecosystems, from the standpoints of communities, government and civil-society actors.
11. Saha S and S Saha (2019) Toward sustainable conservation plan for fragile ecosystem in Indian Sunderban. In Bougdah H, et al (eds) Urban and Transit Planning. Springer Nature Switzerland. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-17308-1_18
The Indian Sunderban is a world heritage site with unique flora and fauna, but it is also home to four and half million people living in acute poverty and a developmental deficit. This paper attempts to identify the key factors behind biodiversity losses in the Sunderban that add to the vulnerability of its residents, and traces the ways and means for reducing this through a comprehensive policy of biosphere management including community participation.
12. Tilley A, et al (2019) Evaluating the fit of co-management for small-scale fisheries governance in Timor-Leste. Frontiers in Marine Science. DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2019.00392 (Open access)
The authors present two co-management case studies and examine how they were established, who was involved, the local institutional structures, and the fisheries governance challenges they sought to address. They highlight the need for a set of guiding principles to ensure legitimate community engagement and avoid external appropriation that may reinforce marginalisation of certain user groups or customary power hierarchies.
13. Vaccaro I and O Beltran (2019) What do we mean by “the commons?” An examination of conceptual blurring over time. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-00081-z (Open access)
Across several disciplines the commons is often used almost interchangeably with terms such as open access, common property, public domain, public goods, or common pool resources. The authors examine the reasons for the increasing conflation of these concepts over time.
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Human rights and conservation
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14. Santoso W (2019) Biodiversity and human rights. In Faure M (Eds) Elgar Encyclopedia of Environmental Law, Edward Elgar Publishing. DOI: 10.4337/9781788111461.VII.22
This chapter addresses the intersections between biodiversity and human rights from a legal perspective. The author presents relevant cases and points of view, particularly from Indonesia and other states in the Southeast Asia region. They conclude that environmental rights-based conservation is essential for the fulfilment of human rights. Likewise, respecting local values in fulfilling the rights of local communities will significantly sustain the biodiversity preservation within.
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15. Gray S, et al (2019) Research‐implementation gap limits the actionability of human‐carnivore conflict studies in East Africa. Animal Conservation. DOI: 10.1111/acv.12520 (Open access)
The authors conduct a literature review to determine the extent to which human‐carnivore conflict (HCC) research in East Africa is actionable within the context of management and policy formation. The review indicates that HCC research currently lacks strong evidence of actionability and the authors provide recommendations for improving the practical salience of conservation research.
16. Gross E, et al (2019) Does traditional and advanced guarding reduce crop losses due to wildlife? A comparative analysis from Africa and Asia. Journal for Nature Conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.jnc.2019.125712
The authors examine the effect that different traditional and advanced crop protection measures have on the magnitude of damaged crops, using the cost of crop damage caused by a total of 20 wildlife species in two African and two Asian study areas. The results reveal substantial losses, especially by elephants and other large herbivores. They also find that the majority of traditional crop protection strategies are ineffective in reducing crop damage costs, including electrical fences.
17. Heydinger J, Packer C and J Tsaneb (2019) Desert-adapted lions on communal land: Surveying the costs incurred by, and perspectives of, communal-area livestock owners in northwest Namibia. Biological Conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.003
The authors examine local pastoralists' perceptions of desert-adapted lions and the impacts of living with them in northwest Namibia. The results show that losses, due to drought and lions, are differentiated by livestock species and that the magnitude of livestock losses during the drought has been exacerbated by predation. They discuss the cultural and livelihood effects of livestock losses as well as the implications of balancing the costs and benefits of living with lions for lion conservation.
18. Rianti A, R Garsetiasih and H Gunawan (2019) Community perception around plantation forest area in Ulak Kedondong Village, towards Sumatran elephant (Elephas maximus sumatranus) disturbance. AIP Conference Proceedings. DOI: 10.1063/1.5115665 (Open access)
The authors research human-elephant conflict around a Plantation Forest Area (PFA) in Indonesia to determine elephant disturbances and the perception of the community towards the value of elephant conservation. The results showed that the PFA area and community gardens often suffer from elephant disturbances, which negatively influences community perceptions on elephant conservation.
19. Robertson J, et al (2019) Environmental predictors of livestock predation: A lion's tale. Oryx. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605318001217 (Open access)
The authors choose lion predation of livestock as a model to test whether variations in environmental conditions trigger changes in predation. Analysing 6 years of incident reports for Pandamatenga village in Botswana, they show that significantly more attacks coincided with lower moonlight levels and temperatures.
20. Shabi-Ul-Hassan Kazmi S, et al (2019) Crop raiding by Himalayan black bear: A major cause of human-bear conflict in Machiara National Park, Pakistan. Journal of Animal & Plant Sciences. Available here
The authors aim to understand human-black bear conflict patterns in Machiara National Park (MNP). The results show that about 53.88 metric tons of maize crop yield was damaged by black bears over five years. Accordingly, 82% of respondents dislike black bears.
21. Weise F, et al (2019) Seasonal selection of key resources by cattle in a mixed savannah-wetland ecosystem increases the potential for conflict with lions. Biological Conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.031
The authors investigate livestock predation by lions in the northern Okavango Delta, Botswana. The results show that curbing depredation by lions will best be achieved by a combination of resource- and predation-cognisant seasonal herding strategies with adequate livestock protection.
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Hunting (subsistence, traditional, trophy)
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22. de Mattos Vieira M, de Castro F and G Shepard (2019) Who sets the rules? Institutional misfits and bricolage in hunting management in Brazil. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-00080-0 (Open access)
The authors combine three analytical approaches in the study case of hunting management in the Piagaçu-Purus Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS-PP) in the Brazilian Amazon. The results reveal gaps and inconsistencies between different structures and decision levels, and indicate incongruities arising from different perceptions and values among stakeholders.
23. Dobson A, Milner-Gulland E.J., Ingram D and A Keane (2019) A framework for assessing impacts of wild meat hunting practices in the tropics. Human Ecology. DOI: 10.1007/s10745-019-0075-6 (Open access)
The authors discuss influences of hunting methods and effort on the types of animals caught, the efficiency of harvest, and the implications of these factors for sustainability. They highlight gaps in current understanding, and identify the most important data requirements, providing a framework for the design of future studies into wild meat hunting and its impacts, and promoting the efficient targeting of priority areas of research.
24. Jones S, et al (2019) Incentives and social relationships of hunters and traders in a Liberian bushmeat system. Biological Conservation. DOI: 10.1016/j.biocon.2019.06.006
The authors provide the first detailed description of a rural hunting system in the Gola Forest, Liberia. They find bushmeat contributes substantially to local livelihoods and that earnings from hunting and trading are high relative to local alternatives.
25. Kaswamila A and A Mwakipesile (2019) Resident hunting ban in Serengeti district and its implications to people’s livelihood and wildlife population. IntechOpen. DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.83827 (Open access)
This study assesses the implications of a resident hunting ban in the Singita Grumeti Reserve on communities’ livelihood and wildlife populations in the Serengeti district. The findings reveal that communities were not involved in the decision and that the ban has had mixed results on community livelihood.
26. Petriello M and A Stronza (2019) Campesino hunting and conservation in Latin America. Conservation Biology. DOI: 10.1111/cobi.13396
The authors review 334 English and Spanish articles on the meanings, motivations, and sustainability of campesino hunting in Latin America between 1937 to 2018. Eighteen drivers, 14 constraints, and 10 conflicts – mainly subsistence, income, ethics, regulations, and crop/livestock protection – shaped whether campesino hunters pursued 799 species across most studies.
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27. Cugniere L, Wright J and E.J. Milner-Gulland (2019) Evidence to action: Research to address illegal wildlife trade. Oryx. DOI: 10.1017/S0030605319000371 (Open access)
The Oxford Martin Programme on the Illegal Wildlife Trade has launched a key research brief, Evidence to Action: Research to Address Illegal Wildlife Trade. The brief is the first of a new set of tools and guidance for researchers and practitioners. The latest addition is a brief reviewing the scale of Darknet Usage in the Illegal Wildlife Trade, which includes recommendations for researchers and policymakers.
28. Denninger Snyder K, Mneney P and G Wittemyer (2019) Predicting the risk of illegal activity and evaluating law enforcement interventions in the western Serengeti. Conservation Science and Practice. DOI: 10.1111/csp2.81 (Open access)
The authors examine a rare dataset containing records of reserve game scout patrol effort and occurrences of illegal activity between 2013 and 2016 in the western Serengeti. The results show that the highest risk areas are located along reserve edges, further from roads and scout camps, suggesting avoidance of enforcement presence.
29. Kaimo N, Angwafo T, Chuo M and G Lum (2019) Community perception and pangolins (Manis spp.) conservation in the Kimbi-Fungom National Park, north west Cameroon. International Journal of Forest, Animal and Fisheries Research. Available here (PDF)
This study aims to bring out community perceptions that can contribute to the conservation of pangolins in the Kimbi-Fungom National Park (K-FNP). Results from hunters’ interviews reveal that 35% of hunted animal species in the park are pangolins, with many hunters expressing negative attitudes towards pangolin conservation because they have no means to alternative sources of livelihood.
30. Kassa S, Costa J and C Camargo (2019) Corruption and wildlife trafficking: Exploring drivers, facilitators and networks behind illegal wildlife trade in East Africa. Working Paper, Basel Institute on Governance. Available here (Open access)
This Working Paper reflects on important themes and dynamics in regard to the wildlife trade in Africa; the drivers and facilitators of wildlife trafficking; the characteristics, functions and operations of trafficking networks; corruption as a cross-cutting theme; and the important role of Uganda as a transit country for the trafficking of wildlife.
31. Ramutsindela M and P Chauke (2019) Biodiversity, wildlife and the land question in Africa. In Ramutsindela M and D Mickler (Eds) Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals. Springer Nature Switzerland. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-14857-7_19
This chapter shows that some of the efforts toward curbing biodiversity loss ironically create conditions that work against the protection of biodiversity while also deepening existing socio-economic problems. The authors argue that efforts to reduce biodiversity loss by expanding protected areas and by excising land in the battle to curb rampant poaching compound the very challenges, as they lead to a situation where land alienation and poaching are entangled in a vicious and unabating cycle.
32. Titeca K and P Edmond (2019) Outside the frame: Looking beyond the myth of Garamba's LRA ivory–terrorism nexus. Conservation and Society. DOI: 10.4103/cs.cs_18_145
This narrative distorts the complex dynamics of reports of elephant poaching by the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) in Garamba National Park (GNP). It identifies clear villains, edits out other poaching actors, and legitimises particular interventions. The article shows how the 'LRA ivory–terrorism' narrative is a discursive tool for particular agendas, which primarily allow particular interventions, legitimisation of resources, or wider readership.
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33. Collins YA (2019) Colonial residue: REDD+, territorialisation and the racialised subject in Guyana and Suriname. Geoforum. DOI: 10.1016/j.geoforum.2019.07.019
The author argues that the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD+) mechanism is racialised in practice. The paper demonstrate how REDD+ is challenged by the legacy of racialised land use practices and social relations rooted in the defining colonial period in Guyana and Suriname. The authors shows how REDD+ contributes to state territorialisation, complicates pre-existing racialised subjectivities and increases the legibility of forests and their amenability to state management.
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34. Imanishimwe A, Niyonzima T and D Nsabimana (2019) Comparing the community dependence on natural resources in Nyungwe National Park and the contribution of revenue sharing through integrated conservation and development projects. Rwanda Journal of Engineering, Science, Technology and Environment. Available here (Open access)
This paper assesses the contribution of a tourism Revenue Sharing Scheme (RSS) to community-based conservation projects around Nyungwe National Park (Rwanda), by evaluating their efficiency and effectiveness, and their socioeconomic impact to local community development. The results show that the value of resources collected by people from the park is higher than support from the RSS.
35. Jiao X, S Walelign, M Nielsen and C Smith-Hall (2019) Protected areas, household environmental incomes and well-being in the Greater Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Forest Policy and Economics. DOI: 10.1016/j.forpol.2019.101948 (Open access)
This paper, using the Greater Serengeti-Mara ecosystem and its surrounding local communities in Tanzania and Kenya, quantifies the household-level economic importance of this protected area. The results document a negative relationship between environmental reliance and well-being, with households closer to the protected area having higher environmental reliance and lower well-being.
36. Kyando M, Nyahongo J, Røskaft E and M Nielsen (2019) Household reliance on environmental income in the western Serengeti ecosystem, Tanzania. Environment and Natural Resources Research. DOI: 10.5539/enrr.v9n1p54 (PDF)
This study quantifies the reliance on cash environmental income as a share of total household income over a gradient of distance from protected area boundaries in the western Serengeti and evaluates how this is influenced by socio-economic characteristics. The results indicate that environmental cash-income varies from 21.3% to 45.2% of total annual cash-income, and that households closest to the boundary of Serengeti National Park are relatively more reliant on environmental income than those further away.
37. Ntuli H, et al (2019) Factors influencing local communities’ perceptions towards conservation of transboundary wildlife resources: The case of the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area. Biodiversity and Conservation. DOI: 10.1007/s10531-019-01809-5 (Open access)
This paper investigates the determinants of the perceptions of local communities around the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area in Zimbabwe and South Africa. The results illustrate that people perceiving the park as well-managed tend to have more positive perceptions regarding the benefits from the park, rules governing the park, and wildlife conservation in general.
38. Raycraft J (2019) “In search of a good life”: Perspectives on village out-migration in a Tanzanian marine park. Journal of Rural Studies. DOI: 10.1016/j.jrurstud.2019.05.005
This paper draws from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in a rural village located inside of a Tanzanian marine park and reveals people's diverse perspectives on village out-migration. While very few interviewees believed that people were forced to migrate because of the marine park, most respondents contended that it had deepened pre-existing experiences of a “hard life,” and exacerbated lived experiences of vulnerability.
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