Community-Based Conservation and Cross-Cultural Relationships

<p>Conservation is a well-established concept which exists in diverse forms based on diverse meanings and environmental values. The role which communities play in local resource management addresses many challenges in regards to top-down state management over natural resources. Communities’ ability to act as environmental agents is contingent on how willing nation-states are to devolve power and decision-making to communities. Co-management relationships between community and state is one means of devolving power and increasing community agency. Where Indigenous communities are involved, co-management is a way of shifting power, knowledge and resources away from Western centred norms towards Indigenous worldviews and institutions. In Aotearoa New Zealand, co-management emerges across conservation efforts, from state managed levels to locally managed levels. Community-based conservation is one type of local co-management. This research aims to analyse the different experiences and perspectives of community volunteers at the Manawa Karioi Ecological Restoration project in Island Bay, Wellington. The Manawa Karioi Ecological Restoration project is first and foremost a collaborative relationship between the volunteers of the Manawa Karioi Society and the whānau (family) of the Tapu Te Ranga marae. The land on which conservation occurs belongs to the Tapu Te Ranga marae, and therefore the longstanding relationship that the two groups have with one another goes a long way to explaining the effectiveness of restoration at Manawa Karioi. This research focuses on interviews from twelve different participants, both from the Tapu Te Ranga marae and the Manawa Karioi Society. Through the conceptual lens of poststructuralism and political ecology, the key themes of this research will bring to light how the relationship between the Tapu Te Ranga marae and the Manawa Karioi Society enables process towards decolonisation of community-based conservation, wider societal understandings of nature and sense of place in nature. This research will explore the relationship between Manawa Karioi and the Tapu Te Ranga marae, with an aim to provoke further thought for other community organisations who wish to engage with, or already have a form of relationship with, Iwi, hapu or whānau. In doing so this research can be offered as a frame of reference for such organisations.</p>

Community-Based Conservation and Cross-Cultural Relationships

<p>Conservation is a well-established concept which exists in diverse forms based on diverse meanings and environmental values. The role which communities play in local resource management addresses many challenges in regards to top-down state management over natural resources. Communities’ ability to act as environmental agents is contingent on how willing nation-states are to devolve power and decision-making to communities. Co-management relationships between community and state is one means of devolving power and increasing community agency. Where Indigenous communities are involved, co-management is a way of shifting power, knowledge and resources away from Western centred norms towards Indigenous worldviews and institutions. In Aotearoa New Zealand, co-management emerges across conservation efforts, from state managed levels to locally managed levels. Community-based conservation is one type of local co-management. This research aims to analyse the different experiences and perspectives of community volunteers at the Manawa Karioi Ecological Restoration project in Island Bay, Wellington. The Manawa Karioi Ecological Restoration project is first and foremost a collaborative relationship between the volunteers of the Manawa Karioi Society and the whānau (family) of the Tapu Te Ranga marae. The land on which conservation occurs belongs to the Tapu Te Ranga marae, and therefore the longstanding relationship that the two groups have with one another goes a long way to explaining the effectiveness of restoration at Manawa Karioi. This research focuses on interviews from twelve different participants, both from the Tapu Te Ranga marae and the Manawa Karioi Society. Through the conceptual lens of poststructuralism and political ecology, the key themes of this research will bring to light how the relationship between the Tapu Te Ranga marae and the Manawa Karioi Society enables process towards decolonisation of community-based conservation, wider societal understandings of nature and sense of place in nature. This research will explore the relationship between Manawa Karioi and the Tapu Te Ranga marae, with an aim to provoke further thought for other community organisations who wish to engage with, or already have a form of relationship with, Iwi, hapu or whānau. In doing so this research can be offered as a frame of reference for such organisations.</p>

A Need for Context-Based Conservation: Incorporating Local Knowledge to Mitigate Livestock Predation by Large Carnivores

Mitigating livestock predation by carnivores is crucial to ensure carnivore conservation and facilitate human-carnivore coexistence. Mitigation measures proposed by conservation agencies, however, are often technocratic and perceived as being an external imposition on the local community. Herders affected by the depredation may have the knowledge to design locally relevant solutions, but they might lack financial and technical support to implement these effectively. Their inability to act can result in the communities being viewed as antagonistic rather than a part of the solution. We present a case study on co-development of a conservation intervention by a traditional pastoral community together with a conservation NGO, to mitigate livestock depredation inside night-time corrals in Ladakh, India. Between January and June 2020, livestock corrals in Sumdoo TR village were attacked 10 times by carnivores such as snow leopards and wolves, killing over 100 sheep, goat, yak, and horses and causing loses of over 10,400 USD. Local people were agitated, and there were strong demands for capture or removal of the carnivores from the area. We operationalized the PARTNERS (Presence, Aptness, Respect, Transparency, Negotiation, Empathy, Responsiveness, and Strategic Support) principles framework for community-based conservation to help the village effectively implement an intervention based on a novel predator-proof corral design conceptualized by the community. We demonstrate that empowering the community to design and implement a conservation intervention helped them take ownership of the effort, improve trust with conservation agencies, and hence likely to be a long-term solution to conservation conflicts in the region. Our approach of using the PARTNERS principles has relevance for conservation agencies who are trying to implement interventions, particularly those geared toward reducing livestock depredation by carnivores. Our approach further helps communities to view themselves as part of the solution and not the problem.

Community, conflict and conservation: response of mammalian fauna to ecological and anthropological correlates ‒ a critical habitat in Indo-Bhutan transboundary landscape urges multiagency cooperation

The impacts of conflict on nature are devastatingly adverse but differ widely in different socio-political regimes. Armed conflict often facilitates illegal plunder and unsustainable use of natural resources, variously by rebel groups and impoverished or displaced people challenged with limited subsistence options. We studied the response of mammals in Ripu Reserve Forest (Assam) that suffers prolonged anthropogenic pressure due to armed conflict instigated by social unrest. We used standard single-season (spatial-dependence) occupancy models using sign survey to assess the factors affecting the space use of mammals and subsequently build capacity of conservation volunteers for long-term sustenance of Ripu. Our study revealed that Ripu has a high proportion of occupied area by prey species of large carnivores. Asian elephant, barking deer, and wild pig occupied most of the habitat, whereas gaur, sambar and spotted deer restricted themselves to selected patches within the Ripu. Common leopards found to be positively associated with prey occupancy. The studied mammals responded variably to different ecological and anthropological covariates and urge for species-specific management alongside landscape scale conservation approach. Our ground effort to strengthen community patrolling and operational execution of various alternative livelihood has helped to empower the economic condition of patrolling staff. Strategic implementation of law enforcement could support dispersal of tigers from Phibsoo WLS (Bhutan), potentially linked with the larger tiger and elephant landscape far west (Buxa Tiger Reserve) in the Terai region of India. Community-based conservation initiatives required continuous support from various agencies, including national, international, and local bodies, to restore this critical habitat.

Policy recommendations for environmental conservation in the Chindwin River Basin

The Chindwin Basin is facing habitat loss and species population decline driven by economic development activities combined with the impacts of climate change. Given the interdependency of livelihoods and biodiversity in this part of Myanmar, this brief explores ideas for enhancing community-based conservation in the Chindwin River Basin.

Community-based conservation through stakeholder collaboration in the Essential Ecosystem Area (EEA) of Kao, North Halmahera Regency

Mangrove forest in Kao Village, North Halmahera Regency, North Maluku Province, is a Key Biodiversity Area. Since 2017, the community has been protecting mangrove forests through Kao Village Regulation No.03/2007. In 2020, through the collaboration between stakeholders from universities, NGOs and the government, the Kao mangrove forest area of 300.92 Ha was designated as an Essential Ecosystem Area (EEA) based on the North Halmahera Regent Decree No.078/102/HU/2020. This study describes the biodiversity and the community-based conservation through stakeholder collaboration in the EEA of Kao. The study found that there are 13 mangrove species and 56 bird species, of which 10 are protected species. In 2020, the community has built a mangrove nursery and rehabilitated 8 ha of degraded mangrove forest with the participation of about 70 people. Since the establishment of EEA, the community has stopped hunting for eggs of the endemic moluccan scrubfowl (Eulipoa wallacei) and is trying to increase its population through semi-natural hatching on the beach. The community has also learned to use non-timber mangrove forest products and ecotourism through the support of stakeholders.

Corticolous Lichen Species Diversity on Dominant Trees in Selected Sacred Groves of Paschim Medinipur District, West Bengal, India

Sacred groves are the fairly well-protected system of community-based conservation of tree patches on account of their association with village gods, and repository of many rare and threatened elements of biodiversity. There are, however, few publications on lichens of sacred groves. The lichens have long been regarded as sensitive indicators for monitoring environmental state. The present study reports one hundred and sixteen species of lichens from forty-four genera of nineteen families in four selected sacred groves of Paschim Medinipur district, West Bengal. These lichens represent two different growth forms, i.e. crustose (105 species) and foliose (11 species). Shorea robusta, a dominant tree species in two sacred groves bears the highest lichen diversity with seventy-four species. To better understand the related biodiversity and climate, this work is likely to promote further studies on lichen diversity in other regions of West Bengal.

Can Nationally Prescribed Institutional Arrangements Enable Community-Based Conservation? An Analysis of Conservancies and Community Forests in the Zambezi Region of Namibia

Community-based conservation is advocated as an idea that long-term conservation success requires engaging with, providing benefits for, and establishing institutions representing local communities. However, community-based conservation’s efficacy and impact in sustainable resource management varies depending on national natural resource policies and implications for local institutional arrangements. This paper analyses the significance of natural resource management policies and institutional design on the management of common pool resources (CPRs), by comparing Namibian conservancies and community forests. To meet this aim, we reviewed key national policies pertinent to natural resource governance and conducted 28 semi-structured interviews between 2012 and 2013. Key informants included conservancy and community forest staff and committee members, village headmen, NGO coordinators, regional foresters, wildlife officials (wardens), and senior government officials in the Ministry of Environment and Tourism and the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Forestry. We explored the following questions: how do national natural resource management policies affect the operations of local common pool resource institutions? and how do external factors affect local institutions and community participation in CPRs decision-making? Our results show that a diversity of national policies significantly influenced local institutional arrangements. Formation of conservancies and community forests by communities is not only directly linked with state policies designed to increase wildlife numbers and promote forest growth or improve condition, but also formulated primarily for benefits from and control over natural resources. The often-assumed direct relationship between national policies and local institutional arrangements does not always hold in practice, resulting in institutional mismatch. We aim to advance theoretical and applied discourse on common pool resource governance in social-ecological systems, with implications for sustainable land management policies in Namibia and other landscapes across sub-Saharan Africa.

Women's stories and knowledge of wildlife and conservation practice in northern Tanzania and South India

Around the world, Indigenous peoples have stories about wildlife that reflect knowledge and feelings about animals and their relationship to humans. Different people's experiences speak to the variety of interactions people have with animals in the spaces where humans and non-human animals live and interact. These stories are often told by women, reflecting the ways in which gender mediates human–environment relations. Yet gendered differences in knowledge and experience are rarely addressed in wildlife conservation research and action. Even community-based conservation efforts often ignore or marginalize the knowledge and experiences of women. We present women's stories and experiences of wildlife from Maasai communities in Tanzania and Soliga communities in India. We show that women have the desire and knowledge to participate in conservation decision-making but are currently marginalized from community conservation practice. We argue that including women in research and action is key for successful community-based wildlife conservation.