| 1. |
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| 2. |
- Bommarco, Riccardo
(författare)
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Rapid assessment of historic, current and future habitat quality for biodiversity around UK Natura 2000 sites
- 2015
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 42, s. 31-40
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Changes in landscape composition and structure may impact the conservation and management of protected areas. Species that depend on specific habitats are at risk of extinction when these habitats are degraded or lost. Designing robust methods to evaluate landscape composition will assist decision-and policy-making in emerging landscapes. This paper describes a rapid assessment methodology aimed at evaluating land-cover quality for birds, plants, butterflies and bees around seven UK Natura 2000 sites. An expert panel assigned quality values to standard Coordination of Information on the Environment (CORINE) land-cover classes for each taxonomic group. Quality was assessed based on historical (1950, 1990), current (2000) and future (2030) land-cover data, the last projected using three alternative scenarios: a growth-applied strategy (GRAS), a business-as-might-beusual (BAMBU) scenario, and sustainable European development goal (SEDG) scenario. A quantitative quality index weighted the area of each land-cover parcel with a taxa-specific quality measure. Land parcels with high quality for all taxonomic groups were evaluated for temporal changes in area, size and adjacency. For all sites and taxonomic groups, the rate of deterioration of land-cover quality was greater between 1950 and 1990 than current rates or as modelled using the alternative future scenarios (20002030). Model predictions indicated land-cover quality stabilized over time under the GRAS scenario, and was close to stable for the BAMBU scenario. The SEDG scenario suggested an ongoing loss of quality, though this was lower than the historical rate of c. 1% loss per decade. None of the future scenarios showed accelerated fragmentation, but rather increases in the area, adjacency and diversity of high quality land parcels in the landscape.
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| 3. |
- Brönmark, Christer, et al.
(författare)
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Environmental issues in lakes and ponds: current state and perspectives
- 2002
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929. ; 29:3, s. 290-307
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lakes and ponds are habitats of great human importance as they provide water for domestic, industrial and agricultural use as well as providing food. In spite of their fundamental importance to humans, freshwater systems have been severely affected by a multitude of anthropogenic disturbances, which have led to serious negative effects on the structure and function of these ecosystems. The aim of the present study is to review the current state of lake and pond ecosystems and to present a likely scenario for threats against these ecosystems for the time horizon of the year 2025. Predictions are based on a review of the current state, projections of long-term trends, for example in population and global climate, and an analysis of the trends in publications in the scientific literature during the past 25 years (1975-2000). The biodiversity of lake and pond ecosystems is currently threatened by a number of human disturbances, of which the most important include increased nutrient load, contamination, acid rain and invasion of exotic species. Analysis of trends suggests that older, well known threats to biodiversity such as eutrophication, acidification and contamination by heavy metals and organochlorines may become less of a problem in developed countries in the future. New threats such as global warming, ultraviolet radiation, endocrine disruptors and, especially, invasion by exotic species including transgenic organisms will most likely increase in importance. However, in developing countries where priorities other than environmental conservation exist, the threat of eutrophication, acidification and contamination by toxic substances is predicted to continue to increase. Although the future of biodiversity in lakes and ponds is seriously threatened, growing concern for environmental problems, implementation of new environmental strategies and administrations, and international agreements, are positive signs of changes that should improve the ability to manage old as well as new, yet undiscovered, threats.
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| 4. |
- Daw, Tim, et al.
(författare)
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Applying the ecosystem services concept to poverty alleviation : the need to disaggregate human well-being
- 2011
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 38:04, s. 370-379
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The concept of ecosystem services (ES), the benefits humans derive from ecosystems, is increasingly applied to environmental conservation, human well-being and poverty alleviation, and to inform the development of interventions. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) implicitly recognize the unequal distribution of the costs and benefits of maintaining ES, through monetary compensation from ‘winners’ to ‘losers’. Some research into PES has examined how such schemes affect poverty, while other literature addresses trade-offs between different ES. However, much evolving ES literature adopts an aggregated perspective of humans and their well-being, which can disregard critical issues for poverty alleviation. This paper identifies four issues with examples from coastal ES in developing countries. First, different groups derive well-being benefits from different ES, creating winners and losers as ES, change. Second, dynamic mechanisms of access determine who can benefit. Third, individuals' contexts and needs determine how ES contribute to well-being. Fourth, aggregated analyses may neglect crucial poverty alleviation mechanisms such as cash-based livelihoods. To inform the development of ES interventions that contribute to poverty alleviation, disaggregated analysis is needed that focuses on who derives which benefits from ecosystems, and how such benefits contribute to the well-being of the poor. These issues present challenges in data availability and selection of how and at which scales to disaggregate. Disaggregation can be applied spatially, but should also include social groupings, such as gender, age and ethnicity, and is most important where inequality is greatest. Existing tools, such as stakeholder analysis and equity weights, can improve the relevance of ES research to poverty alleviation.
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| 5. |
- Daw, Tim, et al.
(författare)
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Perceptions of trends in Seychelles artisanal trap fisheries : comparing catch monitoring, underwater visual census and fishers’ knowledge
- 2011
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 38, s. 75-88
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fisheries scientists and managers are increasingly engaging with fishers' knowledge (FK) to provide novel information and improve the legitimacy of fisheries governance. Disputes between the perceptions of fishers and scientists can generate conflicts for governance, but can also be a source of new perspectives or understandings. This paper compares artisanal trap fishers' reported current catch rates with landings data and underwater visual census (UVC). Fishers' reports of contemporary 'normal' catch per day tended to be higher than recent median landings records. However, fishers' reports of 'normal' catch per trap were not significantly different from the median CPUE calculated from landings data, and reports of 'good' and 'poor' catch rates were indicative of variability observed in landings data. FK, landings and UVC data all gave different perspectives of trends over a ten-year period. Fishers' perceptions indicated greater declines than statistical models fitted to landings data, while UVC evidence for trends varied between sites and according to the fish assemblage considered. Divergence in trend perceptions may have resulted from differences in the spatial, temporal or taxonomic focus of each dataset. Fishers may have experienced and understood behavioural changes and increased fishing power, which may have obscured declines from landings data. Various psychological factors affect memory and recall, and may have affected these memory-based estimates of trends, while different assumptions underlying the analysis of both interview data and conventional scientific data could also have led to qualitatively different trend perceptions. Differing perspectives from these three data sources illustrate both the potential for 'cognitive conflicts' between stakeholders who do not rely on the same data sources, as well as the importance of multiple information sources to understand dynamics of fisheries. Collaborative investigation of such divergence may facilitate learning and improve fisheries governance.
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| 6. |
- Elbakidze, Marine, et al.
(författare)
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Biosphere Reserves for conservation and development in Ukraine? : Legal recognition and establishment of the Roztochya initiative
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 40:2, s. 157-166
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Biosphere Reserve (BR) concept is an approach that simultaneously reconciles and promotes conservation of natural and cultural diversity, environmentally and socioculturally sustainable economic development, and research. This study focuses on the legal recognition of the BR concept as a tool for sustainable development (SD) in Ukraine, and what impact legislation has had on BR implementation. The BR concept has been incorporated into Ukrainian nature conservation legislation. However, interviews with locals engaged with the Roztochya BR initiative revealed that the aim to promote sustainability through stakeholder collaboration was poorly implemented. Legislative misplacement of the BR concept created misunderstandings among local people during the emergence of the Roztochya BR initiative. BR implementation may be improved by (1) choosing national terminology describing the concept carefully, because this affects stakeholder perceptions, (2) ensuring that legislation for BRs has a multi-sectoral character, and (3) ensuring that those who implement BR initiatives have the understanding, knowledge and will to lead and facilitate SD as a collaborative social learning process towards ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability.
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| 7. |
- Gustafsson, Karin M, 1983-, et al.
(författare)
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IPBES as a transformative agent : opportunities and risks
- 2023
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 50:1, s. 7-11
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Intergovernmental Science–Policy Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) has played an important role in assessing knowledge and raising awareness of biodiversity loss, and it is now also mandated to assess and support processes of transformative change. This perspective paper argues that the transformative change assessment entails key elements of transformative agency, which, along with the performative role of IPBES, makes it relevant to re-conceptualize the organization as a transformative agent. This new role will change IPBES and brings attention to risks related to undermining the credibility, relevance and legitimacy of IPBES, but it also brings opportunities for innovations that may strengthen the organization, including furthering public reasoning, acknowledging ambiguities and disagreements, ensuring scientific autonomy and balancing governmental power in the organization. As IPBES takes on the fundamental challenge of transformative change, critical scrutiny and democratic debate regarding its function as a political actor are more important than ever.
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| 8. |
- Gössling, Stefan
(författare)
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Funds for Biodiversity
- 2002
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929. ; 29:4, s. 411-413
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Hartig, Terry, et al.
(författare)
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Psychological restoration in nature as a source of motivation for ecological behaviour
- 2007
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 34:4, s. 291-299
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- People may behave in environmentally friendly ways because they gain psychologically from their experiences in natural environments. Psychological benefits of nature experience may also underlie concerns about personally harmful effects of environmental problems. Cross-sectional survey data from 1413 Norwegian adults were used to assess the relationship between use of natural environments for psychological restoration and ecological behaviour, as mediated by personal environmental concern. Mediation tests with hierarchical regression analyses provided evidence of partial mediation; the use of natural environments for restoration remained a significant predictor of ecological behaviour after the entry of environmental concern into the analysis. These associations held independently of age, gender, education, household income, size of community of upbringing, size of community of current residence and distance of current residence from an outdoor recreation area. Among sociodemographic variables, only gender had a significant association with the use of natural environments for restoration, suggesting that their use transcends several important social categories in Norway. In short, positive experiences in natural environments may promote ecological behaviour.
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| 11. |
- Khagram, Sanjeev, et al.
(författare)
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Thinking about knowing: conceptual foundations for interdisciplinary environmental research
- 2010
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929. ; 37:4, s. 388-397
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Working across knowledge-based research programmes, rather than institutional structures, should be central to interdisciplinary research. In this paper, a novel framework is proposed to facilitate interdisciplinary research, with the goals of promoting communication, understanding and collaborative work. Three core elements need to be addressed to improve interdisciplinary research: the types (forms and functions) of theories, the underlying philosophies of knowledge and the combination of research styles; these three elements combine to form the research programme. Case studies from sustainability science and environmental security illustrate the application of this research programme-based framework. This framework may be helpful in overcoming often oversimplified distinctions, such as qualitative/quantitative, deductive/inductive, normative/descriptive, subjective/objective and theory/practice. Applying this conceptual framework to interdisciplinary research should foster theoretical advances, more effective communication and better problem-solving in increasingly interdisciplinary environmental fields.
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| 12. |
- Khatri Bahadur, Dil, et al.
(författare)
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Reframing community forest governance for food security in Nepal
- 2017
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 44, s. 174-182
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The growing challenge of food insecurity in the Global South has called for new research on the contribution of forests to food security. However, even progressive forest management institutions such as Nepal's community forestry programme have failed to address this issue. We analyse Nepal's community forestry programme and find that forest policies and local institutional practices have historically evolved to regulate forests either as sources of timber or as a means of biodiversity conservation, disregarding food security outcomes for local people. Disciplinary divisions between forestry and the agriculture sector have limited the prospect of strengthening forest-food security linkages. We conclude that the policy and legislative framework and formal bureaucratic practices are influenced by modern forestry science', which led to community forestry rules and practices not considering the contribution of forests to food security. Furthermore, forestry science has a particularly narrow focus on timber production and conservation. We argue for the need to recognise the importance of local knowledge and community practices of using forests for food. We propose adaptive and transformational approaches to knowledge generation and the application of such knowledge in order to support institutional change and policy reform and to enable landscape-specific innovations in forest-food linkages.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Lokrantz, Jerker, et al.
(författare)
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Impacts of artisanal fishing on key functional groups and the potential vulnerability of coral reefs
- 2010
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - Online. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 36:4, s. 327-337
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Fishing can have major impacts on the structure of coral reef ecosystems. Overfishing of herbivores is particularly detrimental, as it makes the coral system more likely to undergo shifts to macroalgal dominance in the event of coral mass mortality. Knowing when important processes, such as herbivory, are becoming brittle is important because it can provide an opportunity for managers to avoid undesirable ecosystem-level changes. This study investigates the impact of artisanal fishing on three important functional groups of herbivores (grazers, scrapers and excavators) on five coral-dominated reefs outside Zanzibar (Tanzania). There was a negative correlation between fishing pressure and fish biomass, abundance, diversity and species richness. Moreover, fishing had a negative influence on the demographic structure of functional groups, particularly excavators, manifesting itself as a skewness towards smaller individuals within populations. Artisanal fishing can have significant impacts on key functional groups of herbivorous reef fishes which may increase the vulnerability of coral reefs to undesirable ecosystem shifts.
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| 15. |
- Raymond, Christopher
(författare)
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Integrating different understandings of landscape stewardship into the design of agri-environmental schemes
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 43, s. 350-358
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While multiple studies have identified land managers' preferences for agri-environmental schemes (AES), few approaches exist for integrating different understandings of landscape stewardship into the design of these measures. We compared and contrasted rural land managers' attitudes toward AES and their preferences for AES design beyond 2020 across different understandings of landscape stewardship. Forty semi-structured interviews were conducted with similar proportions of small holders, medium holders and large holders in southwest Devon, UK. Overall, respondents most frequently cited concerns related to the reduced amount of funding available for entry-level and higher-level stewardship schemes in the UK since 2008, changing funding priorities, perceived overstrict compliance and lack of support for farm succession and new entrants into farming. However, there were differences in concerns across understandings of landscape stewardship, with production respondents citing that AES do not encourage food production, whereas environmental and holistic farmers citing that AES do not support the development of a local green food culture and associated social infrastructure. These differences also emerged in preferences for AES design beyond 2020. We adapted a collaborative and coordinated approach for designing AES to account for the differing interests of land managers based on their understanding of landscape stewardship. We discuss the implications of this approach for environmental policy design in the European Union and elsewhere.
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| 16. |
- Rist, Lucy, et al.
(författare)
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Adaptive management : where are we now?
- 2013
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - : Cambridge University Press. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 40:1, s. 5-18
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Adaptive management (AM) emerged in the literature in the mid-1970s in response both to a realization of the extent of uncertainty involved in management, and a frustration with attempts to use modelling to integrate knowledge and make predictions. The term has since become increasingly widely used in scientific articles, policy documents and management plans, but both understanding and application of the concept is mixed. This paper reviews recent literature from conservation and natural resource management journals to assess diversity in how the term is used, highlight ambiguities and consider how the concept might be further assessed. AM is currently being used to describe many different management contexts, scales and locations. Few authors define the term explicitly or describe how it offers a means to improve management outcomes in their specific management context. Many do not adhere to the idea as it was originally conceived, despite citing seminal work. Significant confusion exists over the distinction between active and passive approaches. Over half of the studies reporting to implement AM claimed to have done so successfully, yet none quantified specific benefits, or costs, in relation to possible alternatives. Similarly those studies reporting to assess the approach did so only in relation to specific models and their parameterizations; none assessed the benefits or costs of AM in the field. AM is regarded by some as an effective and well-established framework to support the management of natural resources, yet by others as a concept difficult to realize and fraught with implementation challenges; neither of these observations is wholly accurate. From a scientific and technical perspective many practical questions remain; in particular real-world assessments of the value of experimentation within a management framework, as well as of identified challenges and pathologies, are needed. Further discussion and systematic assessment of the approach is required, together with greater attention to its definition and description, enabling the assessment of new approaches to managing uncertainty, and AM itself.
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| 17. |
- Rodriguez Recio, Mariano, et al.
(författare)
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Promoting grazing or rewilding initiatives against rural exodus? The return of the wolf and other large carnivores must be considered
- 2020
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 47, s. 269-276
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The human abandonment of rural areas facilitates rewilding, which is also supported by European projects and initiatives. Rewilding often implies the return of iconic predators such as the wolf (Canis lupus), leading to human-wildlife conflicts. To reverse human depopulation, initiatives such as the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) subsidize extensive grazing of areas unsuitable for intensive agriculture. Therefore, rewilding and reversing depopulation initiatives seem to be mutually incompatible, and further insight into controversial aspects of the return of apex predators is needed when considering the reform of the CAP for post-2020. To develop understanding of these different objectives in the context of large carnivore recolonizations, we analysed wolf attacks on livestock in central Spain, where livestock is managed differently between the plateau and the mountains. As with other European regions, this area is undergoing rural abandonment and is subsidized by the CAP. Free-roaming cattle at higher elevations were subject to increased attacks irrespective of the abundance of wild prey. Efforts to subsidize human repopulation of areas experiencing recolonization by large carnivores require consideration of a model of cohabitation with these predators assisted by mitigation and compensation measures. Rewilding could bring alternative sustainable income based on the values brought by the presence of large carnivores and associated ecosystem services.
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| 18. |
- Ronnback, Patrik, et al.
(författare)
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The return of ecosystem goods and services in replanted mangrove forests : perspectives from local communities in Kenya
- 2007
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 34:4, s. 313-324
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mangroves are severely threatened ecosystems, with loss rates exceeding those of rainforests and coral reefs, stressing the need for large-scale rehabilitation programmes. Not only are ecological evaluations of such planting efforts scarce, but studies of local stakeholders' perceptions and valuation of planted areas are also virtually non-existent. This paper assesses how resource users value natural versus planted mangroves and how they perceive plantation initiatives. Semi-structured interviews with 48 resource users from two Kenyan villages show marked mangrove dependence. Respondents identified 24 ecosystem goods, and ranked a variety of food items, traditional medicine, fuel and construction materials as very important resources. Natural mangroves (11.1 +/- 2.5) were rated more highly than plantations (4.8 +/- 2.7) in terms of the number and quality of products, except for mangrove poles. Nine ecosystem services were acknowledged, with significant differences between natural (5.2 +/- 1.1) and planted (4.1 +/- 1.6) mangroves. Most respondents (71%) were positive towards the plantations, and negative attitudes were entirely based on the perception of limited information given to the community prior to planting. Multivariate analyses show distinct patterns among user groups (based on gender, occupation and locality) with respect to recognized goods and services, knowledge of mangrove species and plantations, and attitudes towards threats, community management and existing plantations. Homogeneity of responses within defined user groups accounts for these patterns. Perspectives of local users were analysed in relation to information from interviews with six managers and researchers responsible for existing plantations, as well as scientific studies on the return of ecosystem functions in planted mangroves of the area. Findings are discussed in the context of ecological knowledge, learning within social groups, village setting and history, and primary economic activity. Communication of plantation goals may be fundamental to project success and sustainability, and community participation should take into account the heterogeneous nature of stakeholder groups, in terms of perceptions and valuations of ecosystem goods and services, to avoid conflicts in future plantation use.
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| 19. |
- Rönnbäck, Patrik, et al.
(författare)
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Mangrove dependence and socio-economic concerns in shrimp hatcheries of Andhra Pradesh, India
- 2003
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - Lausanne : Elsevier Science. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 30, s. 344-352
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- There are many environmental and socio-economic concerns about the shrimp aquaculture industry. This study, based on interviews, direct observations and literature reviews, shows that the Indian hatchery industry is heavily dependent upon the continuous support of natural resources and ecosystem services generated by marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. The mangrove ecosystem support area (‘ecological footprint’) needed to supply the hatcheries with Penaeus monodon shrimp broodstock, and the aquaculture grow-out ponds with postlarvae, exem- plify the dependence on external ecosystems. Each hectare of mangrove in the Godavari River delta generated an annual fisheries catch of 0.8–1.5 P. monodon spawners (gravid females), valued at US$ 92–184. The entire Godavari mangrove delta had a partial gross economic value of US$ 3.0–6.0 million per year for the provision of shrimp spawners alone. The average hatchery, producing 75 million postlarvae annually, had an ecological footprint of 534 ha mangrove for the life-support input of shrimp spawners. The ecological footprint of intensive shrimp ponds was up to 11 times the pond area for postlarval input alone. The shrimp ponds in the State of Andhra Pradesh needed 35,000–138,000 ha of mangroves to satisfy the spawner requirement to hatcheries, and this implied a need to appropriate mangroves in other regions. Hatcheries were prepared to pay up to US$ 2000 for a single shrimp spawner, which also illustrated that the mangrove support areas regionally available were too small. Other concerns about the industry are the net loss of employment if hatcheries replace wild postlarvae collection, the extensive use of groundwater creating direct resource-use conflicts, bycatch problems in broodstock fisheries, and pollution by effluents. The risk of hatcheries introducing, ampli- fying and propagating disease affecting both cultured organisms and wild biota is another concern that can, and should, be addressed.
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| 20. |
- Sahilu, Mersha, et al.
(författare)
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From self-subsistence farm production to khat: driving forces of change in Ethiopian agroforestry homegardens
- 2016
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 43, s. 263-272
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- SUMMARY Traditional agroforestry homegardens deliver multiple products and benefits, including food security and livelihoods for rural households in Ethiopia. However, this land use has been changing towards monoculture production of khat (Catha edulis). This study analyses the development trajectories and causes of change in agroforestry homegardens. In total, 84 interviews, including key informant and semistructured household interviews, and eight focus group discussions were conducted in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State. It was found that khat production was increasing regardless of household wealth status. The proximate causes included better financial income for households, smaller sizes of farms due to farm land redistribution, favourable market conditions for khat, access to irrigation, decrease in governmental subsidies to buy fertilizer and quality seeds for food crop production, a positive experience of other farmers in khat production, and minimizing risks of theft and wildlife damage. Khat production challenges the implementation of national policies towards eradication of poverty and hunger.
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| 21. |
- Schultz, Lisen, et al.
(författare)
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Enhancing ecosystem management through social-ecological inventories: lessons from Kristianstads Vattenrike, Sweden
- 2007
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929. ; 34:2, s. 140-152
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Environmental policy increasingly emphasizes involvement of local users and land owners in ecosystem management, but conservation planning is still largely a bureaucratic-scientific endeavour of identifying biological values for protection. Neither biological inventories nor stakeholder analyses, that tend to focus on conflicting interests, capture human resources in the landscape or the social structures and processes underlying biological conservation values. Social-ecological inventories are therefore proposed during the preparation phase of conservation projects as a means to identify people with ecosystem knowledge that practise ecosystem management. The method presented here focuses on local steward groups acting outside official management plans. In a social-ecological inventory of a river basin of southern Sweden, local steward groups, their ecosystem management activities, motives and links to other actors involved in ecosystem management were identified through interviews, participatory observations and a review of documents and other written material. Several hundred active local stewards were organized in 10 local steward groups that managed and monitored a range of ecosystem services at different spatial scales. Contributions of local stewards included on-site ecosystem management, long-term and detailed monitoring of species and ecosystem dynamics, local ecological knowledge, public support for ecosystem management and specialized networks. Two conservation projects are used to illustrate how local steward groups came together in multi-level networks and collaborated around specific conservation issues. The projects have been linked to ecosystem management at the landscape level through a flexible municipality organization, the Ecomuseum Kristianstads Vattenrike (EKV). EKV has acted as a ‘bridging organization’, coordinating and connecting many of the local steward groups to organizations and institutions at other levels. The process has been guided by social capital and shared visions for the whole landscape. The study shows that ecosystem management likely relies on multi-level collaboration and social-ecological inventories may help identify actors that are fundamental in such management systems. Social-ecological inventories should be employed in any attempt to develop and implement ecosystem management.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Stoll-Kleemann, S., et al.
(författare)
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The role of community participation in the effectiveness of UNESCO Biosphere Reserve management : evidence and reflections from two parallel global surveys
- 2010
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 37:3, s. 227-238
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Biodiversity management has traditionally followed two contradictory approaches. One champions ecosystem protection through rigorous law enforcement and exclusion of humans. The other promotes community-based sustainable use of natural resources. Participatory conservation, a major paradigm shift, nowadays strongly guides the concept of UNESCO Biosphere Reserves (BRs). In this paper, the rationale for community participation, and the perception of its effectiveness among BR managers are analysed. Within the World Network of BRs (553 sites in 107 countries) diverse participatory approaches are being tried to advance community-based natural resource management (CBNRM). Data from two parallel surveys, involving managers from 276 BRs worldwide, reveal how far this participation paradigm shift has really occurred, and its influence on managers' self-evaluated effectiveness. There is substantial regional disparity, although in general BR managers endorse inclusive conservation, despite critical implementation hurdles. The process of participatory conservation carries new dangers for effective biosphere reserve management, when the aspirations of communities and other stakeholders do not 'fit' with a predetermined interpretation of sustainable development.
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Warren-Rhodes, Kimberly, et al.
(författare)
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Mangrove ecosystem services and the potential for carbon revenue programmes in the Solomon Island
- 2011
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Ingår i: Environmental Conservation. - 0376-8929 .- 1469-4387. ; 38, s. 485-496
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Mangroves are an imperilled biome whose protection and restoration through payments for ecosystem services (PES) can contribute to improved livelihoods, climate mitigation and adaptation. Interviews with resource users in three Solomon Islands villages suggest a strong reliance upon mangrove goods for subsistence and cash, particularly for firewood, food and building materials. Village-derived economic data indicates a minimum annual subsistence value from mangroves of US$ 345–1501 per household. Fish and nursery habitat and storm protection were widely recognized and highly valued mangrove ecosystem services. All villagers agreed that mangroves were under threat, with firewood overharvesting considered the primary cause. Multivariate analyses revealed village affiliation and religious denomination as the most important factors determining the use and importance of mangrove goods. These factors, together with gender, affected users’ awareness of ecosystem services. The importance placed on mangrove services did not differ significantly by village, religious denomination, gender, age, income, education or occupation. Mangrove ecosystem surveys are useful as tools for raising community awareness and input prior to design of PES systems. Land tenure and marine property rights, and how this complexity may both complicate and facilitate potential carbon credit programmes in the Pacific, are discussed.
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