Prioritizing Agricultural Patches for Reforestation to Improve Connectivity of Habitat Conservation Areas: A Guide to Grain-to-Green Project

Landscape connectivity can largely affect the level of biodiversity and it is a key concern in conservation planning. Considering that protected areas (PAs) may become functionally isolated “islands” under rapid land-use change, there is an urgent need to expand and connect protected areas to prevent further biodiversity loss and improve PAs effectiveness. The Grain-to-Green Project (GTGP) is the largest reforestation program worldwide with the aim of controlling water and soil loss; however, the opportunities for connectivity gains through GTGP have been widely ignored. Here we provided a three-stage hierarchical framework incorporating soil erosion analysis, cropland suitability analysis and network analysis to prioritize agricultural patches for reforestation under the scheme of GTGP. The potential reforestation patches were identified in the first two stages. Then, four different GTGP strategies were designed, and a set of network metrics were used to determine the best strategy and prioritize patches that significantly enhance PAs connectivity. A typical GTGP region, Wanzhou district (Southwest China), was taken as the study area. We found that: (1) the agricultural patches with high reforestation suitability cover an area of c. 40 km2 (1% of the study area); and (2) the efficiency of GTGP strategies varies by species, species with intermediate and high mobility benefit more from a strategy that continuously adds reforestation patches close to PAs, while for species with low dispersal ability, the amount of patches added should also be taken into account to decide the appropriate strategy. We conclude that our framework can provide guidance to restore PAs connectivity with limited land resources in the context of GTGP.

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Conditionality Contaminates Conservation: Structural Adjustment and Land Protection in Less-Developed Nations

International Journal of Social Science Studies ◽

10.11114/ijsss.v5i5.2352 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (5) ◽

pp. 46 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Kelly F. Austin ◽

Mark D. Noble ◽

Kellyn McCarthy

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Structural Adjustment ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Ordinary Least Squares ◽

Human Beings ◽

Natural Ecosystems ◽

Conservation Areas ◽

Land Protection ◽

Developed Nations ◽

The Impact

The destruction that human beings cause the natural environment is so catastrophic that the current era has now been labeled the “Sixth Extinction.” Conservation and the preservation of species and ecosystems is a leading strategy in preventing biodiversity loss and preserving natural ecosystems. As threats to biodiversity mount, it is imperative that social scientists explore the macro-level processes that influence conservation areas, especially in poorer nations where the majority of biodiverse zones are located. This study explores the impact of structural adjustment policies on the ability of less-developed nations to designate land for conservation. We use ordinary least squares (OLS) regression to examine the influence of IMF conditionality on levels of terrestrial protected areas for 86 less-developed nations. The results confirm our hypothesis that nations undergoing IMF structural adjustment have a smaller percentage of land devoted to terrestrial protected areas than nations not undergoing structural adjustment. Neoliberal approaches that encourage privatization and deregulation ultimately impair less-developed nations’ abilities to make conservation a priority.

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Ecological associations, dispersal ability, and landscape connectivity in the northern Rocky Mountains

10.2737/rmrs-rp-90 ◽

2012 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Samuel A. Cushman ◽

Erin L. Landguth

Keyword(s):

Rocky Mountains ◽

Landscape Connectivity ◽

Dispersal Ability ◽

Northern Rocky Mountains ◽

Ecological Associations

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Landscape heterogeneity buffers biodiversity of simulated meta-food-webs under global change through rescue and drainage effects

Nature Communications ◽

10.1038/s41467-021-24877-0 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Remo Ryser ◽

Myriam R. Hirt ◽

Johanna Häussler ◽

Dominique Gravel ◽

Ulrich Brose

Keyword(s):

Habitat Fragmentation ◽

Food Web ◽

Food Webs ◽

Landscape Heterogeneity ◽

Landscape Connectivity ◽

Biodiversity Loss ◽

Mechanistic Explanation ◽

Population Densities ◽

Rescue Effect ◽

Drainage Effect

AbstractHabitat fragmentation and eutrophication have strong impacts on biodiversity. Metacommunity research demonstrated that reduction in landscape connectivity may cause biodiversity loss in fragmented landscapes. Food-web research addressed how eutrophication can cause local biodiversity declines. However, there is very limited understanding of their cumulative impacts as they could amplify or cancel each other. Our simulations of meta-food-webs show that dispersal and trophic processes interact through two complementary mechanisms. First, the ‘rescue effect’ maintains local biodiversity by rapid recolonization after a local crash in population densities. Second, the ‘drainage effect’ stabilizes biodiversity by preventing overshooting of population densities on eutrophic patches. In complex food webs on large spatial networks of habitat patches, these effects yield systematically higher biodiversity in heterogeneous than in homogeneous landscapes. Our meta-food-web approach reveals a strong interaction between habitat fragmentation and eutrophication and provides a mechanistic explanation of how landscape heterogeneity promotes biodiversity.

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Restricting spatial lives? The gendered implications of conservation in Cambodia’s protected wetlands

Environment and Planning E Nature and Space ◽

10.1177/2514848619827736 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 73-88 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Nicola Perry ◽

Josephine Gillespie

Keyword(s):

Political Ecology ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Environmental Conservation ◽

Conservation Areas ◽

Feminist Political Ecology ◽

Geographic Thought ◽

Legal Geography ◽

Environmental Interactions ◽

Tonle Sap ◽

Gendered Roles

Environmental conservation through the creation of protected areas is recognised as a key tactic in the fight against degrading ecosystems worldwide. Understanding the implications of protected area regimes on both places and people is an important part of the protection agenda. In this context and in this paper, we build on the work of feminist legal geographers and feminist political ecologists to enhance our understanding of the constitution of localised socio-legal-environmental interactions in and around protected areas. Our approach looks to developments in feminist and legal geographic thought to examine the interactions between identities, law and the environment in a Ramsar protected wetland on the Tonle Sap, Cambodia. We bring together legal geography perspectives regarding the spatiality of law with insights from feminist political ecology examining gendered roles and exclusions. We found that conservation areas interact in complex ways with local pre-existing norms prescribing female weakness and vulnerability which, ultimately, restrict women’s spatial lives.

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Assessment of the main factors impacting community members’ attitudes towards tourism and protected areas in six southern African countries

Koedoe ◽

10.4102/koedoe.v56i2.1139 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 56 (2) ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Susan Snyman

Keyword(s):

Protected Areas ◽

Southern Africa ◽

Formal Education ◽

Benefit Sharing ◽

Community Members ◽

Conservation Areas ◽

African Countries ◽

Conservation Implications ◽

Community Based Conservation ◽

Future Success

In southern Africa, many early conservation efforts from the late 1800s and early 1900s either displaced local communities or restricted their access to natural resources. This naturally affected community attitudes towards protected areas and efforts were later made to rectify growing tensions. In the last few decades of the 20th century, these efforts led to conservation and ecotourism models that increasingly included communities in the decision-making and benefit-sharing process in order to garner their support. Although the results of these policies were mixed, it is clear that the future success of conservation and, consequently, ecotourism in many areas will depend on the attitudes and behaviour of communities living in or adjacent to protected areas. Managing and understanding community expectations and attitudes under varying socio-economic circumstances will lead to more efficient, equitable and sustainable community-based conservation and ecotourism models. This study was based on 1400 community interview schedules conducted in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, allowing for an accurate comparison of attitudes across countries, protected areas and communities. The results highlighted important demographic and socio-economic factors to consider in terms of understanding the attitudes of those living in and around protected areas. Suggestions were put forward for managing community relationships and garnering long-term support for protected areas and ecotourism. Conservation implications: It was observed that, in general, community members living in or adjacent to conservation areas in southern Africa have an understanding and appreciation of the importance of conservation. Formal education was found to positively impact attitudes and human–wildlife conflict negatively impacted attitudes, highlighting important policy focus areas.

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Integrated Landscape Change Analysis of Protected Areas and their Surrounding Landscapes: Application in the Brazilian Cerrado

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs12091413 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 12 (9) ◽

pp. 1413 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Beatriz Bellón ◽

Julien Blanco ◽

Alta De Vos ◽

Fabio de O. Roque ◽

Olivier Pays ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Landscape Change ◽

Vegetation Index ◽

Productivity Loss ◽

Landscape Dynamics ◽

Natural Vegetation ◽

Local Analysis ◽

Area Network ◽

Conservation Areas

Remote sensing tools have been long used to monitor landscape dynamics inside and around protected areas. Hereto, scientists have largely relied on land use and land cover (LULC) data to derive indicators for monitoring these dynamics, but these metrics do not capture changes in the state of vegetation surfaces that may compromise the ecological integrity of conservation areas’ landscapes. Here, we introduce a methodology that combines LULC change estimates with three Normalized Difference Vegetation Index-based proxy indicators of vegetation productivity, phenology, and structural change. We illustrate the utility of this methodology through a regional and local analysis of the landscape dynamics in the Cerrado Biome in Brazil in 2001 and 2016. Despite relatively little natural vegetation loss inside core protected areas and their legal buffer zones, the different indicators revealed significant LULC conversions from natural vegetation to farming land, general productivity loss, homogenization of natural forests, significant agricultural expansion, and a general increase in productivity. These results suggest an overall degradation of habitats and intensification of land use in the studied conservation area network, highlighting serious conservation inefficiencies in this region and stressing the importance of integrated landscape change analyses to provide complementary indicators of ecologically-relevant dynamics in these key conservation areas.

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Lack of recreational fishing compliance may compromise effectiveness of Rockfish Conservation Areas in British Columbia

10.31230/osf.io/cg6k9 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Dana Haggarty ◽

Steve J.D. Martell ◽

Jonathan B. Shurin

Keyword(s):

British Columbia ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Marine Protected Areas ◽

Fishing Effort ◽

Area Ratio ◽

Recreational Fishing ◽

Conservation Areas ◽

Fish Stocks ◽

Ecological Recovery ◽

Recovery Education

Compliance with spatial fishing regulations (e.g., marine protected areas, fishing closures) is one of the most important, yet rarely measured, determinants of ecological recovery. We used aerial observations of recreational fishing events from creel surveys before, during, and after 77 Rockfish Conservation Areas (RCAs) were established in British Columbia, Canada. There was no evidence of a change in fishing effort in 83% of the RCAs, and effort in five RCAs increased after establishment. Fishing effort in open areas adjacent to the RCAs declined with time and was higher than effort in the RCAs in all 3 years. Next, we used compliance data for 105 RCAs around Vancouver Island to model the drivers of compliance. Compliance was related to the level of fishing effort around the RCA, the size and perimeter-to-area ratio of RCAs, proximity to fishing lodges, and the level of enforcement. Noncompliance in RCAs may be hampering their effectiveness and impeding rockfish recovery. Education and enforcement efforts to reduce fishing effort inside protected areas are critical to the recovery of depleted fish stocks.

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Wildlife Habitat Evaluation

Environmental Information Systems ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-7033-2.ch007 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 143-148

Author(s):

Peeyush Gupta ◽

Swati Goyal

Keyword(s):

Remote Sensing ◽

Protected Areas ◽

Natural Resource ◽

Habitat Suitability ◽

Wildlife Habitat ◽

Suitability Analysis ◽

Habitat Alterations ◽

Complex Interactions ◽

Basic Concepts ◽

Management Recommendations

Before an individual can evaluate wildlife habitat and make management recommendations, some basic concepts about habitat and its relationships to different wildlife species should be understood. In this chapter, some of the basic concepts will be described; mainly analyzing of habitat alterations, landscape analysis, networking and creation of corridor between protected areas, wildlife habitat suitability analysis using Remote Sensing & GIS. Since most of the contest will be based on these concepts. Like other natural resource fields, wildlife management is both an art and science that deals with complex interactions in the environment. This means that management includes art or judgment based on experience as well as sound factual information based on scientific studies.

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