Using wildlife rehabilitator surveys to identify threats: a case study of koalas in Victoria, Australia

ABSTRACT Identifying threats and their regional occurrence across a species’ range is increasingly valuable for prioritising threat-specific interventions and achieving effective conservation outcomes. We surveyed registered wildlife rehabilitators to identify (i) threats faced by the koala across Victoria and (ii) their perceptions on koala population trends and potential threat mitigation actions. Wildlife rehabilitators identified habitat loss, fragmentation, and degradation as the biggest threat to koalas, while vehicle collisions, heatwaves and wildfire were also identified as key threats. Accordingly, reducing the clearing of native vegetation was considered the most effective threat mitigation action, while creating of wildlife corridors, planting of more food trees, and educating communities living in koala occupied areas were also considered appropriate mitigation strategies. Finally, 89% of wildlife rehabilitators believed that koala numbers are declining in their region.

A camera trap record of Asiatic Golden Cat Catopuma temminckii (Vigors & Horsfield, 1827) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in State Land Forest, Merapoh, Pahang, Malaysia

The Asiatic Golden Cat Catopuma temminckii is poorly studied in Peninsular Malaysia. We deployed 12 camera traps to assess the wildlife diversity in the unprotected State Land Forest of Merapoh, Pahang State. During the period from August to October 2019, one Asiatic Golden Cat was photographed at a single camera trap station. This record outside the protected area network emphasizes the importance of wildlife corridors. This State Land Forest is located between Forest Reserve and Taman Negara National Park. Therefore, appropriate conservation measures must be taken in order to maintain this site as a wildlife corridor.

Restoration-as-development? Contesting Aspirational Politics Regarding the Restoration of Wildlife Corridors in the Kilombero Valley, Tanzania

Due to recent land-use change, wildlife migration through the Kilombero Valley has almost come to a standstill. In line with global restoration efforts, the African Wildlife Foundation has thus been given the task of implementing the Restoration Opportunity Assessment Methodology (ROAM), recently developed by IUCN and the World Resources Institute to foster the restoration of wildlife corridors in the area. Designed as a collaborative endeavour, it is in processes such as these that the aspirations of global restoration policies are confronted with specific local contexts. By focusing on specific situations and encounters, especially regarding the participatory aspects of the project, we illustrate how global policy aspirations are appropriated, partly contested and partly played along with, before finally turning into something of an illusion. This way, this article not only questions the more optimistic claims made for ‘conservation-as-development’, it also argues that a better understanding of the plurality of local aspirations and the ways in which they interact with the project’s goals is needed if global policy aspirations are to be realized more successfully.

The Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus (Bennett, 1833) (Mammalia: Carnivora: Felidae) in Shuklaphanta National Park, Nepal

The Fishing Cat Prionailurus viverrinus is known to occur in the Terai region since at least the late 1920s. Contemporary locality records of the Fishing Cat in this region are widely spaced, and the knowledge about the connectivity between these localities is still deficient. We present the first photographic evidence for the presence of the Fishing Cat in far western Nepal. In spring and winter 2016, we obtained 30 notionally independent events of the Fishing Cat in the floodplain of Shuklaphanta National Park at elevations of 181–221 m. This population unit may be connected to units in Indian protected areas. Further targeted surveys in adjacent wetlands and wildlife corridors are warranted to clarify its range in the Indian and Nepal Terai.

Key landscapes for conservation land cover and change monitoring, thematic and validation datasets for sub-Saharan Africa

Mounting social and economic demands on natural resources increasingly threaten key areas for conservation in Africa. Threats to biodiversity pose an enormous challenge to these vulnerable areas. Effective protection of sites with strategic conservation importance requires timely and highly detailed geospatial monitoring. Larger ecological zones and wildlife corridors warrant monitoring as well, as these areas have an even higher degree of pressure and habitat loss. To address this, a satellite-imagery-based monitoring workflow to cover at-risk areas at various details was developed. During the program's first phase, a total of 560 442 km2 area in sub-Saharan Africa was covered, from which 153 665 km2 was mapped with eight land cover classes while 406 776 km2 was mapped with up to 32 classes. Satellite imagery was used to generate dense time series data from which thematic land cover maps were derived. Each map and change map were fully verified and validated by an independent team to achieve our strict data quality requirements. The independent validation datasets for each key landscape for conservation (KLC) are also described and presented here (full and teaser datasets are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.914261, Szantoi et al., 2020a).

A highway to hell: a proposed, inessential, 6-lane highway (NH173) that threatens the forest and wildlife corridors of the Western Ghats, India

A globally, extensive road network combined with increasing vehicular traffic poses a significant threat to local wildlife, environment, economy, and socio-politics. India, with nearly 5.9 million kilometers of road, has the second-highest road network in the world; and has plans to exponentially increase its national highways. In this study, we use a combination of collation of official documents, literature review, and GIS mapping to outline the possible environmental and socio-economic impacts caused by a proposed 6-lane national highway (NH 173). This highway is set to cut through the low elevation evergreen forests of the central Western Ghats between Mudigere and Nelliyadi towns of Chikkamagaluru and Dakshina Kannada districts, of Karnataka State, respectively. We further outline the insignificance of the project and recommend workable alternatives that could be considered in the wider public’s interest.

Accounting for biodiverse wildlife corridor plantations

Purpose This paper aims to explore the feasibility of implementing the natural inventory model (NIM) developed by Jones (1996, 2003) in biodiverse wildlife corridor plantations, from a non-government organisations’ (NGO) perspective. Design/methodology/approach Undertaking the first cycle of an action research approach, the project involves collaboration with Greening Australia Tasmania (GAT). GAT is endeavouring to establish native wildlife corridors throughout the Tasmanian midlands, using science-based biodiverse plantations. The majority of the areas identified by GAT as essential for the establishment of these wildlife corridors are on privately owned land, primarily used for agricultural purposes. This paper explores whether stewardship of the land “sacrificed” by landowners may be demonstrated via the quantification and communication of improvements in biodiversity using the NIM. Findings Results suggest that the existing NIM is impractical for use by an NGO with limited resources. However, with some adaptations incorporating science-based measurements, the NIM can be used to account for biodiverse wildlife corridor plantations. Practical implications The findings have implications for not-for-profit, corporate and government sectors in terms of how accounting may facilitate the quantification and communication of conservation and restoration efforts. Social implications Biodiversity loss is now considered to be a greater threat to the planet than climate change. Efforts to account for biodiversity are consistent with the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda and the Australian Government’s “Biodiversity Conservation Strategy” (2010). Originality/value While prior studies have successfully implemented the NIM using secondary data, this is the first known to test the feasibility of the model using primary data in collaboration with an NGO.