Municipal environmental management and regional conservation in eastern Amazon: perceived performance by public agents in the Pará state, Brazil

Public agents play a key role in municipal environmental management (MEM) under decentralised regimes. This study aimed to evaluate the MEM through the combined perception of municipal agents and the municipal performance previously calculated by secondary data in Pará, Brazil. A questionnaire with a 5-point Likert scale was applied to environmental agents. The respondents (n = 75) from 53 municipalities were divided into poorly performing and well-performing municipalities. The perception of agents from poorly performing municipalities was more optimistic than shown by empirical data. Agents from well-performing municipalities prioritised “economic issues” as significant threats to management over the “institutional capacity” chosen by the other group, indicating a broader view of the reality. As the perception over land-use practices was vital to differentiate the agents from different groups, we concluded for the use of mixed monitoring methods and feedback information for agents for a better MEM, focusing on five variables (Rural environmental register – CAR, in Portuguese acronym; degraded area; deforested area; rural credit; and abandoned pasture) that differentiated the municipalities.

Peer Irrigators and the Choice of Field Management and Water Control Practices for Irrigation in Arkansas

We examined how irrigation techniques in use by family and friends influence the use and share of land utilizing different irrigation techniques by Arkansas producers. A bivariate sample selection model simultaneously estimated how farm characteristics determine the use and explain the share of a farm that utilizes an irrigation technique. We found that the irrigation techniques in use by family and friends do affect the irrigation techniques a producer uses and the share of acres utilizing different irrigation techniques. A producer with a family or friend that uses end-blocking irrigation is 41% more likely to use end-blocking themselves. Having a family or friend who uses pivot irrigation technology tends to decrease the share of irrigated acres that utilizes end block irrigation by 0.211. We also found that when the irrigation techniques in use by family and friends interact with variables such as location and participation in a regional conservation partnership program, the effects on the producer’s decision vary. The share of irrigated acres that use cutback irrigation decreases by 0.21 for a producer who has a peer that uses irrigation scheduling. However, if the producer lives along Crowley’s Ridge and has a peer that uses irrigation scheduling, the share of irrigated acres that use cutback irrigation decreases by an additional 0.54.

The Spiritual Path of Pilgrimage Tourism for Sustainable Development: Case-Desa Astana-Cirebon, Indonesia

The Cirebon region which is located in the province of West Java, Indonesia has valuable artifacts and sites as a source of knowledge. Conservation in this area has not been actualized yet, even though it has potential for pilgrimage tourism destinations. The purpose of this research is to describe the spiritual path of Cirebon pilgrimage tourism. The method used is a case study, this method is more operational to find out why and how the spiritual path of the Cirebon pilgrimage was formed. The findings of this study are the existence of a spiritual path that connects the cemetery locations and sites such as: Talun Keramat Cemetery is located in Cirebon Girang Village, Talun District, Syekh Magelung Sakti Site is located in Karangkendal Village, Kepetakan District, Nyi Mas Gandasari Tomb is located in Pangurang Village. Arjawinangun District and one that is very well known to foreign countries is Astana Sunan Gunung Jati in Astana Village, Gunungjati District. The results of the study provide direction for developing a spiritual path to become a Cirebon tourist destination package as well as regional conservation.

A rangewide distribution model for the Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul): identifying potential new survey regions for an understudied small cat

Knowledge about the current distribution of threatened and/or understudied species is a fundamental component of conservation biology. Mapping species distributions based on recent known occurrences is particularly important for those that are rare or declining. Too often, cryptic species go undetected throughout parts of their range, whereas others just receive less research attention. We used contemporary presence data for the Pallas’s cat (Otocolobus manul), a small cryptic felid, to characterize potential rangewide and regional habitat for the species and identify those abiotic and biotic variables most influencing its distribution. Several regions lacking contemporary occurrence records contain potential habitat for Pallas’s cats, including the Koh-i-Baba Mountains of Afghanistan, Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau, steppes of Inner Mongolia, Kunlun Mountains of China, and Tian Shan and Pamir Mountains of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and China. Some of these areas have not been included in prior rangewide distribution assessments. The distribution of pikas (Ochotona spp.), small mammals that likely represent a critical prey species everywhere they are sympatric, was the most important factor affecting the Pallas’s cat’s distribution. This suggests Pallas’s cats may be prey specialists, and that pika presence and habitat are critical considerations for future Pallas’s cat surveys and in the development of regional conservation actions.

Research on the traditional zoning, evolution, and integrated conservation of village cultural landscapes based on “production-living-ecology spaces” – A case study of villages in Meicheng, Guangdong, China

Using traditional remains and the evolution of cultural landscapes as bases for overall protection and “production-living-ecology spaces” (PLE spaces) as carriers, we have established a regional and holistic research path, “evaluation – zoning – zone evolution – integrated conservation,” to cultural landscape protection. The traditional cultural landscape of more than 97% of all administrative villages in Meicheng was evaluated, and the overall Hakka cultural landscape was divided into three zones of low, medium, and high traditional values. The study found that the different impacts of urbanization on geographical space were leading contributors to the generation of different spatial zones. To accommodate the evolving trends of the zones, three conservation modes and their corresponding protection strategies have been proposed: construction with traditional elements; parallel conservation and development; and authenticity preservation. Meanwhile, the regional artery-tributary pattern has been constructed to foster interconnection across hubs, artery-tributary systems, and different zones. Cultural tourism routes should be established, and regional courier roads and greenways should be linked, to ensure the alignment of traditional landscape networks with modern Hakka cultural landscape networks, featuring traditional elements to facilitate integrated regional conservation of the Hakka cultural landscape.

Snakes of the Pernambuco Endemism Center, Brazil: diversity, natural history and conservation

The Atlantic Forest is one of the largest and richest tropical rainforests on the planet, being one of the 25 world priorities for conservation. The Atlantic Forest portion located north of the São Francisco River corresponds to the Pernambuco Endemism Center (PEC). We describe the snake composition of the PEC, providing information about the diversity, natural history and geographical distribution of the species, based on records from five scientific collections and additional information from the literature. A total of 78 species of snakes distributed in eight families was registered in the Pernambuco Endemism Center. The Caatinga is the Brazilian biome that most shares species with the PEC, followed by Cerrado. On the other hand, seven species are considered endemic of this region. Most of the snake species in the PEC have been registered in forest (94.8%), followed by “Brejos Nordestinos” (46.1%), Tabuleiros (43.5%), Restingas (14.1%) and Mangroves (5.1%). The PEC snake fauna includes mainly terrestrial species (60.2%) and cryptozoic and/or fossorial species (21.7%), but also presents a high richness of semi-arboreal and arboreal species (29.5%). Vertebrates are the main food item consumed by the species (78% of species), among the main prey are mammals, lizards, and amphibians. Most species show a strictly nocturnal activity period (50%), followed by strictly diurnal (38%). The PEC is the most degraded and least known region of the Atlantic Forest, yet it has revealed a high richness of snake species, including seven endemic species. It is emphasized that regional conservation efforts need to be intensified, because few forests in the region are formally protected, and the majority consist of small and poorly protected fragments, which means that many species in the region may be in risk of extinction.

Number and distribution of large old ginkgos in east China: Implications for regional conservation

Large old ginkgos (LOGs), having important ecological, cultural and historical values, are widely distributed in China. However, little is known regarding their quantity and tree-habitat quality in the mesoscale distribution. Here, the quantity, spatial distribution and conservation status of Ginkgo biloba L. older than 100 years in Jiangsu Province, east China were examined using ArcGIS software and detrended correspondence analysis (DCA). Based on our collated data, Jiangsu Province included 2,123 LOG individuals and 237 LOG groves and both mostly occurred in southern and central Jiangsu. Most LOGs grew well and were distributed in villages, temples and government institutions. Ginkgos’ growth status was largely associated with tree-habitat types. LOGs performed worse in commercial areas, roadsides and residential districts than in other tree-habitat types. To protect these ginkgos, dynamic monitoring and strengthening of scientific management are required, especially for tree-habitats in the process of urban planning and construction. It is also necessary to improve the relationship between religious culture and conservation measures. This is the first study examining LOGs in Jiangsu Province using a unified standard and our findings provide a baseline for future studies and insights into the regional conservation of LOGs.