Land- and nature-based approaches in the agroforestry and forestry sectors provide a unique opportunity to generate win-wins against the interrelated environmental crises of biodiversity loss, climate change, and land degradation. Harnessing synergies among these environmental goals, reflected in the Rio Conventions, critically hinges on land-use decisions, which are influenced by social dynamics – including gender. Yet, despite the linkages between gender equality and climate change, biodiversity loss, and land degradation, approaches that generate desirable feedback loops among these processes remain poorly understood and applied. This paper explores how putting gender equity at the forefront of nature-based solutions can help leverage synergies among the Rio Conventions’ environmental goals. Moreover, it examines the possible risks that nature-based approaches used to advance these goals can pose to gender equality if these approaches are not responsive to gender issues. Through a social equity framework, we demonstrate that greater gains can be accrued from gender-responsive nature-based approaches that address a wider set of priorities, harness a broader set of skills to address environmental ails, enhance capacities of marginalized groups by securing their rights and access to resources, and generate more equitable incentives to garner the buy-in of an array of actors. Our examples also illustrate potential tensions between social and environmental objectives, highlighting the need to carefully consider and reconcile trade-offs while incorporating strong social safeguards.
Tag: biodiversity conservation
Determining the composition and structure of antelope communities in three study sites within the Niger Delta (Nigeria) based on bushmeat market data
The composition and structure of antelope assemblages were analyzed by using data from wild meat markets in three distinct study stations in the southern Niger Delta, Nigeria. The relative abundance of the different species coming into the markets was analyzed, and various diversity metrics were used to describe the different antelope communities. Sex ratios of these populations as well as the effect of season on the abundance of the various species in the markets were examined. It was observed that a single recently described species (Philantomba walteri) was the dominant species in the three localities, contributing about 70% of all the antelope individuals. The relatively low number of antelope carcasses observed in this study (less than the number of carcasses of small carnivores in the same sites) suggests that the ungulate fauna is already very depleted in the eastern Niger Delta region, with these mammals being hunted more intensely in the wet season.
Mountain Observatories: Status and Prospects for Enhancing and Connecting a Global Community
Mountainous regions are globally important, in part because they support large populations and are biodiverse. They are also characterized by enhanced vulnerability to anthropogenic pressures and sensitivity to climate change. This importance necessitates the development of a global reference network of long-term environmental and socioeconomic monitoring-mountain observatories. At present, monitoring is limited and unevenly distributed across mountain regions globally. Existing thematic networks do not fully support the generation of multidisciplinary knowledge required to inform decisions, enact drivers of sustainable development, and safeguard against losses. In this paper, the Mountain Observatories Working Group, established by the Mountain Research Initiative (MRI) Science Leadership Council, identifies geographical and thematic gaps as well as recent advances in monitoring of relevant biophysical and socioeconomic variables in the mountains. We propose principles and ways of connecting existing initiatives, supporting emerging areas, and developing new mountain observatory networks regionally and, eventually, globally. Particularly in the data-poor regions, we aspire to build a community of researchers and practitioners in collaboration with the Global Network on Observations and Information in Mountain Environments, Group on Earth Observations (GEO) Mountains, a GEO Work Programme Initiative. © 2021 International Mountain Society. All rights reserved.
Re-integrating ecology into integrated landscape approaches
Integrated landscape approaches (ILAs) that aim to balance conservation and development targets are increasingly promoted through science, policy, and the donor community. Advocates suggest that ILAs are viable implementing pathways for addressing global challenges such as biodiversity loss, poverty alleviation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, we argue that recent advances in ILA research and discourse have tended to emphasize the social and governance dimensions, while overlooking ecological factors and inadequately considering potential trade-offs between the two fields.
Community Characteristics of Sympatric Freshwater Turtles from Savannah Waterbodies in Ghana
Despite increasing pressures on freshwater resources worldwide, and the threatened status of most freshwater turtles, there is still limited knowledge of habitat use and niche partitioning in Afrotropical freshwater turtle communities. In this study, we describe habitat associations, community diversity, and temporal patterns of occurrence of freshwater turtle species in the Dahomey Gap ecoregion of Ghana (West Africa). We gathered data from 13 sites in central Ghana and along the Sene Arm of Lake Volta in the Digya National Park (Bono East Region). We employed opportunistic short-term surveys (at seven sites) together with longer-term (six-months duration) standardized evaluations of turtle presence and numbers in different habitats (at six sites). Overall, a total of 210 turtle individuals of four species (Trionyx triunguis, Cyclanorbis senegalensis, Pelomedusa sp. and Pelusios castaneus) were recorded; precise capture sites and habitat type were recorded for 139 individuals, but the 71 individuals observed in marketplaces were not considered in our analyses. At a local scale, we observed three sympatric species in various study sites. In each of these sites, the dominant species was either C. senegalensis or Pelomedusa sp., with the latter species being more abundant in temporary waterbodies and C. senegalensis more numerous in permanent ones. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis suggested that, in permanent waterbodies all species were associated with similar physical habitat variables. In a Canonical Correspondence Analysis, we showed that the density of herbaceous emergent vegetation was more important for P. castaneus than for C. senegalensis. Comparisons of diversity metrics between our study sites and previous studies revealed that turtle community composition was similar across savannah sites.
The Karaawaimin Taawa: Insights from a biocultural assessment led by the Wapichan people in Guyana
The Karaawaimin Taawa book is a biocultural assessment resulted from the fruitful collaboration between community experts and scientists from the South Rupununi, and the SWM Programme in Guyana and around the world. It draws attention to the region’s biodiversity and its cultural ties to the Wapichan people. The assessment’s findings will hopefully help highlight the unique role that communities play in safeguarding their lands and resources. The SWM Programme is a seven-year initiative (2017-2024) implemented in 15 member countries of the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS), funded by the European Union with co-funding from the French Facility for Global Environment (FFEM) and the French Development Agency (AFD). It is being implemented by a dynamic consortium of four partners with expertise in wildlife conservation and food security: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD), Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) and Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS). The SWM Programme in Guyana is being implemented by the Guyana Wildlife Conservation and Management Commission in coordination with CIFOR.
Trees on Farms as a Nature-based Solution for Biodiversity Conservation and Restoration
Rwanda has diverse habitats and ecosystems that range from humid montane forests to savannahs, lakes, rivers, farmland and wetlands all of which support a wide range of biodiversity. This biodiversity supports livelihoods and provides critical ecosystem services such as water, control of soil erosion and flood control as well as climate change mitigation.
Drivers of transgression: What pushes people to enter protected areas
The establishment of protected areas is central to biodiversity conservation strategies. However, they often fail in meeting their expectations, especially in the tropics. One core reason for their failure is human pressure. Protected area transgression has tremendous impacts on biodiversity, but also on persecuted rule-breakers whose necessities are often ignored. Despite the increasing enforcement of strict protection rules, non-compliance is a phenomenon experienced in protected areas around the world. To improve biodiversity and social outcomes of any conservation intervention, we need to understand what drives transgressive behavior but also the gazettement of protected areas. By using a role-playing game with Indigenous people in the Colombian Amazon we were able to openly discuss transgression. In the game, park managers designed protected areas primarily for biodiversity conservation but also for restoration. Communication among stakeholders and a resource-abundant landscape were key to increase compliance without exerting enforcement while the violations history of the protected area as well as the abundance of resources within its boundaries encouraged transgression. To achieve voluntary compliance, we recommend to acknowledge transgression’s multidimensionality and integrate it into conservation planning.
COVID-19, Indigenous peoples, local communities and natural resource governance
We report on how the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting Indigenous peoples and local communities (IPLCs), especially those who govern, manage and conserve their lands and waters. We explore the themes of access and use of natural resources, solidarity, decision-making, the role of governments and IPLCs in managing COVID-19, and the uptake of traditional medicine. These themes are explored through a global online survey in English, Spanish and French. We collected and analysed 133 surveys from 40 countries, using SenseMaker®, a software that enables analysis of micronarratives based on how respondents classify their own stories. We explore the themes further through case studies from Benin, Fiji, France, Gabon, Guyana, Guatemala, India and Madagascar, highlighting challenges and opportunities in how IPLCs responded to COVID-19. Our study underscores the importance of selfempowerment and recognition of IPLC rights, which allows them to use traditional medicines, meet subsistence requirements during lockdowns, help community members and neighbours to sustain livelihoods, and to govern, defend and conserve their territories. We propose key actions to support IPLCs navigate future pandemics while protecting their lands and waters.
Women’s land rights realities in the ‘Rubi-Tele’ Hunting Domain, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
Women contribute to reducing hunger and improving household food security and livelihood. However, they do not benefit from secure land rights. This study thus aimed to determine the factors that prevent women from Rubi-Tele from enjoying their rights. A 2-week survey completed by four focus groups in four villages helped us gather information that was later analysed using a socio-legal approach. All women were involved in agriculture, but they were the only workers who could not control or manage the land. They often accessed land through the family channel (96.7%), while other pathways were less used by the origin (3.3%). Although the Democratic Republic of the Congo has made enormous progress, women were unaware of these advances: thus, 70% did not know their rights. This unawareness impeded their ability to initiate strategies to claim their rights. Some women have been able to identify their difficulties. They incriminated the custom standards that favoured their male counterparts (21.7%). Additionally, begging for husband permission (28%) and poverty (20%) were cited as barriers to women’s property rights. Moreover, some women conservationists preferred the custom to formal laws, despite their advances (30%). No strategy has been initiated because women fear the society’s response.