Adopt and Learn is a simple model of an ‘adoption’ process. It explores how farmers learn of new technology or information and eventually make a decision to adopt or not. The model is useful for understanding factors influencing the success or failure of a technology-dissemination project, including the role of extension agents. The model works at community scale with a diversity of agents and their multiple learning styles
Tag: conservation
Shortcuts for Biodiversity Conservation Planning: The Effectiveness of Surrogates
Biodiversity is not completely known anywhere, so conservation planning is always based on surrogates for which data are available and, hence, assumed effective for the conservation of unknown biodiversity. We review the literature on the effectiveness of surrogates for conservation planning based on complementary representation. We apply a standardized approach based on a Species Accumulation Index of surrogate effectiveness to compare results from 575 tests in 27 studies. Overall, we find positive, but relatively weak, surrogacy power. Cross-taxon surrogates are substantially more effective than surrogates based on environmental data. Within cross-taxon tests, surrogacy was higher for tests within the same realm (terrestrial, marine, freshwater). Surrogacy was higher when extrapolated (rather than field) data were used. Our results suggest that practical conservation planning based on data for well-known taxonomic groups can cautiously proceed under the assumption that it captures species in less well-known taxa, at least within the same realm.
Quantifying the relative irreplaceability of important bird and biodiversity areas
World governments have committed to increase the global protected areas coverage by 2020, but the effectiveness of this commitment for protecting biodiversity depends on where new protected areas are located. Threshold- and complementarity-based approaches have been independently used to identify important sites for biodiversity. We brought together these approaches by performing a complementarity-based analysis of irreplaceability in important bird and biodiversity areas (IBAs), which are sites identified using a threshold-based approach. We determined whether irreplaceability values are higher inside than outside IBAs and whether any observed difference depends on known characteristics of the IBAs. We focused on 3 regions with comprehensive IBA inventories and bird distribution atlases: Australia, southern Africa, and Europe. Irreplaceability values were significantly higher inside than outside IBAs, although differences were much smaller in Europe than elsewhere. Higher irreplaceability values in IBAs were associated with the presence and number of restricted-range species; number of criteria under which the site was identified; and mean geographic range size of the species for which the site was identified (trigger species). In addition, IBAs were characterized by higher irreplaceability values when using proportional species representation targets, rather than fixed targets. There were broadly comparable results when measuring irreplaceability for trigger species and when considering all bird species, which indicates a good surrogacy effect of the former. Recently, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has convened a consultation to consolidate global standards for the identification of key biodiversity areas (KBAs), building from existing approaches such as IBAs. Our results informed this consultation, and in particular a proposed irreplaceability criterion that will allow the new KBA standard to draw on the strengths of both threshold- and complementarity-based approaches. © 2016, Society for Conservation Biology.
The political economy of conservation at Mount Elgon, Uganda: between local deprivation, regional sustainability, and global public goods
This paper presents a case study from Mount Elgon National Park, Uganda, examining and deepening an understanding of direct incomes and costs of conservation for local people close to protected areas. In the early 1990s, collaborative arrangements were introduced to Mount Elgon National Park to improve people-park relations and enhance rural livelihoods after a period of violent evictions and severe resource access restrictions. In areas with such arrangements – including resource access agreements, Taungya farming, and beekeeping schemes – we observe a marginal increase in annual incomes for involved households. Other incomes accrue from tourism revenue sharing schemes, a community revolving fund, and payments for carbon sequestration. However, these incomes are economically marginal (1.2% of household income), unevenly distributed and instrumentally used to reward compliance with park regulations. They do not necessarily accrue to those incurring costs due to eviction and exclusion, crop raiding, resource access restrictions and conflicts. By contrast, costs constitute at least 20.5 % of total household incomes, making it difficult to see how conservation, poverty alleviation and development can be locally reconciled if local populations continue to bear the economic brunt of conservation. We recommend a shift in policy towards donor and state responsibility for compensating costs on a relevant scale. Such a shift would be an important step towards a more substantive rights-based model of conservation, and would enhance the legitimacy of protected area management in the context of both extreme poverty and natural resource dependence. Copyright: © Vedeld et al 2016.
Capacity-strengthening approach to vulnerability assessment (CaSAVA)
The Capacity-Strengthening Approach to Vulnerability Assessment (CaSAVA) synthesizes local and scientific knowledge to identify existing livelihoods’ assets (human, social, financial, physical and natural capital) and deficits at multiple landscape scales. The information for the synthesis comes from multiple stakeholders (for example, farmers, government officers and scientists) and is designed to enable local stakeholders (female and male farmers) to buffer and adapt to both economic (that is, fluctuating prices) and climate-related (for example, extreme weather events) shocks and hazards. CaSAVA is tailored for participatory approaches to collect information disaggregated by gender and, most importantly, to strengthen farmers’ awareness of, and capacity for thinking about and articulating, otherwise latent problems. CaSAVA further facilitates the assessment results to develop conservation and livelihoods’ strategies to increase farmers’ resilience to shocks and hazards.
A rural revival in Tanzania: how agroforestry is helping farmers to restore the woodlands in Shinyanga region
When President Julius Nyerere visited the Shinyanga Region in 1984 he was shocked by what he saw. Decades of deforestation and inappropriate land management had turned Shinyanga into the ‘Desert of Tanzania.’ The president immediately launched the Shinyanga Soil Conservation Programme, widely known by its Swahili acronym, HASHI. This booklet relates the remarkable story of what has happened since then. The HASHI project helped tens of thousands of smallholders to restore degraded land, and in doing so to significantly improve their incomes. One of the project’s great achievements was to revive a traditional system of land management which increases the supply of livestock fodder for use during the dry season. When the project began, there were just 600 ha of documented ngitili – enclosed fodder reserves – in the region. There are now thought to be over 500,000 ha of such reserves. The ngitili provide fuelwood and building timber as well as livestock fodder. Their rapid expansion has brought about a significant increase in biodiversity. Species that had disappeared decades ago are now returning. The economic benefits have also been considerable. One study calculated the total monthly value of benefits derived from the ngitili to be US$14 per person – a significant sum in rural Tanzania. The HASHI project also encouraged farmers to adopt a range of other agroforestry technologies, including the planting of woodlots, fodder banks and fertilizer trees. These, too, have yielded considerable environmental and economic benefits.
Assessing soil conservation strategies for upland cropping in Northeast Thailand with the WaNuLCAS model
Soil conservation approaches and agroforestry systems can play an important role in controlling erosion from tropical hillside cropping systems. Experimental testing of their potential application domain and design, however, is costly and time consuming. We, therefore, tested the ability of the Water, Nutrient and Light Capture in Agroforestry Systems (WaNuLCAS) model. The specific objectives of the study were: (i) to evaluate the WaNuLCAS model for predicting water induced erosion under different soil conservation strategies, (ii) to use the model for a better understanding of various soil conservation measures in controlling erosion, and (iii) to assess the magnitude and dynamics of key processes influencing the efficiency of soil conservation measures. A 3-year-data set (2003–2005) from a field experiment from the Loei province in Northeast Thailand on the impact of soil conservation (Leucaena hedgerow, Jack bean relay cropping) under minimum tillage on runoff and soil loss was tested. Results indicated thatWaNuLCAS was able to predict soil loss and runoff well at the test site; i.e. R2 = 0.80 and 0.82, respectively. In the calibration procedure a sub data set was used, where adjusting crop development parameters was an important step for improving simulated soil loss (R2 = 0.75) and runoff (R2 = 0.89). Soilconservation measures such as Leucaena hedges were effective techniques to control runoff and soil loss. Implementing a dynamic soil structure module in combination with minimum tillage reduced runoff and soil loss via an increase in available macropores and hence drainage over time which improved simulation results. Relay cropping with Jack bean played an important role in the control treatment in reducing soil loss during the third year due to its additional soil cover and positive impact on soil fertility as suggested by the model. Hence, the WaNuLCAS model is a valuable tool to study and understand processes and to explore management options for improving tropical hillside cropping threatened by soil degradation.
Scoping adaptation needs for smallholders in the Brazilian Amazon: a municipal level case study
Recent years have witnessed increased investment in African rural landscapes for agriculture and food security, poverty alleviation, climate change adaptation, and ecosystem conservation. While such investments historically tended to be made independently under sectoral programs, a new wave of integrated landscape initiatives (ILIs) is promoting integrated, multi-objective management of rural landscapes. We surveyed leaders and managers of 87 ILIs in 33 African countries to provide the first region-wide portrait of contexts, motivations, design, participation, and outcomes of such initiatives. Results suggest that ILIs are promoting “multi-functionality” of rural regions, while aiding stakeholders in mediating tradeoffs and synergies among multiple outcomes.
An Ecoregion-Based Approach to Protecting Half the Terrestrial Realm
We assess progress toward the protection of 50% of the terrestrial biosphere to address the species-extinction crisis and conserve a global ecological heritage for future generations. Using a map of Earth’s 846 terrestrial ecoregions, we show that 98 ecoregions (12%) exceed Half Protected; 313 ecoregions (37%) fall short of Half Protected but have sufficient unaltered habitat remaining to reach the target; and 207 ecoregions (24%) are in peril, where an average of only 4% of natural habitat remains. We propose a Global Deal for Nature-a companion to the Paris Climate Deal-to promote increased habitat protection and restoration, national- and ecoregion-scale conservation strategies, and the empowerment of indigenous peoples to protect their sovereign lands. The goal of such an accord would be to protect half the terrestrial realm by 2050 to halt the extinction crisis while sustaining human livelihoods.
Distribution and in situ conservation of a relic Chinese oil woody species Xanthoceras sorbifolium (yellowhorn)
To understand the contemporary and anticipated future (future 30–50 years) distribution of Chinese wild yellowhorn (Xanthoceras sorbifolium Bunge) and to improve the species’ in situ conservation strategy within the network of China’s National Nature Reserves (NNR), we used BiodiversityR to predict the species’ distribution utilizing the “always-suitable” map concept. We then delineated the always-suitable distributions with the existing NNRs to identify potential conservation areas using an approach that concurrently considered spatial distribution, gap analysis, the role of climate change, and economic analyses. Seven bioclimatic variable predictors and 12 environmental niche modelling submodels successfully contributed to the final model assembly (AUC = 0.916, = 0.398). The species range delineation indicated that 71 of the 427 NNRs were included in the always-suitable area, accounting for 26007 km2 (1.58%) of the species total distribution. This mapping endeavour highlighted the negative impact of climate change with a projected 15%–20% habitat decline and expected species’ distribution centers shifting from the country’s northwest to the southeast. Our results predict the continuous deterioration of X. sorbifolium because of its existing utilization as an oil source and its increased bioenergy potential. The adoption of a flexible management strategy embracing acceptable trade-offs between conservation and utilization within China’s NNRs could effectively alleviate the expected species decline.