Improving Sustainability by Privatizing Wildlife Conservation

The purpose of this study is to improve environmental sustainability by identifying the most sustainable/least fragile of the three major wildlife conservation access models—open, government, and private—under varying environmental and socioeconomic conditions. The private access model is the most sustainable of the three major conservation models because it provides the best information and incentives to balance the needs of humans and wildlife, maintain general wildlife habitat, and adapt quickly to changing environmental and/or socioeconomic conditions. Government-controlled access, however, can be employed as a model of last resort if the private access model shows signs of failing to protect specific species from local extirpation or extinction, which it is most likely to do for migratory species, species with close commercial substitutes, and species with no direct commercial value. Government regulators may also be needed to enforce property rights arrangements like catch shares and to monitor resources that remain open access in case socioeconomic or environmental conditions change sufficiently to trigger the tragedy of the commons. Most treatments of wildlife regulation default to various iterations of the government access model and fail even to consider the costs and benefits of private and open access models. The analysis here instead shows the conditions in which each conservation access model is most appropriate: open when a resource is in high supply and low demand, private most of the time, and government when the others fail to slow resource depopulation/depletion.

Concept of scientific wildlife conservation and its dissemination

In recent years, wildlife conservation has attracted great public attention. However, substantial distinctions can be found in the prevailing concepts of wildlife conservation, particularly with the recent notion that emphasizes animal rights. Wildlife welfare and wildlife rights are not synonymous, with welfare more compatible with the reasonable and legal utilization of wildlife. The key to scientific wildlife conservation is the appropriate awareness and appreciation of the relationship between wildlife conservation and utilization and the theoretical basis of holism. Nevertheless, rational biases regarding the public＇s understanding of wildlife conservation and the spread of information via social media still exist. As such, expansion of the concept of scientific wildlife conservation requires the application of several measures. Wildlife conservation researchers should be regarded as the most important disseminators of scientifically-based information, with education in schools and universities of growing importance. Furthermore, the media should shoulder the social responsibility for the accurate dissemination of conservation information.

Ecological Compensation and the Cost of Wildlife Conservation: Chang Tang Grasslands, Tibet

The cost of ecological and environmental protection is a core part of ecological compensation standards and consists of direct costs, opportunity costs and development. This paper uses Naqu, a section of the Chang Tang Nature Reserve, Tibet as a case study to assess direct and opportunity costs of wildlife conservation to herdsmen. A standard sheep unit has been established for determining the animal carrying capacity of grasslands across China, and we used this to convert wild animals into standard sheep units. This approach links the grassland ecosystem, herbivorous wild animals and their valuation together. Our results show that the total cost of wildlife conservation reached 5.69 billion Chinese Yuan （CNY）. The opportunity cost was 4.5 billion CNY, accounting for 79% and direct cost. The biggest economic loss to herdsmen was the opportunity cost in Chang Tang Nature Reserve and means that herdsmen have to give up economic income from livestock husbandry when grazing is banned. Opportunity cost assessment is integral to establishing ecological compensation. The average value of wildlife conservation was 1482 CNY per capita and 57 CNY per hectare according to population and the area of moderately and seriously degraded grassland. The period of ecological compensation should last five to ten years after grazing is banned.

Regulating wildlife conservation and food safety to prevent human exposure to novel virus

Epidemiological investigation suggested that the current outbreak of COVID-19 virus was associated with a seafood market,and COVID-19 has been identified a probable bat origin.Similar to SARS event in 2003,such a zoonotic disease showed an animal-to-person and even more serious person-to-person spread,and posed a significant threat to the global health and socio-economic development.We analyzed the association of both outbreaks with wildlife diet in China and proposed suggestions for regulating wildlife conservation and food safety to prevent human exposure to the novel virus,including increasing social awareness of hazards in eating wild animals,strengthening legislation on eating and trading of wild animals,improving the standards for food safety,and establishing market supervision mechanism.Regulatory intervention is not only critical for China but also for other countries where wildlife hunting is prevalent to prevent from novel virus exposures.

Mixed-method study on medicinal herb collection in relation to wildlife conservation:the case of giant pandas in China

Medicinal herb collection has historical and cultural roots in many rural communities in developing countries.Areas where herb collection occurs may overlap with biodiversity hotspots and crucial habitat of endangered and threatened species.However,impacts of such practices on wildlife are unknown and possibly underestimat­ed,perhaps due to the elusive nature of such activities.We examined this phenomenon in Wolong Nature Re­serve,China,a protected area in the South-Central China biodiversity hotspot that also supports a community of Tibetan,Qiang and Han people who use herb collection as a supplementary source of livelihood.We adopted a participatory approach in which we engaged local people in outlining spatial and temporal dynamics of medici­nal herb collection practices.We found that the overall spatial extent of herb collection increased in the past two decades.We then overlaid herb collection maps with localities of giant panda(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)feces collected over two time points in the reserve.Using a Bayesian parameter estimation,we found evidence for de­clined giant panda occurrence in the areas most recently impacted by emerging medicinal herb collection.Our methodology demonstrates the potential power of integrating participatory approaches with quantitative meth­ods for processes like herb collection that may be difficult to examine empirically.We discuss future directions for improving explanatory power and addressing uncertainty in this type of mixed-method,interdisciplinary re­search.This work has implications for future attempts to understand whether and how prevalent but subtle hu­man activities may affect wildlife conservation.

The African Elephant (<i>Loxodonta africana</i>): Mini-Review of an Endangered Species

Humankind is responsible for conditioning the distribution of species, including the African elephant. From its great physical form to its fascinating social behaviour, Loxodonta africana can trigger an admiration in some and be undervalued by others, often ending up being a victim of human activities. Increasingly, the apparent impossibility of the coexistence of these two species represents a problem for the conservation of the large African mammal. Here it was reviewed the published bibliography about the African savannah elephant (L. africana), between July 2015 and December 2019. The Web of Science (WoS) database enabled the search for the words “Loxodonta africana”. From this research, we obtained 310 articles, 149 of them were analysed. Elephants have characteristics that define its uniqueness that are constantly reported, such as: its cognition and extraordinary memory, factors that influence its movements and its distribution, its specific vocalization and the strong dependence on social connections. Threats to the conservation of the species and the urgency of interventions are also an important subject of discussion. Poaching for ivory represents a major obstacle on conservation and has been drastically reducing the number of elephant populations and causing future consequences for those who thrive. Law enforcement in reducing/prohibit poaching has proven to be insufficient, so there is an urgent need to combat the demand for ivory. Also, it is necessary to bypass the conflict, promote tolerance and enable cohabitation. We believe that educating human populations to better understand the species may be the difference to guarantee a future for the species. Conservationists may be the enablers of these educational actions, however, to make the difference, it is necessary to know the species in detail. Mastering knowledge in these behavioural areas will contribute to improve mitigation strategies, which could make the difference to guarantee a future for the species.

Mammal Species Composition in Ini Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Ini Local Government Area (ILGA) is the home of biodiversity, rich in many species of fauna and flora. However, anthropogenic activities carried out by the inhabitants of this area have been a threat to the ecosystem, thereby exterminating the wildlife resources. The data for this study were collected from in-depth interviews with hunters, bushmeat markets, bushmeat sellers, indirect and direct wildlife survey methods, and a semi-structured questionnaire was employed for the household survey. A multiple sampling technique was adopted. A stratified random sampling technique was utilized to stratify the study area into six strata (clans). A proportional sampling technique was used to select 11 villages. In contrast, 60 household heads were randomly selected for questionnaire administration. The study revealed seventeen (17) species of mammal, which accounted for four orders, with Rodentia being the highest (47%). Most species (94%) had the conservation status of Least Concern (LC) based on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Furthermore, illegal hunting and deforestation for agriculture and infrastructural development in the area have led to the loss of wildlife habitats. Thus, a great need for conservation and management practices to protect these vulnerable mammals and their habitats is needed. Hunting laws, afforestation, and reforestation programs should be implemented.

Establish a special conservation zone for the captive giant panda

The giant panda(Ailuropoda melanoleuca)is recognized worldwide as an icon for wildlife conservation.Since the introduction in 1992 of reliable methods for artificial insemination,the population of captive pandas has grown to approximately 350 individuals in 2013.However,ca ptive panda populations are harmed by environmental pollution,diseases trans-mitted from domestic animals,and other anthropologenic activities.Although the Chinese government has proposed the creation of a Giant Panda National Park,there are at least three reasons that suggest that it is premature to reintroduce captive pandas into this proposed national park.First,habitat fragmentation remains the greatest threat to survival of giant pandas;second,most captive pandas are hybrids of the Sichuan and Qinling subspecies and release of hybrids may lead to further introgression between the two subspecies;and third,captive pandas may be competitively inferior to wild pandas in the region,and may not survive fights for food or mates.As an alternative,we suggest establishing a special con-servation zone in the Shennongjia National Nature Reserve for wild training of captive pandas prior to their reintroduction into the National Park.

Assessing habitat quality of the mountain nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni in the Bale Mountains, Ethiopia

Populations of the endangered mountain nyala Tragelaphus buxtoni are significantly threatened by the loss of critical habitat. Population estimates are tentative, and information on the species＇ distribution and available habitat is required for for-mulating immediate management and conservation strategies. To support management decisions and conservation priorities, we integrated information from a number of small-scale observational studies, interviews and reports from multiple sources to define habitat parameters and create a habitat quality model for mountain nyala in the Bale Mountains. For our analysis, we used the FunConn model, an expertise-based model that considers spatial relationships （i.e., patch size, distance） between the species and vegetation type, topography and disturbance to create a habitat quality surface. The habitat quality model showed that approxi- mately 18,610 km^2 （82.7% of our study area） is unsuitable or poor habitat for the mountain nyala, while 2,857 km^2 （12.7%） and 1,026 km^2 （4.6%） was ranked as good or optimal habitat, respectively. Our results not only reflected human induced habitat deg-radation, but also revealed an extensive area of intact habitat on the remote slopes of the Bale Mountain＇s southern and southeast- ern escarpments. This study provides an example of the roles that expert knowledge can still play in modem geospatial modeling of wildlife habitat. New geospatial tools, such as the FunConn model, are readily available to wildlife managers and allow them to perform spatial analyses with minimal software, data and training requirements. This approach may be especially useful for species that are obscure to science or when field surveys are not practical .