Conservation in the Future

Here you will find summaries of the six essays on the future of conservation biology that feature in the text book Principles of Conservation Biology, Second Edition by Meffe, G.K., Ronald, C. et al

Essay 19A
The Post-modern World by Frederick Ferré

The Modern World emerged from the seventeenth century. It is characterised by 3 features:

1) The quantitative (that which can be measured) is more important than the qualitative (that which is subject to taste – subjective)
2) Reductionism –breaking problems into smaller parts for analysis
3) Rejection of a final cause in Nature – that is, a rejection of the idea that things happen for divine purpose

Problems with modernism

1) People are very subjective and values orientated. Ignoring what people consider to be good or bad just because it cannot be quantified leads to unhappiness.
2) Reductionism leads to excessive specialization in professions. The earth is a system made up of numerous parts. Understanding one part is not possible without understanding the whole.
3) Nature has no goal or final cause, but people feel they have a reason to live. This argument puts people outside Nature.

The Post-modern Way of Thinking

It is a blend of the quantitative and the qualitative. In ecology we have to be able to distinguish a healthy ecosystem from a damaged one. This requires both value judgement and measurements.
Ecology is interested in how the world functions as an integrated system and how each part functions.
It shows that we are connected to Nature
The post-modern way of thinking validates our desire for quality and our need to make value judgement

Essay 19B
Conservation Biology in the 21st Century
David Ehrenfeld

4 resources needed for Conservation Biology

1) Money
2) Social Stability
3) Environmental Awareness
4) Specialized knowledge of plants and animals

1) Money

Conservation biology would cease when the resources that create wealth dry up. The discipline is dependant on donations from wealthy companies and governments as well as from individuals.


2) Social and Economic Stability

When people are preoccupied by their own survival they don’t think about Nature.

3) Environmental Awareness

If people do not know anything about threatened animals and plants they are not very likely to want to protect them. Deep feelings about Nature only come when people experience it. The modern world we tend to have less and less contact with Nature making it difficult to convince people to contribute money to save certain species.

4) Specialized knowledge

We need to know what species exist in order to know if they are threatened and in need of protection. Focus in biology is towards molecular biology and not towards taxonomy.


Strategy for success

Minimise costs of research in conservation biology because money is scarce.
Use flexible research methods – this will save research money – that is, use methods that can be adapted to many projects
Study taxonomy
Conservation jobs are often short term contracts. Have an alternative job, so that you can support yourself and your family when your contract runs out.
Get local communities involved. They should be motivated to support and run the project when you are gone.
In your projects include a monitoring system to measure project progress


Essay 19C
The Importance of Communicating with the Public
Laura Tangley


Publicity helps conservation projects. Publish your research projects in popular magazines. This will increase public awareness and help attract funding.

In your articles use photos and drawings so people can see the organism you are working on.

Explain using plain and simple language – avoid jargon

Talk about your interests with friends

Invite people to visit your study site.

Show animals and plants that have charisma and or ecological importance. Charismatic species are usually large vertebrates such as bears, elephants and owls for example. ‘Keystone species’ are species on which the ecosystem depends, such as top level predators or herbivores.


Essay 19D
Opportunities for Creative Conservation
By T.E.Lovejoy

Challenges bring about creativity. For example, save biodiversity by finding creative uses for it – one way has been to argue that biodiversity is an indicator of pollution. Streams that are polluted have low biodiversity.

Local people must be involved in conservation projects for them to be effective.
Most conservation problems are created by landowners deciding things on their own for themselves. They are unaware of greater consequences of their actions.

Encourage co-operation by encouraging collective decision making. A landowner may lose control over their land but gain partial control of others.

Assign monetary value to ecosystem services – this should ensure their protection.

Ecosystem services are the things that ecosystems provide for people that we take fro granted, such as pollination, absorption of pollution by plants, water cycle, nutrient cycles etc.


Example of the Debt for Nature Swap

A rich NGO such as WWF or Greenpeace could take over part of poor country’s external debt. The NGO then becomes the creditor. The poor country or debtor continues to make repayments but to the NGO. The NGO uses the money to fund conservation projects in the country using local currency and labour. This occurred in 1987 in Bolivia with the WWF. (Check out the link to find out more: Debt for Nature Swap)


Carbon Tax

Carbon taxes will encourage the reduction in the use of goods and services that require fossil fuels.


Essay 19E
The Bottom Line - Human Population Control
Paul R. Ehrlich

People need ecosystems to survive so why are we destroying them? Human population growth is responsible for much destruction of Nature. The impact of poulation can be expressed in the following equation:

I = P x A x T

"Overall impact (I) is a function of population size (P), times the per capita level of affluence (A), times the environmental disruptiveness of the technologies used (T)." Meffe et al (1997) p.659

Obviously A & T are difficult to measure so the best approximation of AxT is per capita energy use. Total impact of a society is measured as total energy use.

The impact of populations has been increasing steadily. the global population ioncreases by 95 million people per year.

The human population is in competition with resources of other animals. The human population is exploiting or destroying around 40% of 'terrestrial net primary production'.

The author claims that for the conservation biologist the priority should be in working for the reduction in population growth, consumption, and for the promotion of enviromentally friendly technologies.

Basically all other conservation efforts are a waste of time unless population growth cannot be stopped.

In poor countries population can be reduced in the following ways:

1) Education
2) Human rights
3) Equal opportunities for men and women
4) Adequate health care for women and children

Economic systems should reject models that promote perpetual growth.
Conservation biologists can help assign monetary value to ecosystem services so that politicians will consider them when making decisions.
The costs of fossil fuel use should be internalised; that is, the cost of repairing the damage caused by them should be built into the price we pay for them. This would make environmentally friendly, ie low carbon producing technologies more competitive.


Essay 19F
Commons Problems in Conservation Biology
Bobbi S. Low

Introduction

The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin was an influential article published in the journal Science in 1968. It is predominantly concerned with rising population and its impact on the environment. The article claims that global problems are often caused by one particular aspect of human behaviour: the individual placing their rights over those of the community, in other words it is an “every man for himself” attitude.

Garrett gives the example of cattle farmers overgrazing publicly owned pasture known as ‘the commons’ simply because there was no legal restriction to stop them. They all overgraze because the more grass for their cattle means more productivity and more profits. Of course, as the pasture is limited and none of the farmers will exercise restraint it soon becomes exhausted. Environmental issues that involve an abuse of a public resource (such as land, air, water or the oceans) resulting from this kind of attitude are referred now to as “commons problems”. The article by Bobbi Low deals with them .

Conservation Commons Problems

Low identifies two types of public resources

a) open access – owned by no-one and disappear quickly
b) commons – owned by a specific group and protected by outsiders

Two types of commons

a) Stiglerian - “benefits are concentrated but costs dispersed” (I presume it is named after the economist G. Stigler although this is not mentioned in the article – not very helpful). This is the case described by Garrett.
b) Olsonian – benefits are dispersed but costs concentrated – the author gives the example of a nuclear power plant located near a town. The country as a whole benefits from the electricity and are exposed to minimum risks, but the local residents around the power station suffer the ill effects. This is summed up as NIMBY or “not in my back yard”. (Again I don't know who the Olson of Olsonian is, Low does not give the reference).

Resources managed as commons for centuries and always involve cheating.
Cheating occurs because it’s profitable.

Solutions:
a) Local control.

The resource is often destroyed for short term profit.

b) Government control

Regulations are expensive and not always effective.


c) Private ownership

Only works if owners don’t want to sell to the highest bidder – i.e. “get mine and get out”


Characteristics of Successful Commons

a) Social & Political Characteristics

Small, cohesive, ‘kinship-based’ groups with stable membership

b) Ecological Characteristics

Subsistence based

c) Political Characteristics

Isolated from large markets

Costs of cheating in this case is more social if the individual is caught.

d) Organizational Conditions

- Clearly defined boundaries
- Collective choice arrangement – each member has a voice in decisions
- Monitor and catch cheats
- Graduated punishments – that is, the punishment reflects the severity of the offense
- Conflict –resolution mechanisms

Successful examples are often small areas and communities e.g. Swiss mountain villages, villages in Japan, irrigation communities in Philippines. Large scale commons such as affecting whaling are more difficult to manage due to:

· difficulties monitoring large areas
· difficulties keeping out outsiders


Solutions to large scale commons problems probably lie in communication and interaction with stake holders. The greater the communication the greater the chance that members will sanction cheats.



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