Evaluating the effectiveness of air quality management within the class I area of great smoky mountains national park

The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1977 designated national parks and wilderness areas larger than 1894 ha to be class I areas for air quality management, setting more restrictive criteria than the National Ambient Air Quality Standards. Class I areas are afforded the greatest degree of air quality protection under the Clear Air Act of 1970. In recent years, several studies have documented air pollution effects in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP), the second-largest class I area in the eastern United States. Air pollution problems of greatest concern in the GSMNP are effects of acid deposition, visibility impairment, and tropospheric ozone. Several recent events have increased concerns about air quality management in the class I area of the GSMNP. A forum, sponsored by the Southern Appalachian Man and the Biosphere Cooperative (SAMAB), was held in March 1992, which involved representative. parties-at-interest and began to address strategies for better management of air resources in the Southern Appalachians. This paper summarizes those discussions and recommendations and reports actions occurring as a result of the forum. Another objective of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for more effective management of the class I area of the GSMNP.     

Building Local Community Commitment to Wetlands Restoration: A Case Study of the Cache River Wetlands in Southern Illinois, USA

Natural resource professionals are increasingly faced with the challenges of cultivating community-based support for wetland ecosystem restoration. While extensive research efforts have been directed toward understanding the biophysical dimensions of wetland conservation, the literature provides less guidance on how to successfully integrate community stakeholders into restoration planning. Therefore, this study explores the social construction of wetlands locally, and community members’ perceptions of the wetland restoration project in the Cache River Watershed of southern Illinois, where public and private agencies have partnered together to implement a large-scale wetlands restoration project. Findings illustrate that the wetlands hold diverse and significant meanings to community members and that community members’ criteria for project success may vary from those identified by project managers. The case study provides managers with strategies for building community commitment such as engaging local citizens in project planning, minimizing local burdens, maximizing local benefits, and reducing uncertainty.     

Does adding more lettuce make a hamburger truly green? A metaphor behind the green movement paradigm in designing cities

In designing cities, the label of the green movement these days is being applied to almost everything—starting from works of environmental non-governmental organizations and international as well as local conservation organizations to grass-roots resistance activism including radical environmentalism. This paper seeks to understand the motivation—the paradigm—behind the green movement initiatives and how the paradigm appears to shift from the ground reality. Conclusions suggest that, on one hand, environmental problems are far from being a matter of common sense and, on the other, the matter of intellectual and technological developments—the outcomes of rigorous academic research reflected in endless literature predominantly comprising the fields of environmental sociology, environmental anthropology, and conservation psychology—are in reality often found to be dealt with by shallow planning and policy practices without even realizing the big-picture that the paradigm is merely being used as an advertizing tool for making business profit. It is expected that, unless a shift from such negative practices towards a conscious and genuine commitment to proactive environmental stewardship is made, the situation will continue to be exacerbated.     

Environmental accounting—making it work for your company

There is no simple recipe for success in implementing environmental accounting. Day-to-day needs and strategic objectives will determine how an organization can benefit from environmental accounting. Our previous article listed many potential applications of environmental accounting and discussed common environmental accounting objectives.¹ This article is geared toward organizations that want to start implementing environmental accounting and create a foundation of success on which to build. In this context, the questions are (1) What are some logical starting points? and (2) Where do companies go from there? This article first describes some paradigms that may guide companies as they think about how to implement environmental accounting, then it presents a series of critical activities that are needed to make environmental accounting an integral part of ongoing business management functions.     

Land Management Restrictions and Options for Change in Perpetual Conservation Easements

Conservation organizations rely on conservation easements for diverse purposes, including protection of species and natural communities, working forests, and open space. This research investigated how perpetual conservation easements incorporated property rights, responsibilities, and options for change over time in land management. We compared 34 conservation easements held by one federal, three state, and four nonprofit organizations in Wisconsin. They incorporated six mechanisms for ongoing land management decision-making: management plans (74 %), modifications to permitted landowner uses with discretionary consent (65 %), amendment clauses (53 %), easement holder rights to conduct land management (50 %), reference to laws or policies as compliance terms (47 %), and conditional use permits (12 %). Easements with purposes to protect species and natural communities had more ecological monitoring rights, organizational control over land management, and mechanisms for change than easements with general open space purposes. Forestry purposes were associated with mechanisms for change but not necessarily with ecological monitoring rights or organizational control over land management. The Natural Resources Conservation Service-Wetland Reserve Program had a particularly consistent approach with high control over land use and some discretion to modify uses through permits. Conservation staff perceived a need to respond to changing social and ecological conditions but were divided on whether climate change was likely to negatively impact their conservation easements. Many conservation easements involved significant constraints on easement holders’ options for altering land management to achieve conservation purposes over time. This study suggests the need for greater attention to easement drafting, monitoring, and ongoing decision processes to ensure the public benefits of land conservation in changing landscapes.     

Implementing wildlife-management strategies into road infrastructure in southern Ontario: a critical success factors approach

Wildlife-road conflict has profound negative impacts on both wildlife populations and society. Despite a long-held understanding of this problem, in most regions the wildlife-management strategies (WMS) available to mitigate this conflict are still relatively underutilized. This study examines the implementation of these strategies into road infrastructure, using Southern Ontario as a case study, in order to develop an understanding of what leads to successful WMS implementation. The project management concept of critical success factors was applied and interviews with project decision-makers and key stakeholders were conducted. Nine factors were identified and a comparison between a ‘smooth’ and ‘rough’ project is used to illustrate the cumulative effects that these factors, and their interrelationships, have on project implementation success. Practitioners can use these findings to evaluate WMS projects based on likelihood of success and allocate resources accordingly, ultimately leading to increased chances of implementation and overall benefit to conservation and society.     

Who’s in Charge: Role Clarity in a Midwestern Watershed Group

Studies of collaborative watershed groups show that effective leadership is an important factor for success. This research uses data from in-depth interviews and meeting observation to qualitatively examine leadership in a Midwestern collaborative watershed group operating with government funding. One major finding was a lack of role definition for volunteer steering-committee members. Lack of role clarity and decision-making processes led to confusion regarding project management authority among the group, paid project staff members, and agency personnel. Given the important role of government grants for funding projects to protect water quality, this study offers insight into leadership issues that groups with Clean Water Act Section 319 (h) funds may face and suggestions on how to resolve them.     

Measuring conservation success beyond the traditional biological criteria: the case of conservation projects in Costa Rica,Mekong Valley,and Cameroon

Traditionally, the criteria used to measure conservation success or failure are based on biological factors. Biological factors include changes in the amount of targeted conserved species, biodiversity, and total area conserved. However, conservation efforts are not simply a matter of biological concern; environmental, political, social, and conflict pressures on different scales (ranging from local to global) also have strong influences on the outcome of conservation. These other factors can either pose threats to or enhance conservation, but are not addressed by current criteria. Using a proposed holistic rubric that includes interdisciplinary fields, this paper examines a set of conservation factors on different scales – ranging from local to global – to determine their importance in conservation. The paper analyses positive factor influences with more successful conservation and negative factor influences with less successful, or failed, conservation attempts. Neutral and non‐applicable factor influences are also identified, defined, and ranked as a standardization mechanism. The determination of success changed when the holistic rubric was applied to conservation projects in Costa Rica, Mekong Valley, and Cameroon. In the Costa Rica case study, conservation success for Guanacaste and Talamanca national parks is rated ‘moderately low’. In the case of Mekong Valley, conservation success is rated ‘low’ for Lower Mekong, ‘moderately low’ for Greater Annamites, and ‘low’ for Phong Nha‐Ke Bang national parks. Cameroon's Congo Basin and Sangha Tri‐National conservation efforts are both rated ‘low’, while Dja Faunal is rated ‘very low’. We conclude that if conservation efforts are to attain a high level of success, the strategy for global conservation must move away from the traditional biological approach, which focuses mainly on biological concerns, and embrace a holistic approach, which in addition to biological concerns, addresses environmental, political, social, and conflict pressures, which have strong influences on the outcomes of conservation.     

Building Capacity for Protected Area Management in Lao PDR

Declining biodiversity in protected areas in Laos is attributed to unsustainable exploitation of natural resources. At a basic level, an important need is to develop capacity in academic and professional training institutions to provide relevant training to conservation professionals. The paper (a) describes the capacity building approach undertaken to achieve this goal, (b) evaluates the effectiveness of the approach in building capacity for implementing conservation and (c) reviews implementation outcomes. Strong linkages between organizations implementing field conservation, professional training institutions, and relevant Government agencies are central to enhancing effectiveness of capacity building initiatives aimed at improving the practice of conservation. Protected area management technical capacity needs will need to directly influence curriculum design to insure both relevance and effectiveness of training in improving protected area management. Sustainability of capacity building initiatives is largely dependent on the level of interest and commitment by host-country institutions within a supportive Government policy framework in addition to engagement of organizations implementing conservation.     

People, power and timber: The politics of community-based forest management

The potential of devolved conservation to empower people, reduce poverty and protect forest resources has yet to be realized in much of the developing world. This is particularly evident in the Philippines where the central state paradoxically recentralizes political power through devolution at the policy, program and project level in forest management. We investigate how centralized state power emanates through devolved networks to affect the success of local timber utilization involving community-based forest management (CBFM) on Mindanao Island, the southern Philippines. By examining broader shifts from centralized to devolved forest management, results suggest that centralized political power continues to control and adversely affect local uses of timber through CBFM. We discuss how in the process of state authorities recentralizing devolved rights and responsibility over timber management, community-based logging operations were threatened but sustained by members relying on community-based structures and their own capabilities. The conclusion asserts that broader state processes of devolving power over timber management remains constrained by political motives and interests and so largely fails to fulfill the objectives of community-based forest management.     

The conservation benefits of cost-effective land acquisition: A case study in Maryland

Economic theory asserts that to achieve maximum conservation benefits land acquisition needs to be cost effective. Yet the most common planning technique used by land conservation organizations is ‘benefit-targeting’ that focuses only on acquiring parcels with the highest benefits and ignores costs. Unlike most of the literature which focuses on covering problems, this research applies optimization techniques to achieve maximum aggregate conservation benefits for an ongoing land acquisition effort in the Catoctin Mountain Region in central Maryland. For this case study, optimization yields additional conservation benefits worth an estimated $3.1–$3.9 million or achieves the same level of conservation benefits but at a cost savings ranging from $0.9 to $3.5 million, depending on the initial budget size. Finally, the highest efficiencies are achieved in low budget scenarios, like those most prevalent in conservation efforts.     

Implications of Spatial Data Variations for Protected Areas Management: An Example from East Africa

Geographic information systems and remote sensing technologies have become an important tool for visualizing conservation management and developing solutions to problems associated with conservation. When multiple organizations separately develop spatial data representations of protected areas, implicit error arises due to variation between data sets. We used boundary data produced by three conservation organizations (International Union for the Conservation of Nature, World Resource Institute, and Uganda Wildlife Authority), for seven Ugandan parks, to study variation in the size represented and the location of boundaries. We found variation in the extent of overlapping total area encompassed by the three data sources, ranging from miniscule (0.4 %) differences to quite large ones (9.0 %). To underscore how protected area boundary discrepancies may have implications to protected area management, we used a landcover classification, defining crop, shrub, forest, savanna, and grassland. The total area in the different landcover classes varied most in smaller protected areas (those less than 329 km²), with forest and cropland area estimates varying up to 65 %. The discrepancies introduced by boundary errors could, in this hypothetical case, generate erroneous findings and could have a significant impact on conservation, such as local-scale management for encroachment and larger-scale assessments of deforestation.     

Success Factors for Community-Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM): Lessons from Kenya and Australia

Recent concerns over a crisis of identity and legitimacy in community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) have emerged following several decades of documented failure. A substantial literature has developed on the reasons for failure in CBNRM. In this paper, we complement this literature by considering these factors in relation to two successful CBNRM case studies. These cases have distinct differences, one focusing on the conservation of hirola in Kenya on community-held trust land and the other focusing on remnant vegetation conservation from grazing pressure on privately held farm land in Australia. What these cases have in common is that both CBNRM projects were initiated by local communities with strong attachments to their local environments. The projects both represent genuine community initiatives, closely aligned to the original aims of CBNRM. The intrinsically high level of “ownership” held by local residents has proven effective in surviving many challenges which have affected other CBNRM projects: from impacts on local livelihoods to complex governance arrangements involving non-government organizations and research organizations. The cases provide some signs of hope among broader signs of crisis in CBNRM practice.     

Evolving policies for conservation: An Historical Profile of the Protected Area System of Nepal

Nepal has instituted progressive conservation programmes since the 1970s. This move was in reaction to very rapid rates of land clearance in the lowland areas of the country and an opening up to the world that led to nature-based tourism as a major economic enterprise. Formal conservation began with the passage of national legislation in 1973 offering strong protection for national parks and wildlife reserves, but denied usufruct rights to rural communities. From the late 1970s to the 1990s, the legislation was amended several times. Each case was, in several fundamental ways, a loosening of control by government authorities. Nepal now has buffer zone legislation and allows for the designation of conservation areas in addition to the more-strictly defined categories. Beginning in the 1990s, both government and foreign-backed projects have been implementing landscape level conservation approaches; a number of initiatives in trans-boundary protected area management with India and China have also begun and non-governmental organizations have taken an increasingly active role. This paper considers the expansion of the protected areas network in light of historical, cultural and economic factors and concludes that Nepal has been reactive in adopting conservation programmes. Both outside and inside influences have strongly affected the development of conservation programmes and there are several areas in which more work needs to be done. This includes the need for implementing both national and international conservation law and adopting social and biological monitoring programmes in and around protected areas. In addition, factors outside the control of conservation officials (i.e. a Maoist insurgency) have indirectly hindered conservation programmes in recent years and have greatly complicated prospects for further success.     

Forest Biodiversity Monitoring for REDD+: A Case Study of Actors’ Views in Peru

The climate change mitigation mechanism Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in developing countries (REDD+) is currently being negotiated under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Integrating biodiversity monitoring into REDD+ facilitates compliance with the safeguards stipulated by the UNFCCC to exclude environmental risks. Interviews with actors engaged in REDD+ implementation and biodiversity conservation at the national and sub-national level in Peru (n = 30) and a literature review (n = 58) were conducted to pinpoint constraints and opportunities for monitoring effects of REDD+ management interventions on biodiversity, and to identify relevant biodiversity data and indicators. It was found that particularly sub-national actors, who were frequently involved in REDD+ pilot projects, acknowledge the availability of biodiversity data. Actors at both the national and sub-national levels, however, criticized data gaps and data being scattered across biodiversity research organizations. Most of the literature reviewed (78 %) included indicators on the state of certain biodiversity aspects, especially mammals. Indicators for pressure on biodiversity, impacts on environmental functions, or policy responses to environmental threats were addressed less frequently (31, 21, and 10 %, respectively). Integrating biodiversity concerns in carbon monitoring schemes was considered to have potential, although few specific examples were identified. The involvement of biodiversity research organizations in sub-national REDD+ activities enhances monitoring capacities. It is discussed how improvements in collaboration among actors from the project to the national level could facilitate the evaluation of existing information at the national level. Monitoring changes in ecosystem services may increase the ecological and socioeconomic viability of REDD+.     

Participation, Process Quality, and Performance of Marine Protected Areas in the Wider Caribbean

Throughout the wider Caribbean, marine protected areas (MPAs) are rapidly gaining momentum as a conservation tool, but management performance of existing MPAs is considered low. To enhance MPA management performance, stakeholders are increasingly being invited to discuss, debate, and develop rules about how people should interact with marine ecosystems. Using social and ecological data from a rapid assessment of 31 MPAs and their associated communities in the wider Caribbean, this study investigates stakeholder participation in MPA planning and management, and how participants' views of process quality relate to MPA performance. Findings indicate that (1) participants tended to be male, resource users, participate in community organizations, and have lived fewer years in the community associated with an MPA than non-participants; (2) simply participating was not associated with perceptions of the social and ecological performance of MPAs, however, perceptions of process quality were positively related to views of performance; and (3) resource users' perceptions of an MPA's ecological performance were likely shaped by a variety of factors. Conservation practitioners should be aware that participatory MPA processes are complex and require careful planning if they are to contribute positively to marine conservation efforts.     

GROUNDWATER RECHARGE1

The increasing need for water has increased interest in artificial recharge by water-management agencies. An evaluation of current knowledge of processes and problems of artificial recharge indicates that a great deal of additional research is necessary before recharge feasibility can be evaluated in most situations. Experience in using recharge wells on the Southern High Plains of New Mexico and Texas indicates success when using good quality water, and failure when recharge water contains high concentrations of particulate matter. Surface spreading is a more suitable method when water has a high sediment content, but may not be feasible in some hydrogeologic situations. Theoretically, well construction is important to the success of injection recharge operations, but little experimental work exists to support this view. Results of recharge experiments on the Southern High Plains support these conclusions.     

The Wild Animal as a Research Animal

Most discussions on animal experimentation refer to domesticated animals and regulations are tailored to this class of animals. However, wild animals are also used for research, e.g., in biological field research that is often directed to fundamental ecological-evolutionary questions or to conservation goals. There are several differences between domesticated and wild animals that are relevant for evaluation of the acceptability of animal experiments. Biological features of wild animals are often more critical as compared with domesticated animals because of their survival effects. An important issue is what is called here “natural suffering”: the suffering from natural circumstances. Should this type of suffering be taken into account when suffering from experimentation is evaluated? As an answer, it is suggested that ``natural functioning'' should be considered as an additional standard in the evaluation of wild animal experimentation. Finally, two topics related to the ecological context are considered. Firstly, the often inevitable involvement of non-research animals in wild animal experimentation, and secondly, the eco-centric approach to nature conservation. According to the latter position, animals are subordinated to ecosystems. All these aspects make the evaluation of wild animal experiments much more complex than experiments with domesticated animals. Preliminary scores are proposed to deal with these aspects. It is argued that this should not lead to a more complex governmental regulation, since an effective maintenance and control are hard to realize and one may loose the cooperation of researchers themselves. In addition, non-governmental professional organizations such as research societies and funding organizations play a pivotal role.     

A model for improving endangered species recovery programs

This paper discusses common organizational problems that cause inadequate planning and implementation processes of endangered species recovery across biologically dissimilar species. If these problems occur, even proven biological conservation techniques are jeopardized. We propose a solution that requires accountability in all phases of the restoration process and is based on cooperative input among government agencies, nongovernmental conservation organizations, and the academic community. The first step is formation of a task-oriented recovery team that integrates the best expertise into the planning process. This interdisciplinary team should be composed of people whose skills directly address issues critical for recovery. Once goals and procedures are established, the responsible agency (for example, in the United States, the US Fish and Wildlife Service) could divest some or all of its obligation for implementing the plan, yet still maintain oversight by holding implementing entities contractually accountable. Regular, periodic outside review and public documentation of the recovery team, lead agency, and the accomplishments of implementing bodies would permit evaluation necessary to improve performance. Increased cooperation among agency and nongovernmental organizations provided by this model promises a more efficient use of limited resources toward the conservation of biodiversity.     

Linking community and national park development: A case from the Dominican Republic

National parks have complex relationships with local communities that impact both conservation success and community well-being. Integrated conservation and development projects have been a key approach to managing these relationships, although their effectiveness has been increasingly questioned. Park-people relationships of the Armando Bermudez National Park in the Dominican Republic were studied, focusing on forests, aquatic resources, community well-being and development, and ecotourism. The park, established in 1956, is well respected by the community, based on its long history and its role in protecting water resources that are critical to the community. However, management of riparian vegetation and local fisheries present challenges in terms of finding a balance between conservation and development. Hiking and trekking opportunities attract both national and international tourists to the park, and community members benefit from employment as tour guides and providing mule rentals. At the same time, tourism activities also present continuing challenges related to: (1) the distribution of tourism benefits between local people and outsiders, and within the local community, (2) maintaining the local economic benefits of tourism while protecting park resources, and (3) developing park- or conservation-related economic opportunities to complement tourism. The results highlight the need to develop site-specific strategies to manage park-people relationships through interdisciplinary analysis.