A Systematic Test of an Enterprise Strategy for Community-Based Biodiversity Conservation

Abstract: A commonly held belief is that if people can benefit financially from enterprises that depend on nearby forests, reefs, and other natural habitats, then they will take action to conserve and sustainably use them. The Biodiversity Conservation Network brought together conservation and development organizations and local communities to systematically test this hypothesis across 39 conservation project sites in Asia and the Pacific. Each project implemented one or more community-based enterprises such as setting up an ecotourism lodge, distilling essential oils from wild plant roots, producing jams and jellies from forest fruits, harvesting timber, or collecting marine samples to test for pharmaceutical compounds. Each project team collected the biological, enterprise, and social data necessary to test the network's hypothesis. We present the results of this test. We found that a community-based enterprise strategy can lead to conservation, but only under limited conditions and never on its own. We summarize the specific conditions under which an enterprise strategy will and will not work in a decision chart that can be used by project managers to determine whether this strategy might make sense at their site. We also found that an enterprise strategy can be subsidized and still create a net gain that pays for conservation. Based on our experiences, we recommend developing "learning portfolios" that combine action and research to test other conservation strategies.     

Predicting the Risk of Extinction through Hybridization

Abstract: Natural hybridization threatens a substantial number of plant and animal species with extinction, but extinction risk has been difficult to evaluate in the absence of a quantitative assessment of risk factors. We investigated a number of ecological parameters likely to affect extinction risk, through an individual-based model simulating the life cycle of two hybridizing annual plant species. All parameters tested, ranging from population size to variance in pollen-tube growth rates, affected extinction risk. The sensitivity of each parameter varied dramatically across parameter sets, but, overall, the competitive ability, initial frequency, and selfing rate of the native taxon had the strongest effect on extinction. In addition, prezygotic reproductive barriers had a stronger influence on extinction rates than did postzygotic barriers. A stable hybrid zone was possible only when habitat differentiation was included in the model. When there was no habitat differentiation, either one of the parental species or the hybrids eventually displaced the other two taxa. The simulations demonstrated that hybridization is perhaps the most rapidly acting genetic threat to endangered species, with extinction often taking place in less than five generations. The simulation model was also applied to naturally hybridizing species pairs for which considerable genetic and ecological information is available. The predictions from these "worked examples" are in close agreement with observed outcomes and further suggest that an endemic cordgrass species is threatened by hybridization. These simulations provide guidance concerning the kinds of data required to evaluate extinction risk and possible conservation strategies.     

A new method for municipal solid waste incinerator (MSWI) fly ash inertization, based on colloidal silica

Municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) is a straightforward way to manage waste, however the disposal of process byproducts, mainly bottom and fly ash, is still a problem, because of their hazardous contents. Fly ash is a byproduct of many other processes that involve combustion to produce energy. In this paper we present and discuss a new method for MSWI fly ash inertization, mainly based on the use of colloidal silica as a stabilization agent for metals. In the patented procedure, fly ash of different provenance can be used to produce an inert and non-hazardous material, that can be reused. In fact to make the recovery process more efficient, landfilling should be totally avoided. For this reason, to enhance the possibility of reuse, a washing process, for salts recovery, is proposed as a final step of the inertization procedure. The obtained inert material is called COSMOS (COlloidal Silica Medium to Obtain Safe inert), and it is composed of calcium carbonate, calcium sulfate, silicon oxide and a wide quantity of non-soluble amorphous compounds. COSMOS does not contain any corrosive salts. This makes it extremely interesting for cement industry applications with several other advantages, and environmental benefits. The new proposed inertization procedure appears very promising, because it allows MSWI fly ash to be considered a valuable resource. Thanks to the obtained results, a demonstration project, in the frame of LIFE+, has been funded by the European Commission (LIFE+ 2008 project ENV/IT/000434, ).     

Pastoralists in a changing environment: The competition for grazing land in and around the W Biosphere Reserve,Benin Republic

Pastoralists face increasing competition for land with crop farmers and nature in and around the W Biosphere Reserve (WBR) in Benin. Our aim was to describe and analyse land use changes in order to understand their drivers, and to describe and analyse the viewpoints of relevant stakeholders in order to understand the competition for land. To this end, remote sensing data, regional statistics, and survey data were collected. We found that crop land expansion around the WBR was the direct driver of decrease of the grazing land area. Population growth and rising demand for food crops, and government support to the cotton sector were indirect drivers of grazing land reduction. Furthermore, competing claims on land among users arose from the complex interaction of crop expansion, presence of WBR and the way it is governed, the lack of support to pastoralists, and the increasing shift of pastoralists’ lifestyle into one of settled crop farmers. Pastoralism is under threat and its survival depends on the successful implementation of policies to support pastoralists and protect grazing lands.     

Migration of acidic groundwater seepage from uranium-tailings impoundments, 2. Geochemical behavior of radionuclides in groundwater

In this second paper of a series on groundwater seepage from uranium tailings, the general geochemical behavior of radionuclides is described and then applied to data from the field site, Seepage Area A of the Nordic Main impoundment near Elliot Lake, Ontario. The delineation of radionuclide behavior requires (1) the calculation of total element concentration by the summation of concentrations of each element's isotopes (the isotopic concentrations are calculated from the isotopes' radioactivities), (2) the evaluation of solid-liquid interactions using total element concentrations, and (3), for particular isotopes, the evaluation of the extent to which parental geochemical behavior causes a deviation in the isotope's behavior from that of its total element. A computerized speciation program, WATRAD, is used to evaluate aqueous complexation and mineral saturation indices of radium, actinium, thorium, and uranium. Data from Seepage Area A on isotopes of these four elements plus ²¹⁰Pb show that the geochemical behavior of radionuclides can be best defined on an individual isotopic basis rather than on an elemental basis.     

Measuring the effectiveness of landscape approaches to conservation and development

Landscape approaches attempt to achieve balance amongst multiple goals over long time periods and to adapt to changing conditions. We review project reports and the literature on integrated landscape approaches, and found a lack of documented studies of their long-term effectiveness. The combination of multiple and potentially changing goals presents problems for the conventional measures of impact. We propose more critical use of theories of change and measures of process and progress to complement the conventional impact assessments. Theories of change make the links between project deliverables, outputs, outcomes, and impacts explicit, and allow a full exploration of the landscape context. Landscape approaches are long-term engagements, but short-term process metrics are needed to confirm that progress is being made in negotiation of goals, meaningful stakeholder engagement, existence of connections to policy processes, and effectiveness of governance. Long-term impact metrics are needed to assess progress on achieving landscapes that deliver multiple societal benefits, including conservation, production, and livelihood benefits. Generic criteria for process are proposed, but impact metrics will be highly situation specific and must be derived from an effective process and a credible theory of change.     

Scaring as a tool to alleviate crop damage by geese: Revealing differences between farmers’ perceptions and the scale of the problem

Expanding populations of farmland foraging geese are causing escalating conflict with agriculture. We used questionnaires to investigate farmers´ perceptions in mid-Norway of spring staging geese and the extent to which they attempt to reduce pasture damage by goose scaring. We predicted farmers’ scaring effort (a measure of dissatisfaction) to increase on fields closer to goose roosting sites where goose grazing intensity was highest (measured by dropping counts). Results showed no such relationship, suggesting that farmers’ perception of goose use was not linked to actual goose use, but influenced by sociological factors and individual opinion. These results confirm the need to distribute subsidies/compensation to affected farmers based upon quantifiable measures of goose use rather than complaint levels. To avoid further conflict escalation, it is equally important that managers are aware of farmers´ perceptions and their causes, to effectively target communication about policies and measures to mitigate goose–agriculture problems.     

Integrated management of ash from industrial and domestic combustion: a new sustainable approach for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from energy conversion

Environmental Science and Pollution Research - This work supports, for the first time, the integrated management of waste materials arising from industrial processes (fly ash from municipal solid...