Developing a theory of change for a community‐based response to illegal wildlife trade

The escalating illegal wildlife trade (IWT) is one of the most high‐profile conservation challenges today. The crisis has attracted over US$350 million in donor and government funding in recent years, primarily directed at increased enforcement. There is growing recognition among practitioners and policy makers of the need to engage rural communities that neighbor or live with wildlife as key partners in tackling IWT. However, a framework to guide such community engagement is lacking. We developed a theory of change (ToC) to guide policy makers, donors, and practitioners in partnering with communities to combat IWT. We identified 4 pathways for community‐level actions: strengthen disincentives for illegal behavior, increase incentives for wildlife stewardship, decrease costs of living with wildlife, and support livelihoods that are not related to wildlife. To succeed the pathways, all require strengthening of enabling conditions, including capacity building, and of governance. Our ToC serves to guide actions to tackle IWT and to inform the evaluation of policies. Moreover, it can be used to foster dialogue among IWT stakeholders, from local communities to governments and international donors, to develop a more effective, holistic, and sustainable community‐based response to the IWT crisis.     

Valuing third sector sustainability organisations – qualitative contributions to systemic social transformation

The number and diversity of civil society or third sector sustainability organisations (TSSOs) have increased in recent decades. TSSOs play a prominent role in local approaches to sustainability. However, the contributions made by TSSOs are not fully understood, beyond a limited suite of quantifiable outputs and impacts. In this qualitative study, we examine how four TSSOs from two Australian regions, Tasmania and Queensland's Sunshine Coast, contribute to social transformation beyond discrete outputs. We examine the operation, ethos, scope and influence of these organisations over time. In so doing, we identify three common ways in which these organisations facilitate social change: by (i) enhancing social connectivity through boundary work; (ii) mobilising participatory citizenship and (iii) contributing to social learning. We conclude that TSSOs contribute significantly to the systemic social conditions that enable change for sustainability and the development of community resilience and well-being, but do so in ways undervalued by existing metrics, formal evaluation processes and funding models. Clearer recognition of, and strategic emphasis on, these qualitative contributions to social transformation is vital in ensuring that TSSOs remain viable and effective over the long term.     

Effect of Small‐Scale Heterogeneity of Prey and Hunter Distributions on the Sustainability of Bushmeat Hunting

Abstract: Bushmeat is the main source of protein and the most important source of income for rural people in the Congo Basin, but intensive hunting of bushmeat species is also a major concern for conservationists. Although spatial heterogeneity in hunting effort and in prey populations at the landscape level plays a key role in the sustainability of hunted populations, the role of small‐scale heterogeneity within a village hunting territory in the sustainability of hunting has remained understudied. We built a spatially explicit multiagent model to capture the dynamics of a system in which hunters and preys interact within a village hunting territory. We examined the case of hunting of bay duikers (Cephalophus dorsalis) in the village of Ntsiété, northeastern Gabon. The impact of hunting on prey populations depended on the spatial heterogeneity of hunting and prey distribution at small scales within a hunting area. Within a village territory, the existence of areas hunted throughout the year, areas hunted only during certain seasons, and unhunted areas contributed to the sustainability of the system. Prey abundance and offtake per hunter were particularly sensitive to the frequency and length of hunting sessions and to the number of hunters sharing an area. Some biological parameters of the prey species, such as dispersal rate and territory size, determined their spatial distribution in a hunting area, which in turn influenced the sustainability of hunting. Detailed knowledge of species ecology and behavior, and of hunting practices are crucial to understanding the distribution of potential sinks and sources in space and time. Given the recognized failure of simple biological models to assess maximum sustainable yields, multiagent models provide an innovative path toward new approaches for the assessment of hunting sustainability, provided further research is conducted to increase knowledge of prey species’ and hunter behavior.     

Incorporation of Spatial and Economic Analyses of Human‐Use Data in the Design of Marine Protected Areas

Abstract: Social, economic, and ecological criteria contribute to the successful design, implementation, and management of marine protected areas (MPAs). In the context of California's Marine Life Protection Act Initiative, we developed a set of methods for collecting, compiling, and analyzing data about the spatial extent and relative economic importance of commercial and recreational fishing. We interviewed 174 commercial fishers who represented the major fisheries in the initiative's north‐central coast region, which extends from Point Arena south to Pigeon Point. These fishers provided data that we used to map the extent of each of the fishing grounds, to weight the relative importance of areas within the grounds, to characterize the operating costs of each fishery, and to analyze the potential economic losses associated with proposed marine protected areas. A regional stakeholder group used the maps and impact analyses in conjunction with other data sets to iteratively identify economic and ecological trade‐offs in designations of different areas as MPAs at regional, port, and fishery extents. Their final proposed MPA network designated 20% of state waters as MPAs. Potential net economic loss ranged from 1.7% to 14.2% in the first round of network design and totaled 6.3% in the final round of design. This process is a case study in the application of spatial analysis to validate and integrate local stakeholder knowledge in marine planning.     

Biodiversity Consequences of Genetic Variation in Bark Characteristics within a Foundation Tree Species

Abstract: The developing field of community genetics has the potential to broaden the contribution of genetics to conservation biology by demonstrating that genetic variation within foundation plant species can act to structure associated communities of microorganisms, invertebrates, and vertebrates. We assessed the biodiversity consequences of natural patterns of intraspecific genetic variation within the widely distributed Australian forest tree, Eucalyptus globulus. We assessed genetic variation among geographic races of E. globulus (i.e., provenances, seed zones) in the characteristics of tree‐trunk bark in a 17‐year‐old common garden and the associated response of a dependent macroarthropod community. In total, 180 macroarthropod taxa were identified following a collection from 100 trees of five races. We found substantial genetically based variation within E. globulus in the quantity and type of decorticating bark. In the community of organisms associated with this bark, significant variation existed among trees of different races in composition, and there was a two‐fold difference in species richness (7–14 species) and abundance (22–55 individuals) among races. This community variation was tightly linked with genetically based variation in bark, with 60% of variation in community composition driven by bark characteristics. No detectable correlation was found, however, with neutral molecular markers. These community‐level effects of tree genetics are expected to extend to higher trophic levels because of the extensive use of tree trunks as foraging zones by birds and marsupials. Our results demonstrate the potential biodiversity benefits that may be gained through conservation of intraspecific genetic variation within broadly distributed foundation species. The opportunities for enhancing biodiversity values of forestry and restoration plantings are also highlighted because such planted forests are increasingly becoming the dominant forest type in many areas of the world.     

Depletion of forest resources in south eastern Nigeria: who loses?

Forest management in south eastern Nigeria has changed hands from the forest communities to foreign technology. As a result the sustainable, conservative and cyclical use that characterised the communities that lived in balance with their forest resources are no longer practised. Consequently, a great deal of the region's valuable timber trees has been lost and the environmental influences of the forest grossly reduced. The local communities have not only been deprived of a multitude of non-timber forest resources upon which they depend for their survival and well-being but have also lost their knowledge of traditional forest management. Although these consequences are far-reaching, the neglected majority in the rural areas bear the brunt. To save what is left of the once vast forest areas, communities in and around the biome need to be empowered to manage their forest resources. Empowerment will challenge their responsibility and their ability to function for the common good—themselves, the State and the world at large.     

The mechanism of different cyanobacterial responses to glyphosate

Glyphosate, the most extensively used herbicide globally, has raised ecotoxicological concerns because it can be transported into the aquatic environment and cause adverse effects on the aquatic system. However, the functional mechanism of glyphosate on cyanobacteria are not completely disentangled. In this study, we selected six common cyanobacteria to evaluate glyphosate effects on cyanobacterial growth in monoculture experiment. Results showed that the growth of five tested cyanobacterial species were promoted under different degrees, and only Pseudanabaena was inhibited by glyphosate. In the phylogenetic tree based on gene sequences of 5-enol-pyruvylshikimate-3-phosphate synthase (EPSPS), a target for glyphosate, we found that the position of Pseudanabaena is the closest to plant, which was sensitive to glyphosate, thereby explaining the inhibitory effect of Pseudanabaena following glyphosate exposure. The primary degraded metabolites or analogs did not induce cyanobacterial growth, laterally demonstrating that glyphosate was used as a source of phosphorus to accelerate cyanobacterial growth because phosphorus levels increased in the medium of glyphosate treatment. Overall, this study provides a better understanding of the influence of glyphosate on the composition of aquatic microbiota and explains the mechanism of cyanobacterial response to glyphosate.     

The European Conformity Assessment Procedures and the Quality Assurance Instruments for Personal Protective Equipment in the Internal Market

Conformity assessment procedures prescribed by European legislation are presented and their concrete implementation is illustrated by the example of personal protective equipment (PPE). The different categories of PPE defined by Council Directive 89/686/EEC are explained with reference to the applicable conformity assessment elements. Quality assurance of production is presented as the central element of the conformity assessment procedure for complex PPE. Special emphasis is put on the necessity of having a regular exchange of views and information among notified bodies in Europe. Ways in which third countries can eventually carry out conformity assessment on the basis of a contract with the European Community Commission are explained.     

肺炎疫情期间医护人员心理危机干预效果分析

为提升医护人员心理健康水平,该文对肺炎疫情期间医护人员实施心理危机干预并分析其效果,以参与2020年1月25日-2月25日湖北省武汉市新冠肺炎疫情期间救治工作的300名医护人员作为研究对象,平均划分为实验组和对照组,其中针对实验组实施统一的心理危机干预训练,此期间对照组未参与训练但日常生活与实验组统一,选取四种量表分别对干预前后的两组实施测评。测评结果表明,干预后实验组的SCL-90各因子得分、SDS得分及SAS得分较干预前均下降明显,且下降幅度超过对照组;实验组干预后的GQOLI总得分与各维度得分均较干预前显著升高,且升高幅度高于对照组。综上,心理危机干预可显著提升医护人员的心理健康水平,缓解其心理紧张等症状,能够在一定程度上降低肺炎疫情期间医护人员的心理危机感。     

Cultivating food as a right to the city

This paper argues that there is much to be gained when we view struggles to cultivate food in the city through the lens of Henri Lefebvre's concept of the right to the city. Lefebvre's idea helps us better perceive the radical political and ecological potential of those struggles. And in the empirical details of the struggles we can see concretely the key action in Lefebvre's concept, an action that is only abstract in his work: urban inhabitants becoming active and producing and managing space for themselves.