Effectiveness of private land conservation areas in maintaining natural land cover and biodiversity intactness
- Shumba, Tafadzwa, de Vos, Alta, Biggs, Reinette, Esler, Karen J, Ament, Judith M, Clements, Hayley S
- Authors: Shumba, Tafadzwa , de Vos, Alta , Biggs, Reinette , Esler, Karen J , Ament, Judith M , Clements, Hayley S
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/415852 , vital:71294 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e00935"
- Description: Private land conservation areas (PLCAs) are increasingly looked to for meeting the deficit left by state-owned protected areas in reaching global conservation targets. However, despite the increasing extent and recognition of PLCAs as a complementary conservation strategy, little research has been done to quantify their effectiveness; a critical consideration if they are to be counted towards international biodiversity conservation targets. The long history of PLCAs in South Africa provides an interesting case study to address this knowledge gap. Here, we quantified the effectiveness of South African PLCAs by comparing losses in natural land cover and biodiversity intactness within PLCAs with different levels of protection to that of unprotected control points. Points within PLCAs were matched with unprotected control points to test the prediction that if PLCAs offer effective protection, losses in natural land cover and biodiversity intactness would be significantly lower within their boundaries in comparison to unprotected controls exposed to similar conditions. Consequences of natural land cover loss on biodiversity intactness were thus assessed, thus advancing standard approaches for quantifying effectiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Shumba, Tafadzwa , de Vos, Alta , Biggs, Reinette , Esler, Karen J , Ament, Judith M , Clements, Hayley S
- Date: 2020
- Subjects: To be catalogued
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/415852 , vital:71294 , xlink:href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gecco.2020.e00935"
- Description: Private land conservation areas (PLCAs) are increasingly looked to for meeting the deficit left by state-owned protected areas in reaching global conservation targets. However, despite the increasing extent and recognition of PLCAs as a complementary conservation strategy, little research has been done to quantify their effectiveness; a critical consideration if they are to be counted towards international biodiversity conservation targets. The long history of PLCAs in South Africa provides an interesting case study to address this knowledge gap. Here, we quantified the effectiveness of South African PLCAs by comparing losses in natural land cover and biodiversity intactness within PLCAs with different levels of protection to that of unprotected control points. Points within PLCAs were matched with unprotected control points to test the prediction that if PLCAs offer effective protection, losses in natural land cover and biodiversity intactness would be significantly lower within their boundaries in comparison to unprotected controls exposed to similar conditions. Consequences of natural land cover loss on biodiversity intactness were thus assessed, thus advancing standard approaches for quantifying effectiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Impacts of a trophy hunting ban on private land conservation in South African biodiversity hotspots:
- Parker, Kim, de Vos, Alta, Clements, Hayley S, Biggs, Duan, Biggs, Reinette
- Authors: Parker, Kim , de Vos, Alta , Clements, Hayley S , Biggs, Duan , Biggs, Reinette
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158219 , vital:40163 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/csp2.214
- Description: Private land conservation areas (PLCAs) have become critical for achieving global conservation goals, but we lack understanding of how and when these areas respond to global pressures and opportunities. In southern Africa, where many PLCAs rely on trophy hunting as an income‐generating strategy, a potential ban on trophy hunting locally or abroad holds unknown consequences for the future conservation of these lands. In this study, we investigate the consequences of a potential trophy hunting ban in PLCAs in two biodiversity hotspots in South Africa's Eastern and Western Cape provinces. We used semistructured interviews with PLCA managers and owners to elicit perceived impacts of an internationally imposed trophy hunting ban on conservation activities in PLCAs, and to probe alternative viable land uses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Impacts of a trophy hunting ban on private land conservation in South African biodiversity hotspots:
- Authors: Parker, Kim , de Vos, Alta , Clements, Hayley S , Biggs, Duan , Biggs, Reinette
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/158219 , vital:40163 , https://0-doi.org.wam.seals.ac.za/10.1111/csp2.214
- Description: Private land conservation areas (PLCAs) have become critical for achieving global conservation goals, but we lack understanding of how and when these areas respond to global pressures and opportunities. In southern Africa, where many PLCAs rely on trophy hunting as an income‐generating strategy, a potential ban on trophy hunting locally or abroad holds unknown consequences for the future conservation of these lands. In this study, we investigate the consequences of a potential trophy hunting ban in PLCAs in two biodiversity hotspots in South Africa's Eastern and Western Cape provinces. We used semistructured interviews with PLCA managers and owners to elicit perceived impacts of an internationally imposed trophy hunting ban on conservation activities in PLCAs, and to probe alternative viable land uses.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
Integrated landscape change analysis of protected areas and their surrounding landscapes: application in the Brazilian Cerrado
- Bellón, Beatriz, Blanco, Julien, de Vos, Alta, de Oliviera Roque, Fabio, Pays, Olivier, Renaud, Pierre-Cyril
- Authors: Bellón, Beatriz , Blanco, Julien , de Vos, Alta , de Oliviera Roque, Fabio , Pays, Olivier , Renaud, Pierre-Cyril
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148681 , vital:38763 , https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12091413
- Description: Remote sensing tools have been long used to monitor landscape dynamics inside and around protected areas. Hereto, scientists have largely relied on land use and land cover (LULC) data to derive indicators for monitoring these dynamics, but these metrics do not capture changes in the state of vegetation surfaces that may compromise the ecological integrity of conservation areas’ landscapes. Here, we introduce a methodology that combines LULC change estimates with three Normalized Difference Vegetation Index-based proxy indicators of vegetation productivity, phenology, and structural change. We illustrate the utility of this methodology through a regional and local analysis of the landscape dynamics in the Cerrado Biome in Brazil in 2001 and 2016. Despite relatively little natural vegetation loss inside core protected areas and their legal buffer zones, the different indicators revealed significant LULC conversions from natural vegetation to farming land, general productivity loss, homogenization of natural forests, significant agricultural expansion, and a general increase in productivity. These results suggest an overall degradation of habitats and intensification of land use in the studied conservation area network, highlighting serious conservation inefficiencies in this region and stressing the importance of integrated landscape change analyses to provide complementary indicators of ecologically-relevant dynamics in these key conservation areas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
- Authors: Bellón, Beatriz , Blanco, Julien , de Vos, Alta , de Oliviera Roque, Fabio , Pays, Olivier , Renaud, Pierre-Cyril
- Date: 2020
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/148681 , vital:38763 , https://doi.org/10.3390/rs12091413
- Description: Remote sensing tools have been long used to monitor landscape dynamics inside and around protected areas. Hereto, scientists have largely relied on land use and land cover (LULC) data to derive indicators for monitoring these dynamics, but these metrics do not capture changes in the state of vegetation surfaces that may compromise the ecological integrity of conservation areas’ landscapes. Here, we introduce a methodology that combines LULC change estimates with three Normalized Difference Vegetation Index-based proxy indicators of vegetation productivity, phenology, and structural change. We illustrate the utility of this methodology through a regional and local analysis of the landscape dynamics in the Cerrado Biome in Brazil in 2001 and 2016. Despite relatively little natural vegetation loss inside core protected areas and their legal buffer zones, the different indicators revealed significant LULC conversions from natural vegetation to farming land, general productivity loss, homogenization of natural forests, significant agricultural expansion, and a general increase in productivity. These results suggest an overall degradation of habitats and intensification of land use in the studied conservation area network, highlighting serious conservation inefficiencies in this region and stressing the importance of integrated landscape change analyses to provide complementary indicators of ecologically-relevant dynamics in these key conservation areas.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2020
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