Poverty, Poaching and Trafficking: What are the links?

A rapid review of academic and grey literature revealed that the links between poverty, poaching and trafficking are under-researched and poorly understood. Yet, the assumption that poaching occurs because of poverty is omnipresent, with little ‘hard evidence’ to support the claim. Despite this, the authors are confident that the links are there, based on the evidence gathered. However, their understandings are hampered by a series of factors: trafficking and poaching are overwhelmingly framed as an issue of conservation/biodiversity loss rather than of poverty and development; it is difficult to collect clear and detailed data on poaching precisely because of its illicit nature; and many of the cases examined are also linked in with conflict zones, making research even more challenging

Improving Law Enforcement Effectiveness and Efficiency in Protected Areas Using Ranger-collected Monitoring Data

Protected areas are fundamental for conservation, yet are constantly threatened by illegal activities, such as cattle encroachment and wildlife poaching, which reduce biodiversity. Law-enforcement is an essential component of reducing illegal activities. Although necessary, law-enforcement is costly and its effectiveness in the field is rarely monitored. Improving ranger patrol efficiency is likely to decrease illegal activity occurrence and benefit biodiversity conservation, without additional resource implications. Using ranger-collected data, we develop a method to improve ranger patrol allocation, targeting different combinations of conservation priorities, and predict that detections of illegal activities can be greatly improved. In a field test in Queen Elizabeth Protected Area, Uganda, we increased detections of illegal activities in some cases by over 250% without a change in ranger resources. This easily implemented method can be used in any protected area where data on the distribution of illegal activities are collected, and improve law-enforcement efficiency in resource-limited settings

Integration of Ecological and Socioeconomic Factors in Securing Wildlife Dispersal Corridors in the Kavango-Zambezi Transfrontier Conservation Area, Southern Africa

Transfrontier conservation areas (TFCAs) are being established throughout southern Africa to integrating biodiversity conservation and rural development at the transboundary landscape scale. Among the nine TFCAs that have been established over the past 20 years, the Kavango-Zambezi (KAZA) TFCA) is the most grandiose in terms of size (≈ 520,000 Km2), number of partner countries involved (five), elephant (Loxodonta africana) population (≈ 199,031, which is the largest on the African continent), and encompasses 36 protected areas of various categories, interspaced by communal and private lands. The TFCA concept aims to ensure that key ecological processes continue to function where borders have divided ecosystems, and wildlife migration corridors. Attainment of this ecological objective is however being constrained by the anthropogenic threats, mostly poaching, and habitat fragmentation. These threats are being aggravated by the increasing human population, climate variability and underdeveloped rural livelihoods. To restore ecological processes, the following tactics have been recommended: (a) strengthening of transboundary law enforcement to effectively reduce poaching, and illegal offtake of timber; (b) establishment of “Stepping Stones” in the form of conservancies and fishing protected zones at wildlife crossing point on the major river systems; (c) reducing dependence on wood-fuel, and ensuring sustainable provision of affordable and reliable modern sources of energy; (d) adoption of the commodity-based trade standards in the production of beef for the export market to reduce the impact of veterinary fences on the dispersing wildlife; (e) implementation of early-season burning around all the sensitive biomes to protect them from the destructive late dry season fires; (f) adoption of conservation agriculture as a tool for improving land husbandry, intensification of agriculture, and decreasing the likelihood of cutting down forested areas to plant new agriculture fields; and (g) reducing the impact of climate variability on wildlife by providing artificial water – guided by environmental impact assessments. To enhance the socioeconomic development of the local communities and win them as allies in securing the wildlife dispersal corridors, the following actions should be adopted: (a) promotion of community-private partnerships in ecotourism development – alongside the establishment of a revolving loan fund to enable local communities’ access flexible source of capital for investment in ecotourism and auxiliary business opportunities; (b) promotion of biodiversity stewardship as an incentive for the local communities to commit their land to the sustenance of the wildlife dispersal corridors; (c) reducing human wildlife conflicts, through macro, meso and micro-level land-use planning to spatially delineate land committed to various categories, including protected areas, wildlife dispersal areas, and developed and communal areas; and (d) promotion of harmonised enabling policies and legislation to facilitate slowing down of human population growth, which is one of the prime triggers of habitat fragmentation in the KAZA TFCA

Militarisation of conservation, violence and local people: the case of Sikumi Forest Reserve in Zimbabwe

Violence in protected areas has become more pronounced in the last decade due to the increasing use of military practices in conservation. This study examines the texture and nature of everyday militarisation and violence effected in protected areas different from national parks and wildlife conservation. It also examines the consequences of militarised conservation on people living in, or adjacent to, these protected areas. The analysis takes a case study and ethnographic approach. It is embedded in daily patrol activities of the state paramilitary unit responsible for conservation enforcement and in experiences, with the practice of militarisation, of people living around Sikumi Forest Reserve in Zimbabwe. The study demonstrates that the form and texture of militarisation in conservation are dependent on the type of protected area, and the nature of resources under protection. It is additionally dependent on the political-economic context, and the capacity, of the state authorities responsible for protected area management, to execute military practices. Thus, protected areas that are different from national parks and, or, managed by organisations without resources to implement militarised conservation policies, may paint a different picture of militarisation. They can enforce militarised policies and strategies but only in a symbolic manner towards halting armed poaching activities. These insights reflect an alternative pattern of militarisation, which this study frames as symbolic green militarisation. Symbolic green militarisation is developed to provide alternative thinking to the idea that use of paramilitary personnel, strategies and technologies transforms protected areas into war zones or deadly landscapes. The study presents evidence that while symbolic green militarisation may not result in high-level violence, it is sufficient to expose local people, who depend on protected areas for subsistence, to particular and diverse forms of direct and indirect violence. These forms of violence are often facilitated and perpetuated by factors beyond immediate conservation practice. The study broadly argues that, regardless of the texture and nature of militarisation, demonstration or use of any amount of force in protected areas has rather significant consequences for local people who need such spaces to support their development. Overall, the resurgence of fortress conservation coupled with the adoption of military practices represents hope deferred for local people