Towards automatic detection of wildlife trade using machine vision models

Unsustainable trade in wildlife is one of the major threats affecting the global biodiversity crisis. An important part of the trade now occurs on digital marketplaces and social media. Automated methods to identify trade posts are needed as resources for conservation are limited. Here, we developed machine vision models based on Deep Neural Networks with the aim to automatically identify images of exotic pet animals for sale. We trained 24 neural-net models on a newly created dataset, spanning a combination of five different architectures, three methods of training and two types of datasets. Model generalisation improved after setting a portion of the training images to represent negative features. Models were evaluated on both within and out-of-distribution data to test wider model applicability. The top performing models achieved an f-score of over 0.95 on withindistribution evaluation and between 0.75 and 0.87 on the two out-of-distribution datasets (i.e., data acquired from a source unrelated to training data), therefore, showcasing the potential application of the model to help identify content related to the sale of threatened species on digital platforms. Notably, feature-visualisation indicated that models performed well in detecting the surrounding context in which an animal was located, therefore helping to automatically detect images of animals in non-natural environments. The proposed methods are an important step towards automatic detection of online wildlife trade using machine vision models and can also be adapted to study more broadly other types of online people-nature interactions. Future studies can use these findings to build robust machine-learning models.Peer reviewe

Online sentiment towards iconic species

Studies assessing online public sentiment towards biodiversity conservation are almost non-existent. The use of social media data and other online data sources is increasing in conservation science. We collected social media and online news data pertaining to rhinoceros, which are iconic species especially threatened by illegal wildlife trade, and assessed online sentiment towards these species using natural language processing methods. We also used an outlier detection technique to identify the most prominent conservation-related events imprinted into this data. We found that tragic events, such as the death of the last male northern white rhinoceros, Sudan, in March 2018, triggered the strongest reactions, which appeared to be concentrated in western countries, outside rhinoceros range states. We also found a strong temporal cross-correlation between social media data volume and online news volume in relation to tragic events, while other events only appeared in either social media or online news. Our results highlight that the public is concerned about biodiversity loss and this, in turn, can be used to increase pressure on decision makers to develop adequate conservation actions that can help reverse the biodiversity crisis. The proposed methods and analyses can be used to infer sentiment towards any biodiversity topic from digital media data, and to detect which events are perceived most important to the public.Peer reviewe

Threats from urban expansion, agricultural transformation and forest loss on global conservation priority areas

Including threats in spatial conservation prioritization helps identify areas for conservation actions where biodiversity is at imminent risk of extinction. At the global level, an important limitation when identifying spatial priorities for conservation actions is the lack of information on the spatial distribution of threats. Here, we identify spatial conservation priorities under three prominent threats to biodiversity (residential and commercial development, agricultural expansion, and forest loss), which are primary drivers of habitat loss and threaten the persistence of the highest number of species in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, and for which spatial data is available. We first explore how global priority areas for the conservation of vertebrate (mammals, birds, and amphibians) species coded in the Red List as vulnerable to each threat differ spatially. We then identify spatial conservation priorities for all species vulnerable to all threats. Finally, we identify the potentially most threatened areas by overlapping the identified priority areas for conservation with maps for each threat. We repeat the same with four other well-known global conservation priority area schemes, namely Key Biodiversity Areas, Biodiversity Hotspots, the global Protected Area Network, and Wilderness Areas. We find that residential and commercial development directly threatens only about 4% of the global top 17% priority areas for species vulnerable under this threat. However, 50% of the high priority areas for species vulnerable to forest loss overlap with areas that have already experienced some forest loss. Agricultural expansion overlapped with similar to 20% of high priority areas. Biodiversity Hotspots had the greatest proportion of their total area under direct threat from all threats, while expansion of low intensity agriculture was found to pose an imminent threat to Wilderness Areas under future agricultural expansion. Our results identify areas where limited resources should be allocated to mitigate risks to vertebrate species from habitat loss.Peer reviewe

Quantitative conservation geography

Ongoing biodiversity loss represents the erosion of intrinsic value of living nature, reduces the contributions nature provides to people, and undermines efforts to move towards sustainability. We propose the recognition of quantitative conservation geography as a subfield of conservation science that studies where, when, and what conservation actions could be implemented in order to mitigate threats and promote sustainable people-nature interactions. We outline relevant methods and data needed in quantitative conservation geography. We also discuss the importance of filling information gaps, for example by using emerging technologies and digital data sources, for the further advancement of this subfield. Quantitative conservation geography can help inform the implementation of national and international conservation actions and policy to help stem the global biodiversity crisis.Peer reviewe

Importance of private and communal lands to sustainable conservation of Africa's rhinoceroses

A new path for rhinoceros (rhino) conservation is needed. Recent data signal the alarming impact of poaching on populations in Africa's rhino stronghold, the state-run Kruger National Park (South Africa), which today supports one quarter the rhinos than a decade ago. We aggregated African rhino population data, highlighting the growing role of private and community rhino custodians, who likely now conserve >50% of Africa's rhinos. Their contribution has been enabled by a supportive policy and economic environment, but this arrangement is becoming more difficult to sustain as costs associated with protecting rhinos skyrocket and revenue-generating options become insufficient. Some privately held rhino populations are small or intensively managed, raising questions about their conservation value. As the role of private and community custodianship becomes increasingly central to the protection of Africa's remaining rhinos, its resilience must be strengthened through implementation of adaptive policies that incentivize rhino conservation. We outline policy pathways to provide an enabling environment for rhino conservation beyond state parks.Peer reviewe

Socio-economic predictors of environmental performance among African nations

Socio-economic changes in Africa have increased pressure on the continent's ecosystems. Most research investigating environmental change has focused on the changing status of specific species or communities and protected areas, but has largely neglected the broad-scale socio-economic conditions underlying environmental degradation. We tested national-scale hypotheses regarding the socioeconomic predictors of ecosystem change and degradation across Africa, hypothesizing that human density and economic development increase the likelihood of cumulative environmental damage. Our combined environmental performance rank includes national ecological footprint, proportional species threat, recent deforestation, freshwater removal, livestock density, cropland coverage, and per capita emissions. Countries like Central African Republic, Botswana, Namibia, and Congo have the best relative environmental performance overall. Structural equation models indicate that increasing population density and overall economic activity (per capita gross domestic product corrected for purchasing-power parity) are the most strongly correlated with greater environmental degradation, while greater wealth inequality (Gini index) correlates with better environmental performance. This represents the first Africa-scale assessment of the socio-economic correlates of environmental degradation, and suggests that dedicated family planning to reduce population growth, and economic development that limits agricultural expansion (cf. intensification) are needed to support environmental sustainability.Peer reviewe

Global Protected Area Expansion : Creating More than Paper Parks

Aichi target 11 of the Convention of Biological Diversity promotes the expansion of the global protected area network to cover 17 percent of all terrestrial land and ­10 percent of coastal and marine areas by 2020 (www.cbd.int/sp/targets). At the recent World Parks Congress, organized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in Sydney, Australia, 12 innovative approaches were promoted as part of the “Promise of Sydney” to help transform decisionmaking, policy, capacity, and financing for protected areas in the next decade (http://io.aibs.org/syd). The first of such approaches includes a list of 20 important recommendations to help reach conservation goals. Many of these ­recommendations are provided for ­single countries to take action individually. In addition, the final recommendation advocates that a more ambitious target of protection (50 percent global protection) should be promoted to more adequately conserve biodiversity. Both points are problematic: recent research shows that facilitating international collaboration among countries is crucial to identifying and implementing a well-connected system of protected areas that can better represent threatened biodiversity, and setting unrealistic and politically challenging global protection targets is unneeded. This Viewpoint presents three main themes of the recommendations that would benefit from greater emphasis and the promotion of the importance of international collaborations.Peer reviewe

Human-elephant coexistence through aligning conservation with societal aspirations

Nature's contributions to people diminish when people are alienated from nature. We developed a framework to help support more sustainable people-nature interactions in the context of the conservation of African elephants (Loxodonta africana and L. cyclotis). Elephants are iconic, and ecologically, culturally, and socio-economically important, but are also competing and in conflict with people who still benefit little from elephant conservation. We demonstrate how this framework can be used to address challenges over elephant conservation and management, and help achieve human-elephant coexistence, by (i) balancing integrity of nature with social cohesion and human wellbeing, and (ii) moderating the use of nature through widely accepted values, aspirations, and rights. The framework provides mechanisms for policymakers and managers to improve existing community-based conservation initiatives, promotes equitable policies for elephant conservation, and can be applied to the conservation of other iconic species that pose management challenges.Peer reviewe

Ethics in biodiversity conservation : The meaning and importance of pluralism

Addressing the global extent of the current biodiversity crisis requires engaging with the existence of multiple equally legitimate values, but also with diverse ethical perspectives underpinning conceptions of right and wrong actions. However, western monist positions have mostly explicitly or implicitly directed conservation strategies by defining the space of legitimate arguments, overlooking solutions that do not fit neatly the chosen approaches. As ignoring diverse ethical positions leads to injustices and reduces the potential of conserving biodiversity, there is a need to recognise and navigate the ethical landscape. Ethical pluralism may provide opportunities to do so. However, the ethical underpinnings of pluralism have not been fully considered in biodiversity conservation. In this article, we elaborate the meaning, importance and limits of ethical pluralism while highlighting opportu-nities and challenges that the position may entail in biodiversity conservation science and practice. We argue that ethical pluralism allows recognising not only the existence of incommensurable plural values, but also that moral conflicts should embrace intra and inter-cultural criticism and the legitimacy of agonism and dissent, as opposed to monistic and relativistic approaches. We conclude by discussing how grounding ethical pluralism in envi-ronmental justice and environmental pragmatism may contribute to navigating the ethical landscape in biodi-versity conservation. Particularly, we highlight opportunities to: i) promote (non-anthropocentrically understood) recognition and environmental justice in biodiversity conservation and, ii) move beyond theoretical debates seeking the single best ethical theory and focus on ethical diversity as a common source of possible solutions.Peer reviewe

The emergence of private land conservation in scientific literature: a review

Private land conservation (PLC) is an important means for achieving global conservation targets. We reviewed peer-reviewed literature focussing on PLC to summarize past scientific evidence and to identify research trends and gaps to direct future research. We carried out an in-depth review of 284 scientific articles and analysed where, when and in what context PLC has been studied. Specifically, we (i) assessed where and when PLC studies took place and which topics they covered; (ii) identified the most addressed conservation actions and policy instruments, and (iii) investigated whether stakeholders' engagement during research processes was reported or not. We found that (i) there has been an increase in the number of scientific PLC publications over time; (ii) 78%of the articles in scientific journals focussed on four countries only (United States of America, Australia, South Africa and Canada); (iii) literature content focussed mostly on easements, programs and landowners and showed both geographical and temporal differences; (iv) land/water protection, law and policy and livelihood, economic and other incentives were the most addressed conservation actions; (v) property rights, particularly conservation easements, were the most addressed policy instrument; and (vi) half of the articles did not report the engagement of any stakeholder sector and cross-sector stakeholders' engagement was often missing. Overall, our results highlight the need for future studies on PLC to cover currently underrepresented regions; to assess the effec-tiveness of more conservation actions and policy instruments; and to test how engaging different stakeholders can potentially promote legitimate and equitable PLC policies across contexts.Peer reviewe