Sustainable protected areas: Synergies between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development

1. Reconciling conservation and socioeconomic development goals is key to sustainability but remains a source of fierce debate. Protected areas (PAs) are believed to play an essential role in achieving these seemingly conflicting goals. Yet, there is limited evidence as to whether PAs are actually achieving the two goals simultaneously. 2. Here, we investigate when and to what extent synergies or trade‐offs between biodiversity conservation and local socioeconomic development occur. To explore these relationships, we collected data across a wide range of socioeconomic settings through face‐to‐face survey with PA managers from 114 African and European PAs using structured questionnaire. 3. We found synergies between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development for 62% of the PAs, albeit with significant differences between African (55%) and European PAs (75%). Moreover, the sustainability of PAs in conserving biodiversity was strongly correlated with the empowerment of the PA management and the involvement of local communities in PA planning and decision‐making processes. 4. Our results demonstrate that for PAs to promote synergies between biodiversity conservation and local socioeconomic development, and to enhance their long‐term sustainability, they should invest in the empowerment of their respective management and involvement of local communities in their planning and management activities

Sustainable protected areas: Synergies between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development

1. Reconciling conservation and socioeconomic development goals is key to sus- tainability but remains a source of fierce debate. Protected areas (PAs) are be- lieved to play an essential role in achieving these seemingly conflicting goals. Yet, there is limited evidence as to whether PAs are actually achieving the two goals simultaneously. 2. Here, we investigate when and to what extent synergies or trade- offs between biodiversity conservation and local socioeconomic development occur. To ex- plore these relationships, we collected data across a wide range of socioeco- nomic settings through face-to-face survey with PA managers from 114 African and European PAs using structured questionnaire. 3. We found synergies between biodiversity conservation and socioeconomic development for 62% of the PAs, albeit with significant differences between African (55%) and European PAs (75%). Moreover, the sustainability of PAs in conserving biodiversity was strongly correlated with the empowerment of the PA management and the involvement of local communities in PA planning and decision-making processes. 4. Our results demonstrate that for PAs to promote synergies between biodiver- sity conservation and local socioeconomic development, and to enhance their long-term sustainability, they should invest in the empowerment of their respec- tive management and involvement of local communities in their planning and management activitie

The Use of Swear Words by Junior High School Students 1 at Kotabaru Karawang West Java

Dalam setiap bahasa terdapat kata-kata yang dianggap tidak sopan untuk dikatakan kepada lawan bicara. Kata-kata tersebut mengacu kepada kata-kata yang mengandung makian dan sumpah serapah, serta memiliki konotasi kasar dan tabu untuk diucapkan dalam situasi formal. Dalam era globalisasi ini, banyak remaja khususnya remaja Sekolah menengah Pertama yang menggunakan umpatan dalam komunikasi mereka sehari-hari. Oleh karena itu, penulis tergugah untuk menganalisis fenomena penggunaan kata umpatan oleh siswa SMPN 1 di wilayah Kotabaru Karawang. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menunjukkan dan menganalisis penggunaan kata umpatan yang digunakan oleh siswa SMP mengacu kepada teori Sosiolinguistik yang dikemukakan oleh Janet Holmes. Kata-kata umpatan yang diproduksi oleh siswa merupakan penelitian yang bersifat deskriptif dengan pendekatan kualitatif. Penulis mengambil data dengan teknik purposive sampling sehingga penulis mendapat data sebanyak 25 kata umpatan yang dalam pengumpulan datanya dibagi menjadi 2 tahap yaitu wawancara dan observasi. Penulis juga menggunakan teknik Simak Bebas Libat Cakap dan teknik catat ketika mengobservasi tuturan umpatan yang digunakan oleh siswa. Dalam mewawancarai siswa, penulis menggunakan teknik rekam untuk menjaga keaslian data. Dari hasil pengumpulan data, penulis mendapatkan 16 tuturan umpatan yang diperoleh dengan cara mewawancarai siswa dan 9 tuturan umpatan yang diperoleh dengan cara observasi di sekolah. Sebagian besar kata – kata umpatan dituturkan oleh siswa laki – laki. Namun ada beberapa tuturan umpatan yang diproduksi oleh siswa perempuan ketika mengumpat dengan teman sebayanya. Dari hasil observasi, penulis menemukan kata – kata umpatan yang digunakan siswa kepada temannya hanya pada latar informal. Walaupun ada seorang murid yang mengaku bahwa dirinya pernah mengumpat pada saat terdapat guru di dalam kelas, hal itu tidak lebih dari sekedar lelucon belaka. Secara garis besar, topik ketika siswa mengumpat kepada temannya hanya sebagai bahan lelucon. Meskipun ada beberapa tuturan umpatan yang mempunyai topik kemarahan, sebagian besar umpatan yang digunakan siswa mempunyai fungsi ekspresif

Analysis of differences and commonalities in wildlife hunting across the Africa-Europe South-North gradient

Hunting and its impacts on wildlife are typically studied regionally, with a particular focus on the Global South. Hunting can, however, also undermine rewilding efforts or threaten wildlife in the Global North. Little is known about how hunting manifests under varying socioeconomic and ecological contexts across the Global South and North. Herein, we examined differences and commonalities in hunting characteristics across an exemplary Global South-North gradient approximated by the Human Development Index (HDI) using face-to-face interviews with 114 protected area (PA) managers in 25 African and European countries. Generally, we observed that hunting ranges from the illegal, economically motivated, and unsustainable hunting of herbivores in the South to the legal, socially and ecologically motivated hunting of ungulates within parks and the illegal hunting of mainly predators outside parks in the North. Commonalities across this Africa-Europe South-North gradient included increased conflict-related killings in human-dominated landscapes and decreased illegal hunting with beneficial community conditions, such as mutual trust resulting from community involvement in PA management. Nevertheless, local conditions cannot outweigh the strong effect of the HDI on unsustainable hunting. Our findings highlight regional challenges that require collaborative, integrative efforts in wildlife conservation across actors, while identified commonalities may outline universal mechanisms for achieving this goal.publishedVersio

Open-access platform to synthesize knowledge of ape conservation across sites

Despite the large body of literature on ape conservation, much of the data needed for evidence‐based conservation decision‐making is still not readily accessible and standardized, rendering cross‐site comparison difficult. To support knowledge synthesis and to complement the IUCN SSC Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys database, we created the A.P.E.S. Wiki (https://apeswiki.eva.mpg.de), an open‐access platform providing site‐level information on ape conservation status and context. The aim of this Wiki is to provide information and data about geographical ape locations, to curate information on individuals and organizations active in ape research and conservation, and to act as a tool to support collaboration between conservation practitioners, scientists, and other stakeholders. To illustrate the process and benefits of knowledge synthesis, we used the momentum of the update of the conservation action plan for western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and began with this critically endangered taxon. First, we gathered information on 59 sites in West Africa from scientific publications, reports, and online sources. Information was compiled in a standardized format and can thus be summarized using a web scraping approach. We then asked experts working at those sites to review and complement the information (20 sites have been reviewed to date). We demonstrate the utility of the information available through the Wiki, for example, for studying species distribution. Importantly, as an open‐access platform and based on the well‐known wiki layout, the A.P.E.S. Wiki can contribute to direct and interactive information sharing and promote the efforts invested by the ape research and conservation community. The Section on Great Apes and the Section on Small Apes of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group will guide and support the expansion of the platform to all small and great ape taxa. Similar collaborative efforts can contribute to extending knowledge synthesis to all nonhuman primate species.Additional co-authors: R. Adriana Hernandez‐Aguilar, Annika Hillers, Kimberley J. Hockings, Sorrel Jones, Michael Kaiser, Kathelijne Koops, Juan M. Lapuente, Julia Riedel, Emilien Terrade, Clement G. Tweh, Virginie Vergnes, Tina Vogt, Hjalmar S. Küh

Range-wide indicators of African great ape density distribution

Species distributions are influenced by processes occurring at multiple spatial scales. It is therefore insufficient to model species distribution at a single geographic scale, as this does not provide the necessary understanding of determining factors. Instead, multiple approaches are needed, each differing in spatial extent, grain, and research objective. Here, we present the first attempt to model continent-wide great ape density distribution. We used site-level estimates of African great ape abundance to (1) identify socioeconomic and environmental factors that drive densities at the continental scale, and (2) predict range-wide great ape density. We collated great ape abundance estimates from 156 sites and defined 134 pseudo-absence sites to represent additional absence locations. The latter were based on locations of unsuitable environmental conditions for great apes, and on existing literature. We compiled seven socioeconomic and environmental covariate layers and fitted a generalized linear model to investigate their influence on great ape abundance. We used an Akaike-weighted average of full and subset models to predict the range-wide density distribution of African great apes for the year 2015. Great ape densities were lowest where there were high Human Footprint and Gross Domestic Product values; the highest predicted densities were in Central Africa, and the lowest in West Africa. Only 10.7% of the total predicted population was found in the International Union for Conservation of Nature Category I and II protected areas. For 16 out of 20 countries, our estimated abundances were largely in line with those from previous studies. For four countries, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, and South Sudan, the estimated populations were excessively high. We propose further improvements to the model to overcome survey and predictor data limitations, which would enable a temporally dynamic approach for monitoring great apes across their range based on key indicators.Additional co-authors: Jessica Ganas-Swaray, Nicholas Granier, Elizabeth Greengrass, Stefanie Heinicke, Ilka Herbinger, Clement Inkamba-Nkulu, Fortuné Iyenguet, Jessica Junker, Kadiri S. Bobo, Alain Lushimba, Guy Aimé Florent Malanda, Maureen S. McCarthy, Prosper Motsaba, Jennifer Moustgaard, Mizuki Murai, Bezangoye Ndokoue, Stuart Nixon, Rostand Aba'a Nseme, Zacharie Nzooh, Lilian Pintea, Andrew J. Plumptre, Justin Roy, Aaron Rundus, Jim Sanderson, Adeline Serckx, Samantha Strindberg, Clement Tweh, Hilde Vanleeuwe, Ashley Vosper, Matthias Waltert, Michael Wilson, Roger Mundry, Hjalmar S. Küh

Threat of mining to African great apes

The rapid growth of clean energy technologies is driving a rising demand for critical minerals. In 2022 at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15), seven major economies formed an alliance to enhance the sustainability of mining these essential decarbonization minerals. However, there is a scarcity of studies assessing the threat of mining to global biodiversity. By integrating a global mining dataset with great ape density distribution, we estimated the number of African great apes that spatially coincided with industrial mining projects. We show that up to one-third of Africa's great ape population faces mining-related risks. In West Africa in particular, numerous mining areas overlap with fragmented ape habitats, often in high-density ape regions. For 97% of mining areas, no ape survey data are available, underscoring the importance of increased accessibility to environmental data within the mining sector to facilitate research into the complex interactions between mining, climate, biodiversity, and sustainability

Open-access platform to synthesize knowledge of ape conservation across sites

Despite the large body of literature on ape conservation, much of the data needed for evidence-based conservation decision-making is still not readily accessible and standardized, rendering cross-site comparison difficult. To support knowledge synthesis and to complement the IUCN SSC Ape Populations, Environments and Surveys database, we created the A.P.E.S. Wiki (https://apeswiki.eva.mpg.de), an open-access platform providing site-level information on ape conservation status and context. The aim of this Wiki is to provide information and data about geographical ape locations, to curate information on individuals and organizations active in ape research and conservation, and to act as a tool to support collaboration between conservation practitioners, scientists, and other stakeholders. To illustrate the process and benefits of knowledge synthesis, we used the momentum of the update of the conservation action plan for western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) and began with this critically endangered taxon. First, we gathered information on 59 sites in West Africa from scientific publications, reports, and online sources. Information was compiled in a standardized format and can thus be summarized using a web scraping approach. We then asked experts working at those sites to review and complement the information (20 sites have been reviewed to date). We demonstrate the utility of the information available through the Wiki, for example, for studying species distribution. Importantly, as an open-access platform and based on the well-known wiki layout, the A.P.E.S. Wiki can contribute to direct and interactive information sharing and promote the efforts invested by the ape research and conservation community. The Section on Great Apes and the Section on Small Apes of the IUCN SSC Primate Specialist Group will guide and support the expansion of the platform to all small and great ape taxa. Similar collaborative efforts can contribute to extending knowledge synthesis to all nonhuman primate species

The impact of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic on agricultural production and livelihoods in Liberia.

There is unequivocal evidence in the literature that epidemics adversely affect the livelihoods of individuals, households and communities. However, evidence in the literature is dominated by the socioeconomic impacts of HIV/AIDS and malaria, while evidence on the impact of the Ebola virus disease (EVD) on households' livelihoods remains fragmented and scant. Our study investigates the effect of the EVD epidemic on the livelihoods of Liberian households using the Sustainable Livelihood Framework (SLF). The study also explores the effect of the EVD epidemic on agricultural production and productive efficiency of farm households using Spatial Stochastic Frontier Analysis (SSFA). We collected data from 623 households across Liberia in 2015, using a systematic random sampling design. Our results indicated that the annual income of sample households from communities where EVD occurred did not differ from the annual income of households from communities where EVD did not occur. Nonetheless, the majority of sample households reported a decrease in their income, compared to their income in the year before the survey. This suggests that the impact of the EVD epidemic might not only have been limited to communities directly affected by the epidemic, but also it may have indirectly affected communities in areas where EVD was not reported. We also found that the community-level incidence of EVD negatively affected crop production of farm households, which may have exacerbated the problem of food insecurity throughout the country. Moreover, we found that the EVD epidemic weakened the society's trust in Liberian institutions. In a nutshell, our results highlight that epidemics, such as the recent EVD outbreak, may have long-lasting negative effects on the livelihoods of a society and their effect may extend beyond the communities directly affected by the epidemics. This means that the nation's recovery from the impact of the epidemic would be more challenging, and the social and economic impacts of the epidemic may extend well beyond the end of the health crisis

Determinants of agricultural production using SSFM.

<p>Determinants of agricultural production using SSFM.</p