Evaluating rural participation in wetland management: a contingent valuation analysis of the set-aside policy in Iran

Growing conditions of water scarcity and population growth necessitate measures for improvedwater availability to meet agricultural, industrial, and domestic and consumer water demands;generating new environmental pressures on wetlands and other aquatic ecosystems. In Iran, the“set-aside program” incentivizes farmer participation in wetland conservation throughmandated land management practices, making them key stakeholders in environmentalconservation action. This study explores attitudes to participation in the set-aside wetlandconservation program to revive the Jazmurian wetland in Iran, using a random sample of 226farmer-stakeholder respondents. Farmers were surveyed to investigate economic and socialparticipation using a willingness to accept (WTA) and willingness to pay (in money per ha)(WTP) model. Results show strong (45%) respondent opposition to wetland conservationparticipation. On the basis of their WTA, the amount of compensation offered by the villagerswas significantly affected by “the cultivated area”, “gender”, “education”, “family size”,“residency”, “income”, “moralism”, and “Inverse Mills Ratio index” factors. Also, “thecultivated area”, “age”, “education”, “marital status”, “family size”, and “income” were foundto be significantly affecting their WTP. We argue firstly, that policies to improve wetlandconservation must join together infrastructure and agricultural development planning – suchthat dam projects, agricultural and water conservation planning are better integrated acrosswetland catchments. Secondly, that wetland conservation participation will be improvedthrough land consolidation agreements for small-holders, and through incomes stabilisation,capacity building, social learning and awareness-raising initiatives for farmers towardssustainable agricultural practices

Mortality Factors of Dalmatian Pelicans (<i>Pelecanus crispus</i>) Wintering in Macedonia, Greece

A survey of dead Dalmatian Pelicans (Pelecanus crispus) at Kerkini Lake, Greece, the major wintering site in Europe of this world-endangered species, was undertaken to investigate the causes of high mortality that occurred during 1991–93. In February 1991, 30% of the population wintering on the Lake (30 individuals) were found dead, the majority (85%) having died of natural causes. A loss of this magnitude does not reflect only locally or on the genetic stock of the species but is also a matter of grave concern relative to its conservation world-wide.Most mortality of the Pelicans coincided with subzero temperatures and the Lake freezing over — conditions that direct fish to deep waters, and make them unavailable to the Pelicans. Necropsies were carried out on the carcasses of 13 Pelicans, including stomach and gizzard, etc., contents' analysis, and gross pathological, bacteriological, toxicological, and parasitological, examinations. All the carcasses found at Lake Kerkini were dehydrated and emaciated. No food was found in the digestive system of the Pelicans, but there was a heavy parasite burden. Species of seven helminth genera were detected in the carcasses, three of them (Bolbophorus, Contracaecum, and Synhimantus) being reported for the first time in Greece. Contracaecum spp. in large numbers (up to 875 worms per bird), were found in the digestive system of all the carcasses. Most parasites were observed to penetrate the wall of the gizzard, causing haemorrhages and ulcers. No evidence of chlorinated hydrocarbon contamination or bacterial infection was found. Mycotic lesions were detected in the air-sacs of one Dalmatian Pelican, which may have contributed to the death of that particular individual in connection with the parasite burden.</jats:p

Contrasts in conservation attitudes and agricultural practices between farmers operating in wetlands and a plain in Macedonia, Greece

Conservation projects around the world have been impeded by conflicting land uses. In Greece, although agriculture is considered to have significant impacts on wetlands and adversely to have affected conservation, the attitudes of Greek farmers to wetlands and conservation have not been assessed. Data on demographic variables of farm operators, characteristics of the farming operation, irrigation practices, attitudes towards environment and the wetland resources, knowledge on the impact of agriculture on the local environment and opinions on the Common Agricultural Policy reform, were collected through a survey using personal interviews from a random sample of 196 farmers operating in two wetlands, Lakes Mikri Prespa and Kerkini (Ramsar sites), and 141 farmers operating in a plain, in Macedonia, northern Greece.Analysis of the data revealed that farmers practise crop and stock agriculture more intensively in wetlands than in the plain, and exploit wetland resources excessively. Hunting, fishing and wood harvesting are practised, and lake water is used intensively for irrigation by both groups of farmers, with no care for loss of the resources. Alternative methods of irrigation for improving efficiency of water use or alleviating hydrological pressures on the wetlands are not considered. Sustainability of agriculture is at risk as present practices result in impoverished soils, salinization of the fields and waste of water resources. Wetland farmers seemed to have a more negative attitude toward the wetland resources and seemed to be more ignorant of conservation issues or the impact of their practices on the environment than plain farmers. Moreover, their awareness and willingness to adopt an environmentally-friendly type of farming was very low.</jats:p

Biological Conservation Implications of Water-level Fluctuations in a Wetland of International Importance: Lake Kerkini, Macedonia, Greece

Kerkini Lake in Greece, a reservoir maintained principally for agricultural irrigation purposes on the Strymon River, has been classified as a ‘Wetland of International Importance’ according to the Ramsar Convention. Hydrological conditions favoured the formation of a shallow, very productive lake, rich in species diversity and biotic abundance. The importance of the wetland lay in its complex zonation of various habitats which mainly consisted of: shallow open water with sand-strips, beaches, and mud-flats; shallow-water areas with communities of emergent vegetation; a lowland hardwood riparian forest mainly of Salix and Tamarix species; a shrub-swamp; and extensive wet meadows. The diversity of habitats supported a rich waterbird fauna for breeding, stationing during migration, and wintering.Nevertheless, in 1982 a new high-dam was constructed, higher embankments along the banks of the Lake were established, and other works were carried out (to increase the water capacity of the reservoir), in response to irrigation demands. No consideration was given to the wetland resources. Operation of the new dam resulted in changes in the flooding etc. regime, with severe impact on the biotic resources of the wetland, especially by waterlevel increases of more than 5 m in less than 4 months during spring — the critical growing- and breedingseason. Wetland heterogeneity and the mosaic structure of water-land-vegetation were thereby lost.Now the riparian forest is diminishing in area and declining in productivity, the reed-swamp with emergent macrophytes has been lost, and wet meadows have also disappeared. Deep flooding and the loss of these habitats is reflected in marked decline in the densities of migratory waterbird populations and, most important, in drastic shrinkage in the populations of breeding species. Similar impact is observed in the dramatic decline of fish species diversity and abundance. In general, nowadays, Kerkini presents an alarming example of loss of biodiversity and accelerating impoverishment of its former biotic resources.In view of the projected plans to increase further the water-storage capacity of the Lake by raising its waterlevel, measures are urgently needed: (a) for preventing such actions; (b) for restoring and maintaining marsh conditions, and (c) for ecologically sound management and sustainable use of the wetland resources.</jats:p

Conservation-related Attitudes of Lake Fishermen in Greece

Lakes Visthonis, Kerkini, and Mikri Prespa, in Greece – Mikri Prespa being designated also a national park – although wetlands of international importance, suffer severe conservation problems with a continuous deterioration of their resources. A major cause of this problem is unsustainable utilization of the wetlands by their main users, local fishermen. The aim of this paper is to present several demographic and fishing-activity characteristics of the fishermen, and to analyse the conflict by associating these attributes with the conservation attitudes towards elements of the wetland ecosystems, the pelicans, and other birds.</jats:p