Enforcement and Compliance in Lima's Street Markets: The Origins and Consequences of Policy Incoherence toward Informal Traders

informal economy, taxation, law, government policy

Enforcement and compliance in Lima's street markets: the origins and consequences of policy incoherence toward informal traders

Almost twenty years have passed since researchers from the Institute for Liberty and Democracy in Peru showed how ‘bad laws’ impose disproportionate costs on those who choose formality. Although a multitude of conflicting regulations still precludes effective governance of informal trade in Lima, this paper argues that the sources of those conflicts are more diverse – though perhaps more tractable – than they might have been twenty years ago. Specifically, the paper identifies three sources of policy incoherence in Lima that contribute to persistent clashes between informal workers and policy makers: (1) the lack of definitional clarity in national and metropolitan-level legislation; (2) the absence of reliable mechanisms designed to resolve those definitional contradictions; and (3) a resulting lack of policy continuity over time within individual municipal administrations

Functional responses in the habitat selection of a generalist mega-herbivore, the African savannah elephant

Resource selection function (RSF) models are commonly used to quantify species/ habitat associations and predict species occurrence on the landscape. However, these models are sensitive to changes in resource availability and can result in a functional response to resource abundance, where preferences change as a function of availability. For generalist species, which utilize a wide range of habitats and resources, quantifying habitat selection is particularly challenging. Spatial and temporal changes in resource abundance can result in changes in selection preference affecting the robustness of habitat selection models. We examined selection preference across a wide range of ecological conditions for a generalist mega-herbivore, the savannah elephant (Loxodonta africana), to quantify general patterns in selection and to illustrate the importance of functional responses in elephant habitat selection. We found a functional response in habitat selection across both space and time for tree cover, with tree cover being unimportant to habitat selection in the mesic, eastern populations during the wet season. A temporal functional response for water was also evident, with greater variability in selection during the wet season. Selection for low slopes, high tree cover, and far distance from people was consistent across populations; however, variability in selection coefficients changed as a function of the abundance of a given resource within the home range. This variability of selection coefficients could be used to improve confidence estimations for inferences drawn from habitat selection models. Quantifying functional responses in habitat selection is one way to better predict how wildlife will respond to an ever-changing environment, and they provide promising insights into the habitat selection of generalist species

Similarity in habitat preferences impedes human elephant

Large conservation areas protect charismatic species and epitomize African savannahs, as do rural areas where people and wildlife live sympatrically but not always harmoniously. Incentives to include rural areas into conservation networks are lucrative and promise to improve conservation effectiveness. However, we show that in northern Botswana where a quarter of Africa’s savannah elephants live, people occupy habitats that are sought after by elephants. Elephants trying to access resources in these areas then face increased mortality, particularly in the most suitable habitats. To mitigate this risk, elephants responded by selecting less suitable habitats. Consequently conservation strategies that promote human-wildlife coexistence may prove unsuccessful, particularly when resource competition leads to wildlife mortality. Conservation should ensure that people do not limit wildlife’s access to prime habitat