Beware the animals that dance: conservation as an unintended outcome of cultural practices

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Parks Congress of 2003 and the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) of 2004 call for the recognition and support of Community Conserved Areas, with the CBD Programme of Work on Protected Areas committing countries to take action by 2008. Both within protected areas and in the matrix of land beyond reserves, customs and beliefs of indigenous and local communities can yield conservation benefits. Identifying an intention to conserve by the custodians of customary conserved areas can be challenging as customary practices are embedded within a myriad of cosmologies and worldviews. However, the definition of Community Conserved Areas does not require an expressed intention to conserve nor does it specify the mechanisms by which nature or natural resources can be conserved. Thus, conservation as an unintended outcome of cultural practices is included within the scope of community conservation. Fieldwork was conducted in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, from October 2010 to April 2011. Data for the case study of Gumantong comes from an interview with Porodong Mogilin,!Native Chief Representative of Matunggong Native Court in Bavanggazo, Kudat and meetings of community leaders from the 13 villages surrounding Gumantong. This paper 1) employs the case study of Gumantong in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo, to highlight the distinction between communities expressing an intention to conserve and conservation as an unintended outcome of cultural practices and 2) considers the implications of this distinction for the process of recognizing and supporting Community Conserved Areas

Sacred groves: potential for biodiversity management

Existing global protected area networks have two shortcomings: they do not cover certain habitats, and local people often resent their formal management. Here, we show that communities around the world traditionally protect natural sites that are dedicated to ancestral spirits or deities. Such sites cover a wide variety of habitats and are often located in biodiversity rich regions. Case studies on sacred groves show that these small forest patches play an important role in biodiversity conservation. Furthermore, natural sacred sites are maintained through traditional methods of community based conservation that do not require governmental involvement. Incorporating these sites into conservation networks could enhance the effectiveness of protected areas by covering a wider variety of habitats and by harnessing the support of local people. In this article, we discuss current threats to sacred groves that need to be addressed through management approaches. More research on the ecology and underlying socioeconomic mechanisms of natural sacred sites is required to fully reveal their potential for biodiversity conservation

Tropical agricultural production, conservation and carbon sequesteration conflicts: oil palm expansion in South East Asia

Agricultural expansion remains one of the leading causes of deforestation, biodiversity losses and environmental degradation across the world, especially in the tropics (Angelsen et al., 1999 and Norris, 2008). From 1961 to 1993, the world population increased by 80% (Goklany, 1998). Due to the rapidly expanding human populations large increases in the supply of agricultural products are required, which may lead to the transformation of many landscapes (including biodiversity-rich tropical rainforests) to agricultural landscapes (Ewers et al., 2009). The quest for further land for agricultural production has already caused significant habitat loss and fragmentation, posing substantial threats to the world’s biodiversity, forests and ecosystems (Goklany, 1998). According to Matson and Vitousek (2006), many involved in conservation believe that the twin goals of increasing agricultural production and conservation are fundamentally incompatible. Indeed representatives of developing countries (where the tropical forests and majority of the world’s biodiversity reside) argue that their developmental needs are partially met by deforestation, since it provides arable land and timber export revenues (Leplay et al., 2010). Further, agricultural revenues accrued from cultivating plantation crops, such as timber, palm and coffee, are significant drivers of deforestation in many parts of the tropics (Kaimowitz and Angelsen, 1998)

Evaluating land use and aboveground biomass dynamics in an oil palm–dominated landscape in Borneo using optical remote sensing

The focus of this study is to assess the efficacy of using optical remote sensing (RS) in evaluating disparities in forest composition and aboveground biomass (AGB). The research was carried out in the East Sabah region, Malaysia, which constitutes a disturbance gradient ranging from pristine old growth forests to forests that have experienced varying levels of disturbances. Additionally, a significant proportion of the area consists of oil palm plantations. In accordance with local laws, riparian forest (RF) zones have been retained within oil palm plantations and other forest types. The RS imagery was used to assess forest stand structure and AGB. Band reflectance, vegetation indicators, and gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) consistency features were used as predictor variables in regression analysis. Results indicate that the spectral variables were limited in their effectiveness in differentiating between forest types and in calculating biomass. However, GLCM based variables illustrated strong correlations with the forest stand structures as well as with the biomass of the various forest types in the study area. The present study provides new insights into the efficacy of texture examination methods in differentiating between various land-use types (including small, isolated forest zones such as RFs) as well as their AGB stocks

Availability of Pulses in Rural Karnataka: Need to Use District-level Data

In a response to "Making Pulses Affordable Again"(EPW, 7 January 2017) by P K Joshi, Avinash Kishore and Devesh Roy this article aims to bring to the fore the importance of using district-level data on nutritional levels and pulse production, that can better inform public policy and help improve human development indicators

Going beyond hunger: Linking food supplies to global malnutrition

International food security and nutrition studies focus mainly on hunger rather than dietary diversity and the nutritional requirements essential for a productive life. The authors present a method that processes Food and Agriculture Organization food supply data into World Health Organization food groups to determine whether national food supply satisfies nutritional requirements for medium energy intake (i.e. c.2200 calories per day) rather than minimum energy intake. They employ a modified version of the International Food Policy Research Institute’s 2013 Global Hunger Index to group nations for comparison. The results show that most nations have a deficit in at least one of four required food groups. However, many developed Mediterranean nations with low levels of hunger display an adequate supply of all food groups. The positioning represents a successful model for managing the nutrition transition from plant-based diets to the consumption of animal protein, oils, fats, and sugars and other carbohydrates. Additionally, the results suggest that health risks associated with overweight and obesity may increase with societal development. Accordingly, the authors conclude that information on medium energy requirements should be combined with complementary socio-economic analysis to inform food and nutrition research and policy

Landscape diversity for food security

Despite the growing recognition of the need for substantive change in the global food system, there is a lack of knowledge regarding the viable pathways for such a transformational change. The primary reason is that the food system is organised around large-scale, commercial, and intensive agriculture, emphasizing production maximisation. There are alternatives to the current mode of agriculture, food production, and food supply, but they are frequently marginalised in the global food system. The Landscape Diversity for Food Security Workshop on 10th July 2023 aimed to examine various strategies for transforming agricultural landscapes and food systems, particularly in the United Kingdom. The workshop reviewed alternative methods for identifying routes to accomplishing these transformations