Uganda Ends Sport Hunting as Wildlife Numbers Decline - NatGeo News Watch

Uganda Ends Sport Hunting as Wildlife Numbers Decline - NatGeo News Watch: "According to The New Vision: 'This follows a resolution from the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) to cancel hunting concessions offered years ago to the wildlife reserves.'We are concerned about the dwindling numbers of wild animals in the wildlife reserves. Hunting is prohibited,' said Mark Kamanzi, the acting director of UWA.'

Kamanzi was reported as saying that the share of benefits of sport hunting were lopsided and unlikely to deter poaching or improve UWA¹s capacity to manage the wildlife reserves."

EDGE Blog

EDGE Blog

The new EDGE mammals list has arrived! Latest research reveals a staggering 49 new species on the EDGE of Existence.

The double challenge of adapting to climate change while accelerating development in sub-Saharan Africa

Cambridge Journals Online - Abstract - The double challenge of adapting to climate change while accelerating development in sub-Saharan Africa: "Accelerating economic growth and social development is necessary to reduce the vulnerability and enhance the adaptive capacity of sub-Saharan Africa to cope with the consequences of predicted unfavorable future climate. This requires major investments and policy reforms to induce a needed radical transformation of the way development is currently pursued to a more climate-sensitive path of low carbon growth. Key gaps in the current knowledge base that call for major investments and urgent attention include the ability to forecast more robust local future climate and to account for the uncertainties associated with climate risks for ecosystems' functions and probable nonconvexities in future impacts to project more plausible scenarios for future development in sub-Saharan Africa"

Functional conservation areas and the future of Africa’s wildlife

Functional conservation areas and the future of Africa’s wildlife - Fynn - 2010 - African Journal of Ecology - Wiley Online Library: "Ungulate populations in African conservation areas (CAs) are in widespread decline, which can largely be attributed to a lack of functionality of the area encompassed by the CAs themselves. We present evidence from a wide range of African CAs showing that they do not encompass both the functional wet- and dry-season resources that ungulates traditionally migrated between."

Some Guiding Concepts for Conservation Biology

Some Guiding Concepts for Conservation Biology - LINDENMAYER - 2010 - Conservation Biology - Wiley Online Library: "The search for generalities in ecology has often been thwarted by contingency and ecological complexity that limit the development of predictive rules. We present a set of concepts that we believe succinctly expresses some of the fundamental ideas in conservation biology. (1) Successful conservation management requires explicit goals and objectives. (2) The overall goal of biodiversity management will usually be to maintain or restore biodiversity, not to maximize species richness. (3) A holistic approach is needed to solve conservation problems. (4) Diverse approaches to management can provide diverse environmental conditions and mitigate risk. (5) Using nature's template is important for guiding conservation management, but it is not a panacea. (6) Focusing on causes not symptoms enhances efficacy and efficiency of conservation actions. (7) Every species and ecosystem is unique, to some degree. (8) Threshold responses are important but not ubiquitous. (9) Multiple stressors often exert critical effects on species and ecosystems. (10) Human values are variable and dynamic and significantly shape conservation efforts."

What Every Conservation Biologist Should Know about Economic Theory

What Every Conservation Biologist Should Know about Economic Theory - GOWDY - 2010 - Conservation Biology - Wiley Online Library: "The last century has seen the ascendance of a core economic model, which we will refer to as Walrasian economics. This model is driven by the psychological assumptions that humans act only in a self-referential and narrowly rational way and that production can be described as a self-contained circular flow between firms and households. These assumptions have critical implications for the way economics is used to inform conservation biology. Yet the Walrasian model is inconsistent with a large body of empirical evidence about actual human behavior, and it violates a number of basic physical laws. Research in behavioral science and neuroscience shows that humans are uniquely social animals and not self-centered rational economic beings."

Modeling as persuasion: the impact of group model building on attitudes and behavior - Rouwette

Modeling as persuasion: the impact of group model building on attitudes and behavior - Rouwette - 2010 - System Dynamics Review - Wiley Online Library: "Client involvement in modeling is expected to change mental models and thereby foster implementation of conclusions. Leading authors have pointed out that a lack of knowledge on the crucial elements of modeling interventions hinders accumulation of research results. There is no clear evidence for the effectiveness of group model building, and a conceptual model linking elements of the modeling process to goals is missing. We propose an integrative conceptual model, drawing on theories of persuasion (mental model change) and the influence of beliefs, attitudes, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control on actions. Our study builds on standard operationalizations and a body of research in social psychology."

Environment and Development Economics (EDE)

Cambridge Journals Online - Abstract - Introduction: "Environment and Development Economics (EDE) was established 15 years ago to provide a publication outlet for theoretical and applied scientific papers dealing with issues at the intersection of environmental, resource and development economics, as well as to actively support capacity building in the developing world. In the years since its inception, EDE has published a large number of articles on topics ranging from sustainable development, the environmental Kuznets curve, and green accounting, to trade and environment, poverty and natural resource use, and the economics of ecosystems."

Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change | IsumaTV

Inuit Knowledge and Climate Change | IsumaTV: "Nunavut-based director Zacharias Kunuk (Atanarjuat The Fast Runner) and researcher and filmmaker Dr. Ian Mauro (Seeds of Change) have teamed up with Inuit communities to document their knowledge and experience regarding climate change. This new documentary, the world’s first Inuktitut language film on the topic, takes the viewer “on the land” with elders and hunters to explore the social and ecological impacts of a warming Arctic. This unforgettable film helps us to appreciate Inuit culture and expertise regarding environmental change and indigenous ways of adapting to it."

Response of native ungulates to drought in semi-arid Kenyan rangeland - Augustine - 2010 - African Journal of Ecology - Wiley Online Library

Response of native ungulates to drought in semi-arid Kenyan rangeland - Augustine - 2010 - African Journal of Ecology - Wiley Online Library: "The distribution and abundance of native ungulates were measured on commercially managed, semi-arid rangeland in central Kenya over a 3-year period that encompassed severe drought and above-average rainfall. Native ungulate biomass density averaged 5282 kg km−2 over the study and was dominated by elephant (Loxodonta africana), impala (Aepyceros melampus) and dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii). Biomass density of domestic cattle (Bos taurus) averaged 2280 kg km−2 during the study. Responses of native ungulates to severe drought were variable. Impala densities were similar to or greater than densities for similar habitat in protected areas, and varied from 12 to 16 km−2 during and following the drought to 24–29 km−2 following above-average rainfall. Dik-dik densities were also greater than densities reported for protected areas and were surprisingly stable throughout the study despite the wide annual fluctuations in rainfall."

BioOne Online Journals - Untangling the Environmentalist's Paradox: Why is Human Well-Being Increasing as Ecosystem Services Degrade?

BioOne Online Journals - Untangling the Environmentalist's Paradox: Why is Human Well-Being Increasing as Ecosystem Services Degrade?: "Environmentalists have argued that ecological degradation will lead to declines in the well-being of people dependent on ecosystem services. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment paradoxically found that human well-being has increased despite large global declines in most ecosystem services. We assess four explanations of these divergent trends: (1) We have measured well-being incorrectly; (2) well-being is dependent on food services, which are increasing, and not on other services that are declining; (3) technology has decoupled well-being from nature; (4) time lags may lead to future declines in well-being. Our findings discount the first hypothesis, but elements of the remaining three appear plausible. Although ecologists have convincingly documented ecological decline, science does not adequately understand the implications of this decline for human well-being."