Search

Since the industrial revolution, the predominant model of economic development hasinvolved economies of scale and unsustainable exploitation of natural resources,leading to environmental degradation and the ongoing mass extinction of species. The environmental impacts of this development-for(the sake of)-development model led to biodiversity conservation efforts that can be described as conservation-for (the sake of)-conservation approach involving protected areas maintained free of humans. This approach subsequently expanded to include development-for-conservation efforts that integrated local community welfare into conservation programs. These conservation approaches helped make socio-ecological gains, but have failed to address planetary environmental degradation. Here, we outline a development approach for the earth’s last-remaining biodiversity rich areas, focusing on economies of value rather than scale, and relying on conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of ecosystem services. This conservation-for-development model is an attempt to bring humanity and nature closer, and move away from nature–people dualism that has characterized economic development and biodiversity conservation so far.

SummaryProtection of biodiversity requires inclusive and gender-responsive programming. Evidence of success in engaging women in large carnivore conservation remains scarce, however, although women play an important role in caring for livestock at risk of predation and could contribute to large-carnivore conservation. We aimed to assess the performance of an income-generation and skills-building programme for women in Spiti Valley (India) that sought to engage women in local conservation action. Annual programme monitoring together with a one-time survey of attitudes, perceptions and social norms in eight communities exposed to the conservation programme and seven ‘control’ communities revealed: a keen interest and increasing levels of women’s participation over 7 years of programme operation; participant reports of multiple programme benefits including additional personal income, social networking and travel opportunities; and more positive attitudes towards snow leopards among programme participants than among non-participants in the control communities. Women from programme communities recorded in their diaries 33 self-directed conservation actions including improving livestock protection and preventing wildlife poaching. These results show a way forward to purposively engage women in conservation programming towards achieving sustainable and equitable outcomes in efforts to promote carnivore–human coexistence.

The science-policy interface (SPI) is a complex space, in theory and practice, that sees the interaction of various actors and perspectives coming together to enable scientific knowledge to support decision-making. Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are increasingly interested in engaging with SPI, with the number of opportunities to do so increasing at national and international levels. However, there are still many challenges limiting ECRs participation, not least how such a complex space can be entered and navigated. While recommendations for engaging with SPI already exist, these do not always connect deeply enough with the context in which ECRs find themselves working. With the purpose of facilitating the engagement of ECRs working in biodiversity and ecosystem services in SPI, the authors have co-created a ‘mind-map’ - a navigational aid to help understand the landscape of and leverage access to SPI. This mind-map was developed through reviewing published literature, collating personal experiences of the ECR authors, and collecting perspectives in an ECR workshop during the 7th Plenary of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). This co-created mind map sees ECR engagement in SPI as an interaction of three main factors: the environment of the ECR, which mediates their acts of engagement with SPI leading to outcomes that will ultimately have a reciprocal impact on the ECR’s environment.

Effective knowledge exchange at science-policy interfaces (SPIs) can foster evidence-informed policy-making through the integration of a wide range of knowledge inputs. This is especially crucial for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES), human well-being and sustainable development. Early-career researchers (ECRs) can contribute significantly to knowledge exchange at SPIs. Recognizing that, several capacity building programs focused on sustainability have been introduced recently. However, little is known about the experiences and perceptions of ECRs in relation to SPIs. Our study focused on SPI engagement of ECRs who conduct research on biodiversity and ES, as perceived and experienced. Specifically, we addressed ‘motivations’, ‘barriers’ and ‘opportunities and ‘benefits’. A total of 145 ECRs have completed the survey. Our results showed that ECRs were generally interested to engage in SPIs and believed it to be beneficial in terms of contributing to societal change, understanding policy processes and career development. Respondents perceived lack of understanding about involvement channels, engagement opportunities, funding, training, perceived credibility of ECRs by other actors and encouragement of senior colleagues as barriers to engaging in SPIs. Those who have already participated in SPIs generally saw fewer barriers and more opportunities. A key reason for dissatisfaction with experience in SPIs was a lack of impact and uptake of science-policy outputs by policymakers–an issue that likely extends beyond ECRs and implies the need for transformations in knowledge exchange within SPIs. In conclusion, based on insights from our survey, we outline several opportunities for increased and better facilitation of ECR engagement in SPIs. © 2022 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

International audience; We explore the role of community-based conservation (CBC) in the sustainable management of conservation conflicts by examining the experiences of conservation practitioners trying to address conflicts between snow leopard conservation and pastoralism in Asian mountains. Practitioner experiences are examined through the lens of the PARTNERS principles for CBC (Presence, Aptness, Respect, Transparency, Negotiation, Empathy, Responsiveness, and Strategic Support) that represent an inclusive conservation framework for effective and ethical engagement with local communities. Case studies from India, Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, and Pakistan show that resilient relationships arising from respectful engagement and negotiation with local communities can provide a strong platform for robust conflict management. We highlight the heuristic value of documenting practitioner experiences in on-the-ground conflict management and community-based conservation efforts.

Parliamentary questions (PQs) are a crucial oversight tool available to parliamentarians in all democracies. In a well-functioning democracy, parliamentary oversight can play an important role in climate change policy, ensuring that climate concerns are represented in national agendas. India is the largest democracy in the world and one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change. Over a 20 year period, from 1999 to 2019, we examine whether parliamentarians used PQs to address climate change issues in India. We asked four questions (a) How often are PQs raised about climate change? (b) Are vulnerable constituency interests being represented in the Parliament? (c) What kinds of questions do parliamentarians ask? and (d) Where do parliamentarians get their information on climate change from? 895 unique PQs related to climate change were raised by 1019 Ministers, forming only a fraction (∼0.3%) of the total PQs asked in parliament during this period, however the number of PQs related to climate change increased over time. PQs were not raised by the states most vulnerable to climate change, nor did they represent the concerns of socially vulnerable groups. The PQs were mostly concerned about the impacts (27.6%) and mitigation (23.4%) of climate change. Impacts on agriculture (38.3%), coastal changes (28.6%), and health (13.4%) were of main interest, along with mitigation issues related to energy (43.6%), agriculture (21.8%), and aviation (9.1%). Despite the significant and growing vulnerability of India to climate change, PQs related to climate change were largely missing. Although they have increased over time, we still find there is substantial room for growth, especially in critical areas of climate justice and adaptation relevant to the Indian context. Raising the level of parliamentary debate on climate change is critical and needs to be foregrounded.

Media representations of climate change play a critical role in shaping public perceptions and knowledge of climate change. Public understanding of climate change and the responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions are especially important, as these shape social problem definition, in turn influencing policy responses. In this study, we aimed to understand print media discourses on the existence and responsibility for climate change. We contrasted two Global North countries—the USA and Australia—and two Global South countries—India and Nigeria. We examined 600 newspaper articles, randomly selecting 50 articles each from three newspapers in each country. We conducted discourse analysis to examine narratives on climate change existence and who bears responsibility for greenhouse gas emissions. We found media from all four countries agreed that climate change was real. Narratives of responsibility, however, varied between countries. In Australia, the primary narrative stated that India and China were responsible for the majority of emissions, while abdicating Australia from responsibility. In contrast in the USA, the primary narrative focused on the country’s own responsibility. In India, the primary responsibility was assigned to the Global North, while in Nigeria, all countries were considered equally responsible for global emissions. We demonstrated that media narratives for climate change responsibility were primarily driven by political discourse. As the majority of the public depends on media for information on climate change, it is essential that narratives of responsibility incorporate scientific evidence and not follow purely political expedient discourses to assign responsibility for action.

Studies on common pool resource governance have largely focused on men, who tend to have disproportionate rights and ownership with regards property and resources. This has resulted in the access and control rights of women being generally overlooked. Gender disaggregated analyses have revealed the important role of women in the governance of the commons. While certain commons may be relatively more important for women, there are variations in their level of resource access and management role, influenced by social structures and divisions. We examined the role of gender and how such intersectionality could shape the governance of the commons in the Spiti Valley in the Indian Trans-Himalaya. We found that gender, class, and caste intersected in the governance of irrigation water. Our study highlights the role of women in the governance of the commons and points to the nuanced and variable roles found within this gender group.

The high mountain ranges of South and Central Asia are increasingly being exposed to large-scale development projects. These areas are home to traditional pastoralist communities and internationally important biodiversity including the endangered snow leopard Panthera uncia. Development projects rely on economic cost-benefit analysis, but the ecosystem services in the high Himalayas are poorly understood and are rarely accounted for. As a first step to fill this gap, we identified the main ecosystem services used by local people in the Trans-Himalayan Spiti Valley (7591 km2), a region important for conservation of snow leopards and high mountain biodiversity, and undertook an economic valuation. Stakeholders identified a range of services, though these were dominated by provisioning services identified by 90% of respondents. Only 5.4% of the respondents recognised regulatory services and 4.8% recognised cultural services. The mean economic value of provisioning services was estimated at US$ 3622 ± 149 HH−1 yr−1, which was 3.8 times higher than the average annual household income. Our results underscore the need to account for ecosystem services in the cost-benefit analyses of large-scale development projects in addition to assessments of their environmental and social impact.

Urban foraging is widely prevalent globally, and can provide foragers benefits like additional income and nutritional supplements. However, urban foraging is largely understudied and we have little information on types of species foraged, patterns of foraging, socio-economic profile of foragers, and impact of urbanization on foraging. In this study, we aimed to identify patterns of urban foraging in one of the fastest growing cities in the world, Bengaluru in India. Our specific objectives were to identify a) the foragers b) species foraged and foraging sites c) impact of urbanization on foraging and d) the barriers to foraging. We collected our information through semi-structured interviews with residents from four sites selected across a gradient of urbanization. Sixteen per cent of the respondents reported that they foraged, most of who were women (97 %) belonging to socially (90 %) and economically (81 %) disadvantaged groups. Seventy-six species were foraged across the four sites for food (76 %), medicine (26 %), and cultural practices (18 %). Foraging occurred in unused land (32 %), parks (32 %), farmlands (12 %), native villages (12 %), nearby woodlands (9%) and home gardens (3%). We found significant differences in foragers along a gradient of urbanization (chi square = 34.56, p = 1.5 × 10−7, df = 3) with most foragers at the least urbanized site (40 % of the respondents) and least foragers at the most urbanized site (2% of the respondents). Lack of knowledge of foraged species (66 %) and lack of access (55 %) were the biggest barriers to foraging. Our study demonstrates that foraging occurs in a metropolis like Bengaluru with foragers generally belonging to lower socio-economic backgrounds, who are most vulnerable to changes due to urbanization. Redesigning urban environments to create green spaces for forgeable species to flourish, that are made accessible to marginalized communities, is essential for their nutritional and cultural well-being.

Globally, in semi-arid and arid landscapes, there is an ongoing transition from livestock-production systems to crop-production systems, and in many parts of Asia's arid mountains, mining for minerals is also increasing. These changes are accompanied by a change in the generation and quality of ecosystem services (ES), which can impact human well-being. In this study, to better understand the impacts of such transitions, we quantified ES in two crop-based and three livestock-based production systems in the arid and semi-arid landscapes of the High Himalaya and Central Asia, specifically in the Indian Himalaya, Kyrgyz Tien Shan, and Mongolian Altai. Our results showed 1) high economic dependence (3.6–38 times the respective annual household income) of local farmers on provisioning ES, with the economic value of ES being greater in livestock-production systems (7.4–38 times the annual household income) compared to crop-production systems (3.6–3.7 times the annual household income); 2) ES input into cashmere production, the main commodity from the livestock-production systems, was 13–18 times greater than the price of cashmere received by the farmer; and 3) in the livestock production systems affected by mining, impacts on ES and quality of life were reported to be negative by majority of the respondents. We conclude that livestock-based systems may be relatively more vulnerable to degrading impacts of mining and other ongoing developments due to their dependence on larger ES resource catchments that tend to have weaker land tenure and are prone to fragmentation. In contrast to the general assumption of low value of ES in arid and semi-arid landscapes due to relatively low primary productivity, our study underscores the remarkably high importance of ES in supporting local livelihoods.

Urbanization is changing the use of ecosystem services, especially in previously remote mountain areas in Asia, Africa, and South America that are now more accessible. Change in ES use is not uniform across society, but is impacted by socio-economic factors like income. We sought to understand changes in ES use along a gradient of urbanization, and as related to income differences along this gradient. Our study was conducted in Spiti Valley, a formerly remote region in the Indian trans-Himalayas that is undergoing urbanization. We employed household surveys and monetary valuation to assess use of local (wild plants, dung, wood, forage, water, fertilizer, barley) and imported (firewood and fertilizers) provisioning services. We used ANOVAs and ANCOVAs to test for differences in ES use with urbanization and income. We found that the use of local provisioning services decreased with urbanization, while that of imported provisioning services increased. In rural spaces, the use of local provisioning services did not change with income, while in small urban centres it increased with income. Across settlement types, imported ES use increased with income. Our findings highlight how ES use can change with relatively small amounts of urbanization. They also indicate that local provisioning services need to be made accessible not only to rural populations but also to those in relatively more urban areas.

Livestock depredation is a key source of snow leopard mortality across much of the species' range. Snow leopards break into livestock corrals, killing many domestic animals and thereby inflicting substantial economic damage. Locals may retaliate by killing the cat and selling its parts. Predator-proofing of corrals has emerged as an important conflict-mitigation tool across many snow leopard range countries, including Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. Decline in wild ungulate populations due to competition from livestock is another threat to snow leopards. Village reserves are grazing set-asides created in partnership with local communities to enable the recovery of wild ungulate populations. A case study in India is applicable to additional range countries. In Pakistan, the Ecosystem Health Program enhances community tolerance toward snow leopards by establishing sustainable, community-managed livestock vaccination programs that improve community livelihoods. Program sites record at least 50% reduction in disease-caused mortalities that resulted in no killing of snow leopards.

Stream amphibian communities, occupying a sensitive environment, are often useful indicators of effects of adjoining land uses. We compared abundance and community composition of anuran amphibians along streams in tea monoculture, shade coffee plantation, and a rainforest fragment in Old Valparai area of the Anamalai hills. Overall species density and rarefaction species richness was the highest in rainforest fragment and did not vary between the coffee and tea land uses. Densities of certain taxa, and consequently community composition, varied significantly among the land uses, being greater between rainforest fragment and tea monoculture with shade coffee being intermediate. Observed changes are probably related to streamside alteration due to land use, suggesting the need to retain shade tree cover and remnant riparian rainforest vegetation as buffers along streams.