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.

Waterfowl ingest lead shot because they confuse it with grit, but there has been limited study of differences among species and locations. The spatial and interspecific variation in the quantity and size composition of ingested grit and in the ingestion of lead shot by eight waterfowl species in the three main wintering areas in the western Mediterranean (Doñana, Ebro Delta and Camargue) was investigated. Variation in the mass of grit in the gizzard was related to bird species, whereas size composition of ingested grit was more closely related to locality and less to species. Birds with a large proportion of vegetation in their diets had more grit in the gizzard. Grit size composition was related to prevalence of lead shot ingestion. Thus, the quantity of grit in the gizzard is an attribute of species, and grit size composition (which largely determines the risk of ingestion of lead shot) is more affected by local conditions. This conclusion is supported by a meta-analysis of previous studies of the incidence of lead shot ingestion in 51 locations and 27 waterfowl species in North America and Europe. The prevalence of lead shot ingestion in a given waterbird species was highly variable between localities, and was not consistently different between dabbling, grazing and diving species.

Diversifying governance models for protected areas serves as one strategy to address some of the challenges they are facing. This paper explores the potential of local communities to be the primary actor in the governance of the Annapurna Conservation Area (ACA) following its planned handover to them in 2012. In doing so, the paper serves as an important baseline from which to monitor a new experiment in protected area governance. During the summer of 2007, the executive members and implementing staff of the Conservation Area Management Committees (CAMCs) were interviewed and local villagers surveyed. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected to assess the CAMCs’ capacities to manage ACA without outside support. All CAMCs had more than a decade of managerial experience and considerable local support. Villagers largely considered the CAMCs as legitimate institutions, and their executive members as trustworthy. CAMC members were confident about assuming management responsibility of the area. The devolution of power to an overarching local council to govern ACA will present some challenges, especially with regard to lower-performing CAMCs. However, key factors identified in the literature as critical to good governance portend positive prospects for the transition.

Traditional resource management (TRM) systems in tropical forests can provide insights on sustainable resource use, but despite the growing prevalence of degraded tropical forest habitats, few studies have assessed the relationships between TRM and conservation in these environments. In Hawaii, the traditional gathering of native wild plants used for hula (chants and dance) and lei (garlands) is carried out in forests increasingly dominated by alien invasive species. Ethnographic methods and exploratory experimental harvests were employed to examine: gathering of hula plants in the past and present, ecological impacts of contemporary gathering practices of three important native hula species in alien-dominated forests, and relationships between traditional practices and past and modern conservation. Past gathering traditions included practices to increase and conserve hula plant populations. Harvest of Microlepia strigosa fern fronds significantly decreased M. strigosa cover over the short term. Cover of alien species significantly increased after frond-harvest of Sphenomeris chinensis. Regeneration of the fruit-harvested shrub, Melicope anisata, was significantly negatively correlated with the level of understorey invasive species. These results suggest that in Hawai‘i’s alien-dominated forests, gathering of some species may increase spread of alien invasive species or exacerbate regeneration problems caused by invasive species. However, some expert cultural practitioners have adapted traditional practices to ensure hula plant conservation by incorporating weeding of alien invasive species into their protocols. The re-strengthening and adaptation of traditional Hawaiian knowledge and social institutions to the modern context can provide opportunities to improve conservation of Hawai‘i’s culturally-important native plants and their habitats.

Nearly 10% of the world's total forest area is formally owned by communities and indigenous groups, yet knowledge of the effects of decentralized forest management approaches on conservation (and livelihood) impacts remains elusive. In this paper, the conservation impact of decentralized forest management on two forests in Tanzania was evaluated using a mixed method approach. Current forest condition, forest increment and forest use patterns were assessed through forest inventories, and changes in forest disturbance levels before and after the implementation of decentralized forest management were assessed on the basis of analyses of Landsat images. This biophysical evidence was then linked to changes in actual management practices, assessed through records, interviews and participatory observations, to provide a measure of the conservation impact of the policy change. Both forests in the study were found to be in good condition, and extraction was lower than overall forest increment. Divergent changes in forest disturbance levels were in evidence following the implementation of decentralized forest management. The evidence from records, interviews and participatory observations indicated that decentralized management had led to increased control of forest use and the observed divergence in forest disturbance levels appeared to be linked to differences in the way that village-level forest managers prioritized conservation objectives and forest-based livelihood strategies. The study illustrates that a mixed methods approach comprises a valid and promising way to evaluate impacts of conservation policies, even in the absence of control sites. By carefully linking policy outcomes to policy outputs, such an approach not only identifies whether such policies work as intended, but also potential mechanisms.

Nature-based recreation can have deleterious impacts on biodiversity, even at low levels of habitat use. Such impacts can arise from a variety of sources such as trampling of vegetation or disturbance of nesting birds. Sensitive, yet highly visited, environments such as the coast are particularly vulnerable. It is predicted that levels of coastal recreation may increase in some areas as a result of climate change, but little is known about the potential implications for flora and fauna. This study is based on a case study of two beaches, Holkham and Cley, on the coast of East Anglia, UK. Visitor surveys were undertaken across a year to obtain information on visitors' habitat use at these sites, including an analysis of the routes they walked. From this, estimates of their current impacts on vegetation cover, vegetation species richness and ringed plover populations were made by applying known relationships between visitor passes and disturbance. Future changes in levels of recreation were modelled under two climate change scenarios, and the biodiversity implications were estimated. This study finds that overall levels of vegetation cover and diversity are likely to decline, although only by a small amount, if future visitor numbers increase due to warmer and drier weather conditions. However, these declines will be differential with dunes and areas close to entrances receiving the strongest magnitude impacts. Disturbance from visitors is found to already strongly restrict the distribution of ringed plovers at the study beaches, yet the few remaining areas of suitable habitat may disappear if tourism levels increase. Management strategies which limit the spatial extent of visitor impacts, possibly by the use of beach zoning, may help to minimize any additional reductions in biodiversity that accompany changes in recreation.

There are many environmental and socio-economic concerns about the shrimp aquaculture industry. This study, based on interviews, direct observations and literature reviews, shows that the Indian hatchery industry is heavily dependent upon the continuous support of natural resources and ecosystem services generated by marine, freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems. The mangrove ecosystem support area (‘ecological footprint’) needed to supply the hatcheries with Penaeus monodon shrimp broodstock, and the aquaculture grow-out ponds with postlarvae, exemplify the dependence on external ecosystems. Each hectare of mangrove in the Godavari River delta generated an annual fisheries catch of 0.8–1.5 P. monodon spawners (gravid females), valued at US$ 92–184. The entire Godavari mangrove delta had a partial gross economic value of US$ 3.0–6.0 million per year for the provision of shrimp spawners alone. The average hatchery, producing 75 million postlarvae annually, had an ecological footprint of 534 ha mangrove for the life-support input of shrimp spawners. The ecological footprint of intensive shrimp ponds was up to 11 times the pond area for postlarval input alone. The shrimp ponds in the State of Andhra Pradesh needed 35 000–138 000 ha of mangroves to satisfy the spawner requirement to hatcheries, and this implied a need to appropriate mangroves in other regions. Hatcheries were prepared to pay up to US$ 2000 for a single shrimp spawner, which also illustrated that the mangrove support areas regionally available were too small. Other concerns about the industry are the net loss of employment if hatcheries replace wild postlarvae collection, the extensive use of groundwater creating direct resource-use conflicts, by-catch problems in broodstock fisheries, and pollution by effluents. The risk of hatcheries introducing, amplifying and propagating disease affecting both cultured organisms and wild biota is another concern that can, and should, be addressed.

Major advances in biology and ecology have sharpened our understanding of what the goals of biodiversity conservation might be, but less progress has been made on how to achieve conservation in the complex, multi-sectoral world of human affairs. The failure to deliver conservation outcomes is especially severe in the rapidly changing landscapes of tropical low-income countries. We describe five techniques we have used to complement and strengthen long-term attempts to achieve conservation outcomes in the landscapes and seascapes of such regions; these are complex social-ecological systems shaped by interactions between biological, ecological and physical features mediated by the actions of people. Conservation outcomes occur as a result of human decisions and the governance arrangements that guide change. However, much conservation science in these countries is not rooted in a deep understanding of how these social-ecological systems work and what really determines the behaviour of the people whose decisions shape the future of landscapes. We describe five scientific practices that we have found to be effective in building relationships with actors in landscapes and influencing their behaviour in ways that reconcile conservation and development. We have used open-ended inductive enquiry, theories of change, simulation models, network analysis and multi-criteria analysis. These techniques are all widely known and well tested, but seldom figure in externally funded conservation projects. We have used these techniques to complement and strengthen existing interventions of international conservation agencies. These five techniques have proven effective in achieving deeper understanding of context, engagement with all stakeholders, negotiation of shared goals and continuous learning and adaptation.

The Galapágos Archipelago is an area of very special significance to ecologists. Its unique flora and fauna, rugged scenery, and historical connections with Charles Darwin, make it a place of environmental pilgrimage. Between 1970 and 1985, visiting tourist numbers, comprised largely of foreign naturalists, grew from negligible levels to about 15,000 per annum. In 1987, visitor arrivals to the Galápagos grew to 32,500 following the opening of a second airport in 1986.

Management of tourism has involved a policy which requires most visitors to be accommodated on boats, places strict controls on the sites which can be visited, and requires tourists to be accompanied by highly-trained Naturalist Guides. The policy precludes development of any substantial island-based tourist infrastructure. Recently this approach has become increasingly inadequate in the face of rapid small-scale, little coordinated, tourist development.

Agricultural crops and pasturelands cover 24–38% of the global land area, and thus the ecological services that agricultural systems provide are of utmost societal importance. An important determinant of ecosystem services provision from European farmland is the amount and spatial arrangement of trees, shrubs and woodlands that are integrated into the respective land-use systems. This paper uses an institutional economics framework for the analysis of payment schemes for ecosystem services (PES schemes) that enhance the establishment, conservation and management of farm trees and woodlands, elaborating on the reasons for the often very reluctant participation of farmers in these schemes. PES schemes in Saxony (Germany) were selected as a typical example. Obstacles identified included high production costs and opportunity costs for land use, contractual uncertainties, land-tenure implications and heterogeneous societal preferences for ecosystem services of farm trees. Further, since scheme adoption has been relatively low compared with the total area covered by the respective farm tree types in Saxony, the PES schemes alone could not explain the substantial increase in number and size of some farm-tree types, in particular hedgerows. Regionalized premiums, result-oriented remuneration and cooperative approaches are options to improve participation in PES schemes for farm trees. The example of PES schemes for farm trees highlights one of the major challenges for the protection and preservation of cultural landscapes: they are man-made and thus need to be preserved, managed and maintained continuously.

Despite the current expansion of community-based marine conservation initiatives in the Pacific, few studies have specifically addressed their ecological efficiency to restore or enhance reef invertebrate resources. This paper investigated the effects of two very small (< 0.05 km2) recent village-based marine reserves (tabu areas) located along the shallow fringing reef of Emau island, Vanuatu. Surveys focused on heavily harvested species (namely trochus, giant clams and green snails) and involved both experienced scientists and local villagers. Abundance, density and individual size data were collected by snorkelling along random transect belts located inside and outside the tabu areas, using simple PVC measuring tools specifically developed for participative monitoring. Habitat was assessed using a photographic method to quantitatively describe varied reef substrata. Resource recovery varied between the areas as a result of species-specific responses to contrasted reserve characteristics and local management practices. Fast-growing mobile Trochus niloticus exhibited strong positive abundance and size responses only within the older larger tabu area through the combined effects of protection from harvesting and translocation actions by local fishers. Similar trends were observed to a lesser extent for sessile slow-growing giant clams (Tridacna spp.), but these were not significant after four years of closure. Despite historical evidence of their presence in the area, surveys emphasized the severe population collapse of the heavily targeted green snail (Turbo marmoratus). Under certain conditions, very small-scale reserves, such as those implemented by village-based conservation initiatives, can rapidly and efficiently enhance local reef invertebrate resources. It is still unclear whether the changes are sufficient to restore critical levels of spawning biomass at larger scale and reverse the severe depletion of invertebrate resources occurring in Vanuatu.

Many conservation organizations have attempted to reduce local threats to protected areas (PAs) by providing environmental education programmes in neighbouring communities. There is a great need to understand the effectiveness of these programmes in promoting support for PAs and ultimately reducing threats to biodiversity. La Selva Biological Station, a private PA in Costa Rica, has become increasingly threatened by illegal hunting in the PA and deforestation and land degradation in surrounding areas. The Station has responded with several outreach projects including an annual free visiting day. This study used a survey instrument to evaluate the benefits of local residents visiting La Selva. Specifically, three questions were asked: (1) is there a difference in ecological knowledge of local residents among residents who have visited the Station and those that have not; (2) does an increase in knowledge relate to a perceived benefit from the PA; and (3) does recognition of a perceived benefit among local people result in fewer residents admitting to hunting or desiring to hunt in the PA? This study showed that those residents who had visited the station had a greater understanding of ecological concepts than those residents that had never been to the station, suggesting that such visits provided educational opportunities. Men also had greater ecological knowledge than women. Additionally, residents were more likely to value the PA if they had a greater knowledge of local ecology and conservation. Increased knowledge and recognition of perceived benefit however, do not necessarily translate into lifestyle changes that benefit conservation; no relationship was detected between residents who stated they benefited from the PA and those who said they did not have a desire to hunt, but younger respondents were more likely to express an interest in hunting than older respondents. The results presented here suggest that protected areas generally may benefit from visitation by local residents. However, further study is needed to determine if such outreach activities actually decrease local threats to conservation efforts, such as hunting.

Restoration ecology is a science focusing on using ecological principles to improve ecosystems degraded usually through habitat destruction (Bradshaw & Chadwik 1980, Handel et al. 1994). Successful ecological restoration depends on negotiation and understanding of different stakeholders, including the daily users of the resources, government institutions that will regulate resource use and the research community working in the area.

The safe minimum standard (SMS) approach is a collective choice process that prescribes protecting a minimum level of a renewable natural resource unless the social costs of doing so are somehow excessive or intolerably high. Arguments for the SMS are typically invoked in settings involving considerable uncertainty and potentially irreversible losses. However, the SMS is most commonly viewed as existing only on the periphery of thought in traditional environmental and resource economics. The specific objectives are: (1) to define the SMS approach generally and examine theoretical support, particularly for its application in endangered species decision settings; (2) to examine the relationship between an SMS approach and benefit-cost analysis (BCA); (3) to examine the relationship between an SMS approach and non-market valuation; (4) to compare an SMS approach to alternative definitions of sustainability; and (5) to review the general consistency of the SMS approach with the USA's Endangered Species Act (ESA) of 1973, as amended. Recent attention on this pragmatic policy approach has been something far greater than cursory, with advances and detailed discussions on theoretical considerations, philosophical underpinnings and case study applications. While the SMS emerges as a fairly coarse policy instrument, its pragmatic value is seen in complex environmental policy applications, such as endangered species protection.

After a requested account of how, starting from his student days, he had come gradually to ‘care about our Only One Biosphere’ and think globally (even if commonly acting only locally), the Author presents his ‘thoughts on what might best be done to [foster a World Campaign for the Biosphere] and make it operationally effective’. This Campaign should be world-wide and have the objective of educating everybody everywhere to full realization of the following facts and their often imperatively grave implications: (1) The Biosphere constitutes a single integrated whole of which all parts are often intricately interdependent, (2) we humans form an integral part of the Biosphere but are becoming far too numerous and heavily dominant for its or our own good, (3) we are absolutely dependent on the health of the Biosphere for our own subsistence and more as it constitutes our sole life-support, (4) The Biosphere in part or even in toto is in several ways fragile, but (5) it is gravely threatened by various human activities and out-sized capabilities such as those of nuclear weaponry which are said to be sufficient to destroy our civilization several times over, and conceivably even the entire Biosphere.

The second, longer part of the article is devoted to consideration of the following chosen ‘round dozen’ recommended activities through which it is thought the Campaign might best be advanced, at least in its early stages: (1) Publishing and broadcasting pertinent information and support by all appropriate means; (2) Using other vehicles of desirable publicity, including posters and stickers; (3) Instructive advertising and audienceattracting showmanship; (4) Books on the Biosphere and illustrated study manuals; (5) Specialist research and its vigorous application; (6) Need to control human numbers and behaviour; (7) National Parks, Biosphere Reserves, and Biological Gardens, etc.; (8) Pertinent conferences, meetings, and other ‘free’ deliberations; (9) Need to change human attitudes and priorities; (10) Need to establish due ethics and laws; (11) Institutional and organizational involvement towards survival; and (12) ‘Guardians of the Biosphere’ recognition and awards.

The above 12 points largely follow those presaged in the Editorial in our preceding issue, since completion of which it has emerged that this Campaign should be socalled (without reference to any time-scale), and that it might best be furthered by two United Nations agencies, an intergovernmental one, and at least one nongovernmental one—all hopefully working in concert.

The effects of controlled motorcycle traffic on a Mojave Desert soil in California were studied in order to describe soil compaction quantitatively. Four experimental trails, representing 1, 10, 100, and 200, passes each with an off-road motorcycle were established in a loamy sand at 6.2% by weight moisture content. Penetration resistance, density, infiltration rate, and response to rainfall, were measured for the undisturbed soil and for the experimental trails immediately after the conclusion of the impact, and soil cores were measured in the laboratory to determine pore-size distributions. The soil density was remeasured again one year after the impact, to determine the amount of recovery.

Immediately after motorcycle use, the average density of the soil in the 0 to 60 mm depth increased from an average of 1.53 metric tons/cubic metre in the undisturbed soil to 1.77 t/m3 in the 200 pass trail, and the average density in all the trails could be expressed empirically as a logarithmic function of the number of motorcycle passes. The soil penetration resistance profile for the 200-passes-trail showed that the maximum compaction occurred between 30 and 60 mm depth, and that changes in penetration resistance could be measured to a depth of 0.21 to 0.25 m. The infiltration rate after 2 hours decreased from an average of 98 mm/hr in the undisturbed soil to 29 mm/hr in the 200 pass trail.

The undisturbed soil infiltrated artificial rainfall up to an intensity of 46 mm/hr before surface ponding occurred in the 100- and 200-passes-trails at intensities greater than 25 mm/hr. Decreases in the soil-pore volume were greatest in pores with effective radii greater than 150 μm, with incremental decreases occurring in pores with radii between 150 and 4.5 μm; the total volumes of smaller pores were similar in the compacted and undisturbed soils. One year after the impact, the density of the soil at a depth of 0–30 mm had decreased significantly in the 10-, 100-, and 200-passes-trails but the densities at 30–60 mm depth remained unchanged.

Spartina alterniflora salt-marsh has been established from seed and transplants on dredged materials and sandy shorelines along the North Carolina coast. Transplants were more successful than seeding over a greater portion of the intertidal range and under more rigorous environmental conditions, but seeding was successful in the upper half of protected sites. Seeding at the rate of 100 viable seeds per square metre from April through May can result in complete vegetational coverage by the end of the first growing-season. At the end of the second growing-season, above-ground biomass accumulation from seeding approached that produced by transplants which had originally been planted on a 0.9-metre centre. Both above-ground and below-ground production of planted marsh compared well with values for these components in natural marshes. There were no differences in production by epiphytes between planted and natural S. alterniflora marsh at two different locations. Faunal production in the upper 13 cm of sediment was significantly less in planted than in natural marsh, and where marsh plants accumulated sediments, faunal numbers and biomass were less in planted than in unplanted areas. Sediment carbon content indicated that 4 to 25 years might be required for a newly-planted marsh to resemble a natural marsh.

Based on our studies, the techniques developed to plant S. alterniflora on dredged material and along sandy shorelines can be employed to initiate new and functional salt-marsh where none existed previously. The length of time required for man-initiated marsh to resemble natural marsh depends upon how closely the new substrate resembles natural marsh in the type of sediment accumulated, in the elevation of the new substrate, in the natural sedimentation rate in the area, and in the relative maturity of the natural marsh system.

Many seabird species of conservation concern have large geographic ranges that span political borders, forcing conservation planners to facilitate their protection in multiple countries. Seabird conservation planning within the seabird-diverse California Current System (CCS) marine ecoregion presents an important opportunity for transboundary collaborations to better protect seabirds across the USA/México border. While seabird populations in the USA are relatively well-studied and well-protected, the status of seabird populations in the Mexican region of the CCS is not well known and seabird colonies have been virtually unprotected. This study synthesizes and supplements information on breeding seabird diversity and distribution, identifies and ranks threats to seabirds and evaluates conservation capacity in the Mexican CCS to provide a framework for transboundary seabird conservation throughout the CCS ecoregion. Island-breeding seabirds in México support 43–57% of CCS breeding individuals, 59% of CCS breeding taxa and a high level of endemism. Connectivity between populations in México and the USA is high. At least 17 of the 22 extant Mexican CCS breeding seabirds are USA/México transboundary breeders or foragers, 13 of which are federally listed in the USA or México. Introduced predators and human disturbance have caused multiple seabird population extirpations in the Mexican CCS because breeding colonies lack legal protection or enforcement. However, conservation capacity in this region has increased rapidly in recent years through the establishment of new protected areas, growth of local conservation non-governmental organizations, and increase in local community support, all of which will allow for more effective use of conservation funds. Transboundary conservation coordination would better protect CCS seabirds by facilitating restoration of seabird colonies in the Mexican CCS and enabling an ecoregion-wide prioritization of seabird conservation targets to direct funding bodies to the most cost-effective investments.

Collaborative management is a widely accepted means of resolving conflict amongst natural resource stakeholders. Power sharing is central to most conceptualizations of collaboration, but theoretical insights about power are only rarely used to interrogate collaborative processes. Agenda-setting theory was used to analyse cases of collaborative deer management in England, Scotland and Indiana (USA). Collaborative management agendas across scales and social contexts were found to be primarily set by contextual factors, particularly stakeholders drawing on specific cultures and policies, and pre-defining issues. These findings highlight significant gaps between the theory and practice of collaboration. If, in practice, substantial power has been wielded in advance, the capacity of subsequent collaborative processes to share power amongst stakeholders may be severely limited. To provide opportunities for differing cultural perspectives to be expressed and challenged, convenors of collaborative processes therefore need to be aware of and reflexive upon existing power relationships and structures.