The debate about poverty and conservation draws mainly on local case studies, particularly of the impacts of protected areas. Although it is clear that local and contingent variables have important effects on the social and economic impacts of protected area establishment, it is not known whether there is a general relationship between national wealth and the area, number and type of protected area designated. Here we conduct such an analysis. Our results suggest that wealthy countries have a larger number of protected areas of smaller size than poorer countries. However, we find few significant relationships between indicators of poverty and the extent of protected areas at a national scale. Our analysis therefore confirms that relationships between poverty and conservation action are dynamic and locally specific. This conclusion has implications for opposing positions within the debate on poverty and conservation. Critics of conservation who build upon local case studies to argue that protected areas make a significant contribution to poverty risk exaggerating the scale of the problem. However, conservation advocates also need to temper their enthusiasm. Outcomes in which both poverty alleviation and conservation goals are achieved may be possible in specific circumstances but clear choices will often need to be made between conservation and livelihood goals.

The relationship between conservation and poverty has received extensive attention recently, and the impacts of protected areas on the welfare of communities surrounding them has been debated. I seek to contribute to this debate by using a unique sub-national database of infant mortality rates for an analysis of such mortality surrounding protected areas in developing countries. The paper tests the hypotheses that poverty rates in regions surrounding protected areas in developing countries are higher than national averages and that poverty rates are highest around large and strictly protected areas. Preliminary evidence suggests that infant mortality rates surrounding protected areas, and even those surrounding the most strictly protected areas, are not very different from national rates. Infant mortality rates are significantly higher among populations surrounding larger protected areas but the causal relationship is uncertain. Data limitations and other problems related to this kind of global analysis are discussed. Information of the kind presented in this paper can assist management authorities to assess the relative poverty surrounding protected areas in their countries so as to set priorities for poverty alleviation interventions, and may serve as a useful sampling frame for local case studies and long-term monitoring.

A survey of the Sebungwe elephant Loxodonta africana population in Zimbabwe in 2006 revealed a large rise in the number of dead elephants. The estimated number of carcasses increased >16-fold from 1989 to 2006 and the carcass ratio (number of all elephant carcasses as a percentage of the number of all elephants) rose from 1.25 to 15.4%. The ratio for fresh or recent carcasses, which reflected the mortality rate during the survey year, increased from 0.19 to 1.70% during 1995-2006. Records of elephants killed before 1995 were supplemented with estimates of the numbers killed after 1995, with these estimates increasing exponentially, as did the observed number of fresh or recent carcasses. A maximum likelihood analysis to compare population models revealed that the best fit to the survey estimates of this closed population was a model that started with 9,500 elephants in 1979 and that each year increased at 4.02% and decreased by the number killed, with the number killed annually increasing at 23.5% per year after 1995. A rise in anthropogenic mortality, mostly due to poaching, caused the increase in carcass numbers observed after 1999. Since 1997 the mortality rate of elephants in the National Parks and Safari Areas in the Sebungwe has been positively correlated with the observed number of poachers’ camps. Anthropogenic mortality is now great enough to keep the elephant population approximately constant at 14,000-16,000 animals. The population number was also constant (at a lower level) during the 1980s, when elephants were culled and the sale of meat, hides and ivory covered the costs of elephant management but there have been no recent culls, partly because the ivory trade ban prevents tusks from culled elephants being sold to offset the costs of management. This study illustrates the value of a long-term data set collected with consistent techniques, and including data on other species and the environment collected at no extra cost under the financial umbrella of a charismatic species.

The historical regulation of African elephant Loxodonta africana populations could provide guidelines for management efforts and decisions in areas where elephant numbers are now increasing. However, there are few detailed records of the natural mortality processes of the past. Therefore, we modelled elephant population growth to evaluate possible effects of age-specific mortality. Model projections indicated that an annual mortality of 17.1% of juveniles or 10.5% of adults would be sufficient to prevent population growth. For age classes below or just at sexual maturity (i.e. 0-3, 4-7, 8-11) 37.5% annual mortality of one of these classes was required to achieve 0% population growth. These mortality levels are much higher than those reported in southern Africa today. Simulations of episodic mortality events (e.g. droughts) indicated that such events would need to occur every 16 years at a severity that would cause the mortality of all infants and weaned calves (0-7 years old), as well as 10% of adults and subadults (8-60 years old) to prevent long-term population growth. An 8-year frequency required the mortality of 84.7% of infants and weaned calves. Historically, it is possible that high drought mortality and frequency, and high predation levels, may have reduced population growth significantly but current mortality rates and frequencies are insufficient to constrain long-term average population growth at 0%. The natural limitation of existent elephant populations through mortality is therefore unlikely, indicating a need for active management of the increasing elephant populations in southern Africa.

The apparent increase in elephant Loxodonta africana numbers in northern Botswana is of concern because it may affect other species. We compared changes in population growth rates based on elephant numbers and densities over 1973–2004. Population estimates and survey details extracted from published and unpublished sources allowed us to calculate growth rates. From 1973 to 1993 growth rate was positive when based on elephant numbers but did not differ from zero when calculated for densities. This discrepancy may be because of the significant increase in survey area during the same period. In contrast, none of the growth rates differed from zero for time series between 1996 and 2004, when the size of the survey area varied little. We propose two explanations for these results. The first suggests that the population did not grow, while the second proposes that the population expanded its range and increased in size. Notwithstanding, an equilibrium model best explained the variance in dry season estimates of elephant numbers for the complete time series. Such apparent density-dependence could be disrupted by any artificial reduction of numbers through culling as a management option in northern Botswana.

Managers in southern Africa are concerned that continually increasing elephant populations will degrade ecosystems. Culling, translocation and birth control are flawed solutions. An alternative is providing elephants more space but this hinges on identifying landscape preferences. We examined two diverse ecosystems and uncovered similarities in elephant habitat use, expressing these as ‘rules’. We considered arid Etosha National Park, (Namibia) and the tropical woodlands of Tembe Elephant Park (South Africa) and Maputo Elephant Reserve (Mozambique). Landscape data consisted of vegetation types, distances from water and settlements. To surmount issues of scale and availability we incorporated elephant movements as a function that declined as distance from an elephant's location increased. This presumes that elephants optimize trade-offs between benefiting from high-quality resources and costs to find them. Under a likelihood-based approach we determined the important variables and shapes of their relationships to evaluate and compare models separated by gender, season and location. After considering elephants' preferences for areas nearby, habitat use usually increased with proximity to water in all locations. Elephants sought places with high proportions of vegetation, especially when neighbouring areas had low vegetative cover. Lastly, elephants avoided human settlements (when present), and cows more so than bulls. In caricature, elephants preferred to move little, drink easily, eat well, and avoid people. If one makes more areas available, elephants will probably favour areas near water with high vegetative cover (of many different types) and away from people. Managers can oblige elephants’ preferences by supplying them. If so, they should anticipate higher impacts to neighbouring vegetation.

Human-elephant conflict, in particular the damage caused by elephants to smallholder crops, is a major challenge to the conservation of African elephant Loxodonta africana. Conventional tools used to address this problem are capital intensive and require high levels of expertise. In recent years simple, affordable farm-based elephant deterrents, using locally available materials, have been encouraged by a number of human-elephant conflict researchers. There are very few published studies demonstrating the performance of these deterrents, however, and little is known about levels of uptake among smallholder farmers. We trialled a number of such farm-based elephant deterrents with local farmers in three sites within Laikipia District, Kenya. Levels of crop raiding declined after the introduction of treatments but not significantly when compared with control farms. Variable levels of uptake among the participating farmers made it difficult to draw clear conclusions from the trials. However, participating farmers were positive about the deterrent effect of the tools introduced, corroborated by their willingness to make financial commitments towards sustaining future trials. Availability of household labour, local politics, and insecurity were identified as important barriers to uptake of some of the deterrents introduced. Household labour availability should be a key consideration in future endeavours to trial farm-based elephant deterrents.

Conflict between people and elephants in Africa is widespread yet many solutions target the symptoms, rather than the underlying causes, of this conflict. To manage this conflict better the underlying causes of the problem need to be examined. Here we examine factors underlying spatial use by elephants and people along the Okavango Panhandle in Ngamiland, northern Botswana, to provide ways to address the causes of the conflict between elephants and people. We found that (1) elephant spatial use was a function of season, (2) spatial use did not differ between breeding herds and bull groups, (3) spatial use by elephants and people only overlapped significantly at night, during the dry season, (4) crop raiding by elephants was a function of season and social grouping, and (5) crop raiding by elephants had social and economic implications. Based on these results we suggest measures to manipulate elephant spatial use to reduce the causes of this conflict. We also reflect on present compensation measures for elephant crop damage and advocate that a more direct performance payment approach may benefit both the Botswana Government and local farmers.

This study updates the status and conservation of the Endangered Asian elephant Elephas maximus in Cat Tien National Park, Vietnam. Line transect indirect surveys, block surveys for elephant signs, village surveys of elephant-human conflict incidents, guard-post surveys for records of sightings, and surveys of elephant food plants were undertaken during the dry and wet seasons of 2001. A minimum of 11 elephants and a maximum of 15-17 elephants was estimated for c. 500 km2 of the Park and its vicinity. The elephants are largely confined to the southern boundary of the Park and make extensive use of the adjoining La Nga State Forest Enterprises. During the dry season the elephants depend on at least 26 species of wild and cultivated plants, chiefly the fruits of cashew. Most of the villages surveyed reported some elephant-human conflict. Two adult male elephants seem to cover a large area to raid crops, whereas the family groups restrict themselves to a few villages; overall, the conflict is not serious. Since 2001 there have been no reports of any deaths or births of elephants in the Park. We make recommendations for habitat protection and management, increasing the viability of the small population, reducing elephant-human conflicts, and improving the chances of survival of the declining elephants of this Park. The Government has now approved an Action Plan for Urgent Conservation Areas in Vietnam that calls for the establishment of three elephant conservation areas in the country, including Cat Tien National Park.

To determine the status and distribution of the Vulnerable Marco Polo sheep or argali Ovis ammon polii surveys were made in the Pamir Mountains, where the Hindu Kush, Karakoram, and Kunlun ranges meet. In China a total of 851 Marco Polo sheep were observed within the Taxkorgan Nature Reserve and 1,448 north of the Reserve. No reliable population estimate is available for Tajikistan but in five census blocks totalling 1,977 km2 densities ranged from negligible to 1.4 km−2. A total of 624 sheep were counted in Afghanistan, and total numbers may approach 1,000. Fewer than 150 individuals are said to visit Pakistan seasonally. Hunting for meat has decimated the Marco Polo sheep populations in all four countries but with better protection they appear to be on the increase in China. Transboundary cooperation is essential if the species is to be adequately protected and managed as argali readily cross international borders, and a four-country Pamir Peace Park has been proposed and is under discussion.

The Tibetan gazelle Procapra picticaudata is on the verge of extinction in India with only c. 100 individuals remaining in the Hanle Valley of eastern Ladakh and Sikkim. Conservation planning and initiation of a recovery programme are hindered by lack of ecological information on the species and we therefore assessed the biotic and abiotic correlates of its occurrence in the Hanle Valley. Ecological attributes of areas selected by gazelles were compared with those of adjoining areas without gazelles. Resource selection functions revealed that gazelles use relatively flat areas (6-15°) disproportionately during both summer and winter, and preferred south-facing slopes and avoided north-facing slopes during winter. Measurements of plant production using exclosures showed that herbivores removed up to 47% of the forage biomass from areas without gazelles, whereas only 29% was removed from areas with gazelles. Although areas selected by gazelles were only marginally more productive than areas not selected, the proportional representation of forbs in plant biomass was significantly higher in the former. Spatial co-occurrence patterns examined using null models revealed a significant negative relationship between distribution of gazelles and goats and sheep, and a significant positive relationship between gazelles and wild kiang Equus kiang and domestic yak Bos grunniens. Future in situ recovery programmes for the Tibetan gazelle in Ladakh need to focus on securing livestock-free, forb-dominated areas, with participation from the local pastoral community.

This research was conducted to assess the location of population groups and conservation issues affecting dugongs Dugong dugon along the eastern Gulf of Thailand off Cambodia and Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam. Interviews in fishing communities in 2002 and 2004 along the Cambodian coast revealed that dugongs are sporadically found in fishing nets and their body parts are sold for a relatively large profit. During 4 days of aerial surveys in Cambodia in 2004 we saw no dugongs. We interviewed villagers in Phu Quoc Island, Vietnam, in 2002 and learnt that dugongs are regularly found and hunted, again for high profits. In both countries we recommend that legislation addressing threatened species be strengthened and enforced. In collaboration with the Cambodian and Vietnamese governments and NGOs, we propose the exploration of alternative non-destructive fishing methods and the initiation of an education campaign based on conservation of marine wildlife and the nearshore environment. National and transboundary management and community-based conservation are required in conjunction with strategies to address overfishing and poverty.

We report the results of the first release project of 36 captive-bred mandrills into the Lékédi Park, Gabon. A mortality rate of 33% was recorded in the first year post-release, with dependent infants the most affected age class, as a result of environmental stress and malnutrition. A programme of provisioning ensured that individuals remained in a good physical condition. During the second year the death rate decreased to 4%, and 6-month survival rate of infants was 100%. Over time the mandrills extended their spatial use of the park, although their exploration remained limited. Our results demonstrate that provisioning and the lack of knowledge of ecological characteristics of the new, complex seasonal habitat were the likely causes of this situation. After 2 years, reproduction and survival appear stable. While habitat preservation and in situ species protection are the best conservation options, release projects may constitute a viable short-term solution for particular species. In this context, this first release of captive-bred mandrills could play a role in the future conservation of this Vulnerable species.

The mortality of water buffalo Bubalus bubalis and cattle Bos indicus and B. taurus associated with predation by jaguar Panthera onca and puma Puma concolor, both of which are categorized as Near Threatened on the IUCN Red List, was examined in six Venezuelan ranches. There was significantly higher cattle than buffalo mortality due to predators in all ranches. Compared to buffaloes, cattle had a greater risk of being predated. Variations in monthly predation were observed, with greater cattle mortality during the peak of the rainy season (June-July). Buffalo, but not cattle, displayed defensive behaviour against predators. We suggest that livestock mortality associated with jaguar and puma may be reduced by keeping buffaloes and cattle in the same paddock, or by keeping only buffalo. Reduction of cattle losses is needed to increase tolerance towards jaguar and puma and thus facilitate their conservation. B. bubalis has higher production than cattle in South American flooded tropical grasslands. However, buffalo kept as livestock have two limitations: (1) they may revert to their feral condition if not managed according to the requirements of the species, and (2) some markets pay low prices for buffalo meat or may be reluctant to consume buffalo products.

Large protected areas are often considered natural yet outside pressures may compromise ecological integrity. This paper points to a problem in assessing ecological baselines: what if species’ extirpations go undetected? I present a data set spanning 130 years that demonstrates the loss of white-tailed jack rabbits Lepus townsendii from two National Parks in the well studied 60,000 km2 Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem, USA. While these extirpations have been unnoticed until now, an ecological consequence may be elevated predation on juvenile ungulates. A critical challenge we face is how to apply better the concept of shifting baselines to the restoration of functional relationships when species' losses are undetected.

Research on crop systems and biodiversity conservation in the tropics has mainly been concerned with how low to mid intensity agricultural systems can benefit from adjacent natural habitats by receiving ecosystem services from natural biodiversity. One intensively studied crop in this framework is coffee. Positive effects are relatively easy to quantify by comparing coffee yield and by recording native species diversity. However, a largely overlooked issue is how agricultural areas affect native organisms in adjacent natural habitats, for example through movement of pest species that could impose a risk of degrading these habitats. We give an example from Mauritius, where an introduced coffee pest severely reduces the reproductive success of a threatened endemic plant species. We argue that such effects may be more common than suggested by the literature, especially when crop and native plants are congeneric. In the long term, such negative effects may degrade natural habitats, thereby causing ecosystem services derived from these habitats to decline.