Born Free Foundation

Abstract The hunter is the key actor in unsustainable hunting of bushmeat in African forests and his behavior is driven by socioeconomic factors among others. However, not much is known about the effectiveness of incentive‐based conservation actions providing socioeconomic benefits to reduce hunting. This study, therefore, examined how changes in the socioeconomic situation of hunters brought about by reciprocal environmental agreements affects their hunting behavior. During a project implemented near the Dja Faunal Reserve (Cameroon), we recorded changes in socioeconomic characteristics of hunters for 15 months spanning 3 years. Bushmeat offtake and hunting effort parameters were also recorded. Comparisons of the evolution of these parameters over the years were made between hunters who signed the agreements and those who did not. We found that signatory hunters were older and had larger households than non‐signatories, and they earned more income from cocoa sales. Although both groups of hunters had similar characteristics regarding hunting behavior at the start of the project, signatory hunters harvested less bushmeat at the end of project. More time was spent in hunting by non‐signatory hunters compared to signatories who hunted less at the end of our monitoring period. Signatory hunters hunted less with firearms than non‐signatories, and they consumed more and sold less of their catches compared to non‐signatories. This study underlines the importance of reciprocal environmental agreements as an incentive‐based conservation scheme that can reduce hunting pressure. These findings show that economic incentives provided to individuals through reciprocal environment agreements can promote livelihood paradigm shifts, alleviating poverty, decreasing dependence on natural resources and benefiting animal conservation.

ABSTRACTAimModelling African great ape distribution has until now focused on current or past conditions, whilst future scenarios remain scarcely explored. Using an ensemble forecasting approach, we predicted changes in taxon-specific distribution under future scenarios of climate, land-use and human population changes.LocationSub-Saharan AfricaMethodsWe compiled occurrence data on African ape populations from the IUCN A.P.E.S. database and extracted relevant human-, climate- and habitat-related predictors representing current and future (2050) conditions to predict taxon-specific distribution under a best- and a worst-case scenario, using ensemble forecasting. Given the large effect on model predictions, we further tested algorithm sensitivity by considering default and non-default modelling options. The latter included interactions between predictors and polynomial terms in correlative algorithms.ResultsThe future distributions of gorilla and bonobo populations are likely to be directly determined by climate-related variables. In contrast, future chimpanzee distribution is influenced mostly by anthropogenic variables. Both our modelling approaches produced similar model accuracy, although a slight difference in the magnitude of range change was found for Gorilla beringei beringei, G. gorilla diehli, and Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii. On average, a decline of 50% of the geographic range (non-default; or 55% default) is expected under the best scenario if no dispersal occurs (57% non-default or 58% default in worst scenario). However, new areas of suitable habitat are predicted to become available for most taxa if dispersal occurs (81% or 103% best, 93% or 91% worst, non-default and default, respectively), except for G. b. beringei.Main ConclusionsDespite the uncertainty in predicting the precise proportion of suitable habitat by 2050, both modelling approaches predict large range losses for all African apes. Thus, conservation planners urgently need to integrate land-use planning and simultaneously support conservation and climate change mitigation measures at all decision-making levels both in range countries and abroad.

Conservation planners need reliable information on spatial patterns of biodiversity. However, existing data sets are skewed because some ecosystems, taxa, and locations are underrepresented. We determined how many articles have been published in recent decades on the biodiversity of different countries and their constituent provinces. We searched the Web of Science catalogues Science Citation Index (SCI) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI) for biodiversity-related articles published from 1993 to 2016 that included country and province names. We combined data on research publication frequency with other provincial-scale factors hypothesized to affect the likelihood of research activity (i.e., economic development, human presence, infrastructure, and remoteness). Areas that appeared understudied relative to the biodiversity expected based on site climate likely have been inaccessible to researchers for reasons, notably armed conflict. Geographic publication bias is of most concern in the most remote areas of sub-Saharan Africa and South America. Our provincial-scale model may help compensate for publication biases in conservation planning by revealing the spatial extent of research needs and the low cost of redoing this analysis annually.

We are writing to express our extreme concern following recent media coverage1, 2 relating to the methodology being used by contractors to kill badgers under licence, as part of the government’s policy to control bovine TB in cattle. The coverage relates to the shooting of badgers that have been captured in live traps. Covert video footage (https://bit.ly/2Eud1iR ) from Cumbria shows a trapped badger being shot with a firearm at close range, following which it appears to take close to a minute to stop moving. The contractor clearly observes the animal during this time but makes no attempt to expedite the death of the badger and prevent further suffering, as required by the current Natural England best practice guide which states: ‘Immediately after shooting, the animal should be checked to ensure it is dead, and if there is any doubt, a …

After months of unexplained delays, Defra finally released figures for the numbers of badgers killed under supplementary licences in the two original ‘pilot zones’ in Gloucestershire and Somerset during 2017.1 Culling under the original four-year licences in these zones was completed in 2016. In 2017, a total of 172 badgers were killed in the Gloucestershire zone, and 91 in the Somerset zone. The Somerset cull failed to reach the minimum number specified under the licence by more than a third. Approximately 75 per cent were killed using ‘controlled shooting’, a method rejected by the government’s own expert panel2 …