Creating the tools to conserve wildlife

Hunting for a Solution

Worldwide, trophy hunting remains a contested and controversial issue. This chapter analyses the lifting of the hunting ban and the elephant debate in Botswana. It further analyses its implications to conservation and development in Southern Africa. This analysis is informed by the socio-ecological theory and draws from qualitative fieldwork, before and after the hunting ban. This includes a series of key informant interviews, review of government and community-based organisations' materials, sustained engagement with domestic and international media reports and social media content (Facebook and Twitter). Data on trophy hunting, human–wildlife interactions and wildlife conservation were collected. The reintroduction of hunting in 2019 in Botswana sparked an international outcry, especially from citizens of the Global North. The ever-increasing elephant population in Botswana has caused economic and social and food insecurity for citizens of Botswana. Despite differences between the Global North and South, trophy hunting provides incentives for wildlife conservation and rural communities' development. Trade bans by some Western countries and trade restrictions by CITES also affect local economies in the Global South. In conclusion, any policy shifts that affect wildlife conservation and rural livelihoods need to be informed by a socio-ecological approach. This participatory and scientific approach to decision-making has the potential to contribute to sustainable livelihoods and wildlife conservation in Botswana and southern Africa.

Chapter 11 - Induced pluripotent stem cells in species conservation: advantages, applications, and the road ahead

Using social network methodological approach to better understand human–wildlife interactions

Anchored in framing theory and the public arenas model, this study investigates the representation and temporal evolution of genetic modification (GM) risk frames on Chinese social media. Through analysis of public discussions on GM risks from 2010 to 2020, and utilising an integration of unsupervised machine learning and computational grounded theory methodologies, this study develops a categorisation schema of 13 GM risk frames. These frames span the full lifecycle of risk social construction, from identification and definition through assessment, social negotiation, attribution, impact evaluation, to management and mitigation. The findings reveal that GM risk discourses are multifaceted, with systematic differences in frame adoption among social actors including government agencies, experts, media outlets, and the general public. The study demonstrates that GM risk frame evolution aligns closely with public attention cycles, exhibiting three distinct patterns: fluctuating decline, punctuated equilibrium, and fluctuating increase. Additionally, it is found that key events or crises catalyse both quantitative changes in frame prominence and qualitative transformations in how GM risks are framed.

This book critically explores the political ecology of human marginalization, wildlife conservation and the role of the state in politicizing conservation frameworks, drawing on examples from forests in India. The book specifically demonstrates the nuances within human-environmental linkages, by showing how environmental concerns are not only ecological in content but also political. In India a large part of the forests and their surrounding areas were inhabited far before they were designated as protected areas and inviolate zones, with the local population reliant on forests for their survival and livelihoods. Thus, socioecological conflicts between the forest dependents and official state bodies have been widespread. This book uses a political ecology lens to explore the complex interplay between current norms of forest conservation and environmental subjectivities, illustrating contemporary articulation of forest rights and the complex mediations between forest dependents and different state and non-state bodies in designing and implementing regulatory standards for wildlife and forest protection. It foregrounds the issues of identity, migration and cultural politics while discussing the politics of conservation. Through a political ecology approach, the book not only is human-centric but also makes significant use of the role of non-humans in foregrounding the conservation discourse, with a particular focus on tigers. The book will be of great interest to students and academics studying forest conservation, human–wildlife interactions and political ecology.

Traditionally, wildlife conservation efforts have concentrated on the establishment of national parks and reserves. Additional strategies are needed if we are to conserve more than a small proportion of the world's natural habitats and their wildlife. One such strategy is the application of wildlife conservation regulations by private land owners on their properties. This paper uses examples of ranches in the seasonally flooded llanos of Venezuela to evaluate if effective wildlife conservation can coexist with sustainable wildlife use and cattle production. Income estimates derived from cattle production data varied among ranches from $US7.7 per ha. The economic benefits of capybara and caiman harvests can be realized only by protecting wildlife habitat. Thus, it is suggested that large ranches in the llanos can play a major role in wildlife conservation as well as provide economic gains for those involved. Common denominators for success are: personal involvement of owners, effective patrolling systems, co-operation of neighbouring ranchers in patrolling activities, and ranches being located far from densely populated areas. For the programmes to succeed in the long term, government and conservation agencies will need to give more support to landowners.

Wildlife, which is one of the integral parts of our ecosystem, nowadays facing a severe threat from anthropogenic actions, like forest obliteration, wildlife poaching and trade, introduction of invasive species, pest and diseases, etc. Moreover, the anthropogenic influence on the Earth’s environment and climate is altering the nature of wildlife habitats and which in turn is accelerating the process of wildlife extinction in a faster way. Advancement in geospatial technology gives conservationists the benefit to improved understanding of the wildlife, their habitats, and the danger that they are facing, in a scientific way to simplify the process of planning, implementing, and tracking wildlife for conservation and management activities. This chapter provides an appraisal of various geospatial technologies in wildlife conservation and management that can be utilized effectively. One of the major applications of geospatial technology in wildlife management is habitat assessment. Wildlife habitat can be assessed for risk assessment, suitability assessment, habitat utilization pattern, and habitat restoration program or protecting threatened habitats. Bio-logging or bio-telemetry, one of the geospatial technologies, provides meaningful information about the movement ecology of individual species which can be used to understand the behavioral pattern of wildlife in relation to its environment. Another use of geospatial technology is the assessment of home ranges, territories, corridors, and connectivity metrics with the aid of bio-telemetry/camera traps/pug marks/visual observations. Assessment of human–wildlife conflicts for conflicts mitigation efforts is yet another application that offers a wide variety of solutions to the managers to mitigate conflicts. Nowadays geospatial technology is being used for wildlife census, wildlife crime investigation, and Management Effectiveness Evaluation (MEE) of protected areas. This chapter briefly explains the methodologies and utilities of various applications mentioned above with some examples to demonstrate the utility of geospatial technology for wildlife conservation and management.KeywordsWildlifeGeospatial technologyMovement ecologyHome rangeTerritory analysisCorridorsHabitat suitability assessmentHabitat risk assessmentHabitat utilization patternWildlife censusHuman–wildlife conflicts

Industry v Parks: With Special Reference to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972

Conservation of large and iconic species in developing nations captures a considerable share of international funding. Flagship species with charismatic appeal and ecological importance, such as the Tiger, Elephant, Panda and Leopard, are used to get attention and funds. Although there are benefits, this approach also presents challenges by diverting attention from the broader ecosystem, including prey and habitat. Most flagship species-based approaches ignore key aspects of other species conservation and their ecosystem. Therefore, this paper discusses the effects that large mammal/flagship species-centred conservation funding has on developing nations and considers various integrated strategies for developing sustainable ecological outcomes. We do not intend to discourage flagship species-focused fundraising initiatives, but suggest that governments and other conservation authorities should expand their focus to wider ecological systems aspects such as habitat, prey-predator populations and human-wildlife interactions. This offers opportunities to bridge the gap between traditional ecosystem-based and individual species-based approaches and develop sustainable conservation funding strategies in which flagship species can serve as financial catalysts without detracting from, and preferably enhancing, ecosystem-level goals and give equal priorities for other species in developing countries.

Thru-hikers’ attitudes about potential management actions for interactions with grizzly bears along the Pacific Northwest National Scenic Trail

The behaviour of both humans and wildlife is central to the conservation of biodiversity because conservation requires human actions at multiple scales. In species with evidence of socially learned behaviour and culture, the juxtaposition of human and animal culture increases the complexity of human–wildlife interactions and their investigation but also offers opportunities to mitigate negative interactions. In this paper, we consider the language used to analyse human–animal interactions and we review the effect of culture and socially learned behaviours on those interactions. We investigate how knowledge of culture and theory from behavioural studies can be used to negotiate the complex interactions between humans and wildlife, providing specific examples of how culture can be mined for developing policies regarding negative interactions. We highlight that interactions between animal and human culture are central to the conservation of wildlife, and that such human–wildlife interactions are a key target for studies of biodiversity conservation. Integrating culture and social learning into conservation research offers scope to leverage knowledge gaps, misconceptions and concerns into conservation actions that are targeted, relevant and meaningful.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Animal culture: conservation in a changing world’.

There are 7 carnivoran species in the Philippines, and despite their ecological and conservation importance, there has never been a review of the current knowledge and research efforts on these species in the country before. Here, we present the results of a comprehensive literature review and provide a summary of current knowledge on each carnivoran species in the Philippines. We searched 2 online databases (Google Scholar, Web of Science) and found 68 journal articles and reports published between January 1990 and October 2023. Research on Philippine carnivorans increased steadily over the past 34 years, with 54% of all studies being published in the past 10 years. Research in Palawan and nearby islands accounted for 66% of all studies, likely because carnivoran species richness of Palawan is higher than in the rest of the Philippines. The “Spatial Ecology and Habitat Use” category consisted of the highest number of publications, but more than half of these papers are simply occurrence records from larger biodiversity studies. Research on human–wildlife interactions and conservation practices point to hunting and habitat degradation as the leading threats to carnivorans in the Philippines. However, population and community ecology—as well as other basic ecological requirements of many species—are virtually unknown. Compared to similar reviews on other taxa in the Philippines and on carnivorans in other countries, our review reveals that carnivorans seem to be greatly understudied in the Philippines, thus highlighting a need for more research on these species, some of which are threatened. Owing to recent changes in the taxonomic status of the Sunda Leopard Cat and Philippine Palm Civet, and recognition that the Philippine mongoose is a population of the Collared Mongoose, the IUCN Red List status of these species should be re-assessed.

The integration of AI-powered drone monitoring with thermal imaging cameras enhances wildlife protection by enabling autonomous animal detection and classification. This paper presents a system based on YOLOv8 that processes thermal data from drones, allowing single-operator usage and eliminating the need for an on-site video analyst. Through collaboration with wildlife conservation experts, we identified key requirements for real-time data processing and developed a user-centric smartphone application for instant data visualization. This study advances current methodologies by demonstrating the practical application of AI and drone technology in wildlife conservation.

Hydrogel‐assisted soft biosensors have emerged as transformative platforms for multimodal physiological monitoring in amphibious environments. However, developing instant underwater adhesive, scalable manufacturing, and robust interfaces for long‐term continuous multi‐physiological bioelectronics remains challenging. Here, a universal and facile fabrication strategy is presented that overcomes these limitations through molecular entanglement engineering to fabricate instant underwater adhesion hydrogel interfaces, exhibiting rapid, strong interfacial toughness over 230 J•m−2 within 10 s. Besides, a roll‐to‐roll scalable manufacturing protocol for practical transformation is established. The hydrogel interfaces with tissue‐like softness ≈109 kPa, enabling seamless multimodal biosensor integration across interfaces from aquatic organisms to amphibious species and human epidermis for reusable and long‐term usage, facilitating simultaneous multiparametric physiological signal acquisition and behavioral tracking. These findings establish a new design framework of molecular entanglement engineering for instant adhesive hydrogel interfaces, which enables reliable and rapid response biosensing technologies for healthcare monitoring and wildlife conservation.