Publications
466 results found
Behnke R, Robinson S, Milner-Gulland EJ, 2016, Governing open access: livestock distributions and institutional control in the Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan, LAND USE POLICY, Vol: 52, Pages: 103-119, ISSN: 0264-8377
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 26
Wallace APC, Jones JPG, Milner-Gulland EJ, et al., 2016, Drivers of the Distribution of Fisher Effort at Lake Alaotra, Madagascar, Human Ecology, Vol: 44, Pages: 105-117, ISSN: 1464-5653
Understanding how fishers make decisions is important for improving management of fisheries. There is debate about the extent to which small-scale fishers follow an ideal free distribution (IFD) – distributing their fishing effort efficiently according to resource availability rather than being influenced by social factors or personal preference. Using detailed data from 1800 fisher catches and from semi-structured interviews with over 700 fishers at Lake Alaotra, the largest inland fishery in Madagascar, we show that fishers generally conform to IFD. However, there were differences in catch: effort relationships between fishers using different gear types as well as other revealing deviations from the predictions of IFD. Fishers report routine as the primary determinant of their choice of fishing location, explaining why they do not quickly respond to changes in catch at a site. Understanding the influences on fishers’ spatial behaviour will allow better estimates of costs of fishing policies on resource users, and help predict their likely responses. This can inform management strategies to minimise the negative impacts of interventions, increasing local support for and compliance with rules.
Fairbrass A, Nuno A, Bunnefeld N, et al., 2016, Investigating determinants of compliance with wildlife protection laws: bird persecution in Portugal, EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF WILDLIFE RESEARCH, Vol: 62, Pages: 93-101, ISSN: 1612-4642
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 32
de Lange E, Woodhouse E, Milner-Gulland EJ, 2016, Approaches used to evaluate the social Impacts of protected areas, Conservation Letters, Vol: 9, Pages: 327-333, ISSN: 1755-263X
Protected areas are a key strategy in conserving biodiversity, and there is a pressing need to evaluate their social impacts. Though the social impacts of development interventions are widely assessed, the conservation literature is limited and methodological guidance is lacking. Using a systematic literature search, which found 95 relevant studies, we assessed the methods used to evaluate the social impacts of protected areas. Mixed methods were used by more than half of the studies. Almost all studies reported material aspects of wellbeing, particularly income; other aspects were included in around half of studies. The majority of studies provided a snapshot, with only one employing a before-after-control-intervention design. Half of studies reported respondent perceptions of impacts, while impact was attributed from researcher inference in 1/3 of cases. Although the number of such studies is increasing rapidly, there has been little change in the approaches used over the last 15 years, or in the authorship of studies, which is predominantly academics. Recent improvements in understanding of best practice in social impact evaluation need to be translated into practice if a true picture of the effects of conservation on local people is to be obtained.
Bunnefeld N, Milner-Gulland EJ, 2016, Opportunities and Pitfalls in Realising the Potential Contribution of Trophy Hunting to Antelope Conservation, ANTELOPE CONSERVATION: FROM DIAGNOSIS TO ACTION, Editors: BroJorgensen, Mallon, Publisher: JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD, Pages: 92-107, ISBN: 978-1-118-40963-3
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 2
Collen B, McRae L, Nicholson E, et al., 2016, Species Population Trends in Protected Areas, PROTECTED AREAS: ARE THEY SAFEGUARDING BIODIVERSITY?, Editors: Joppa, Baillie, Robinson, Publisher: JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD, Pages: 105-121, ISBN: 978-1-118-33816-2
Milner-Gulland EJ, Singh NJ, 2016, Two Decades of Saiga Antelope Research: What have we Learnt?, ANTELOPE CONSERVATION: FROM DIAGNOSIS TO ACTION, Editors: BroJorgensen, Mallon, Publisher: JOHN WILEY & SONS LTD, Pages: 297-314, ISBN: 978-1-118-40963-3
Bull JW, Singh NJ, Suttle KB, et al., 2015, Creating a frame of reference for conservation interventions, LAND USE POLICY, Vol: 49, Pages: 273-286, ISSN: 0264-8377
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 13
Woodhouse E, Homewood KM, Beauchamp E, et al., 2015, Guiding principles for evaluating the impacts of conservation interventions on human well-being, PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Vol: 370, ISSN: 0962-8436
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 111
Milner-Gulland EJ, Wright J, Hill NAO, et al., 2015, Reframing the concept of "alternative livelihoods", Conservation Biology, Vol: 30, Pages: 7-13, ISSN: 1523-1739
Alternative livelihood project (ALP) is a widely used term for interventions that aim to reduce the prevalence of activities deemed to be environmentally damaging by substituting them with lower impact livelihood activities that provide at least equivalent benefits. ALPs are widely implemented in conservation, but in 2012, an International Union for Conservation of Nature resolution called for a critical review of such projects based on concern that their effectiveness was unproven. We focused on the conceptual design of ALPs by considering their underlying assumptions. We placed ALPs within a broad category of livelihood-focused interventions to better understand their role in conservation and their intended impacts. We dissected 3 flawed assumptions about ALPs based on the notions of substitution, the homogenous community, and impact scalability. Interventions based on flawed assumptions about people's needs, aspirations, and the factors that influence livelihood choice are unlikely to achieve conservation objectives. We therefore recommend use of a sustainable livelihoods approach to understand the role and function of environmentally damaging behaviors within livelihood strategies; differentiate between households in a community that have the greatest environmental impact and those most vulnerable to resource access restrictions to improve intervention targeting; and learn more about the social–ecological system within which household livelihood strategies are embedded. Rather than using livelihood-focused interventions as a direct behavior-change tool, it may be more appropriate to focus on either enhancing the existing livelihood strategies of those most vulnerable to conservation-imposed resource access restrictions or on use of livelihood-focused interventions that establish a clear link to conservation as a means of building good community relations. However, we recommend that the term ALP be replaced by the broader term livelihood-focused interventio
Milner-Gulland EJ, Agarwala M, Palmer Fry B, et al., 2015, Monitoring local wellbeing in environmental interventions: a consideration of practical trade-offs, Oryx, ISSN: 1365-3008
Alexander JS, McNamara J, Rowcliffe JM, et al., 2015, The role of bushmeat in a West African agricultural landscape, ORYX, Vol: 49, Pages: 643-651, ISSN: 0030-6053
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 18
Milner-Gulland EJ, 2015, Catastrophe and hope for the saiga, ORYX, Vol: 49, Pages: 577-577, ISSN: 0030-6053
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 11
Milner-Gulland EJ, Davies T, Mees C, 2015, Second-guessing uncertainty: Scenario planning for management of the Indian Ocean tuna purse seine fishery, Marine Policy, Vol: 62, Pages: 169-177, ISSN: 0308-597X
An important task of natural resource management is deciding amongst alternative policy options, including how interventions will affect the dynamics of resource exploitation. Yet predicting the behaviour of natural resource users in complex, changeable systems presents a significant challenge for managers. Scenario planning, which involves thinking creatively about how a socio-ecological system might develop under a set of possible futures, was used to explore uncertainties in the future of the Indian Ocean tuna purse seine fishery. This exercise stimulated thinking on how key social, economic and environmental conditions that influence fleet behaviour may change in the future, and how these changes might affect the dynamics of fishing effort. Three storylines were explored: an increase in marine protection, growing consumer preference for sustainable seafood, and depletion of tuna stocks. Comparing across several possible future scenarios, a number of critical aspects of fleet behaviour were identified that should be important considerations for fishery managers, but which are currently poorly understood. These included a switch in fishing practices, reallocation of effort in space, investment in new vessels and exit from the fishery. Recommendations for future management interventions in the Indian Ocean were offered, along with suggestions for research needed to reduce management uncertainty.
Harrison M, Baker J, Twinamatsiko M, et al., 2015, Profiling unauthorized natural resource users for better targeting of conservation interventions, Conservation Biology, Vol: 29, Pages: 1636-1646, ISSN: 1523-1739
Unauthorized use of natural resources is a key threat to many protected areas. Approaches to reducing this threat include law enforcement and integrated conservation and development (ICD) projects, but for such ICDs to be targeted effectively, it is important to understand who is illegally using which natural resources and why. The nature of unauthorized behavior makes it difficult to ascertain this information through direct questioning. Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda, has many ICD projects, including authorizing some local people to use certain nontimber forest resources from the park. However, despite over 25 years of ICD, unauthorized resource use continues. We used household surveys, indirect questioning (unmatched count technique), and focus group discussions to generate profiles of authorized and unauthorized resource users and to explore motivations for unauthorized activity. Overall, unauthorized resource use was most common among people from poor households who lived closest to the park boundary and farthest from roads and trading centers. Other motivations for unauthorized resource use included crop raiding by wild animals, inequity of revenue sharing, and lack of employment, factors that created resentment among the poorest communities. In some communities, benefits obtained from ICD were reported to be the greatest deterrents against unauthorized activity, although law enforcement ranked highest overall. Despite the sensitive nature of exploring unauthorized resource use, management-relevant insights into the profiles and motivations of unauthorized resource users can be gained from a combination of survey techniques, as adopted here. To reduce unauthorized activity at Bwindi, we suggest ICD benefit the poorest people living in remote areas and near the park boundary by providing affordable alternative sources of forest products and addressing crop raiding. To prevent resentment from driving further unauthorized activity, ICDs should be manag
Moro M, Fischer A, Milner-Gulland EJ, et al., 2015, A stated preference investigation of household demand for illegally hunted bushmeat in the Serengeti, Tanzania, ANIMAL CONSERVATION, Vol: 18, Pages: 377-386, ISSN: 1367-9430
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 8
Nuno A, Milner-Gulland EJ, Bunnefeld N, 2015, Detecting abundance trends under uncertainty: the influence of budget, observation error and environmental change, ANIMAL CONSERVATION, Vol: 18, Pages: 331-340, ISSN: 1367-9430
- Author Web Link
- Open Access Link
- Cite
- Citations: 9
Milner-Gulland EJ, Sainsbury K, Burgess N, et al., 2015, Exploring stakeholder perceptions of conservation outcomes from alternative income generating activities in Tanzanian villages adjacent to Eastern Arc mountain forests., Biological Conservation, Vol: 191, Pages: 20-28, ISSN: 0006-3207
Milner-Gulland EJ, Wallace A, Bunnefeld N, et al., 2015, Quantifying the short-term costs of conservation interventions for fishers at Lake Alaotra, Madagascar, PLOS One, Vol: 10, ISSN: 1932-6203
Artisanal fisheries are a key source of food and income for millions of people, but if poorly managed, fishing can have declining returns as well as impacts on biodiversity. Management interventions such as spatial and temporal closures can improve fishery sustainability and reduce environmental degradation, but may carry substantial short-term costs for fishers. The Lake Alaotra wetland in Madagascar supports a commercially important artisanal fishery and provides habitat for a Critically Endangered primate and other endemic wildlife of conservation importance. Using detailed data from more than 1,600 fisher catches, we used linear mixed effects models to explore and quantify relationships between catch weight, effort, and spatial and temporal restrictions to identify drivers of fisher behaviour and quantify the potential effect of fishing restrictions on catch. We found that restricted area interventions and fishery closures would generate direct short-term costs through reduced catch and income, and these costs vary between groups of fishers using different gear. Our results show that conservation interventions can have uneven impacts on local people with different fishing strategies. This information can be used to formulate management strategies that minimise the adverse impacts of interventions, increase local support and compliance, and therefore maximise conservation effectiveness.
Milner-Gulland EJ, mcnamara J, rowcliffe M, et al., 2015, Long-term spatio-temporal changes in a West African bushmeat trade system, Conservation Biology, Vol: 29, Pages: 1446-1457, ISSN: 0888-8892
Landscapes in many developing countries consist of a heterogeneous matrix of mixed agriculture and forest. Many of the generalist species in this matrix are increasingly traded in the bushmeat markets of West and Central Africa. However, to date there has been little quantification of how the spatial configuration of the landscape influences the urban bushmeat trade over time. As anthropogenic landscapes become the face of rural West Africa, understanding the dynamics of these systems has important implications for conservation and landscape management. The bushmeat production of an area is likely to be defined by landscape characteristics such as habitat disturbance, hunting pressure, level of protection, and distance to market. We explored (SSG, tense) the role of these four characteristics in the spatio-temporal dynamics of the commercial bushmeat trade around the city of Kumasi, Ghana, over 27 years (1978 to 2004). We used geographic information system methods to generate maps delineating the spatial characteristics of the landscapes. These data were combined with spatially explicit market data collected in the main fresh bushmeat market in Kumasi to explore the relationship between trade volume (measured in terms of number of carcasses) and landscape characteristics. Over time, rodents, specifically cane rats (Thryonomys swinderianus), became more abundant in the trade relative to ungulates and the catchment area of the bushmeat market expanded. Areas of intermediate disturbance supplied more bushmeat, but protected areas had no effect. Heavily hunted areas showed significant declines in bushmeat supply over time. Our results highlight the role that low intensity, heterogeneous agricultural landscapes can play in providing ecosystem services, such as bushmeat, and therefore the importance of incorporating bushmeat into ecosystem service mapping exercises. Our results also indicate that even where high bushmeat production is possible, current harvest levels may
Woodhouse E, Mills MA, McGowan PJK, et al., 2015, Religious Relationships with the Environment in a Tibetan Rural Community: Interactions and Contrasts with Popular Notions of Indigenous Environmentalism, HUMAN ECOLOGY, Vol: 43, Pages: 295-307, ISSN: 0300-7839
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 29
Costelloe B, Collen B, Milner-Gulland EJ, et al., 2015, Global biodiversity indicators reflect the modeled impacts of protected area policy change, Conservation Letters, Vol: 9, Pages: 14-20, ISSN: 1755-263X
Global biodiversity indicators can be used to measure the status and trends of biodiversity relating to Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) targets. Whether such indicators can support decision makers by distinguishing among policy options remains poorly evaluated. We tested the ability of two CBD indicators, the Living Planet Index and the Red List Index, to reflect projected changes in mammalian populations in sub-Saharan Africa in response to potential policies related to CBD targets for protected areas (PAs). We compared policy scenarios to expand the PA network, improve management effectiveness of the existing network, and combinations of the two, against business as usual. Both indicators showed that more effective management would provide greater benefits to biodiversity than expanding PAs alone. The indicators were able to communicate outcomes of modeled scenarios in a simple quantitative manner, but behaved differently. This work highlights both the considerable potential of indicators in supporting decisions, and the need to understand how indicators will respond as biodiversity changes.
Tidd AN, Vermard Y, Marchal P, et al., 2015, Fishing for Space: Fine-Scale Multi-Sector Maritime Activities Influence Fisher Location Choice (vol 10, e0116335, 2015), PLOS ONE, Vol: 10, ISSN: 1932-6203
Milner-Gulland EJ, Pan Y, 2015, Using local ecological knowledge to assess the status of the Critically Endangered Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus in Guizhou Province, China, Oryx, ISSN: 1365-3008
The Critically Endangered Chinese giant salamander Andrias davidianus, the world's largest amphibian, is severely threatened by unsustainable exploitation of wild individuals. However, field data with which to assess the salamander's status, population trends, or exploitation across its geographical range are limited, and recent field surveys using standard ecological field techniques have typically failed to detect wild individuals. We conducted community-based fieldwork in three national nature reserves (Fanjingshan, Leigongshan and Mayanghe) in Guizhou Province, China, to assess whether local ecological knowledge constitutes a useful tool for salamander conservation. We collected a sample of dated salamander sighting records and associated data from these reserves for comparative assessment of the relative status of salamander populations across the region. Although Fanjingshan and Leigongshan are still priority sites for salamander conservation, few recent sightings were recorded in either reserve, and respondents considered that salamanders had declined locally at both reserves. The species may already be functionally extinct at Mayanghe. Although respondent data on threats to salamanders in Guizhou are more difficult to interpret, overharvesting was the most commonly suggested explanation for salamander declines, and it is likely that the growing salamander farming industry is the primary driver of salamander extraction from Guizhou's reserves. Questionnaire-based surveys can collect novel quantitative data that provide unique insights into the local status of salamander populations, and we advocate wide-scale incorporation of this research approach into future salamander field programmes.
Maxwell SL, Milner-Gulland EJ, Jones JPG, et al., 2015, Being smart about SMART environmental targets, SCIENCE, Vol: 347, Pages: 1075-1076, ISSN: 0036-8075
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 68
Travers H, Winney K, Clements T, et al., 2015, A tale of two villages: An investigation of conservation-driven land tenure reform in a Cambodian Protection Forest, LAND USE POLICY, Vol: 43, Pages: 186-196, ISSN: 0264-8377
- Author Web Link
- Open Access Link
- Cite
- Citations: 24
Tidd AN, Vermard Y, Marchal P, et al., 2015, Fishing for Space: Fine-Scale Multi-Sector Maritime Activities Influence Fisher Location Choice, PLOS ONE, Vol: 10, ISSN: 1932-6203
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 16
Gossa C, Fisher M, Milner-Gulland EJ, 2015, The research-implementation gap: howpractitioners and researchers from developing countries perceive the role of peer-reviewed literature in conservation science, ORYX, Vol: 49, Pages: 80-87, ISSN: 0030-6053
- Author Web Link
- Open Access Link
- Cite
- Citations: 54
Taylor G, Scharlemann JPW, Rowcliffe M, et al., 2015, Synthesising bushmeat research effort in West and Central Africa: A new regional database, BIOLOGICAL CONSERVATION, Vol: 181, Pages: 199-205, ISSN: 0006-3207
- Author Web Link
- Cite
- Citations: 41
Milner-Gulland EJ, Clements T, 2014, Impact of payments for environmental services and protected areas on local livelihoods and forest conservation in northern Cambodia, Conservation Biology, ISSN: 1523-1739
The potential impacts of payments for environmental services (PES) and protected areas (PAs) on environmental outcomes and local livelihoods in developing countries are contentious and have been widely debated. The available evidence is sparse, with few rigorous evaluations of the environmental and social impacts of PAs and particularly of PES. We measured the impacts on forests and human well-being of three different PES programs instituted within two PAs in northern Cambodia, using a panel of intervention villages and matched controls. Both PES and PAs delivered additional environmental outcomes relative to the counterfactual: reducing deforestation rates significantly relative to controls. PAs increased security of access to land and forest resources for local households, benefiting forest resource users but restricting households’ ability to expand and diversify their agriculture. The impacts of PES on household well-being were related to the magnitude of the payments provided. The two higher paying market-linked PES programs had significant positive impacts, whereas a lower paying program that targeted biodiversity protection had no detectable effect on livelihoods, despite its positive environmental outcomes. Households that signed up for the higher paying PES programs, however, typically needed more capital assets; hence, they were less poor and more food secure than other villagers. Therefore, whereas the impacts of PAs on household well-being were limited overall and varied between livelihood strategies, the PES programs had significant positive impacts on livelihoods for those that could afford to participate. Our results are consistent with theories that PES, when designed appropriately, can be a powerful new tool for delivering conservation goals whilst benefiting local people.
This data is extracted from the Web of Science and reproduced under a licence from Thomson Reuters. You may not copy or re-distribute this data in whole or in part without the written consent of the Science business of Thomson Reuters.