Thesis Abstracts K-O

Enhancing Management of National Parks in Tanzania Using Information Technology

Joseph Kessy(2003)

Reliable and up to date information on protected areas is required for a variety of purposes by protected area managers, conservation agencies, development agencies, international corporations, travel industry and environmental advocacy groups. Unfortunately, experts working in the fields of biodiversity, natural resource management and conservation are generally unable to manage, integrate and share their data locally, nationally or globally, or to distribute relevant information products to decision makers quickly.

This study examines how the predominant use of outdated methods in managing data and information within TANAPA makes the system inefficient, and its ultimate impact on the management effectiveness in the organisation. The potential of using IT to deal with this problem was critically examined.

Use of outdated methods in managing data and information was found to be more costly and contribute very significantly in slowing down the TANAPA decision making process. The study revealed that proper application of IT to deal with the problem offers the greatest potential of solving the problem.

In conclusion this thesis gives recommendations on better ways of managing data and information in protected areas using information technology. The ultimate result of improving the information system is an increase in efficiency and effectiveness of the management of the protected area.

Evaluation of Environmental Education examples from Vietnam Spatial Temporal Distribution of African Elephants(Loxodonta Africana Africana Blumenbach)and their Interaction with Humans in Kuku-Kimana are of Tsavo-Amboseli Ecosystem, Kenya

John Kioko (2005)

This study aimed to investigate elephant use and distribution, the nature and extent of human-elephant conflicts, effectiveness of Kimana and Namelok fences in mitigating human elephant conflicts and the local community perceptions towards having elephants on their land. Fresh elephant dung counts showed that elephant habitat use differed in the dry and wet season. Acacia xanthophloea and Acacia tortilis were highly used during the dry season. The distribution of fresh elephant dung indicated that elephants restricted themselves to 10Km from the nearest water point in the dry season. Elephant sightings and signs revealed that elephants were widely distributed with males being dominant. Three main elephant ranging areas in Kuku, Kimana Group Ranches and adjacent areas were identified and are associated with permanent water points and a nearby protected area. Human activity had constricted the elephant range. Agriculture and human settlement had taken about 13% of the elephant range in Kuku and Kimana Group Ranch. Agriculture alone had taken about 7% of Kuku and Kimana Group Ranch.

Questionnaire responses showed that wildlife crop damage was common and elephants were the most problematic animal. The level of crop damage per single elephant was minimal, less than five percent of an acre was destroyed and the overall damage was medium. Incidences of elephant crop raiding were high in the dry season and at night, with the males being the dominant crop raiders. Livestock keeping was associated with the group ranch membership and the Maasai people. While wildlife-caused livestock deaths and injuries were high, few were associated with elephants. In Amboseli area, more cattle than sheep and goats were killed by elephants from 1997 to 2002. The incidences occurred more in the dry season and may be linked to high contact between elephants and livestock in the wetlands. Human casualties from elephants were few, with only 5.5% of the households having had a family member killed or injured by elephants. However, elephants caused more deaths and injuries than any other wildlife species. Most known elephant deaths and injuries from humans occurred through spearing.

Interviews in the fenced areas show that electric fencing in Kimana and Namelok was effective in reducing human wildlife conflicts in Kuku-Kimana area. The farmers in the fenced areas enjoyed a better social-economic livelihood than those in the unfenced areas. Data collected through monitoring of the fence condition, voltage and rates of fence repair reflect a poor fence maintenance regime. The farmers felt that the future of the fences was uncertain, with maintenance seen as the major challenge. The negative and were influenced by group ranch membership, ethnicity, gender, form of land use, perceived benefits from wildlife, perceived level of elephant crop damage, perceived wildlife authority response to problem elephant reports and future farming plans. The attitudes were not influenced by level of education, age and success of traditional elephant control methods( excluded electric fencing).

Conflict Management Strategies for Effective Wetlands Conservation: A Case Study of Lake Nakuru Wetland, Kenya

Anderson Ochieng Koyo (2000)

With rapidly changing environmental and social systems, the opportunities for conflicts within protected areas and ecosystems are growing greater than ever. The challenge facing natural resources managers is how to manage, and hopefully resolve, these conflicts; how to protect the environment, while at the same time safeguarding the social and economic well-being of the local and national communities concerned.

Lake Nakuru wetland which forms the central part of Lake Nakuru National Park is one such natural landscape that is experiencing conflicts due to differences in opinion, interests, concerns and expectations among the diverse range of stakeholders both within and outside the protected area. The most critical conflict issues include non representative policies and legislation that govern the wetlands and protected area management, eviction and lack of compensation of the local communities when land was acquired by the government to gazette the protected area, lack of rights to access and benefit sharing with local communities and stakeholders, exclusion of local communities from the decision making and management process of the protected area, inappropriate agricultural and land use activities in the catchment basin leading to land degradation and pollution of lake and wetland, lack of effective sustainable planning system leading to land fragmentation, settlements and encroachment to the protected area as well as unplanned urban development which has also led to inadequately treated effluents being discharged into the protected area and the wetland.

Recommended measures to resolve the conflicts are many and varied. However, the most important ones include a review of the policies and legislation with full participation of the stakeholders in order to accommodate their interests and concerns into the management system of the protected area. Also to develop management systems that allow access and benefit sharing with the local communities, conduct capacity building including training; education and awareness to enable local communities to participate in informed decision making and undertake investment in income generating projects. Undertake integrated planning based on catchment or ecosystem approach to address all development and land use programmes in the catchment and consequently minimise land degradation and the negative impacts on the protected area and the wetland. Undertake EIA on all development activities that have the potential to cause negative impacts on the environment and institutionalise environmental audit on all existing development programmes within the catchment basin.

Best Practices for the Facilitation of Management Planning of Community-Based Protected Areas in Indigenous Communities in Fiji

Masi Latianara (2005)

The first protected area in Fiji was established just over 40 years ago as a forest park. Today government designed and managed protected areas constitute the bulk of Fiji's protected areas covering a mere 5% of the total native forest.(IUCN,1992). Having no formal protection, the majority of what remains falls under the tenureship of indigenous Fijians. Approximately 84% of Fiji's land mass belongs to the I taukei , the indigenous people of Fiji. Under their tenureship, is left the responsibility to protect the majority of Fiji's natural resources. With the economisation of lifestyles and the increasing pressures inherent with this change, these native lands are coming under the increasingly frequent threat of piecemeal extraction for economic gain.

With management planning facilitation by local conservation organisations, communities are able to create and maintain their own protected areas as a means to address their economic needs. In the process their natural resources are managed sustainably. The popularity of community-based protected areas (CBPA) is such that local organisations find they can only cope with as little as 5% of the requests for assistance from communities. As a result there is a consensus amongst organisations that overloading community facilitators and trainers can result in poor or compromised services.

This study seeks to recommend to organisations, their trainers and facilitators best practices in the facilitation of natural resource management (NRM) planning. These recommendations are derived from the best practices and lessons learned of local and international organisations as identified from the primary and secondary data analysed.

In the process of analysis, this study focuses on issues such as the appropriateness of participation in the traditional socio-cultural structure; the capacity of both primary and secondary stakeholders to manage; and participation within the ranks of Fiji's conservation organisations, as all poignant issues in the facilitation of management planning and plan implementation of CBPA's in indigenous communities.

..it is clearly the Fijian landowners that will determine the efficacy of initiatives in sustainable resource use and environmental control.(IUCN,1992)

Biodiversity, Community Forestry and Governance in Nepal

Peter Laubmeier (2002)

Nepal is a country which depends to a high extent on its forest resources, which have rapidly declined over the past decades. Simultaneously the biological diversity faced a negative trend. Growing population and poverty and weak governance are widely recognised as root causes.

The study is an endeavour to acknowledge the complexity of development and conservation in the case of Nepal. It attempts to demonstrate a history perspective of processes and actions. For this purpose, it uses the formulation of a national biodiversity action plan by triangulating the plan between conservation, development and governance.

The sustainable management of a forest resource is one of the best possible approaches to preserve biodiversity at a large scale in the long run. Where the dependence of the population on the forest resource is high it might be the only approach.

Community forestry is not only a powerful strategy to rebuild Nepal's natural resource base and to bring it under sustainable management regimes and subsequently securing vital biodiversity interests of national and global interest. It represents also a strong incentive, as the concept provides for the devolution of decision making powers in natural resource management to the village level. This makes community forestry instrumental to foster local economic development.

The formulation of the biodiversity action plan has affected the progress and situation of community forestry. Care has to be taken that processes and programmes that have the potential to undermine promising achievements and developments that have been made in favour of biodiversity are avoided.

The study analyses processes and events with a substantial bearing on sustainable development and conservation with the intention to help in guiding national stakeholders as well as development organisations to further strengthen existing good and to revise weak and faulty policies, concepts and practices.

An Analysis of the Makira Conservation Area, Solomon Islands

Annette Lees (1999)

In 1990 a consortium of NGOs began a programme on Makira Island in the Solomon Islands to establish the country's first effective protected area - a 63,000 hectare area of primary tropical rainforest highly sought after by logging companies for timber. The forest is traditionally owned by indigenous people who engage in a subsistence economy on their ancestral land. The landowners are keenly interested in development. In the decade since its launch, the programme (known as Conservation in Development-CID) has sought to reconcile the development interests of the local population with biodiversity conservation outcomes. In doing so it has tested the findings of an international body of experience in Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) including successful site selection criteria, key elements of programme design, and how such programmes are best implemented.

The CID programme focussed on developing cash income opportunities for local residents through enterprise development, on providing education about logging and its alternatives, and on developing a programme in Resource Management Planning at a community level. Key lessons from the six years of programme work examined in this thesis include the findings that small scale enterprise development can indeed offset environmentally destructive alternatives such as logging. To be successful, however, community based programmes need to ensure that local residents, their cultures, sociology, politics and aspirations are indeed the foundation of all work. Adaptive management is crucial as is a strategic awareness of the uniqueness of each ICDP site. The Makiran site did prove to have factors that distinguished it and other ICDPs in Melanesia from ICDPs elsewhere in the world: indigenous land tenure, cultural and political factors, and the "subsistence affluence" economy. This leads to the caution that "replication" is probably an undesirable goal for ICDPs. Instead, a learning approach is called for - one in which uniqueness is central to extension, and flexibility and adaptive management the core of implementation.

Management Plans in the National Parks of England and Wales: Theory and Practice. A case study in the Helvellyn region of the Lake District National Park.

Claire Lister (1999)

Management plans for protected areas have developed over time as protected areas have developed. As governments have become more involved in protected areas and protected landscapes the management of these areas has become more important.

Protected areas and protected landscapes are discussed to display their complex nature. The National Parks of England and Wales in particular illustrate how management has progressed with time. Management plans have been required in National Parks in England and Wales since 1972 and their development is documented. Management plans can be written for a whole National Park or for much smaller areas or specific reserves. Examples of good practice from the Lake District National Park demonstrate the variety of management plans that are produced. The methodology used for creating these plans is analysed and then used in a practical example. A new management plan has been proposed for the Helvellyn area of the Lake District National Park by the Lake District National Park Authority and this thesis demonstrates how a management plan is researched using this example as a case study. The case study is an extension of an existing Helvellyn management plan. The existing Helvellyn management plan has been used as a template for the new management plan used as a case study here. It has guided the collection of data and the format of the data when it is presented.

In conclusion the process of writing a management plan is discussed and the pitfalls encountered while taking part in a practical exercise. A full management plan could not be completed in this instance and therefore guidance is given for the next steps in the management plan process as the data collected are passed on to the Lake District National Park Authority.

The Challenge of Introducing Protected Landscapes through the North West Local Plan in Malta

Frans Mallia (1996)

In a densely populated island like Malta, the conflicts of land-use are very conspicuous. It is practically impossible to preserve habitats in their "natural" state so that ecological processes continue to operate without hindrance from human activities. On the other hand, the major part of rural territory in Malta is under active human influence, the removal of which will, in many instances, result in the loss of cultural landscape. Given that the North West Local Plan (NWLP) are includes much of rural Malta, and that a close relationship between land-use planning and protected area management is desirable, this dissertation explores the milieu through which Protected Landscapes could be introduced in Malta.

The challenge of introducing Protected Landscapes in a context where small size and high population density result in considerable development pressures, initially seems improbable. However, the experience of other countries with similar situations has indicated that it can be done. The complexities involved, especially in translating and tailoring globally accepted concepts to local conditions, are by no means insignificant. An understanding of local conditions, constraints and opportunities is essential for the foundations of any Protected Landscape management plan.

The first chapters of the dissertation are written for the benefit of those readers who may not be familiar with the concept of Protected Landscapes. Examples of environmental protection in selected countries are included so that these highlight the operational benefits and difficulties in other parts of the globe. Some characteristics of the Maltese situation are then described, first as a general overview and later focusing on the North West Local Plan (NWLP) area. The final chapters address the constraints and opportunities in the NWLP area and set a framework within which the challenges entailed through the introduction of Protected Landscapes in Malta could be addressed.

The Contribution of the Tir Gofal Agri-Environment Scheme to the Aims and Objectives of the National Parks in Wales

Oliver Massey (2000)

The most significant of England and Wales' protected areas designations are the National Parks, which are classified as Protected Landscapes according to the IUCN. Their main purposes are conservation and the promotion of opportunities for recreation, whilst also considering the wellbeing of their indigenous population. This holistic approach, which recognises man's fundamental role in the landscape, if the distinguishing feature of the protected landscape approach.

Agri-environment schemes have been developed as a response to problems in the agricultural industry and seek to integrate conservation with viable farming methods. Despite their differing remits, the aims of both National Parks and agri-environment schemes overlap considerably. This thesis illustrates how Wales' all-new agri-environment scheme Tir Gofal, contributes to the aims of the Snowdonia National Park. The potential benefits of Tir Gofal to the National Park are illustrated with reference to previous agri-environment schemes, in particular the Environmentally Sensitive Area and Tir Cymen. Four principle themes are identified.

Firstly the contribution to conservation. Tir Gofal's contribution is shown to be considerable and attention is drawn to its role of fulfilling the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Secondly Tir Gofal contains features that promote access, recreation and education, thereby aiding the second of the National Parks founding principles. Thirdly by supporting the agricultural industry Tir Gofal is maintaining the economy, society and culture of the rural communities that inhabit Snowdonia and whose activities have, and continue to, shape the Park's character. Finally Tir Gofal contains many elements designed to protect or enhance the "character" or "essence" of the landscape. This is particularly significant in respect to National Parks, as their uniqueness, in terms of their landscape, is their defining feature which their designation is designed to protect.

By promoting the aforementioned benefits at an all-Wales level, Tir Gofal is shown to be taking the principles of the protected landscape approach beyond the boundaries of the National Parks.

Analysis of an ICAD failure in Papua New Guinea: Lessons for Conservation Managers

Rob McCallum (1998)

In 1993, the Government of Papua New Guinea's Department of Environment and Conservation, with assistance form the United Nations Development Programme, formed the PNG Biodiversity Conservation and Resource Management Programme. Funded by the Global Environment Facility, a core objective of the Biodiversity Programme was to implement two pilot integrated conservation and development projects (ICADPs) in an experiment aimed at developing future biodiversity conservation protection methodologies for use in Papua New Guinea.

The first of these ICADPs was located in the remote area of Lak in the province of New Ireland. The Lak ICADP commenced operations in 1994, and quickly became involved in a direct competition, with a large foreign owned logging company, for the 80,000 hectare tropical forest resource. The presence of an industrial logging operation eventually proved to be the undoing of the ICADP by forcing the project into an unrealistic operational time-frame. Despite three intensive years of operation, ICADP staff were unable to negotiate an acceptable conservation compact with land owners who were primarily focused on maximising revenue from forest harvesting. Another factor in the decline of the ICADP was the inability of the project proponents to identify and develop environmentally and economically sustainable development initiatives given the large number of constraints in PNG's current social, political and economic environment. In 1996, with the forest resource virtually depleted, the Biodiversity Programme withdrew from Lak in order to re-focus its resources at a second ICADP site. Although the Lak ICADP failed in its primary objective, to secure a large area for inclusion in PNG's protected area network, many of the lessons learned in Lak will be of immense value to other conservation proponents. This document will provide an insight into the experiences gained during implementation of the Lak ICADP, and highlight the lessons for other conservation managers.

The thesis begins by providing an overview of PNG and provides an insight into the complexities of the constraints faced by conservation managers. A more focused overview of the Lak ICADPs operating environment is then provided, followed by a chronological summary of the Project's history. An analysis of the significant factors leading to the project's withdrawal is given before the thesis concludes with the identification and discussion of some of the many lessons learned.

Laying the Foundation for Participatory Management in Gros Morne National Park, Canada: An opportunity to advance understanding and conservation through greater involvement of local users.

Christopher McCarthy (2000)

"Participatory Management is being lauded as the way of the future for protected area management. While there is growing evidence of successes in the South(Third World), and heavily populated regions of Europe, its potential for wilderness areas and for helping to maintain ecological integrity(rather than threaten it), is still heavily debated. "Can the local people be trusted to look after the resource?"

Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland, Canada, accomodates the only non-aboriginal domestic wood harvest in Canada's National Park system. this anomaly presents a unique opportunity to explore theories of participatory management in a largely wilderness setting. The purpose of this study is to assess whether the conditions exist for greater involvement of local resource users in a Category II protected area, and to solicit user suggestions for improved management.

Timber resource users inhabit thirteen "enclave" communities (representing six district groups). The basis for application in dealing with people from these different communities, is to discern the differences in their needs and concerns. This study presents the common ground and aversion to Park's Canada's management philosophies based on harvester values, and examines the theory that greater participation will lead to better conservation through increased understanding and stewardship.

Semi-structured interviews were administered to a stratified random sample of harvesters from all community groups to initiate information exchange and gauge interest in participatory management options.

Surveyed harvesters are concerned about the future of the harvest and wish to play a more active role in its management. Respondents in the outermost communities indicate a high dependency on fuel wood, along with the greatest difficulty in obtaining their annual quota. Timber resources for sawlogs in the north are reported as declining or non-existent. Other community groups expressed concern about maintaining the harvest and protecting their cutting areas from over-harvesting. Significant differences in management issues exist between communities suggesting a need for a more adaptive standard of management."

Planning for the Effective Management of Indigenous state Forests of the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa: Putting a Management Planning System in Place

Nicola Michell (2000)

Effective forest management involves the overall planning of forest management through the allocation of zones for different uses, the development of sustainable harvesting yields while optimising the range of benefits derived from the forest, as well as the monitoring of the effects of management. Planning is recognised, at both national and international levels, as the foundation to achieving effective forest management.

At present in South Africa, a policy of multiple-use management is in place which is reflected in the broad management objectives of all state indigenous forests in the country. These objectives are: nature conservation; recreation, educational and spiritual access; and sustainable forest produce utilisation. In the Eastern Cape province, however, no local objectives or goals are in place for the management of the forests of the region. As a result of this, plus poor infrastructure, the scattered nature of the forests and staff shortages, short-term "crisis management" is currently the predominant form of management in this region. Management planning serves to address these shortcomings by providing longer-term strategies and clear management principles.

A management planning process is proposed in this study that provides a structured approach to achieving an effective and participatory management system in the Eastern Cape within the context of new government policy and legislation. This planning process allows for the proper zoning of areas for different management treatments based on the characteristics of the forests and user requirements. Zoning is discussed in the context of a management classification system that is developed for the region. Sustainable utilisation is highlighted as a vital aspect to effective management and guidelines are put forward on the determining of sustainable harvesting levels.

While sustainable utilisation of the forests are central to effective sustainable management, it is also recommended that, in the light of the increasing demand for forest products, alternatives to forest product utilisation be explored as a matter of priority.

Birdwatching as an ecotourism activity in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest Reserve (Kenya)

Matthias Mwavita (2001)

Tourism is one of the most important activities in almost all the active protected areas in Kenya, mainly in the National Parks, Marine Parks and National Reserves. The majority of the people living along the coastline are highly dependent on this industry and agriculture. However, there are more economic gains to be made in a commitment to making this industry sustainable. Bird watching in Arabuko-Sokoke is one of those activities that has a lot to offer in terms of forest based ecotourism development. If the visitor cannot see the bird, he might hear it calling, see it nest, see its droppings, or find its footprints on the roadside or around waterpools. Birdwatching ecotourism in Arabuko-Sokoke Forest depends greatly on the tourists who take their holidays on the Kenyan coast. Mombasa and Malindi towns being historically important, are catalysts to this industry's development in the wider area.

This study found that while tourists desire to see as much as possible, there are groups of specialised tourists who would specifically wish to see birds. In most of the protected areas it is impossible to enjoy birdwatching as visitors are kept in vehicles, since it is dangerous to walk due to the presence of wild animals such as lions or buffaloes. Birdwatching ecotourism in some of the protected forests, however, is enjoyable particularly in those forests where walking is allowed, for example in Kakamega forest in Western Kenya and Arabuko-Sokoke Forest at the coast. The choice to visit the protected areas in most cases is determined by the information given by the tour operator who sometimes wishes to gain as much as possible from his guests. This affects more of the general tourists rather than the specialist, who may have already set himself or herself to visit a specific protected area in order to se some birds. This is the case with some of the visitors who visit Arabuko-Sokoke and are ready to pay in order to see rare and endangered birds.

Realising the economic benefits of birdwatching ecotourism, local community members have organised themselves in associations to do tour guiding in the forest protected areas, creating awareness to the rest of the community members.

Impacts of Refugees on the Fragile Ecosystem of Western Tanzania, the Case Study of Moyowosi/Malagarasi Ramsar Site

Nebbo Mwina (2003)

The Moyowosi/Malagarasi wetland area in Kigoma region are part of the Moyowosi/Malagarasi/Kigosi/Ugalla wetland ecosystem. This wetland is noted for its rich flora and fauna, which include large numbers of endemic species. A large percentage of the area is 'protected area'.

This study quantifies the land cover changes of the study area over a period of about 29 years from 1966-1995 based on remotely sensed data, topographic maps, interviews and ground truthing. Analysis of the trends of population growth and land resources use are made. Population growth and status of the resources is projected to year 2007 in order to assess options for sustainable development.

The main vegetation types were identified and classified (visually and digitally) using supervised classification of the satellite images with the help of topography maps and field surveys. Map features were digitised from maps and data from satellite images using GIS programme -Map info and were used for map production and analysis. Data for maps in figure5.3.0 - 5.3.4, 5.4.0-5.4.6 and 3.2 were collected and digitised by the author with cartographic help from Infobridge Consultants.

The analysis shows that there is land degradation where vegetation types have been changed into either bare land, grassland and even cultivated land. Some catchment areas and riverine forests have been cleared for farming. Erosion is evident in some areas, which suggests adverse human impacts.

The above problems have been caused by increased human population leading to increased pressure on land for a source of livelihood. To determine the right formula for allocating land to settlements, agriculture, forestry or other land uses such as refugee camps, etc without making one aspect of the environment suffer is extremely difficult.

An integrated management approach is proposed where the involvement of the local community in environmental management and conservation is advocated and encouraged. Protected areas will allow that.

A pre-requisite is to establish the types, extent, present condition of all the resources before any decision to allocate land-use can be made. Because 'knowledge determines our ability to use resources - more specifically, to discover them to harvest or use them at minimum expense, to make and provide a variety of materials and spiritual forms of wealth from them, and distribute this wealth among our people'.(Agastiva, 1982).

Conservation, sustainable utilisation and equitable sharing of benefits are key words to the solution of the problem.
Ecosystem Management: Applications for Transboundary Conservation in the Mount Elgon Ecosystem Kenya/Uganda)

Alvin Nicholas( 2002)

Many Protected Areas (PAs) exist as 'islands' surrounded by incompatible uses, and so cannot adequately conserve biodiversity and provide other essential services. A strategy is required to ensure PAs play an effective role in ensuring human well being and survival into the 21st century. The planning and management of PAs should be addresses in the context of broader approaches to land use planning and management.

A recent approach to the problem is 'ecosystem' planning and management, where core Pas are surrounded by buffer zones and connected corridors, all set in a programme linking conservation and sustainable development at an ecosystem or landscape level. The ecosystem management (EM) concept is subject to disagreement, though it is possible to identify consistent themes.

A prevalent element of EM is the importance of 'ignoring borders' between and within countries through transboundary collaboration ( TBC). Transboundary conservation areas (TBCAs) may develop, and it follows that applying good practice as prescribed by the EM concept to a potential TBCA would help achieve the many benefits such areas can bring about.

Mount Elgon is a huge dormant volcano on the Kenya-Uganda border. The Mount Elgon Ecosystem (MEE) contains a number of protected areas, including national parks on either side, which are currently managed as separate entities as apposed to the single ecological unit they actually constitute. The MEE's elephants were used to illustrate the problems of the current approach.

The research concludes that elephant conservation management could be made more effective through a transboundary ecosystem approach, and that the elephants themselves provide an as yet untapped opportunity for greater TBC. This could eventually lead to a formal TBCA, managed as a single ecological unit. Designation as a Transboundary Biosphere Reserve(TBR) could help coherently unite the aforementioned elements, though zonation policies require harmonisation.

A detailed list of recommendations is presented.

Human-Nature Interactions and Protected Area Management: A study of the situation in Lower Kheng part of Royal Manas National Park in Bhutan

Ugen Norbu (1998)

This study has attempted to assess various human-nature interactions in the Lower Kheng part of Royal Manas National Park for their relevance to integrated conservation and development.

The study reveals that the use of natural resources, primarily forest products, by the local communities is very intensive. The local people find immense utility in various forest resources and the uses are made with much ingenuity. Most prominent use of forest resources is for bamboo and cane, fuelwood and roofing thatch. Consumption of wild food and use of wooden poles and posts is also considerable. Shifting cultivation or tseri emerges as the most important natural resource management system encompassing several forms of human-nature interactions. In relation to tseri, the study discusses its importance in the area, its environmental impacts, indigenous knowledge manifested in it and its advantages and disadvantages. It concludes that the general conception that tseri is a wasteful and environmentally damaging practice is erroneous. tseri is found to have more advantages than disadvantages and is the most suitable crop production system under the prevailing biophysical conditions in the area. Change in use of forest resources is marginal primarily due to plentiful forest resources and lack of alternative products. Commercial use of natural resources is insignificant and communal cohesion in natural resource management is rare. Geoclimatic conditions, biophysical setting, development forces, population and legislation are identified as the key factors influencing human-nature interactions.

Recommendations are offered to strengthen the integration of conservation and development in the park. Given the importance of tseri in the area, follow-up research on certain aspects that may be useful to enhance tseri as a viable, multi-functional natural resource management system is proposed. Finally, studies on human-nature interactions in other parts of the park are recommended to gain a comparative and fuller understanding of the interactions and the importance of the natural resources to the park residents.

The Role of Local Communities in the Conservation and Management of Biodiversity in Hell's Gate National Park and its Environs

Ignatius Oswe (2001)

The study area within Naivasha is essentially a fragile range land facing numerous environmental threats against competing land uses, ranging from settlements to agriculture, livestock and game ranching. The major interest and concern of the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) is the sustainability of wildlife population and their habitats in the area. Given the low and erratic rainfall patterns in the area, it remains ideal for large herbivores and cattle ranching, both of which, with proper integrated management, can co-exist.

Large parts of the area serve as dispersal areas for wildlife from Hell's Gate National Park, and therefore are very important for the survival of the Park and its biodiversity. Realising that over 70% of all wildlife spend most of their time outside protected areas, the KWS formulated a policy of parks beyond parks in which it sought to actively involve local communities neighbouring parks in the conservation and management of wildlife in their private lands. For a long time, people with wildlife in their lands had a negative attitude toward wildlife, mainly because of the conflicts with wildlife as a result of crop destruction, predation on livestock, disease transmission to livestock and injuries and even death caused by wildlife.

The study therefore sought to gauge the current level of local community participation in wildlife management within the Naivasha area. It turned out that most local people still have negative attitudes to wildlife, despite concerted efforts by the KWS to buy good will from them. The rural communities do however appreciate development assistance given to them by KWS in terms of water projects and construction of schools and pit latrines in the area. Wildlife conservation still ranks very low in their land use preferences. The issues that tend to negate conservation efforts in the area include the rapid population growth in the area which has resulted in sub-division of parcels land that used to constitute vital habitats for wildlife, and poverty. It is necessary to develop appropriate incentive schemes to enable them to become useful partners in conservation of wildlife in their private lands, and to determine ways and means of discouraging further sub-division of land in the area.

A number of the large ranch owners are normally granted limited wildlife use rights , based on wildlife census results. However, the study has revealed that there is inadequate sincerity on the part of the ranchers when it comes to census figures and cropping. There are cases of inflated census results. Some of the croppers hired are not well versed with wildlife behaviour and social organisation. The cropping is thus likely to cause further decline in wildlife population through unsustainable off takes disrupting the social order of the targeted species, resulting in reproductive failure. The Nakuru Wildlife Conservancy is poised to formulate a five year management plan for the entire conservancy. This should definitely be able to improve on the management of wildlife and their habitats in the area. An environmental impact assessment was conducted before the geothermal power plant was constructed in the Park, and there is a memorandum of understanding between KWS and the Plant, to ensure sustainability of the Plant's activities.

Revenue Sharing in Kenya: Does it Promote the Conservation of Biodiversity?

Gregory Overton (2000)

Kenya has become a major tourist destination for travellers from Europe and America, and tourism has grown into one of the major foreign currency income earners for the country. A primary reason for this is the wide diversity and numbers of wildlife throughout Kenya, along with the country's scenic and diverse system of easily accessible protected areas. However, recently in Kenya a number of organisations and conservationists have expressed fears over the increasing isolation of protected areas due to the increasing human pressures on land around protected areas, the considerable decline in wildlife numbers and diversity outside of protected areas, and the growing conflict between human and wildlife populations. Partially in response to these concerns, the Kenya wildlife Service established a community conservation programme upon which the crux of all activities is sharing park revenues to offset costs incurred by communities as a result of wildlife.

While the economic benefits of the programme are clear, the actual conservation impacts are not. In order to begin understanding the effects of the community conservation programme on wildlife conservation, this study proposed to look at how biodiversity is being affected by the community conservation programme.

Although there is no conclusive evidence to indicate either the success or failure of the programme, there are some indications that the programme may be having some positive impacts on wildlife conservation. However, it is clear from this study that the programme needs to begin to better monitor and evaluate the effects of the revenue sharing activities on wildlife conservation as an indicator of success, and not just how much revenue has been shared with the communities.

Protected Areas and Indigenous People's Territories: Options and Opportunities

Approaches to building bridges between indigenous peoples and protected areas, through innovative application of the IUCN International System of Protected Area Categories.

Gonzalo T Oviedo (2000)

Protected areas, the primary tool for in situ biodiversity conservation, face conflicts that could seriously threaten their survival. One of them relates the subject matter of this dissertation. It has been estimated that the majority of protected areas of the world overlap with ancestral lands, territories, and resources of indigenous and traditional peoples, and the establishment of such areas has very often aggravated their conditions of deprivation, poverty, marginalisation, social exclusion, and cultural erosion.

However, the protected areas model is experiencing profound and rapid evolution, and there is growing support for a new paradigm of social sensitivity and inclusiveness, flexibility in approaches, and integration with local development aspirations. In parallel, policies on indigenous peoples and the environment have been significantly evolved in the last decade. These processes are configuring a favourable policy environment for the search of convergence and co-operation between protected area managers and indigenous and traditional peoples.

Indeed, protected areas don't need to be socially insensitive to accomplish their objectives, and if properly established and managed, they can be very useful for indigenous and traditional people's rights and interests. The current International System of Protected Area Categories offers room to accommodate such rights and interests, although it still requires adaptation and further development.

The major problem however is the inadequacy of national laws and policies to face the challenge of building partnerships, including in terms of their failure to follow guidance offered by the International System. At the national level, legal and political regulations on issues like ownership and statutory powers within protected areas are frequently obsolete and ineffective, particularly in developing countries, and contradict fundamental concepts of the International System. Categories with the highest potential to respond to indigenous people's claims, like Protected Landscapes and Managed Resource Protected Areas, are under-utilised and poorly understood. Approaches that have proven useful, like multiple classification and Biosphere Reserves, do not receive enough attention by governments and protected area managers.

On the other hand, the search for conflict resolution on the ground, and the persistent claims of indigenous peoples, have given birth to many constructive arrangements, notably area-level co-management agreements. Especially in the absence of appropriate legal and policy changes, co-management agreements are providing valuable opportunities for participation and are fostering respect for local people's rights. Co-management processes, coupled with legal and policy reform, and with innovative management techniques and approaches, like community mapping and customary-management-based zonation, can become a key avenue for building constructive partnerships, on condition that they genuinely recognise indigenous and traditional people's rights.

Sustainable Transport and the National Parks of England and Wales: A case study of the Peak District National Park.

Sarah Owens (1999)

Transport has been identified world-wide as a potentially threatening and damaging process. Pollution, congestion and environmental degradation impact upon many areas of our planet, but under increasing pressure are the National Parks of England and Wales, where increasing leisure traffic threatens to undermine the natural beauty and tranquillity these designations were designed to conserve. This thesis explores the issue of transport management, investigating the ways in which the concepts surrounding sustainable transport are being put into practice on the ground. The Peak District National Park provides a case study used to focus the discussion on current policy and practice, and to discover the attitudes and behaviour of those who travel within this National Park.

Chapter 1 introduces the National Parks of England and Wales and highlights transport pressure as a threatening consequence of their popularity. Chapter 2 explores the origins of transport policy at an international level and describes how the concept of sustainable development has been applied to transport theory. Transport management is then addressed in Chapter 3 from a theoretical standpoint. The progress of a new concept, "sustainable transport" is highlighted, and the ways in which this has influenced national policy are discussed. Chapter 4 then focuses on transport problems and solutions within the National Parks of England and Wales. This is complemented by Chapter 5, which assesses the transport management techniques used by the Peak District National Park. Chapter 6 questions whether these practical solutions, developed to relieve transport problems, will prove successful by investigating the behaviour and attitudes of locals and visitors within the Peak Park. The thesis concludes with recommendations for future action. It argues that although transport theory has come a long way over recent years, and its application within the National Parks of England and Wales has forged their role as "greenprints", there are still changes needed within the attitudes and behaviour of the general public before we can even begin to move towards the targets encompassed within sustainable transportation.