Browsing by Author "Knight, Andrew T."

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    Black rhinoceros avoidance of tourist infrastructure and activity: planning and managing for coexistence
    (Cambridge University Press, 2019-09-26) Muntifering, Jeff R.; Linklater, Wayne L.; Naidoo, Robin; Uri-Khob, Simson; Du Preez, Pierre; Beytell, Petrus; Jacobs, Shayne; Knight, Andrew T.
    Wildlife-based tourism has been described as a key conservation mechanism (Buckley & Castley, Reference Buckley and Castley2012; Coghlan et al., Reference Coghlan, Buckley and Weaver2012; Buckley et al., Reference Buckley, Morrison and Castley2016) and has increased globally (Tapper, Reference Tapper2006), particularly in developing countries (Balmford et al., Reference Balmford, Beresford, Green, Naidoo, Walpole and Manica2009). However, such tourism can have negative consequences for the wildlife intended to benefit from it. For example, previous studies found the mountain caribou Rangifer tarandus is displaced from preferred habitat by snowmobiles (Seip et al., Reference Seip, Johnson and Watts2007) and the Asian rhinoceros Rhinoceros unicornis by elephant-borne tourists (Lott & Mccoy, Reference Lott and Mccoy1995). Declines in bottlenose dolphin Tursiops sp. abundance linked to tourism (Bejder et al., Reference Bejder, Samuels, Whitehead, Gales, Mann and Connor2006) and increased risks to human safety through habituation of brown bears Ursus arctos (Penteriani et al., Reference Penteriani, López-bao, Bettega, Dalerum, Delgado and Jerina2017) have also been reported. A growing demand for experiences that provide opportunities to interact directly and in close proximity with wildlife (Higham et al., Reference Higham, Bejder and Lusseau2009) has inspired research aiming to quantify the direct impacts of human–wildlife encounters (Buckley, Reference Buckley2011). However, human activity (including conservation-oriented tourism) occurring within wildlife habitat often creates so-called zones of influence in which certain wildlife species may be displaced from otherwise suitable habitat (Noss & Cue, Reference Noss and Cue2001; Taylor & Knight, Reference Taylor and Knight2003; Frair et al., Reference Frair, Merrill, Beyer and Morales2008; Polfus et al., Reference Polfus, Hebblewhite and Heinemeyer2011; Boulanger et al., Reference Boulanger, Poole, Gunn and Wierzchowski2012). Few studies have examined the indirect effects of tourism infrastructure and operational development on free-ranging wildlife. An incomplete understanding of the effects tourism has on wildlife can result in poor management planning (Buckley & Pabla, Reference Buckley and Pabla2012) and reduce the net positive outcomes for conservation (Buckley, Reference Buckley2010). Even when scientific data are available, evidence-based management approaches are not necessarily implemented because research is often not management-oriented (Linklater, Reference Linklater2003) or researchers do not plan for implementation of their findings (Knight et al., Reference Knight, Cowling, Rouget, Balmford, Lombard and Campbell2008). To ensure conservation benefits exceed the costs associated with increased tourism involving rare and threatened wildlife (Karanth & DeFries, Reference Karanth and DeFries2011), it is vital that research is translated into management approaches that are both useful and user-friendly (Pierce et al., Reference Pierce, Cowling, Knight, Lombard, Rouget and Wolf2005; Thirgood et al., Reference Thirgood, Mduma, Keyyu and Laurenson2007). The policy sciences provide both a theory and a practical framework for integrating evidence in an effective decision-making process (Clark, Reference Clark2002). This approach has been used to improve conservation for many threatened species including koalas (Clark et al., Reference Clark, Mazur, Begg and Cork2000), great apes (Eves et al., Reference Eves, Gordon, Stein and Clark2002) and brown bears (Rutherford et al., Reference Rutherford, Gibeau, Clark and Chamberlain2009). The Critically Endangered black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis, an iconic large African mammal that has experienced a 97% population decline since 1970 (Emslie & Brooks, Reference Emslie and Brooks1999) could also benefit from a management-oriented approach.
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    Costs of coexistence : understanding the drivers of tolerance towards Asian elephants Elephas maximus in rural Bangladesh
    (Fauna & Flora International, 2020) Saif, Omar; Kansky, Ruth; Palash, Anwar; Kidd, Martin; Knight, Andrew T.
    Habitat degradation and fragmentation have heightened the importance of understanding human tolerance towards wildlife, as the fate of wildlife in multi-use landscapes depends on people's capacity for coexistence. We applied the wildlife tolerance model to examine drivers of tolerance towards Asian elephants Elephas maximus in rural Bangladesh, interviewing local people in 17 villages. We used structural equation modelling to identify causal pathways in which elephant-related exposure, positive and negative interactions, costs and benefits (tangible and intangible) contributed to tolerance. Contrary to expectations, monetary costs were non-significant in shaping tolerance despite major impacts on livelihoods. Instead, intangible costs and intangible benefits were significant factors determining tolerance. Furthermore, reducing people's exposure to elephants would not necessarily affect tolerance, nor would increasing positive interactions. We discuss how the socio-economic and bio-cultural dynamics of local communities can explain these results, and demonstrate how our model can be used to incorporate such complexities into conservation decision-making. For instance, compensation schemes aim to recompense monetary losses and direct damages, to improve tolerance, whereas our results suggest a more effective approach would be to enhance resilience to non-monetary costs and improve perceived benefits. We conclude that future studies should pay increased attention to intangible costs and consider the less direct drivers of tolerance. Through repeated testing of universal models such as that presented here, broad trends may emerge that will facilitate the application of policies across contexts and landscapes.
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    Improving conservation practice with principles and tools from systems thinking and evaluation
    (Springer, 2019-03-12) Knight, Andrew T.; Cook, Carly N.; Redford, Kent H.; Biggs, Duan; Romero, Claudia; Ortega‑Argueta, Alejandro; Norman, Cameron D.; Parsons, Beverly; Reynolds, Martin; Eoyang, Glenda; Keene, Matt
    Achieving nature conservation goals require grappling with ‘wicked’ problems. These intractable problems arise from the complexity and dynamism of the social–ecological systems in which they are embedded. To enhance their ability to address these problems, conservation professionals are increasingly looking to the transdisciplines of systems thinking and evaluation, which provide philosophies, theories, methods, tools and approaches that show promise for addressing intractable problems in a variety of other sectors. These transdisciplines come together especially around praxis, i.e., the process by which a theory or idea is enacted, embodied or realized. We present a review and synthesis of the learnings about praxis that have emerged from The Silwood Group, a consortium of conservation professionals, professional evaluators, and complexity and systems thinkers. The Silwood Group believes that for conservation activities to achieve ambitious goals, we should benefit nature without compromising the well-being of people, and that framing a praxis for conservation in the context of social–ecological systems will provide the greatest potential for positive impact. The learnings are presented as four key principles of a ‘praxis for effective conservation’. The four principles are: (1) attend to the whole with humility; (2) engage constructively with the values, cultures, politics, and histories of stakeholders; (3) learn through evaluative, systemic enquiry, and (4) exercise wisdom in judgement and action. We also provide descriptions and references for tools and methods to support such praxis and discuss how the thinking and approaches used by conservation professionals can be transformed to achieve greater effectiveness.
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    Insights on fostering the emergence of robust conservation actions from Zimbabwe's CAMPFIRE program
    (Elsevier, 2019) Biggs, Duan; Ban, Natalie C.; Castilla, Juan Carlos; Gelcich, Stefan; Mills, Morena; Gandiwa, Edson; Etienne, Michel; Knight, Andrew T.; Marquet, Pablo A.; Possingham, Hugh P.
    One strategy to address threats to biodiversity in the face of ongoing budget constraints is to create an enabling environment that facilitates individuals, communities and other groups to self-organise to achieve conservation outcomes. Emergence (new activities and initiatives), and robustness (durability of these activities and initiatives over time), two related concepts from the common pool resources literature, provide guidance on how to support and enable such self-organised action for conservation. To date emergence has received little attention in the literature. Our exploratory synthesis of the conditions for emergence from the literature highlighted four themes: for conservation to emerge, actors need to 1) recognise the need for change, 2) expect positive outcomes, 3) be able to experiment to achieve collective learning, and 4) have legitimate local scale governance authority. Insights from the literature on emergence and robustness suggest that an appropriate balance should be maintained between external guidance of conservation and enabling local actors to find solutions appropriate to their contexts. We illustrate the conditions for emergence, and its interaction with robustness, through discussing the Communal Areas Management Programme for Indigenous Resources (CAMPFIRE) in Zimbabwe and reflect on efforts at strengthening local autonomy and management around the world. We suggest that the delicate balance between external guidance of actions, and supporting local actors to develop their own solutions, should be managed adaptively over time to support the emergence of robust conservation actions.
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    Understanding drivers of human tolerance to gray wolves and brown bears as a strategy to improve landholder– carnivore coexistence
    (Wiley Periodicals LLC., 2020) Marino, Filippo; Kansky, Ruth; Shivji, Irene; Di Croce, Antonio; Ciucci, Paolo; Knight, Andrew T.
    Despite recent recovery of large carnivores throughout Europe such as the brown bear (Ursus arctos) and the graywolf (Canis lupus), some of their populations are still threatened and their viability depends on human tolerance to share mixed landscapes. We investigated the drivers of landholders' tolerance in Abruzzo (Italy), a region with a long history of cohabitation, by applying theWildlife Tolerance Model (WTM) (Kansky et al., 2016, Biological Conservation, 201, 137–145). Using structural equation modeling we assessed relationships between WTM variables. This framework hypothesizes that exposure to a species and experiences with a species drive perceptions of benefits and costs, and ultimately tolerance.We then sought to understand similarities and differences in tolerance drivers between the two species and across two areas that differed in the duration of human–carnivore cohabitation. Results showed both similarities and differences in drivers between species and areas, resulting in seven management proposals to foster tolerance. Increasing intangible benefits and positive experiences were two strategies that were similar for both species and areas,while five strategies differed across species and areas.Our methodological approach can be applied in other landscapes with other species to determine the extent to whichmultispeciesmanagement across landscapes is possible.