Conservation Letters最新文献

The EU's Green Deal, a comprehensive policy package for sustainability transition in Europe, was launched in 2019 with the ambition to demonstrate global environmental leadership. It has been successful in establishing new EU environmental policy instruments, with a strong focus on sustainable land use and conservation, such as the EU Nature Restoration Law or the EU Deforestation Regulation. Recently, however, the Green Deal has lost political traction, and its sustainable land use and conservation-oriented policy instruments are under pressure or have already been cut back. In this paper, we undertake a multidisciplinary assessment of the Green Deal, presenting four theoretical perspectives (policy analysis, international relations, political economy/macroeconomics, and political ecology). These perspectives provide a so far missing comprehensive analysis of the strategic situation of EU land use and conservation policy, rooted in complementary explanations for the emergence, evolution, and faltering of the Green Deal. We move on to present two pathways for future EU land use and conservation policy—one assuming a continuation of currently visible patterns of deterioration in environmental ambitions; the other arguing for the possibility of reinvigorating the policy as what may be labeled as a new, Social Green Deal.

Addressing the biodiversity crisis requires effective pro-nature conservation strategies. This study proposes and empirically validates a novel model that enhances conservation agency through sense of place (SOP) and promotes pro-nature conservation behavior (ProCoB). Focusing on Bryde's whale conservation at Weizhou Island, China, a 3-month educational program engaged 110 adolescents through lectures, participatory activities, and advocacy initiatives. Results revealed significant and sustained increases in conservation agency and behavior, especially among those involved in volunteer advocacy. Structural equation modeling showed that SOP directly boosted agency, which in turn promoted behavior, while subjective norms also contributed to increased agency. The model explained 65.8% of the variance in agency and 30.7% in behavior. Qualitative interviews confirmed notable improvements in participants’ SOP, attitude, agency, and behavior, particularly among those who integrated coursework with advocacy efforts. This research offers a theoretical framework linking SOP, agency, and ProCoB, highlighting the effectiveness of place-based educational approaches.

Evidence assessment—identifying, evaluating, and synthesizing data and findings from previous studies—is important to inform environmental decision-making but can be slow and resource intensive. Users seeking efficiency have developed multiple definitions and methods for rapid evidence assessment (REA), raising concerns about consistency and rigor. To improve consistency and confidence in REA, we convened an international group of evidence users and researchers to define REA for environmental applications. Through a consensus-driven and iterative approach, we define REA as: a structured review process that aims to maximize rigor and objectivity given assessment needs and resource constraints; is transparent about trade-offs, risks, and biases; and can integrate multiple types of evidence. Our standardized definition of REA will improve transparency and facilitate decisions about the appropriate levels of rigor required for those who commission, conduct, and use REAs for environmental decision-making.

Worldwide, more people are migrating to the forest frontier, significantly altering land use in smallholder farming communities, yet there is limited empirical evidence on the environmental impacts of this migration. The common assumption is that migrants disproportionately contribute to resource degradation. In this study, we investigate if migration drives deforestation in Madagascar, using national census data, global land cover datasets, and qualitative insights from drought-affected migrant-sending and forest-margin migrant-receiving areas. Quantitative analysis showed no evidence of spatial overlap between net positive in-migration and forest loss, and only a marginally significant negative relationship between in-migration and forest cover for extreme in-migration. The qualitative findings suggested that while in-migrants may sometimes access lands through clearing forestlands, they were no more likely than local people to clear land. These results challenge narratives of migrants as primary drivers of environmental degradation and highlight the need for a nuanced understanding of migration–environment interactions.

Lions (Panthera leo) in Africa are targeted for the illegal wildlife trade, driven by demand in African and Asian markets, for their body parts. This threat is distinct from traditional drivers of lion decline such as prey depletion, habitat loss, and persecution and is poorly understood, underreported, growing, and prone to the influence of organized transnational crime. Here, we synthesize the current state of knowledge on targeted poaching for lion parts, identify key conservation and legal challenges, and propose a coordinated response agenda, drawing on examples from around the continent. We call for consideration in six critical areas: improving in situ protection, effective engagement of communities in conservation interventions, improved understanding of trade dynamics, disrupting the trade via multiple mechanisms, strengthening legal frameworks, and demand reduction. We recommend a proactive approach to prevent entrenchment of poaching and illicit markets and avert severe impacts on lion populations. Without coordinated action to address targeted poaching, there is a significant risk of lion population declines and extirpations. Urgent action is needed to acknowledge and address this issue, because it represents a potentially existential threat to the species.

Chinese giant salamanders (CGSs, Andrias spp.) are apex freshwater predators representing an ancient evolutionary group, but are now critically endangered. Although multiple species-level lineages have recently been identified, their distributions remain poorly documented, hampering targeted conservation efforts. In response to wild population declines, over 200,000 captive-bred individuals have been released into the wild, sparking considerable controversy regarding their potential to bolster wild populations or cause genetic pollution. In this study, we surveyed 43 sites across China and detected CGSs at 35 locations using environmental DNA (eDNA) techniques. However, genetic analysis revealed a dominance of the widely farmed species Andrias davidianus outside its natural range, indicating genetic homogenization in the wild. This raises concerns about the long-term sustainability of CGS, as genetic uniformity in wild populations is associated with reduced diversity that potentially compromises adaptability and resilience. Our findings underscore the current challenges in CGS conservation, highlighting the importance of strategic conservation efforts that not only address population numbers but also prioritize the preservation of genetic diversity.

Effective and equitable conservation requires navigating complex interactions among diverse actors with often conflicting interests. While the concept of common interest holds promise for fostering collaboration and guiding decision-making, it remains underexplored in conservation. This article introduces a typology of interest and relevant concepts designed to distinguish common interests—those broadly shared within a community and expected to benefit the whole over the long term—from special interests that serve narrower constituencies. We define an interest as a pattern of demands supported by expectations and grounded in identifications, and classify conflicts of interest as primary (identity-based), secondary (value-based), and tertiary (assumption-based). To assess whether a policy truly serves the common interest, we propose three evaluative standards: substantive validity (whether assumptions are supported by evidence), pragmatic effectiveness (whether value outcomes meet community demands), and procedural inclusiveness (whether relevant perspectives are meaningfully engaged). Using elephant conservation as a recurring example, this article illustrates how the proposed typology can help conservationists achieve both conceptual clarity and practical competence in engaging diverse actors in effective problem-solving. Finally, we highlight the importance of deliberative democratic processes for aligning diverse interests toward the flourishing of people and nature.

Surfing's potential as a conservation tool is evaluated in West Africa and Atlantic Maghreb by analyzing the spatial overlap between surf spots and key environmental areas. Surfing communities often advocate for protecting their favored locations, linking wave preservation with broader ecosystem conservation. The methodology integrates surf spot data from reference guides with geospatial analysis to assess proximity to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs), Ramsar sites, and Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs). Findings reveal that of 146 surf spots across 15 countries, 96 are within or less than 3 km from protected or labeled areas, including 59 near MPAs, 61 near KBAs, and 31 near Ramsar sites. High-density regions, such as South Morocco, Senegal's Dakar Peninsula, Liberia's Robertsport, and Ghana's Gold Coast, offer significant opportunities for synergy between surfing and conservation. The concept of Surf Conservation and Wave/Surfing reserves could be integrated into coastal management policies to strengthen community-driven conservation efforts. Such initiatives could raise awareness, engage local communities, authorities, NGOs, and foreign stakeholders, and promote sustainable tourism. By adopting these strategies, West African and Maghreb nations could protect marine ecosystems, create economic opportunities, and establish a development model where environmental preservation and local economies mutually reinforce each other, fostering sustainable livelihoods.

Effective conservation of degraded ecosystems requires mitigation of the original cause of decline, but this is difficult in the context of global climate change. On coral reefs, persistent environmental stress, which causes coral bleaching, may be addressed in restoration efforts by using coral stocks which are naturally more resilient, an approach termed “proactive restoration” in terrestrial management. To explore the feasibility and consequences of this approach, we outplanted 391 colonies of seven species of reef-building coral designated as “thermally tolerant” or “thermally sensitive” via stress testing and monitored them for 2 years using photogrammetry to evaluate tradeoffs and Relative Return-on-Effort. We found no growth, complexity, or effort tradeoffs when using thermally tolerant corals, but tolerant corals had lower survivorship during our monitoring period, driven primarily by one genus. These data illustrate nuanced tradeoffs and consequences to proactive reef restoration and suggest that the potential benefits of this approach may only be fully realized during future coral bleaching events.