Under conditions of political instability and economic decline illegal bushmeat hunting has emerged as a serious conservation threat in Zimbabwe. Following settlement of game ranches by subsistence farming communities, wildlife populations have been eradicated over large areas. In several areas still being managed as game ranches illegal hunting is causing further declines of wildlife populations (including threatened species such as the wild dog Lycaon pictus and black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis), threatening the viability of wildlife-based land uses. From August 2001 to July 2009 in Savé Valley Conservancy 10,520 illegal hunting incidents were recorded, 84,396 wire snares removed, 4,148 hunters caught, 2,126 hunting dogs eliminated and at least 6,454 wild animals killed. Estimated future financial losses from illegal hunting in the Conservancy exceed USD 1.1 million year-1. Illegal hunters’ earnings account for 0.31–0.52% of the financial losses that they impose and the bushmeat trade is an inefficient use of wildlife resources. Illegal hunting peaks during the late dry season and is more frequent close to the boundary, near areas resettled during land reform and close to water. Illegal hunting with dogs peaks during moonlight periods. Our study highlights several management and land-use planning steps required to maximize the efficacy of anti-poaching and to reduce the likelihood of high impacts of illegal hunting. Anti-poaching efforts should be aligned with the regular temporal and spatial patterns of illegal hunting. Leases for hunting and tourism concessions should ensure minimum adequate investment by operators in anti-poaching. Reserve designers should minimize the surface area to volume ratio of parks. Fences should not be constructed using wire that can be made into snares. Land reform involving game ranches should integrate communities in wildlife-based land uses and ensure spatial separation between land for wildlife and human settlement. Means are required to create stake-holdings for communities in wildlife and disincentives for illegal hunting.

The success of efforts to re-establish mammalian carnivores within their former range is dependent on three key factors: methodological considerations, the biological requirements of the target species, and the involvement of local human communities for whom large carnivores pose a threat. We consider the role of these factors in the first 13 years of an effort to re-establish wild lions in northern KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. We employed soft-release methods to mitigate the characteristic problems associated with restoration of large carnivores. A pre-release captivity period facilitated acclimatization of reintroduced lions and promoted long-term bonding of unfamiliar individuals into cohesive groups. All individuals remained in the release area and established enduring, stable home ranges. Reintroduced lions successfully reproduced and raised 78% of their cubs to independence. Human activity was the cause of all post-release mortality. Despite rapid population growth and the re-establishment of the species at Phinda Private Game Reserve, the population is small and isolated with little prospect for re-colonizing additional areas where the species has been extirpated, or for connecting with other isolated lion populations in the region. Accordingly, although we essentially overcame the short-term technical and biological challenges facing lion reintroduction, the long-term value of the Phinda population for addressing the conservation issues facing the species remains equivocal.

Conserving threatened carnivore species increasingly depends on the capacity of local people to cohabit with those species. To examine such capacity we developed a novel psychological framework for conservation in regions of the world where there are human–carnivore conflicts, and used the Endangered tiger Panthera tigris to explore the utility of this framework. Specifically, we tested three hypotheses in Chitwan National Park, Nepal, where increasing human–tiger conflicts potentially jeopardize long-term coexistence. We administered a survey to 499 individuals living < 2 km from the Park and in nearby multiple-use forest, to record preferred future tiger population size and factors that may influence preferences, including past interactions with tigers (e.g. livestock predation) and beliefs and perceptions about tigers. Over 17% of respondents reported that a tiger had attacked their livestock or threatened them directly. Results from a structural equation model indicated that respondents who preferred fewer tigers in the future were less likely to associate tigers with beneficial attributes, more likely to associate tigers with undesirable attributes, and more likely to believe that government officials poorly manage tiger-related risks and that people are vulnerable to risks from tigers. Our framework can help address current and future conservation challenges because it (1) integrates an expansive and generalized set of psychological concepts, (2) enables the identification of conservation interventions that foster coexistence between people and carnivores, and (3) is suitable for broad application.

Between 1998 and 2001 I carried out surveys in four areas in the Baltistan district of the Northern Areas of Pakistan to estimate the population of the snow leopard and to examine the threats to its future conservation. I estimate that a total of 36–50 snow leopards are present in the areas surveyed. Based on the availability of suitable snow leopard habitat and of its prey species, I estimate that 90–120 snow leopards are potentially present in Baltistan and 300–420 throughout its range within Pakistan's borders. Although this estimate is higher than extrapolations based on earlier surveys, the long-term future of the snow leopard is under threat. This is mainly due to retaliatory killings by farmers, and poaching for pelts and other body parts. Species-focused conservation policies, particularly those targeting ungulates for the promotion of trophy hunting, may constitute an additional threat to snow leopard conservation in the region. However, all forms of threats to the snow leopard in Baltistan appear to emanate from the relatively poor economic conditions of the local people.

Terrestrial wildlife migrations, once common, are now rare because of ecosystem fragmentation and uncontrolled hunting. Botswana historically contained migratory populations of many species but habitat fragmentation, especially by fences, has decreased the number and size of many of these populations. During a study investigating herbivore movement patterns in north-west Botswana we recorded a long-distance zebra Equus burchelli antiquorum migration between the Okavango Delta and Makgadikgadi grasslands, a round-trip distance of 588 km; 55% of 11 animals collared in the south-eastern peripheral delta made this journey. This was unexpected as, between 1968 and 2004, the migration could not have followed its present course because of the bisection of the route by a veterinary cordon fence. As little evidence exists to suggest that large-scale movements by medium-sized herbivores can be restored, it is of significant interest that this migration was established to the present highly directed route within 4 years of the fence being removed. The success of wildlife corridors, currently being advocated as the best way to re-establish ecosystem connectivity, relies on animals utilizing novel areas by moving between the connected areas. Our findings suggest that medium-sized herbivores may be able to re-establish migrations relatively quickly once physical barriers have been removed and that the success of future system linkages could be increased by utilizing past migratory routes.

The idea of direct payments for biodiversity conservation in developing countries has generated much debate. Despite substantial experience with related economic instruments in high-income countries such approaches are rare in tropical developing countries, where conservation action is most urgently needed. We explore current experience with the application of direct payments in developing countries through an extensive review and subsequent analysis of the efforts of Conservation International. Our review identifies a broad spectrum of possible direct payment contracts. However, we focus on those involving international conservation interests. Firstly, we develop a framework for the design of direct payment applications, addressing four major aspects: contractual arrangements, definition of conservation services, performance payments, and monitoring and enforcement systems. Secondly, we discuss implementation issues, highlighting the need to consider social factors such as participatory processes, property rights, local institutions and contract legitimacy. Finally, we discuss important considerations for future payment schemes. These include the need for social responsibility, as well as rigorous assessments of effectiveness. We conclude that direct payments show potential as an innovative tool for engaging local communities or resource users in conservation and as a mechanism for channelling global investments in biodiversity conservation services to site-based initiatives.

This paper provides a review of data on the effects of the civil war on forest areas in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Only a few of these effects were beneficial, the most important being the collapse of the wood industry. However, the war has increased the number of people that rely on wood for fuel and bushmeat for protein. The presence of soldiers and refugees aggravates this pressure. When people hide they do not necessarily refrain from hunting, because goods, including ivory, can be stocked to be traded when the situation improves. War seems beneficial to the environment only if it keeps people out of large areas. It could be useful to extend the concept of peace parks to war zones. The idea of an international ‘green force’ to protect biodiversity hotspots should be given serious consideration. Awareness is growing that political instability should not preclude conservation efforts from being continued.

Ecotourism is often suggested as a tool for promoting conservation but evidence for its usefulness is mixed. The success of conservation projects is widely recognized to depend upon the positive attitudes of local communities and thus it is important to know if ecotourism affects local perceptions of natural resources and conservation, as these can be important determinants of conservation behaviour. Rapid Rural Appraisal and questionnaire-based interviews were used to investigate this issue in the village of Grande Riviere, Trinidad. This has a community-based ecotourism programme for leatherback turtles Dermochelys coriacea, and is also one of the few sites where the Critically Endangered endemic Trinidad piping-guan Pipile pipile may be sighted. Topics addressed were knowledge and awareness of local conservation issues, focusing on attitudes to the environment in general, turtles and the Trinidad piping-guan. Ecotourism significantly affected perceptions. Villagers showed more awareness and support for turtle conservation than for the piping-guan or any other wildlife. Moreover, those households directly benefiting from the ecotourism industry had better knowledge of local natural resources and greater general awareness of conservation issues (not limited to turtles). Other socio-economic factors such as education and income also affected attitudes and knowledge but the ecotourism effect was still present after accounting for these. Hunting was seen as the main threat to wildlife but was also a popular pastime, illustrating the potential for mismatch between attitudes and conservation behaviours.

This paper analyses the impact of a community conservation programme (CCP) implemented over a 7-year period around a national park in Uganda. Programme activities included dialogue, conflict reduction, education, community resource access and support for community development. Surveys of attitudes show that communities benefited from the programme were significantly more positive towards the park and wildlife than communities that did not. The community conservation programme built an understanding of conservation objectives amongst communities whose members were more likely to recognize positive aspects of the park and less likely to demand that it be degazetted. Comparison over the 7-year duration of the programme, however, did not show that communities were generally more positive towards conservation. They were more critical of management and demanded more support and resources than they had received. Their behaviour was not greatly changed, and high levels of poaching and illegal grazing continued. Attitudes were influenced by communities receiving development assistance, but improvements were fragile, vulnerable to poor behaviour of park staff and lawenforcement activities. Both were seen as contradicting community approaches. Attitudes were also influenced by land ownership and economic occupation. The CCP was not a panacea for the problems of the park and did not resolve fundamental conflicts of interest between communities and park management. However, it did change the way the protagonists perceive and interact with each other.

We examined the literature on animal reintroductions to assess the challenges facing individual conservation practitioners who wish to access, synthesize and interpret available evidence to inform their decision making. We undertook an extensive search in eight electronic literature databases, using seven different keyword combinations, and added the content of four bibliographies on reintroductions. We found 3,826 potentially relevant publications totalling at least 29,290 pages of text. Taxonomic bias is apparent in the distribution of general and conservation scientific literature and in reintroduction programmes. We examined whether the literature on reintroductions is biased in a similar way. Comparing the distribution of reintroduction publications to numbers of species, reintroduction programmes and the general conservation literature, there is a marked taxonomic bias favouring vertebrates, especially birds and mammals. The bias in relation to reintroduction programmes is surprising and indicates that managers working with invertebrates and amphibians are less willing and/or less able to publish their results than those working with mammals and birds. The reasons for this are unclear. The growth of the cumulative body of literature can be depicted by a sigmoid curve. Almost 40% of the items were scientific journal articles distributed across 335 journals. The large, ever-growing and dispersed evidence base results in an increased need for reviews, which must be systematic to minimize bias.

The Green Corridor of Argentina and Brazil is the largest forest remnant of the Upper Paraná Atlantic Forest. The jaguar population of this region is highly fragmented and reduced. To assess the status of the subpopulation of jaguars of the Green Corridor we conducted four camera-trap surveys in three sites with different levels of protection. At Urugua-í (34 stations, 1,495 trap-days) we recorded one individual (minimum density = 0.12–0.33 per 100 km2). At Yabotí Biosphere Reserve (42 stations, 1,871 trap-days) we recorded two individuals (minimum density = 0.11–0.25 per 100 km2). At Iguazú National Park we conducted two surveys. In 2004 (39 stations, 1,839 trap-days) we recorded four adult individuals, estimating a density of between 0.49 ± 0.16 and 1.07 ± 0.33 per 100 km2. In 2006, we increased the area sampled (47 stations, 2,059 trap-days) and recorded 11 adult individuals, estimating a density of 0.93 ± 0.2 to 1.74 ± 0.34 per 100 km2. These density estimates are the lowest recorded for the species. Estimates for Iguazú are between 2–7.5 times lower than those reported in the early 1990s. This population decline probably results from the interaction of several factors, including lack of prey as a result of poaching and persecution. We estimate that there is currently a population of 25–53 adult jaguars in the Green Corridor. In spite of having sufficient potential habitat available this population is threatened and urgent conservation action is required.

In Tanzania, in the dry season, Tarangire National Park is second only to Ngorongoro in the concentrations of wildlife to be seen there. But there is a bleak outlook for the species that traditionally migrate to pastures outside the park in the rainy season. Over the last 10 years many of their routes out of the park have been blocked by farms and ranches, and further expansion of agricultural schemes could threaten the remainder. Part of the zebra and wildebeest populations that migrate north have already been lost. The author, who has been carrying out wildlife surveys in Tanzania for the Frankfurt Zoological Society for seven years, proposes some remedies to prevent the park from becoming the domain of only a few resident species.

Managers in southern Africa are concerned that continually increasing elephant populations will degrade ecosystems. Culling, translocation and birth control are flawed solutions. An alternative is providing elephants more space but this hinges on identifying landscape preferences. We examined two diverse ecosystems and uncovered similarities in elephant habitat use, expressing these as ‘rules’. We considered arid Etosha National Park, (Namibia) and the tropical woodlands of Tembe Elephant Park (South Africa) and Maputo Elephant Reserve (Mozambique). Landscape data consisted of vegetation types, distances from water and settlements. To surmount issues of scale and availability we incorporated elephant movements as a function that declined as distance from an elephant's location increased. This presumes that elephants optimize trade-offs between benefiting from high-quality resources and costs to find them. Under a likelihood-based approach we determined the important variables and shapes of their relationships to evaluate and compare models separated by gender, season and location. After considering elephants' preferences for areas nearby, habitat use usually increased with proximity to water in all locations. Elephants sought places with high proportions of vegetation, especially when neighbouring areas had low vegetative cover. Lastly, elephants avoided human settlements (when present), and cows more so than bulls. In caricature, elephants preferred to move little, drink easily, eat well, and avoid people. If one makes more areas available, elephants will probably favour areas near water with high vegetative cover (of many different types) and away from people. Managers can oblige elephants’ preferences by supplying them. If so, they should anticipate higher impacts to neighbouring vegetation.

Effective species conservation depends upon correctly identifying the threats that cause decline or hinder recovery. Because estimates of the relative viability of different populations of Endangered African wild dogs Lycaon pictus are most strongly influenced by adult and pup mortality, we analysed rates and causes of mortality in eight wild dog populations under study in southern and eastern Africa. The probabilities of detecting wild dog deaths were influenced by the monitoring methods used. The least biased estimates of mortality causes were obtained through intensive monitoring of radio-collared individuals; this is impossible for pups, however. Mortality patterns varied substantially between populations. Rates of human-caused mortality were higher for wild dogs radio-collared outside protected areas than for those collared inside, but rates of natural mortality were comparable, suggesting that anthropogenic mortality is additive to natural mortality. The relative importance of factors such as snaring and infectious disease also varied regionally. Hence, although our analyses identified no new threats beyond those highlighted in a 1997 range-wide Action Plan, they suggest that local plans will be valuable to target conservation activities more precisely.

To use more effectively the limited resources available for conservation there is an urgent need to identify which conservation approaches are most likely to succeed. However, measuring conservation success is often difficult, as it is achieved outside the project time frame. Measures of implementation are often reported to donors to demonstrate achievement but it is unclear whether they really predict conservation success. We applied a conceptual framework and score-card developed by the Cambridge Conservation Forum (CCF) to a sample of 60 conservation activities to determine the predictive power of implementation measures versus measures of key outcomes (later steps in the models defined in the CCF tools). We show that assessing key outcomes is often more difficult than quantifying the degree of implementation of a project but that, while implementation is a poor predictor of success, key outcomes provide a feasible and much more reliable proxy for whether a project will deliver real conservation benefits. The CCF framework and evaluation tool provide a powerful basis for synthesizing past experience and, with wider application, will help to identify factors that affect the success of conservation activities.

Primate crop raiding is a major cause of human-wildlife conflict around the forests of western Uganda. In an attempt to ameliorate the situation a conflict mitigation strategy was established in villages around the Budongo Forest Reserve in 2001. Live-traps were constructed that allowed the identification of crop raiding animals; pest species could be disposed of and threatened species released unharmed. However, by 2004 none of the traps in the study area were functioning and interviews were conducted to assess the reasons for their decline and local people's acceptance of the intervention. Forty-one percent of respondents did not believe the strategy was effective and the majority of local farmers did not accept responsibility for the traps. This was because of operational failures in four areas: (1) the identification of key stakeholders, (2) objective evaluation to assess the efficacy and benefit of the intervention, (3) participatory monitoring and evaluation, and (4) long-term funding commitment by conservation agencies. We examine the impact of these four elements upon the sustainability of the live-trap programme and stress the importance of recognizing and reporting failures to develop effective and acceptable mitigation strategies.

Based on ethical, theoretical and practical concerns, community-based conservation projects have developed over the past 2 decades as alternatives to traditional protected areas. Recent criticisms of such programmes by biologists and social scientists involve a debate on who should manage our natural resources. Such criticisms have focused on large integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) and have largely ignored the successes of small community conservation projects. Practitioners of ICDPs have also been disappointed with the results of their projects and are seeking answers from ICDP failures. Two important differences separate community conservation projects and ICDPs and have led to the success of the smaller projects: (1) community conservation projects see local rural people as the solution to habitat degradation whereas ICDPs see them as the problem, (2) the scale of the smaller projects is at the community level but can use the same methods regionally, whereas ICDPs are large in scale and cost. We discuss, from a practitioner’s viewpoint, the strengths that contribute to the successes of community conservation projects, including actually functioning at the community level, creating an empowered community group to carry on the social sustainability of the project, continuous basic level funding, and the importance of monitoring.

We studied the demography of a subpopulation of African elephants Loxodonta africana in Tarangire National Park, Tanzania, from 1993 to 2005. The Tarangire elephants had been affected by heavy poaching prior to 1993. We monitored 668 individually known elephants in 27 family groups. The population increased from 226 to 498 individuals, with mean group size increasing from 8.4 to 18.3. The average annual growth rate was 7.1% (range 2.0–16.9%). This approaches the maximal growth rate for African elephants, with corresponding minimal values for demographic parameters. The mean interbirth interval was 3.3 years, mean age of first reproduction 11.1 years, average annual mortality of elephants younger than 8 years 3%, and average annual mortality of adult females 1%. Probability of conceiving was positively correlated with annual rainfall. No significant density-dependent effects were recorded. Rapid growth was aided by high rainfall, low population density and release from the stresses of poaching. These results demonstrate that elephant populations are capable of rapid population increases for extended periods of time given the right ecological and social conditions. This has consequences for elephant conservation and management.

Large-scale forest encroachment in Assam, India, has led to increasing levels of human–elephant conflict. Conflict mitigation is a priority for the survival of Asian elephants Elephas maximus throughout Asia. We analysed a 3-year dataset of elephant occurrence and related instances of human–elephant conflict, from two sites in Assam, and explored the relationships between the various effects of elephants on human communities and factors influencing the spatial and temporal occurrence of these effects (proximity to water, refuge areas and villages, and human and crop density). The landscapes at both study sites have been transformed by forest loss, with large areas converted to agriculture. Remaining forest patches, which are mostly small, disconnected and degraded, as well as tea plantations, provide refuge areas for elephants as they move through the region. We found that crop depredation and property damage caused by elephants showed well-defined seasonal trends. They also showed a clear diurnal pattern, mostly occurring between 18.00 and 22.00. Small communities within 700 m of a refuge were most affected. In the management of human–elephant conflict in Assam we need to consider the refuge patches used by elephants as they move through the region, the peripheries of which are likely to be conflict hotspots. Small villages on the edges of refuges should be a priority for conflict mitigation assistance, with strategies taking into account seasonal and diurnal variation in elephant behaviour, as well as the socio-economic and cultural composition of communities.