The elephant has deep cultural significance in Thailand and for the Thai people. The development of legal protection for Thai elephants reflects concerns about both human livelihoods and elephant conservation. Thus, the legal status of privately-owned domesticated, or captive Asian elephants, differs from that of wild Asian elephants, a situation that has consequences for the lawful use of ivory from domesticated animals. Prior to 2015, the lack of comprehensive measures to control the Thai ivory market enabled the laundering of illegally-sourced ivory through the country. The 2015 legal reforms of the Thai Government: 1) introduced strict controls over the possession and domestic trade of ivory from domesticated Asian elephants, and 2) aligned the protection of African elephants and their ivory with the CITES Convention. Nonetheless, the sustainability of the Thai ivory trade remains disputed, and international pressure to close the commercial trade in domestic ivory persists. This paper reviews this complex situation to inform future reforms. Consolidation of related laws would ease the enforcement tasks of officers and facilitate the compliance of stakeholders. Use of an electronic database would enhance the monitoring of ivory flow, as well as aid the implementation and enforcement of laws. This situation is a valuable example of the tensions between national and international attempts to conserve species important in wildlife trade.
Abstract The elephant ivory trade remains controversial because of concerns about the extinction risk of elephants and the different needs of CITES member states. Thailand's situation is particularly contentious because of the different legal status among types of elephant ivory. Thai law allows the local sale of ivory from domesticated Asian elephants, which creates challenges for Thai enforcement officers in identification of ivory provenance. We investigated the capacity of non‐destructive Near Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy (600–1700 nm), combined with Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analysis (PLS‐DA), to discriminate between ivory from African, wild Asian and domesticated Asian elephants. Ivory spectra of 64 elephants were divided randomly into calibration and validation datasets. We were able to determine elephant ivory provenance at both the interspecies (African and Asian elephant ivory), and within species (wild and domesticated Asian elephant ivory) classifications with 100% accuracy. These results showed the potential use of handheld NIR spectrometers for rapid assessments of ivory provenance, as well as a forensic tool for wider enforcement.
Abstract Policies for conservation outside protected areas, such as those designed to address the decline in Australian mammals, will not result in net improvements unless they address barriers to proenvironmental behavior. We used a mixed‐methods approach to explore potential value‐action gaps (disconnects between values and subsequent action) for small mammal conservation behaviors among pastoralists in dryland Australia. Using semistructured surveys and open‐ended interviews (n = 43), we explored values toward small mammals; uptake of a range of current and intended actions that may provide benefit to small mammals; and potential perceived barriers to their uptake. Pastoralists assigned great conservation value to small mammals; over 80% (n = 36) agreed to strongly agreed that small mammals on their property were important. These values did not translate into stated willingness to engage in voluntary cessation of wild‐dog control (r 2 = 0.187, p = 0.142, n = 43). However, assigning great conservation value to small mammals was strongly related to stated voluntary willingness to engage in the proenvironmental behavior most likely to result in benefits to small mammals: cat and fox control (r 2 = 0.558, p = 0.000, n = 43). There was no significant difference between stated voluntarily and incentivized willingness to engage in cat and fox control (p = 0.862, n = 43). The high levels of willingness to engage in voluntary cat and fox control highlight a potential entry point for addressing Australia's mammal declines because the engagement of pastoralists in conservation programs targeting cat and fox control is unlikely to be prevented by attitudinal constraints. Qualitative data suggest there is likely a subpopulation of pastoralists who value small mammals but do not wish to engage in formal conservation programs due to relational barriers with potential implementers. A long‐term commitment to engagement with pastoralists by implementers will thus be necessary for conservation success. On‐property cat and fox control programs that build and leverage trust, shared goals, collaboration, and shared learning experiences between stakeholders and that explicitly recognize the complexity of small mammal dynamics and the property‐level ecological knowledge of pastoralists are more likely to gain traction.
Chapter 3 discusses a wide range of considerations relating to the living component of the catchment and the environments that support these components, the people who live in the catchment or have strong ties to it, the perspectives of investors, the existing transport, power and water infrastructure and the legal, policy and regulatory environment relating to the development of land and water.
Turner, R. A., J. Addison, A. Arias, B. J. Bergseth, N. A. Marshall, T. H. Morrison, and R. C. Tobin. 2016. Trust, confidence, and equity affect the legitimacy of natural resource governance. Ecology and Society 21(3):18.http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08542-210318
Based on the understanding of the grassland ecology and of environmental, livestock production and market systems in Mongolia and China, and on an understanding of herder attitudes, perceptions and behavioural responses, this chapter discusses how incentives can be strengthened to meet the objectives of improved grassland condition and herder livelihoods. The chapter draws on a typology of environmental policies to examine how the incentives can be strengthened and policies improved. For instance, the chapter draws on the empirical analysis in Chapter 7 to discuss the effectiveness of policy instruments such as livestock taxes or ecocompensation payments to reduce stocking rates, on Chapters 2 and 6 to discuss issues related to compliance and enforcement of grassland policies, and on Chapters 2, 3, 4 and 6 to discuss moral suasion efforts and instruments that alter herder property and grassland use rights. The comparative analysis of Inner Mongolia and Mongolia throughout the book is drawn on for additional insights on strengthening the incentives and formulating strategies.
As the operator of the Ranger uranium mine and Jabiluka lease on Aboriginal land in Australia’s Northern Territory, Energy Resources of Australia Limited (ERA) recognises that the natural and cultural values of the company’s mineral leases and the surrounding World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park must continue to be protected. Weeds are considered to be one of the most significant threats to the natural ecosystems of Kakadu National Park and also one of the more significant impediments to successful relinquishment of the mineral leases following cessation of mining activities. In recognition of this ERA has developed and is working to a Weed Management Plan to restrict the introduction and spread of priority weeds within, into and from the Jabiluka Mineral Lease and Ranger Project Area. This paper discusses how ERA currently manages weeds on the Ranger and Jabiluka leases through planning, control and collaboration.
ABSTRACT Irruptive population dynamics are characteristic of a wide range of fauna in the world's arid (dryland) regions. Recent evidence indicates that regional persistence of irruptive species, particularly small mammals, during the extensive dry periods of unpredictable length that occur between resource pulses in drylands occurs as a result of the presence of refuge habitats or refuge patches into which populations contract during dry (bust) periods. These small dry‐period populations act as a source of animals when recolonisation of the surrounding habitat occurs during and after subsequent resource pulses (booms). The refuges used by irruptive dryland fauna differ in temporal and spatial scale from the refugia to which species contract in response to changing climate. Refuges of dryland fauna operate over timescales of months and years, whereas refugia operate on timescales of millennia over which evolutionary divergence may occur. Protection and management of refuge patches and refuge habitats should be a priority for the conservation of dryland‐dwelling fauna. This urgency is driven by recognition that disturbance to refuges can lead to the extinction of local populations and, if disturbance is widespread, entire species. Despite the apparent significance of dryland refuges for conservation management, these sites remain poorly understood ecologically. Here, we synthesise available information on the refuges of dryland‐dwelling fauna, using A ustralian mammals as a case study to provide focus, and document a research agenda for increasing this knowledge base. We develop a typology of refuges that recognises two main types of refuge: fixed and shifting. We outline a suite of models of fixed refuges on the basis of stability in occupancy between and within successive bust phases of population cycles. To illustrate the breadth of refuge types we provide case studies of refuge use in three species of dryland mammal: plains mouse ( Pseudomys australis ), central rock‐rat ( Zyzomys pedunculatus ), and spinifex hopping‐mouse ( Notomys alexis ). We suggest that future research should focus on understanding the species‐specific nature of refuge use and the spatial ecology of refuges with a focus on connectivity and potential metapopulation dynamics. Assessing refuge quality and understanding the threats to high‐quality refuge patches and habitat should also be a priority. To facilitate this understanding we develop a three‐step methodology for determining species‐specific refuge location and habitat attributes. This review is necessarily focussed on dryland mammals in continental A ustralia where most refuge‐based research has been undertaken. The applicability of the refuge concept and the importance of refuges for dryland fauna conservation elsewhere in the world should be investigated. We predict that refuge‐using mammals will be widespread particularly among dryland areas with unpredictable rainfall patterns.
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