In any conservation programme, a variety of actors participate and interact in its different phases. They commonly have different perspectives and priorities regarding conservation, and diversity in the ensuing perspectives constitutes a barrier to effective conservation. In this paper, we analyse the different perspectives around the Programa de Conservación de Maíz Criollo (Programme for the Conservation of Native Maize in Mexico; PROMAC) in order to understand the possible causes that resulted in the programme not fulfilling its objectives. We used Q methodology and semi-structured interviews with farmers from a natural protected area to analyse the perspectives of the key actors who conceptualized, designed and implemented the programme and of the target population. Our research identified two different perspectives: (1) native maize can only be conserved with the support of community processes; and (2) the government, and not farmers, is responsible for the conservation of native maize. For farmers, native maize is key to their subsistence livelihoods, and they participated in the programme because of government monetary incentives. These differences contributed to dissimilar interpretations throughout the programme’s implementation phase, which, in turn, likely contributed to PROMAC failing to meet its objectives.

Public preferences for wildlife protection can dictate the success or failure of conservation interventions. However, little research has focused on wildlife preferences among youth or how youth prioritize species-based conservation. We conducted a study of youth between 7 and 20 years old (n = 128) at five local schools situated near critical hawksbill turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata) nesting beaches in El Salvador to determine their wildlife preferences and how they prioritize species for conservation based on five attributes: endemism; use for hunting and fishing; rapid decline in population size; presence around their home; and ecological significance. These Salvadoran youth showed preferences for native over non-native species and tended to rank rapid population decline as the most important attribute for prioritizing wildlife for protection, followed by use for hunting and fishing. Participants in local environmental education activities placed greater importance on species in rapid decline than non-participants, who considered endemism as most important. Overall, these findings reveal how environmental education may successfully promote increased prioritization of imperilled species among youth. Economic payments for conserving hawksbill turtles may link the two top reasons that Salvadoran youth provided for protecting species by compensating for the reduced hunting required to facilitate population stabilization.

Globally, water resources are under immense and increasing pressure. This, coupled with the threat of climate change, has increased global interest in water reuse. However, global water reuse remains limited because of public opposition. This paper thus examines public perceptions and attitudes to water reuse across the world. It finds that results from studies of water reuse acceptance have tended to be context specific, although claims can be made about the universal relevance of some predictors, underscoring the need for individual water reuse schemes to carefully consider their local context. Disgust remains a constant in the public psyche, while public trust in delivery agents as well as how water reuse is communicated vis-à-vis perceptions about the quality and safety of recycled water are also critical. The latter particularly highlights public concerns about the indeterminate health risks associated with water reuse.

Protected areas (PAs) are intended to preserve natural places, aiming to sustain ecosystem functionality and preserve biodiversity. However, PAs are spatially static, while major threats to biodiversity, such as climate and land-use change, are dynamic. The climatic conditions represented in a PA could vanish in the future and appear in other places more or less far away from the PA; these places could be considered as recipient areas potentially suited to receive propagules from the source PAs, which tend to lose the climatic conditions that motivated their protection. This study estimates the current and future climatic representativeness of mainland Iberian national parks by identifying future areas with a similar climate to those existing now in the parks and taking into account the degree of anthropogenic alteration and protection. We identify a network of ecological corridors connecting Iberian national parks with their recipient areas, as well as discriminating those most conflicting areas that impede network connectivity due to their degree of land-use transformation. Our results identify important areas for maintaining the climatic representativeness of Iberian national parks in the future, showing a substantial reduction in the climatic representativeness of the Iberian national parks. Although most of the recipient areas now have forest and semi-natural land uses and more than half of their whole area has protected status, current land uses in the Iberian Peninsula severely obstruct the corridor network connecting the parks and recipient areas.

Rising flood damages have prompted local communities to implement buyout and property acquisition programmes to eliminate repetitive losses for at-risk properties. However, buyouts are often costly to implement and are reactionary solutions to flooding. This study quantifies the benefits of acquiring vacant private properties in flood-prone areas rather than acquiring such properties after they are built up. Using a geodesign framework that integrates concepts and analytical approaches derived from geographical, spatial and statistical-based disciplines, we analyse vacant properties with high development potential that intersect current and future floodplain areas in Houston (TX, USA). We use geospatial proximity analysis to select candidate properties, land-use prediction modelling to estimate future development and sea-level rise and benefit–cost analysis to assess the economic viability of buyouts. The results indicate that cumulative avoided flood losses exceed the cost of vacant land acquisition by a factor of nearly two to one, and up to a factor of ten to one in selected areas. This study emphasizes the benefits of proactive property buyouts that focus on acquiring parcels before they are built up, while also avoiding the social and institutional problems associated with traditional buyout programmes.

Consensus does not exist for which cost forms (i.e., one accounting solely for explicit cost and the other for both explicit and opportunity costs as in relative opportunity cost) are used in calculating return on investment (ROI) for conservation-related decisions. This research examines how the cost of conservation investment with and without inclusion of the opportunity cost of the protected area results in different solutions in a multi-objective optimization framework at the county level in the Central and Southern Appalachian Region of the USA. We maximize rates of ROI of both forest-dependent biodiversity and economic impact generated by forest-based payments for ecosystem services. We find that the conservation budget is optimally distributed more narrowly among counties that are more likely to be rural when the investment cost measure is relative opportunity cost than when it is explicit cost. We also find that the sacrifice in forest-dependent biodiversity per unit increase in economic impact is higher when investment cost is measured by relative opportunity cost rather than when measured by explicit cost. By understanding the consequences of using one cost measure over the other, a conservation agency can decide on which cost measure is more appropriate for informing the agency’s decision-making process.

The semiarid Caatinga is the largest Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest and Woodland (SDTFW) in the Neotropics. Yet the vast majority of the Caatinga is unprotected, with severe chronic anthropogenic use, exotic species and global warming among its most immediate threats. Here, we contrast the current Caatinga protected areas (PAs) scenery with that of other SDTFWs in the Neotropics. We also analyse the growth process of the PAs in the Caatinga over time across Brazilian PA categories and jurisdictions. The percentage of Caatinga that is protected is average among the SDTFWs. Caatinga has more state than federal PAs; however, the size of the PAs is greater under a federal jurisdiction. Nonetheless, in both jurisdictions, Environmental Protected Areas, one of the least restrictive categories, are more representative in terms of total area, corresponding to nearly 80% of the Caatinga PA system. Our results are relevant for international conservation goals because they depict the current PA scenery and clarify the challenges for achieving the actual preservation of the unique Caatinga biome.

Payments for ecosystem services (PES) programmes have been considered an important conservation mechanism to avoid deforestation. These environmental policies act in social and ecological contexts at different spatial scales. We evaluated the social-ecological fit between stakeholders and ecosystem processes in a local PES programme across three levels: social, ecological and social-ecological. We explored collaboration among stakeholders, assessed connectivity between forest units and evaluated conservation activity links between stakeholders and forest units. In addition, to increase programme effectiveness, we classified forest units based on their social and ecological importance. Our main findings suggest that non-governmental organizations occupy brokerage positions between landowners and government in a dense collaboration network. We also found a partial spatial misfit between conservation activity links and the forest units that provide the most hydrological services to Xalapa. We conclude that conservation efforts should be directed towards the middle and high part of the Pixquiac sub-watershed and that the role of non-governmental organizations as mediators should be strengthened to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the local PES programme.

Promoting human-carnivore coexistence is a main component of carnivore conservation. Coexistence programmes are usually informed by attitudinal studies that evaluate intended behaviour towards carnivores. This questionnaire survey assesses attitudes of governmental and non-governmental conservation stakeholders in Zimbabwe towards living with carnivores, large carnivore species and the conservation of wildlife, and determines whether being part of coexistence programmes (CAMPFIRE, TFCAs) positively affects attitudes. Stakeholder attitudes were most positive when employment was directly related to wildlife and stakeholders had knowledge about and exposure to carnivores. Stakeholders who depend on livestock and/or had little knowledge about and less exposure to carnivores were most negative, this included governmental stakeholders responsible for natural resource management. Positive attitudes were largely based on the aesthetic and economic value of carnivores, while negative attitudes were based on the fear of livestock loss and perceived danger to humans. Subsistence farmers were the most negative stakeholders, as such, the focus on this group to promote coexistence seems justified. However, although some stakeholders were more positive in CAMPFIRE areas or TFCAs, CAMPFIRE and TFCAs failed to improve attitudes of subsistence farmers, which highlights a need to evaluate and adapt these programmes.

Wildlife reintroduction projects often face resistance from local residents who see potential conflicts with the species or lack trust or confidence in the agencies and professionals involved in reintroduction. Yet the linkages between trust, confidence, risk perceptions, attitudes towards the species and local support for its reintroduction are not well known. The Dual-Mode Model of Cooperation and Cognitive Hierarchy Model were theoretical frameworks used to shed light on these linkages by exploring the potential roles trust and confidence play as mediators between risk perceptions and attitudes towards, and support for, reintroduced elk in Tennessee (USA). A mail survey of 1005 residents living in the five-county area surrounding the North Cumberland Elk Restoration Zone assessed resident attitudes and risk perceptions towards the reintroduced elk, trust towards the managing wildlife agency and support for continued conservation efforts. A structural equation model revealed that trust and confidence play positive roles in mitigating risk perceptions and improving support for the reintroduction of elk. The findings confirm the roles public trust and confidence play in wildlife reintroductions and should help agencies work towards building local trust and confidence, minimizing risks, improving attitudes and increasing the chances for successful outcomes for the species and people.

Data extraction from unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) imagery has proved effective in animal surveys and monitoring, but to date has scarcely been used for detailed population analysis and individual animal feature extraction. We assessed the zoometric and feature extraction of the Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) using data acquired from a captive population for comparison with reintroduced populations monitored by UAVs. Highly accurate scaled and geo-rectified imagery derived from UAV surveys allowed precise morphometric measurements of the oryx. The scaled top-view imagery combined with baseline data from known sex, age, weight and pregnancy status of captive individuals were used to develop predictive models. A bracketed index developed from the predictive models showed high accuracy for classifying the age group ≤16 months, animals with a weight >80 kg and pregnancy. The pregnancy classification decision tree model performed with 91.7% accuracy. The polynomial weight predictive model performed well with relatively high accuracy when using the total top-view surface measurement. Photogrammetrically processed UAV-acquired imagery can yield valuable zoometric data, feature extraction and modelling; it is a tool with a practical application for field biologists that can assist in the decision-making process for species conservation management.

Introduced mammalian predators are responsible for the decline and extinction of many native species, with rats (genus Rattus) being among the most widespread and damaging invaders worldwide. In a naturally fragmented landscape, we demonstrate the multi-year effectiveness of snap traps in the removal of Rattus rattus and Rattus exulans from lava-surrounded forest fragments ranging in size from <0.1 to >10 ha. Relative to other studies, we observed low levels of fragment recolonization. Larger rats were the first to be trapped, with the average size of trapped rats decreasing over time. Rat removal led to distinct shifts in the foraging height and location of mongooses and mice, emphasizing the need to focus control efforts on multiple invasive species at once. Furthermore, because of a specially designed trap casing, we observed low non-target capture rates, suggesting that on Hawai‘i and similar islands lacking native rodents the risk of killing non-target species in snap traps may be lower than the application of rodenticides, which have the potential to contaminate food webs. These efforts demonstrate that targeted snap-trapping is an effective removal method for invasive rats in fragmented habitats and that, where used, monitoring of recolonization should be included as part of a comprehensive biodiversity management strategy.

People who live on the edges of protected areas may harvest timber to make their living from this natural forest product. Therefore, understanding timber consumption at the household level is critical for developing effective conservation policies. Previous studies have highlighted relationships between the consumption of forest products and socioeconomic status, but they have failed to examine timber consumption under cultural contexts. In this study, we interviewed 121 villagers to examine the socioeconomic profiles of timber consumers with regards to their indigenous culture in the buffer zones of Vietnam’s Bu Gia Map National Park. We found that indigenous identity, landownership, number of crops grown by villagers and proximity to markets are statistically significant for explaining the consumption of timber from natural forests. Given the high likelihood that most of this timber was collected illegally, we make several recommendations for forest managers on how to interact with villagers to improve park protection.

Approximately 80% of neotropical forests are subject to unsustainable economic practices, such as logging. Spiders are a megadiverse taxonomic group with a particularly great diversity in forest ecosystems and could help indicate the sustainability of logging operations. At six sites at 400–700 m altitude in the piedmont forest of north-western Argentina, spiders collected using pitfall traps and forest structure and spider assemblage structure variables were quantified in order to examine the association between them and to identify indicator spider families. Logging changes forest structure and seems to generate an unsuitable habitat for spiders associated with mature forests. The family taxonomic level is a good surrogate for spider morphospecies. The Mysmenidae, Nemesiidae, Theridiidae, Pholcidae, Hahniidae and Tetragnathidae families were associated with upper canopy cover of 20% or more and with more than two dead fallen trees per 0.1 ha and >15 live trees per 0.1 ha, found in unlogged forests. Bearing in mind that the piedmont forest of north-western Argentina is being logged in the absence of sustainability criteria, we suggest including spiders in monitoring schemes to complement the information obtained from more readily used groups, such as charismatic vertebrates.

Human–wildlife interactions (HWIs) occur in many rural African communities, with potential impacts on livelihood vulnerability. High livelihood vulnerability may force communities to employ strategies that increase the risk of negative HWIs, yet the extent to which HWIs drive or are driven by vulnerability is unclear. We hypothesized that more vulnerable households are more likely to be exposed to wildlife and experience negative interactions. To test this hypothesis, we calculated the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI) of rural households in and around Quirimbas National Park (north-eastern Mozambique) and assessed whether there is a link between livelihood vulnerability and HWIs. We found a two-way association between LVI and HWIs, with more vulnerable households indeed taking greater risks and encountering wildlife when fetching water from rivers, whereas less vulnerable households tended not to employ strategies likely to increase wildlife encounters. We also observed that HWIs exert a strong effect on livelihood vulnerability, suggesting that HWIs should be included as an exposure factor in vulnerability assessments for rural households. We recommend that livelihood strategies and community vulnerability should be considered when designing HWI mitigation schemes and implementing conservation measures.

There is an assumption that tropical sea urchins are macroalgal grazers with the ability to control macroalgal expansion on degraded coral reefs. We surveyed abundances of Echinothrix calamaris, an urchin species common in the western Indian Ocean on 21 reefs of the inner Seychelles and predicted their density using habitat predictors in a modelling approach. Urchin densities were greatest on patch reef habitat types and declined with increasing macroalgal cover. Next, we experimentally investigated the macroalgae-urchin relationship by penning two sea urchin densities on macroalgal fields. Over six weeks, the highest density treatment (4.44 urchins m−2) cleared 13% of macroalgal cover. This moderate impact leads us to conclude that controlling macroalgal expansion is not likely to be one of the main functions of E. calamaris in the inner Seychelles given the current densities we found in our surveys (mean: 0.02 urchins m−2, maximum: 0.16 urchins m−2).

The prevention of tropical forest deforestation is essential for mitigating climate change. We tested the machine learning algorithm Maxent to predict deforestation across the Peruvian Amazon. We used official annual 2001–2019 deforestation data to develop a predictive model and to test the model’s accuracy using near-real-time forest loss data for 2020. Distance from agricultural land and distance from roads were the predictor variables that contributed most to the final model, indicating that a narrower set of variables contribute nearly 80% of the information necessary for prediction at scale. The permutation importance indicating variable information not present in the other variables was also highest for distance from agricultural land and distance from roads, at 40.5% and 14.3%, respectively. The predictive model registered 73.2% of the 2020 early alerts in a high or very high risk category; less than 1% of forest cover in national protected areas were registered as very high risk, but buffer zones were far more vulnerable, with 15% of forest cover being in this category. To our knowledge, this is the first study to use 19 years of annual data for deforestation risk. The open-source machine learning method could be applied to other forest regions, at scale, to improve strategies for reducing future deforestation.

Protecting tropical forests from deforestation is important for mitigating both biodiversity loss and anthropogenic climate change. In Amazonia, a common approach to protected area (PA) impact studies has been to investigate differences among broad PA categories, such as strictly protected, sustainable use and indigenous areas, yet these may be insufficient for the management of PAs at local scales. We used a matching method to compare impacts and carbon emissions avoided during 2011–2016 of individual PAs in the state of Acre (Brazil). Although most PAs had a positive impact and effectively prevented forest loss, we observed substantial variation among them in terms of impacts, pressures and emissions during our study period. The impacts varied from 3.6% avoided to 15.6% induced forest loss compared to expected levels of deforestation estimated for each PA using the matching method. All but a few PAs helped avoid substantial amounts of emissions. Our results emphasize the need for more PA impact studies that compare multiple PAs at the individual level in Amazonia and beyond.

The practice and science of conservation have become increasingly interdisciplinary, and it is widely acknowledged that conservation training in higher education institutions should embrace interdisciplinarity in order to prepare students to address real-world conservation problems. However, there is little information on the extent to which conservation education at the undergraduate level meets this objective. I carried out a systematic search of undergraduate conservation degree programmes in the UK and conducted a simple text analysis of module descriptions to quantify the extent to which they provide social science training. I found 47 programmes, of which 29 provided module descriptions. Modules containing social science content ranged from 3.8% to 52.2% of modules across programmes, but only 55.2% of programmes offered a social-focused conservation module, and only one programme offered a module in social science research methods. On average, almost half of the modules offered (46.2%) comprised biology and ecology modules with no conservation focus, and 17.9% comprised skills-based modules (research and vocational skills). Conservation-focused modules comprised a mean of only 22.5% of modules. These results show that undergraduate conservation teaching in the UK is still largely biocentric and is failing to deliver the interdisciplinary education that is widely called for.