Financing conservation by valuing carbon services produced by wild animals

Achieving global biodiversity goals by 2050 requires urgent and integrated actions

Nature‐based Solutions to tackle climate change and restore biodiversity

Capacity Building in the Congo Basin: Rich Resources Requiring Sustainable Development

Abstract. Triyanto A, Purnamasari F, Paramita FS, Wicaksono FR, Ramadhan FA, Budiharta S, Saensouk S, Setyawan AD. 2024. Ethnobotany of wild edible plants used by local communities in three districts along the upper Bengawan Solo River, Central Java, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 25: 1596-1605. Wild Edible Plants (WEPs) grow naturally in the environment without human assistance and have parts that humans or animals can consume. The declining interest of local communities in consumable wild plant species, especially among the younger generation, resulted in the loss of public knowledge on the utilization of wild natural resources and the extinction of various types of wild species in nature. This study aims to determine wild edible plants used by local communities in three districts along the Bengawan Solo River, Central Java, Indonesia. This research used qualitative and quantitative data obtained by conducting open, semi-structured, and structured interviews with 90 respondents aged 20-80 years old. Quantitative data was analyzed to produce Use Values (UV) and Informant Consensus Factor (ICF). The study found that the community consumes approximately 49 species from 32 families of WEPs and the most consumed species were Leucaena leucocephala, Carica papaya, Dendrocalamus asper, Muntingia calabura, Peperomia pellucida, Gnetum gnemon, Moringa oleifera, and Portulaca oleracea. Consumable wild plants along the Bengawan Solo River have an ICF value ranging from 0.645 to 1. The WEPs were used for carbohydrates, vegetables, fruits, seeds, and medicine. The study highlights the diverse uses of plant parts, emphasizing the community's holistic approach to incorporating wild plants into their diet and medicine. The research emphasizes the need to preserve and comprehend the multifaceted roles of WEPs, which are crucial for sustaining cultural traditions and community well-being.

Post-2020 aspirations for biodiversity

Nyando wetland provides several ecosystem goods and services, i.e., provisioning, cultural, supporting and regulating which are essential for human well-being for making life possible and worth living. Payment for Ecosystem Services presents one key question in current literature on whether local communities are aware of ecosystem services provided by wetlands. This paper contributes to the understanding of the local community’s level of awareness of the ecosystem services provided by Nyando wetland in Kenya as a strategy to improve protection of wetlands. The study is significant as it proposes policy options that can assist conservation authorities and local communities in management of wetlands. A stratified random sampling based on two administrative sub-counties, namely Nyando and Nyakach was employed to collect quantitative data from 394 households using a structured questionnaire. The quantitative data was subjected to descriptive statistics and Chi-square test which were performed in SPSS version 20. The results confirmed that the local community is more conversant with the provisioning ecosystem services (37.7%) compared to the other classes of ecosystem services. Despite the locals being involved in community based natural resource conservation initiatives, majority of the respondents (69%) were not familiar with the concept of Payment for Ecosystem Services. Therefore, there is need to create awareness and capacity building to local communities on the importance of both the wetland ecosystem services and Payment for Ecosystem Services in conservation of wetlands for enhanced community livelihoods. Keywords: Payment for ecosystem services; wetland; conservation; community; livelihood; awareness

Rewilding cultural landscape potentially puts both avian diversity and endemism at risk: A Tibetan Plateau case study

Adapting ecosystem restoration for sustainable development in a changing world

A global indicator of utilized wildlife populations: Regional trends and the impact of management

    Ethnobotany is a cross-disciplinary science at the confluence of the natural sciences, social economics and ecological studies, all within political and society framework. Ethnobotanical activities are an important component in the natural resources and ecosystem services, and play a key role in the human life development. In this context, the traditional knowledge has always been transferred from generation to generation throughout the natural course of everyday life, and in most cases is not written down anywhere. The present study was carried out during seasons (spring, summer, and fall) at (2018), in order to investigate and record the local traditional knowledge about the wild plants used in the food and medicine of Erbil Hujran Basin and its surroundings, Because of that Hujran Basin locate inside the Zagros area. The site study is located to the right of the main Salahaddin-Shaqlawa road, around 40 km far from the Erbil city and surrounded by Sefin Mountain and Hujran hills. Here This study involved interviews of 68 individuals, those with, maximum possible divers age, education level and gender categories to cover the traditional knowledge of the wild edible plants uses in this Basin area. Interestingly, a wide variety of plant species (87), belong to genera (67), families (25), used as wild edibles in Hujran area. The most dominant plant families were Fabaceae (13 taxa), Asteraceae (12 taxa), Brassicaceae and Rosaceae 10 taxa). For all these wild edible plant species, we have provided there scientific and local names, frequency occurrences, part used, purposes use. Of these total plant species, 66 were herbaceous species while only 12 and 9 were shrubs and trees, respectively. Overall, these wild edible plants were harvested according to different part uses and stages (seedling stage, leaves, shoot, fruit, flowers, bulbs, gum). The most striking result to emerge from the data is that the wild edible plants were found to be used for various purposes (Dolma, spice, salad, boiled and fried with egg, jam, eaten raw, etc.). The findings of this research study have important implications for developing a global biological conservation strategy to preserve simultaneously the remarkable biodiversity and ethnobotanical heritages of the Kurdistan Region known by its high multicultural and multiethnic communities.

BackgroundWild edible plants as well as medicinal herbs are still widely used natural resources in Eastern Europe that are frequently accessed by the local population. Ethnobotanical studies rarely give insight to the specific ecosystems in which wild food and medicinal plants grow in a spatially explicit way. The present work assesses the potential of different ecosystems to provide wild plants for food and medicinal use based on 37 selected plant species, gives an estimate on the actual use of wild plants, and allows insights into the motivation of local people to collect wild plants.MethodsA number of interdisciplinary methods were used: participatory stakeholder workshops with experts scoring the provisioning capacity of ecosystem types, GIS for representing results (capacity maps), basic data statistics for actual use assessment, and interviews for analysing motivations.ResultsCapacity to provide wild edible plants was assessed highest in broad-leaved forests and wetlands, while for medicinal herbs, orchards were rated best. We could find a multitude of motivations for gathering that could be grouped along four main lines corresponding to major dimensions of well-being (health, habit/tradition, nutrition/income, pleasure/emotional), with health reasons dominating very clearly the range (59% of answers), which can be interpreted as a combination of modern “green” values with a traditional lifestyle. We detected some distinct patterns of motivations between the different social groups analysed with more fundamental needs associated with lower level socio-ecological background.ConclusionThis case study provides an example on the importance of wild plants for locals from several points of view. We emphasize the relevance of these local stakeholder views to be included in decision-making and ecosystem management, which can be achieved by the presented workflow for mapping and assessment of ecosystem services which is also compatible with EU-suggested Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services (MAES).

Ecosystem services provided by green infrastructure are often discussed for their potential to address the societal challenges of urbanization. However, green infrastructure, particularly small-scale types (e.g. trees), is vulnerable to loss through urbanization and is often passed over during scientific investigations. Studies on the perceptions of ecosystem services and disservices (hereafter called ecosystem (dis)services) dynamics along the rural-urban gradient are particularly rare in the literature. Therefore, this study assessed the perceived importance of ecosystem (dis)services associated with small-scale green infrastructure along a rural-urban gradient in Bengaluru, India. Based on photos of the five most common types of small-scale green infrastructure and the three most common tree species associated with them, we conducted a photo-elicitation survey of 649 residents from 61 towns in Bengaluru. We found significant differences in the perceptions of all ecosystem (dis)services among the types of green infrastructure. The most appreciated services were air/climate regulation from platform trees and aesthetic values from farm trees. Regulating services were most appreciated in urban areas while provisioning and cultural services were most appreciated in transitional areas, and disservices were most strongly perceived in rural areas. Gender, age, education, caste, and income from agriculture significantly affected the use and valuation of the ecosystem (dis)services within the local communities. Our study reveals the crucial role of small-scale green infrastructure as a multifunctional element, which is highly relevant for the supply of provisioning, regulating, and cultural ecosystem services in Bengaluru.

Wild plants from seminatural habitats (meadows, pastures, shrubland, etc) provide numerous ecosystem services (ESs). However, because of land abandonment and reforestation processes, these habitats and the ESs provided by them are declining. The aim of this study was to identify how local people benefit from collecting wild plants from seminatural habitats, in order to link the identified ESs with conservation practices. The research was based on a survey of 85 inhabitants of the Pieniny Mountains (Poland). The results showed that 89% of respondents regularly collected wild plants from seminatural habitats for different reasons. The most common ESs gained from this activity were natural medicine, direct consumption, and food. Furthermore, particular species have crucial meaning for some ESs, such as direct consumption, food, natural medicine, and cosmetic purposes. For others, such as decoration, ritual purposes, or forage, only specific parts or types of plants, such as flowers, herbs, or grasses, are desirable, regardless of species. In terms of households, 38% used ESs from seminatural habitats as an additional source of livelihood. Promoting engagement in activities more adapted to the current economic situation (eg ecotourism and selling processed wild plant products) may be a good solution for using wild plants more profitably (serving as a basis for livelihood), combined with grassland conservation.

Wild animal protection projects are initiatives that seek to protect and conserve wild animals and their habitats from various threats. These projects aim to ensure the survival of endangered species and promote biodiversity in natural ecosystems. The conservation of wild animals is critical because they play an essential role in maintaining the balance of nature and are integral to the functioning of ecosystems. Wild animals face numerous threats, including habitat destruction, climate change, poaching, and human-wildlife conflict. Many of these threats are driven by human activities, such as deforestation, overfishing, and the illegal wildlife trade. Wild animal protection projects, therefore, work towards addressing these issues and mitigating the negative impacts on wild animals and their habitats. Habitat restoration is a crucial aspect of wild animal protection projects. It involves efforts to restore degraded habitats and create new ones that are suitable for wild animals. These efforts can include reforestation, wetland restoration, and the creation of wildlife corridors to link fragmented habitats. Anti-poaching measures are also a crucial part of wild animal protection projects. Poaching is a significant threat to many wild animals, particularly those that are in high demand for their skins, tusks, or other body parts. Anti-poaching measures may include increased law enforcement, education and awareness campaigns, and the use of technology such as drones and camera traps to monitor and deter poachers. Wildlife research and monitoring are other essential components of wild animal protection projects. These efforts help to gather data on wild animals, their habitats, and the threats they face. This information is used to inform conservation strategies, assess the effectiveness of conservation efforts, and identify emerging threats to wild animals. Working with local communities is also a critical aspect of wild animal protection projects. Many of the threats to wild animals are driven by human activities, and therefore, involving local communities in conservation efforts can be very effective. This may involve promoting sustainable livelihoods that reduce human-wildlife conflict, educating communities about the importance of conservation, and working with them to develop alternative solutions that benefit both humans and wild animals. In conclusion, wild animal protection projects are essential initiatives that seek to safeguard wild animals and their habitats from various threats. By protecting wild animals, we help to maintain the balance of nature and ensure the survival of both humans and animals. The commercial wildlife trade is a significant threat to wildlife conservation in China but also its neighboring nations as well as a major source of species endangerment. conserving biodiversity There is a legal system. Wild animal criminal protection is a very important topic. The best place to practise criminal guardianship of wild animals is in developed nations. This article is mainly about biodiversity conservation Investigates wildlife crime protection and issues under the system and proposes reasonable improvement measures. Wildlife trade regulations are very lax, because government agencies exploit wildlife as a natural resource.”

Human-wild animal conflict has serious conservation consequences, both for populations of wild animals and for the people who live around wild animals’ habitats. The aim of this study was to assess the human-wild animal conflict in Banja Woreda, Awi Zone, Ethiopia. First, the area was selected purposively because it is expected to be prone to a high level of human-wild animal conflict, and then the selected areas were stratified based on the distance to wild animals’ habitats. A total of 95 household heads (HHs) from the two kebeles were interviewed using structured and semistructured questionnaires. Additional information was also gathered through focus group discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews, and personal observation during data collection. About 84 (88%) of the respondents replied that wild animals had an effect on the livelihood of the local communities through both crop and livestock loss. The crop and animal loss was different across the distance categories of the study area ( P < 0.05 ). The highest proportion of loss was reported in the closest settlement than far-located settlements. The chi-square association test shows that there was a significant association ( P < 0.05 ) between livelihood activity across crops and domestic animal loss. The farmers who led their livelihoods in both farming and livestock activity reported higher animal and crop losses than the only farming or livestock activity. The crop types that were more raided by wild animals were maize and potato. The risks of crop raiding were significantly different among crop varieties ( P < 0.05 ). Wild animals affected crops in different development stages, and mature stage ranked the first followed by fruiting stage. Crop growth stages that were attacked by wild animals showed significant variations ( P < 0.05 ). Of the crop type that was attacked by wild animals, potato was highly attacked, which reaches to 113.8 quintals (28%), followed by maize 96 quintals (23%) and small millet 74.7 quintals (18%) within three years. The loss of crops in the kebeles was not significantly different ( P > 0.05 ). Wild animals also affected the domestic animals; accordingly, 79 (83.2%) of the respondents replied that wild animals attacked all domestic animals and the remaining 16 (16.8%) said wild animals attacked goats, sheep, and chickens. However, the animal loss in the kebeles was not significantly different ( P > 0.05 ). The trend of the population status of wild animals was significantly different among the perceptions of respondents ( P < 0.05 ). The settlement near the forest habitat of wild animals and habitat loss due to agricultural expansion and deforestation were the major causes of conflict. The proportion of the causes of human-wild animal conflict in the area was significantly different ( P < 0.05 ). According to the respondents, the most effective controlling mechanisms of the conflict were guarding, followed by fencing and slipping at night in cropland. Out of the total number of respondents, 65 (68.4%) said guarding is the most effective conflict control mechanism, for protecting both crop and livestock. To limit the negative impact of human-wild animal conflict, good wild animal habitat management is required, such as minimizing agricultural expansion and overgrazing, demarcating the forest habitats for wild animals only, and creating awareness among local communities.