International Conservation Organizations Research Articles

International Conservation Organizations and the Fate of Local Tropical Forest Conservation Initiatives

Several international conservation organizations (ICOs) created in the developed world to promote conservation in the tropics are now extremely outspoken and powerful, due in large measure to their access to capital. We acknowledge that ICOs have been critical stakeholders in shaping international environmental policies. We also recognize that there have been successful collaborations between ICOs, governments of less-developed countries, and local and regional nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). Our principal concern is that, given the asymmetric relationships that characterize most of the partnerships between ICOs and local institutions in less-developed countries, particularly in relation to their differential access to funds, there is a danger of treating societal assets in less-developed countries, more specifically tropical forests, as private assets, and therefore distorting the values of these resources. Furthermore, we believe that the preservationist agenda pushed by some ICOs and the associated processes through which decisions on tropical forests are made will abort local social processes that could contribute to conservation. We make a plea to ICOs to assist less-developed countries in the process of building policies affecting tropical forests that consider the full range of options for forest conservation rather

CACTOBLASTIS CACTORUM (Lepidoptera: pyralidae): Observations of Courtship and Mating Behaviors at Two Locations on the Gulf Coast of Florida

Cactoblastis cactorum (Berg) has become an invasive pest of Opuntia spp. along the coastal areas of southeastern United States from the panhandle of Florida to South Carolina. Spread of this insect into cactus dominated natural areas of the United States and Mexico and into agricultural opuntia fields of Mexico is raising concerns within international governments and conservation organizations. Interest is growing in using the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) to manage C. cactorum populations. Information on courtship and mating behaviors of this insect is important in the development and application of SIT. We conducted mating table studies and determined that this moth exhibits simple rather than elaborate mating behaviors and that courtship and mating take place briefly during morning twilight. Typically, females initiate calling, males respond to females, and copulation are complete before sunrise. Successfully mated females attract males within a short period (mean of 5.2 min), while unsuccessful females continue calling for about 40 minutes. Mating pairs remain in copula for a mean of 31.8 min. Generally, mated females are busy ovipositing the first few nights after mating, not exhibiting additional mating behaviors. A release of marked males revealed that males stay near the release site and can be recovered and identified for subsequent population estimate studies. This study on courtship/mating behavior is helpful to the ongoing C. cactorum research to develop a successful SIT program, identify the female calling pheromone, improve monitoring traps, and develop a technique to estimate adult moth population abundance.

The current status and a conservation strategy for species of Galliformes in China

Galliformes is one group of birds which has a close relationship with human beings. Their conservation has received widespread attention from many international conservation organizations. As one of the countries rich in Galliformes, to strengthen the conservation of Galliformes is not only an important aspect of wildlife conservation in China, but also plays a significant role in global biodiversity conservation practice. In recent years, the Chinese government has paid more and more attention to protecting wild populations of Galliformes. In "the National Project on Wildlife Protection and Nature Reserve Construction" carried out by the State Administration of Forestry of China, pheasants are among the 15 groups of animals and plants which have high priority for conservation. In this paper, the species diversity, endemic species, and distribution patterns of Galliformes in China are introduced, and the current status and threats to this group of birds are summarized. Base on achievements made in in situ protection, ex situ conservation and scientific research, the main problems existing in conservation practice are discussed, and a conservation strategy for Chinese Galliformes is suggested.

Professional Training and Specialization in Conservation: An ICOMOS Viewpoint

Concern for the built heritage, its conservation and management, has emerged as a recognized field of expertise and knowledge, but remains isolated at professional level because the work is spread across a range of disciplines. ICOMOS Guidelines, Education and Training in the Conservation of Monuments, Ensembles and Sites, adopted in 1993, is widely used in the United Kingdom both as a basis for the content of conservation courses and also as a benchmark for the accreditation of conservation professionals. Conservation and management of the built heritage is being undertaken by architects, archaeologists, surveyors, town planners, engineers, historians, managers, and other disciplines. There is a rapid rise in conservation courses as demand is triggered by an increase in heritage-related work. While international conservation organizations have emerged, professional organizations with regulatory powers at national level have not been established. This paper discusses the difficulties of quality control in specialist education within the multidisciplinary framework of cultural heritage, and investigates the accreditation process from an ICOMOS viewpoint.

Artisanal fishing and coastal conservation in West Africa

Artisanal fishing is an activity which has long occupied an important place on the West African coast. In less than 20 years, the increasingly widespread use of motors in fishing boats and cold storage facilities both on board and on land have enabled fishermen to master the constraints of space and time. Furthermore, globalization has created a demand for new products, thus influencing the behaviour of fishermen and consequently the status of some fish, turtle and marine mammal species. Development policies for artisanal fishing do not adequately reflect the importance of these changes. They tend to use inappropriate scales of reference, be it spatially (national borders take precedence over ecosystems) or temporally (the long-term consequences of development plans are seldom considered). Some international conservation organizations are testing promising new approaches to managing resources more sustainably and restoring degraded ecosystems, and their recent experiences can serve as useful examples to others. It is recommended to grant special rights of access to resident fishermen. In defending ‘their’ resources, they will also protect the ecological functions of the area. Close collaboration with administrations and development assistance agencies is needed to assess consequences of political decisions on the use of resources. The important role of marine protected areas as a tool for fishing management should be better documented and strengthened. These areas should not be considered as isolated units but rather as vital parts of a comprehensive system for improved coastal zone management. Consistent with the ecosystem approach, fishermen and their communities, being the main users of coastal resources, should also play a major role in the design and implementation of any fishing management actions.

Marine Ecosystem Health as an Expression of Morbidity, Mortality and Disease Events

Over the last 50 years, national, international and private stewardship and conservation organizations have spent billions of dollars collecting marine ecosystem information. This remains divided among many custodians, scattered among thousands of published sources and, from a global perspective, is fragmentary in nature. It is argued that new resource management questions regarding coastal ecosystem health can be addressed through the recovery and `data mining' of this previously collected and often discarded information. A retrospective marine epidemiological approach was developed to demonstrate that marine morbidity, mortality, and disease information is recoverable by keyword searching of academic journals and through the retrieval of publicly available digital and print-media information. Observational records compiled from disturbances occurring within the Northwestern Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea confirm that anomalous marine morbidity and mortality events have increased in number and frequency during the last 30 years. A global approach is summarized for systematically reconstructing spatial and temporal disturbance indicator time series using data mining and data reduction techniques.

Biodiversity Hotspots in the Mediterranean Basin: Setting Global Conservation Priorities

Due to the current species extinction crisis, there is an urgent need to identify the most threatened areas of exceptionally high biodiversity and rates of endemism (i.e., hotspots; Mittermeier et al. 1998; Myers 1988; Reid 1998). Conservation strategies represent a crucial issue in the mediterranean biome because this area, which represents only 2% of the world's surface, houses 20% of the world's total floristic richness (Medail & Quezel 1997). Myers initially (1988, 1990) defined 14 hotspots in the tropical biome and four in mediterranean bioclimates (southwestern Australia, Cape Region of South Africa, California, and part of Chile). Like the four other mediterranean areas, the Mediterranean Basin is one of the world's major centers for plant diversity, where 10% of the world's higher plants can be found in an area representing only 1.6% of the Earth's surface (Medail & Quezel 1997). The prominent role played by these areas as reservoirs for plant biodiversity has been emphasized by Myers (1990). He hesitated, however, to group the whole Mediterranean Basin into one single hotspot because it covers such a large surface area, and insufficient data were available for certain regions. In this context, Medail and Quezel (1997) performed a global survey of plant richness and endemism to more precisely define hotspots in the Mediterranean Basin; they identified 10 hotspots. Three main approaches, however, have been taken in recent studies performed by international conservation organizations to define priority conservation areas in the Mediterranean Basin.

ECOLOGY: Conservation Targets: Do They Help?

No more than 5% of the land area worldwide is being set aside for the protection of nature, and there is little evidence that much tropical biodiversity will survive outside of well-managed reserves. Many international development and conservation organizations recommend that at least 10% of territory be protected, though ecologists generally concur that at least 50% of all species will soon be lost if 90% of the habitat is seriously disrupted. Current policies, therefore, are a prescription for a massive loss of biodiversity.

A History of Forestry in Sarawak

Tropical deforestation and the associated economic, ecological, and equity issues have become a matter of general interest and concern for scholars, international conservation and environmental organizations, and local pressure groups. ‘Remote’ outposts like Sarawak (‘Land of the White Rajahs’) have suddenly been thrust into the limelight as conflicts arose between different interest and ethnic groups for allocation of land and rights to utilize forest resources. A review of existing knowledge and data is therefore necessary to set rainforest clearance in Sarawak in a local, national, and international political economy context. This paper looks at the following themes: the historical legacy of ‘commercial’ extraction of forest products; the growth of the timber sector and the development of state forest regulation; and the conflicts of interest for allocation of land and rights to utilize forest resources.

Biodeterioration of cultural property: A bibliography

The field of biodeterioration of cultural properties is extremely diverse. The diversity is apparent in not only the materials to be dealt with but in the sources of publications. Publication sources range from readily available scientific literature to specialized conservation symposia. During the course of more than a decade of research in the field of biodeterioration, the senior author has spent a considerable amount of time amassing literature for projects and realized the need for a more efficient and faster method of locating biodeterioration literature. Specialized libraries, like those in conservation organization or museum conservation departments often provide a good source for this literature, but require much searching through individual publications. A major attempt by the Conservation Information Network, a consortium of international conservation organizations administered by the Getty Conservation Institute to provide biodeterioration references (some 2400 out of 100 000+ conservation references) is, unfortunately, only partially successful. The CIN biodeterioration bibliographic database has 30-40% duplicate references (data files were combined from four major conservation organizations) and too broad a keyword index so that this bibliography has been compiled to assist the scientist and conservator working in this field in locating and tracking the relevant literature.

Two international soil conservation organizations ISCO and WASWC

Two international soil conservation organizations ISCO and WASWC

Background and Development of International Conservation Organizations and Their Role in the Future

The internationalization of conservation activities in the form of organizations is essentially a post-World War I development. The first international initiatives were taken in North America during the first decade of the 20th century, and in 1910 other attempts were made in Europe; but it was not before 1922 that the first truly international conservation organization, the International Council for Bird Preservation (ICBP), was created. After World War II, ecology evolved rapidly as a discipline and this development led to international cooperation in conservation. U.N. organizations such as FAO and UNESCO became established. In 1948 the latter took the initiative in the creation of IUCN. ICBP founded the International Waterfowl Research Bureau (IWRB), another important organization, and IUCN took the initiative to form in 1961 the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) as a fund-raising and public relations organization.