International Nature Conservation Research Articles

Linking sufficiency and the protection of biodiversity: An issue of political implications, framing, descriptiveness and interdisciplinarity?

The dramatic loss of biodiversity is caused by the use of resources and land. One strategy aiming at reducing the use of resources and land is sufficiency, which consequently could be a strategy for protecting biodiversity. This article therefore examines the extent to which sufficiency in the context of biodiversity conservation is already being addressed by nature conservation associations and the scientific community. To this end, publications were analysed firstly with regards to the understanding of sufficiency, secondly with regards to the considered links between sufficiency and biodiversity as well as thirdly with regards to the considered fields of action. The systematic identification and evaluation of scientific publications (for the years 2017–2021) and publications by German and international nature conservation associations shows that few publications address the link between sufficiency and biodiversity. And when they do, the link often remains unspecific. Possible reasons are that sufficiency potentially has broader political implications, that the term is not descriptive and that other terms are used to describe similar strategies. Other potential explanations are that several framings for the need for sufficiency are possible and that linking sufficiency and biodiversity requires interdisciplinarity. Drawing on the results and the discussion, an argument in favour of using the term ‘sufficiency’ and further research is presented. Moreover, a sufficiency typology is developed and questions are raised that could form the basis for future research on linking biodiversity conservation and the various aspects of sufficiency.

A Review of Raf de Bont, Nature’s Diplomats: Science, Internationalism, and Preservation, 1920–1960. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2021, 373 pp.

“Nature’s Diplomats: Science, Internationalism, and Preservation, 1920–1960” (2021) by Raf de Bont, professor at the University of Maastricht, analyzes the long-term influence of ideas formulated in the first half of the 20th century for the international movement for nature conservation. As the author proves, the early 20th century naturalists and the nongovernmental organizations that they created exercised a decisive influence on the theory and practice of the international movement for nature protection throughout the 20th century. This influence is still noticeable in the early decades of the 21st century. The book shows that the “internationalism” of early organizations for nature conservation was rather limited, the social composition was far from inclusive, and the “scientific approach” was not as self-evident and ideologically neutral as we tend to think. The most influential figures in the international nature conservation were aristocratic landowners and the upper middle classes from leading urban centers of North-Western Europe and the east coast of the United States who had been trained and actively engaged in natural history.

France, the IUCN and wildlife conservation in Cambodia: From colonial to global conservationism

The history of wildlife conservation in Cambodia in the twentieth century reveals the tensions that existed between the Khmer kingdom and international nature conservation networks, colonial or global. Wildlife conservation in Cambodia was not a priority for the French colonial administration. It only regulated hunting. While the global conservation movement was expanding via international conferences, local French administrators managed to obstruct the implementation of a conservation policy. After the Second World War, Western scientists and activists sought to establish reserves, particularly to protect a new species of wild cattle, the kouprey. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), through the notable efforts of Harold Coolidge, succeeded in convincing Prince Sihanouk to adopt such a policy in the 1960s. However, although 12 per cent of the kingdom's land was protected, funding and means for conservation remained largely inadequate. The war put an end to all conservation programmes. The IUCN renewed its efforts in the 1980s successfully establishing a network of protected areas in Cambodia in 1993. The various twentieth-century Cambodian wildlife conservation policies, which all imposed external models, often without prior adequate field studies or involvement of local populations, have failed to prevent emblematic species from disappearing.

Organizational preparation of central public administration bodies to manage the implementation of defense tasks Part III. Concept of tasks and organization of the organisational units of administrative offices of chief bodies of government administration for the management of the implementation of defence tasks

Such bodies as the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister and ministers in charge of departments of government administration, in order to exercise competencies in the field of defence, should have the ability to perform administrative functions to satisfy missions, goals and tasks in this matter assigned to them by the legislator. Their authority and duties in the defence field are closely related to their authority and duties in other areas of national security, so there is a need to arrange the organisational units set up for this purpose in such a way that their scope of action includes matters corresponding to the authority’s competence in the field of national security and defence, taken as a whole. Given the rank of the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister in Poland, and their competencies in the area of national security, urgent changes are required to adapt the organisational units of the Chancellery of the Prime Minister (KPRM), and above all the Government Centre for Security (RCB). The RCB needs to be transformed so that it is able to fulfil the role of a national security and defence headquarters under the Council of Ministers and the Prime Minister. It would be an analytical-planning-coordination office, ensuring staff coordination of coherent, uninterrupted and continuous state activities in the field of state security and defence. Innovation in this respect would be accompanied by minor changes in the jurisdiction and structure of the organisational units comprising the KPRM. Following this, given the existing needs identified in the previous articles in this series, it seems necessary to make changes in ministries to implement a unified model of a national security organisational unit (e.g. Department for Security and Defence Affairs). In principle, these units should have similar missions and composition in all ministries, but some reasonable exceptions would occur in the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of the Interior and Administration. In others, there are and should be separate departments specific to those ministries (e.g. combating economic crime, international security policy, nature conservation, air protection and others).

EDUCATION ON HANDLING GREEN TURTLE (Chelonia mydas) INJURED DUE TO ILLEGAL ARREST OF COMMUNITY PERSONS IN SUPRAU VILLAGE

The number of turtle populations from year to year has decreased. One of the causes is the arrests made by the community for consumption purposes. On April 29, 2021, a green turtle was eaten by the Directorate of Polair, Sorong City, with an injured condition that will be used as food for consumption. The purpose of this activity is to educate the public on the handling of injured turtles and socialize related to turtle conservation. The method of turtle handling activities is direct daily care with medication and turtle feeding programs, while socialization activities are carried out with mini workshops attended by representatives of the Marine and Fisheries Resources Supervisor, Sorong Marine and Fisheries Polytechnic, Directorate of Polair Sorong City, West Papua Natural Resources Conservation Center, Sorong District Court, Sailing Science Education and Training Center, Sorong City Fisheries Service, Papua Turtle Foundation, Conservation International (CI) and Nusantara Nature Conservation Foundation and public figure. The results of the activities for handling injured turtles, healthy turtles returned with dry wounds so that the turtles could be released into the wild. The socialization activity went smoothly with increasing understanding regarding the importance of turtle conservation by the community by signing a Memorandum of Understanding related to turtle conservation.

Ways of Recognizing the High Status of the Territory for the Biodiversity Conservation (on the Example of the Ichalkovsky Reserve in the Nizhny Novgorod Region)

The purpose of our study is to consider the possibilities of using different approaches to recognize the significance of the territory for the biodiversity conservation. The Ichalkovsky nature reserve (zakaznik) with an area of 1,442 hectares in the Nizhny Novgorod region was selected for analysis as a botanical and geological object unique for the Russian Plain. The criterion of various rare wildlife species records was used as a leading approach. Analysis of published materials and field research in 2020 allowed us to identify in the studied territory the habitat of 88 wildlife species listed in the Red Data Books of Russia and the Nizhny Novgorod Region. They are very different concerning their taxonomy and biology. This criterion use shows the extremely high conservation value of the Ichalkovsky reserve. The territory under consideration is characterized by high biological diversity and a high degree of biota remained, as well as its weak human disturbance. It is shown that, in accordance with the approaches of international nature conservation programs, the Ichalkovsky reserve has the status of a territory of special nature conservation significance within the Emerald Network of Russia, as well as an Important Bird Area. This territory is the core of the environmental framework of European Russia and meets the criteria for identifying several categories of high conservation value forests. The proposed ways have shown high efficiency. Ichalkovsky reserve is very important to conserve the biodiversity, including at the international level. This natural area should have legal protection adequate to its nature conservation value. Such protection can be provided by the status of a cluster of a national park.

A Transboundary Environmental and Tourism Cluster in Western Altai: Recreational and Geographic Substantiation

Active development of domestic and international tourism in Russian regions necessitates the creation of tourist clusters. A tourist cluster is a purposeful concentration of tourist and recreational resources, interconnected enterprises, organizations, and facilities providing infrastructure and services to meet the needs of domestic and foreign tourists. Tourist clusters are of particular importance since they attract specially protected natural areas [SPNA] to tourism. Tourist clusters are often formed in the border areas. One of the examples is a project for transboundary nature conservation and the creation of a tourist cluster in Western Altai, which includes the territories of the East Kazakhstan region and the Altai Krai. The study aims to provide a recreational and geographical substantiation and identify the prerequisites for creating transboundary nature conservation and tourist area. The project is based on biodiversity, the presence of other natural resources (comfortable climatic, geomorphological, water, etc.), little-changed landscapes, the successful functioning of protected areas of different categories (both from Russia and Kazakhstan), the presence of objects of tourist interest, attractions, and other prerequisites for the formation of an international nature conservation and tourism cluster. Using SWOT analysis, the authors analyze the prospects for forming a transboundary nature conservation and tourist cluster in Western Altai. The analysis allows us to highlight strong and weak points and to identify possible opportunities and risks. The projected cluster is assessed from the standpoint of environmental protection. The authors assessed the natural and tourist potential of the territory based on such criteria as transport accessibility, development of the territory, recreational infrastructure, anthropogenic impact, etc. The results of the conducted recreational and geographical analysis allow us to justify the design and draw conclusions about the significant potential for forming a transboundary nature conservation and tourist cluster in the Western Altai transboundary area of Russia and Kazakhstan.

Coexistence through the Ages: The Role of Native Livestock Guardian Dogs and Traditional Ecological Knowledge as Key Resources in Conflict Mitigation between Pastoralists and Large Carnivores in the Romanian Carpathians

Livestock guardian dogs (LGDs) in the Romanian Carpathians are as old as the pastoral presence and activity in the region. The main role of these dogs is to protect livestock from predation by large carnivores. The Carpathian Mountains, as opposed to other European mountain ranges, have always had considerable populations of wolf, brown bear, and lynx; conflict with the herders is inevitable. Here, the shepherds rely only on themselves and their dogs to keep their animals safe from predation during pastoral movements. We investigated 12 sites from the historical regions of Banat and Transylvania, where we have collected traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) on the use of native LGDs as an ancient non-lethal method for the prevention of livestock depredation. By monitoring the behavior of their dogs, the shepherds establish a complex ethno-ethological relationship with them, which helps them foretell the movements and presence of large carnivores in their vicinity. We have also investigated the recent positive change of attitude of some of the Romanian nature conservationists towards the Romanian Carpathian Shepherd Dog breed, which is also currently promoted by important international nature conservation NGOs as an ecologically friendly method to mitigate the conflict with large carnivores. The uninterrupted use of endemic LGD breeds by pastoralists in Romania might be one of the main reasons for the survival and conservation of large carnivores here in the past and in the future.

Publishing in English is associated with an increase of the impact factor of Brazilian biodiversity journals.

English is the lingua franca for scientific communication, but some journals, especially in developing countries, still publish non-English studies. A shift towards publishing in English may promote internationalization and more visibility of scientific journals. Here we compared quality indexes between Brazilian journals that have always published in English and journals that have published in languages other than English. We also investigated whether a temporal shift towards publishing in English led to elevated quality measures. Our analyses covered 16 Brazilian biodiversity journals and accounted for 12640 papers published since 2007. The mean impact factor was on average 55% higher in journals that have published consistently in English, compared to the so-called multilanguage journals. The proportion of publications in English increased to nearly three times the original value in multilanguage journals between 2007 and 2016, and the impact factor tripled during this period. At the same time, the Qualis-Capes classifications (B1-B2-B3) tended to fall. Publishing in English can be a first step to increased visibility, and this is particularly important for biodiversity journals, since Brazilian ecosystems are considered of interest to the international scientific community and nature conservation.

A revision of macrophytobenthos of the “Lebyazh’i Ostrova” Nature Reserve (Black Sea)

A revision of the marine macrophytes flora of the Crimean Nature Reserve branch “Lebyazh’i ostrova” (“Swan Islands”) was carried out. The flora includes 97 species (hereinafter - including infraspecific taxa): Chlorophyta - 30, Ochrophyta - 11, Rhodophyta - 47, Tracheophyta - 7, Charophyta - 2; taxonomic structure: 8 classes, 22 orders, 31 families, 51 genera. The macrophyte flora has an oligosaprobic nature; short vegetation species dominate in terms of vegetation period duration, but perennial species have a fairly high proportion too. Among halobility groups, marine and brackish-water species prevail. Among phytogeographic groups (combined into two complexes) a warm-water complex dominates, with a high contribution of cosmopolitan species. In general, the ecological and floristic indicators of macrophytobenthos are close to those established for the Egorlytsko-Tendrovsko-Dzharylgachsko-Perekopsky hydro-botanical region of the Black Sea. The rare fraction of flora (taking into account regional, national and international nature conservation documents) includes 27 species. Within protected marine and lagoon water areas, biotopes under the special protection of the EU Habitats Directive are located (Council Directive 92/43/EEC); the nature reserve is a structural element of the Emerald Network and is designated as Wetlands of International Importance.

New policy directions for global pond conservation

AbstractDespite the existence of well‐established international environmental and nature conservation policies (e.g., the Ramsar Convention and Convention on Biological Diversity) ponds are largely missing from national and international legislation and policy frameworks. Ponds are among the most biodiverse and ecologically important freshwater habitats, and their value lies not only in individual ponds, but more importantly, in networks of ponds (pondscapes). Ponds make an important contribution to society through the ecosystem services they provide, with effective conservation of pondscapes essential to ensuring that these services are maintained. Implementation of current pond conservation through individual site designations does not function at the landscape scale, where ponds contribute most to biodiversity. Conservation and management of pondscapes should complement current national and international nature conservation and water policy/legislation, as pondscapes can provide species protection in landscapes where large‐scale traditional conservation areas cannot be established (e.g., urban or agricultural landscapes). We propose practical steps for the effective incorporation or enhancement of ponds within five policy areas: through open water sustainable urban drainage systems in urban planning, increased incentives in agrienvironment schemes, curriculum inclusion in education, emphasis on ecological scale in mitigation measures following anthropogenic developments, and the inclusion of pondscapes in conservation policy.

Thinking about Latour and AIME's Common World

Thinking about Latour and AIME's Common World Guillaume Blanc (bio) As an "anthropology of the Moderns," aime appears to be a project as vast as it is complex—so complex that after an hour spent on the web platform, I gave up my day-off navigating attitude and went back to my daytime-scholar attitude, carefully reading the platform's first page to figure out what aime was really about. First, I understood that it was dealing with both modernization, which it aimed to more precisely define, and modes of existence, which is its way to investigate "the beings about which humans are interrogating themselves." Second, I figured that based on its three stages—"that of the readers, that of the co-researchers, and that of the negotiators"—and its focus on diplomatic negotiations between fifteen modes of existence, the very purpose of aime was to learn "how to compose a common world." Then what made me give up on my initial navigation of the web platform became clearer: 1) there are crossings that illustrate the clash between two values; and 2) there is the augmented digital book, which readers can explore after having signed on to aime. Fully prepared after reading the introductory page of the web platform, I went back to navigating the book. Frustrated, as an Environmental Historian of Modern Africa First, as a historian working on Ethiopia and the environments that have resulted from twentieth-century negotiations between international, national, and local human (and nonhuman) actors, my first move was [End Page 120] quite naturally to search the book for occurrences of the word "Africa." I was disappointed to see a single quote appearing, in the section of the introduction entitled "Modernizing or Ecologizing, We Must Choose." Here Bruno Latour explains that his first research into "the end of the modernist parenthesis" was partly based on his much earlier field inquiries "in Africa." Several thoughts ran through my mind. But mostly I wondered if we were dealing here with the kind of world invented by major international nature conservation organizations, that is, a global world mainly defined by Westerners, discussed in Northern countries, and imposed on Southern countries? Having some knowledge of Bruno Latour's work, I gathered that things were much more complicated. Again in the introduction, but in the section "Negotiating on Whose Behalf," the reader learns that because "we are still missing an anthropology of the Moderns … , this inquiry is going to have to finally focus on the Moderns, the 'Westerners,' yes, even on the Europeans." The argument was more than convincing. Nonetheless, when it comes to building a common world, "the question of whose world is being planned by whom, and to what end, must be asked" (Beinart 1987, 19). aime did not seem to broadly address the question of building a common world without involving the ones for whom the choice between modernizing or ecologizing is a daily crucial one. Enthusiastic, as a Social Sciences Researcher So I kept exploring the platform, but mainly as a social sciences researcher interested in the social relationships to environment. Both voluntarily and unwillingly, I first got lost in the "modes & crossing" interface. I started here to grasp several values, situations, and paradoxes in sections such as "learning to respect appearances" and "to each mode its own way of playing with custom," as well as "locating the beings of fiction" and "[these beings] are different from the beings of technique." I got the sense of a knowledge-based fuzzy system; and as unproductive it could sound, this feeling was quite a nice one, as I started to truly apprehend the modes of existence that aime had been investigating. Then, I returned to the digital book. I discovered, step-by-step, several modes of existence and, in the two right-hand columns, the different [End Page 121] concepts and situations they were associated with. I found myself thinking that maybe aime was targeting the same goals set out in the theory of related bodies by Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1964, 13) and the monism idea it inspired in Philippe Descola (2002, 17)—that is, the need to investigate anthropos (the modern one) through the configurations, rather...

Taxonomic checklist of the day geckos of the genera Phelsuma GRAY, 1825 and Rhoptropella HEWITT, 1937 (Squamata: Gekkonidae)

The day geckos of the genus Phelsuma have their center of diversity in Madagascar and the adjacent archipelagos in the western Indian Ocean, especially the Mascarenes, Comoros and Seychelles. Their brilliant colours, diurnal activity, and interesting behaviours have resulted in a long lasting high demand for the pet trade. Accordingly, the international trade of all Phelsuma species is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Floras (CITES) where all species are included in CITES appendix II. In order to facilitate operating and control of these regulations by national and international nature conservation authorities we provide an updated taxonomic checklist for all species and subspecies of the genus Phelsuma and for Rhoptropella ocellata (a taxon resurrected from the synonymy of Phelsuma). Since a few species (especially P. dubia, P. grandis and P. laticauda) have become invasive across different countries and political territories, updated distributional data is also provided. Although a substantial number of the currently accepted taxa is well defined, the taxonomy of several species and subspecies is in need of revision and taxonomic changes are expected in future. We designate Phelsuma ornatum Gray, 1825 as type species of the genus Colobopus Fitzinger, 1843 in order to allow an unambiguous interpretation of this genus name.

Taxonomic checklist of chameleons (Squamata: Chamaeleonidae)

Due to their often brilliant colours, diurnal activity, and fascinating behaviours there is a long lasting high demand for chameleons in the pet trade. Accordingly, the international trade of most chameleon genera is regulated by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Floras (CITES). In order to facilitate operating and control of these regulations by national and international nature conservation authorities an updated taxonomic checklist of the family Chamaeleonidae (202 species plus 23 subspecies in 12 genera) is provided. A comparison with the last taxonomic checklist published in 1997 (132 species plus 39 subspecies in six genera) demonstrates the enormous progress in chameleon taxonomy and systematics in recent years. Although a substantial number of the currently accepted taxa are well defined, the taxonomy of several species and subspecies is in need of revision and many new species both from Africa and Madagascar still await their scientific description.

“Primitives” and Protected Areas: International Conservation and the “Naturalization” of Indigenous People, ca. 1910–1975

This article explores a long-standing discursive tradition within international nature conservation. In this tradition the argument is made that “primitive” people should be allowed to live in the areas the conservationists deem as “pristine” or “natural.” The article explores the (changing) relative importance of this tradition in the conservation discourse as a whole, and analyzes the shifting composition of its argumentative arsenal from the 1910s to the 1970s. Particular attention goes to the uneasy combination of two types of argument: one in which indigenous people are presented as part of nature, another in which their customary rights are stressed.

Kokemäenjoki River Delta, Western Finland - Natural Treasury in an Exceptionally Rapidly Changing Aquatic Environment

The catchment of the River Kokemäenjoki covers ca. 27 100 square kilometers in western Finland, and the the length of the river is ca 120 km. The river discharges into the Bothnian Bay, the northern section of the Baltic Sea. The delta is changing and prograding towards the sea exceptionally rapidly. The pace of the growth of the deltaic formations,a s well as the major zones of the macrophytivc vegetation is nowadays some 30–40 meters a year. This makes the delta the most rapidly changing aquatic and littoral ecosystem in the Northern Europe. The Kokemäenjoki River delta is often characterized as a biological hotspot, and major sections of the estuary are included in several leading international nature conservation programmes, i.e. The Natura 2000 network of the European Union, the intergovernmental The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, as well as in the IBA, Important Bird Area programme established by the BildLife International organization. The diversities of both flora and fauna are very high – at least as regards of the northern location of the estuary. In the Kokemäenjoki River ca. 420 taxa of flowering plants (Spermatophyta) are permanently found (i.e. about a third of the ca. 1 200 flowering plants permanently growing in Finland). Of the pteridophytes (Pteridophyta), there are 17 out of the 57 species of the Finnish taxa growing at the delta. Of the stoneworts (Chrarophyta) the delta is home of 9 species of the 21 taxa found in Finland. The number of bird species breeding in the area is ca. 110, and the total number of bird taxa living and resting during the migration periods amounts to 220 species (i.e. nearly the whole range of the 248 bird species of the permanent Finnish bird taxa). Of the invertebrates, the species composition of dragonflies (Odonata) is best known. There are 25 species of the 55 dragonfly taxa found in Finland. Of the plant species occupying the delta, 5 species of flowering plants and one species of stoneworts are classified as endangered, fulfilling the red list criteria established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Of the bird species of the estuary, 31 species are included in the Red List of endangered species. The present paper summarizes the data presented in various reports, mainly in Finnish, and majority of them in hardly accessible depositories.

Kokemäenjoki River Delta, Western Finland - Natural Treasury in an Exceptionally Rapidly Changing Aquatic Environment

The catchment of the River Kokemäenjoki covers ca. 27 100 square kilometers in western Finland, and the the length of the river is ca 120 km. The river discharges into the Bothnian Bay, the northern section of the Baltic Sea. The delta is changing and prograding towards the sea exceptionally rapidly. The pace of the growth of the deltaic formations,a s well as the major zones of the macrophytivc vegetation is nowadays some 30–40 meters a year. This makes the delta the most rapidly changing aquatic and littoral ecosystem in the Northern Europe. The Kokemäenjoki River delta is often characterized as a biological hotspot, and major sections of the estuary are included in several leading international nature conservation programmes, i.e. The Natura 2000 network of the European Union, the intergovernmental The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, as well as in the IBA, Important Bird Area programme established by the BildLife International organization. The diversities of both flora and fauna are very high – at least as regards of the northern location of the estuary. In the Kokemäenjoki River ca. 420 taxa of flowering plants (Spermatophyta) are permanently found (i.e. about a third of the ca. 1 200 flowering plants permanently growing in Finland). Of the pteridophytes (Pteridophyta), there are 17 out of the 57 species of the Finnish taxa growing at the delta. Of the stoneworts (Chrarophyta) the delta is home of 9 species of the 21 taxa found in Finland. The number of bird species breeding in the area is ca. 110, and the total number of bird taxa living and resting during the migration periods amounts to 220 species (i.e. nearly the whole range of the 248 bird species of the permanent Finnish bird taxa). Of the invertebrates, the species composition of dragonflies (Odonata) is best known. There are 25 species of the 55 dragonfly taxa found in Finland. Of the plant species occupying the delta, 5 species of flowering plants and one species of stoneworts are classified as endangered, fulfilling the red list criteria established by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Of the bird species of the estuary, 31 species are included in the Red List of endangered species. The present paper summarizes the data presented in various reports, mainly in Finnish, and majority of them in hardly accessible depositories.

Reasons and Processes Leading to the Erosion of Crop Genetic Diversity in Mountainous Regions of Georgia

Agriculture has a long history in Georgia; it has led to a great variety of ancient crops. However, this diversity is under threat for many reasons. First, introduced crops have caused a loss of traditional cultivars, because the introduced crops are preferred due to their higher yield. Moreover, agricultural machines such as forage and grain combine harvesters imported to Georgia are constructed for widely distributed, imported crops and cannot be used to harvest local cultivars. Until recently, genetic erosion of ancient crop varieties was not a problem in the mountain areas of Georgia, which until the 1990s constituted a depository of local crop varieties of wheat, barley, rye, oat, common millet, traditional legumes, vegetables, herbs, and spice plants with specific varieties adapted to mountain conditions. These mountain areas worked as a depository because local mountain communities preserved their traditional ways of life and socioeconomic structures. Their traditional agricultural equipment, used on a large scale until the 1990s, still allows them to maintain areas under cultivation (with grain or other crops) on steep slopes and at high elevations where modern tractors cannot be used. Moreover, some old landraces of wheat and barley are still being used to prepare bread and beer for religious rituals. Currently, many endemic and native representatives of crop plants are in danger of extinction. International nature conservation institutions and Georgian scientific and nongovernmental organizations have developed plans to preserve the genetic resources of local cultivars.

International conservation ‘volunteering’ and the geographies of global environmental citizenship

Growing numbers of fee-paying ‘volunteers’ leave the UK each year to work on international nature conservation projects. Powerful advocates argue that such volunteering offers active global environmental citizens the opportunity to make a difference, delivering public services through a politically and economically appealing model of social enterprise. This paper reviews the geographies of citizenship performed in international conservation volunteering from the UK to critically examine these claims. It draws on and develops three conceptual approaches from political geography. First, it examines international conservation volunteering as a mode of cosmopolitan global environmental citizenship, guided by the universal framework of natural science across a flat earth of difference making opportunities. Second, it reviews the material reality of conservation volunteering as an illustration of the neoliberal and neo-colonial tendencies within mainstream global environmentalism. Third, it moves beyond these familiar theoretical tropes to present a more-than-human account of international conservation volunteering from the UK. This attends to the material assemblages of human and nonhuman bodies, practices and affects caught up in within these expressions of citizenship. In conclusion the paper critically compares the different materialisations of citizenship offered by these approaches. It finds that the geographies of citizenship performed within the sector are neither ‘global’ or ‘environmental’, nor do they comprise modes of citizenship that embody planetary humanism or panoptic rationalism. Instead, the modes, subjects and spatialities of citizenship performed here are asymmetric, affective and more-than-human. This has important implications for the scope, practices and future of international environmental politics and for the emerging sub-discipline of the geographies of citizenship.

Effectiveness of Predator Removal for Enhancing Bird Populations

Predation pressure on vulnerable bird species has made predator control an important issue for international nature conservation. Predator removal by culling or translocation is controversial, expensive, and time-consuming, and results are often temporary. Thus, it is important to assess its effectiveness from all available evidence. We used explicit systematic review methodology to determine the impact of predator removal on four measurable responses in birds: breeding performance (hatching success and fledging success) and population size (breeding and postbreeding). We used meta-analysis to summarize results from 83 predator removal studies from six continents. We also investigated whether characteristics of the prey, predator species, location, and study methodology explained heterogeneity in effect sizes. Removing predators increased hatching success, fledging success, and breeding populations. Removing all predator species achieved a significantly larger increase in breeding population than removing only a subset. Postbreeding population size was not improved on islands, or overall, but did increase on mainlands. Heterogeneity in effect sizes for the four population parameters was not explained by whether predators were native or introduced; prey were declining, migratory, or game species; or by the study methodology. Effect sizes for fledging success were smaller for ground-nesting birds than those that nest elsewhere, but the difference was not significant. We conclude that current evidence indicates that predator removal is an effective strategy for the conservation of vulnerable bird populations. Nevertheless, the ethical and practical problems associated with predator removal may lead managers to favor alternative, nonlethal solutions. Research is needed to provide and synthesize data to determine whether these are effective management practices for future policies on bird conservation.