An environmental flow determination method for integrating multiple-scale ecohydrological and complex ecosystem processes in estuaries

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on
EfD Authors:

This paper presents an environmental flow methodology that was developed to accommodate shallow, highly dynamic micro-tidal estuaries found along the wave-dominated coast of South Arica. This method differs to most other approaches that primarily focus on larger permanently open systems having unrestricted inlets.

Biodiversity, Conservation, Water

Assessing, quantifying and valuing the ecosystem services of coastal lagoons

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on
EfD Authors:

The natural conservation of coastal lagoons is important not only for their ecological importance, but also because of the valuable ecosystem services they provide for human welfare and wellbeing. Coastal lagoons are shallow semi-enclosed systems that support important habitats such as wetlands, mangroves, salt-marshes and seagrass meadows, as well as a rich biodiversity. Coastal lagoons are also complex social-ecological systems with ecosystem services that provide livelihoods, wellbeing and welfare to humans.

Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation

Gender differences in poaching attitudes: Insights from communities in Mozambique, South Africa, and Zimbabwe living near the great Limpopo

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on
EfD Authors:

To what extent and how do men and women differ in their attitudes about poaching? Although research suggests that women can be more concerned about environmental degradation than men, inquiries about communities in protected areas are ambiguous: women are disproportionately affected by anti‐poaching laws and can have greater motivations to violate rules.

Biodiversity, Conservation

Factors influencing local communities’ perceptions towards conservation of transboundary wildlife resources. The case of the Great Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area

Submitted by Tali Hoffman on

Local communities’ perceptions of protected areas are important determinants of the success of conservation efforts in Southern Africa, as these perceptions affect people’s attitudes and behaviour with respect to conservation. As a result, the involvement of local communities in transboundary wildlife conservation is now viewed as an integral part of regional development initiatives.

Biodiversity, Conservation

Contrasting effects of information sharing on common-pool resource extraction behavior: Experimental findings

Submitted by Luat Do on
EfD Authors:

This paper experimentally investigates the impact of different information sharing mechanisms in a common-pool resource game, with a view to finding a mechanism that is both efficient and inexpensive for the managing agency. More precisely, we compare the observed extraction levels produced as a result of three mechanisms: a mandatory information sharing mechanism and two voluntary information sharing mechanisms that differ in the degree of freedom given to the players.

Conservation, Experiments

Is there a peaceful cohabitation between human and natural habitats? Assessing global patterns of species loss

Submitted by Luat Do on
EfD Authors:

The ongoing ecological crisis has motivated systematic studies on biodiversity loss, mostly pointing to economic and human population pressure as root causes of natural habitat destruction. The present paper proposes to globally assess the case of threatened animal and plant species, discussing whether the cohabitation between human habitat and biodiversity (natural habitat) is peaceful. Thereby, by controlling for species richness and reverse causality, we find that the number of threatened species depicts an inverted U-shaped relationship with income per capita.

Conservation, Policy Design

The impact of nature documentaries on public environmental preferences and willingness to pay: entropy balancing and the blue planet II effect

Submitted by Luat Do on
EfD Authors:

In this study, the discrete choice experiment approach was employed in a survey of the Scottish general public to analyze how respondents make tradeoffs between blue growth potential and marine ecosystem service delivery associated with the Mingulay cold water reef complex. Results indicate a higher willingness to pay for management options associated with the highest possible levels of marine litter control followed by the highest possible levels of fish health.

Conservation, Fisheries

Preferences for coastal and marine conservation in Vietnam: Accounting for differences in individual choice set formation

Submitted by Luat Do on
EfD Authors:

This paper has two objectives. The first is to estimate the value of implementing new coastal and marine conservation measures in Vietnam, focussing on the relative benefits of water quality improvements, coral conservation and control of marine plastic pollution. The second is to explicitly model any tendency of respondents to fail to give consideration to the “opt-out” or status quo option in a choice experiment, due to social and cultural factors.

Conservation