A project in a protected area in Laos established a connection between higher payments for wildlife sightings and improved protections for wildlife.

During the 4 year study, sightings of common wildlife went up by over 60%. 

The payments were funded by entry fees, paid by tourists, and were put into village development funds – these would finance projects such as school construction and healthcare. 

The project was carried out with the Wildlife Conservation Society and Foundations of Success.  It shows that linking cash payments with results such as the number of animals seen could be sufficient to discourage practices which are detrimental to wildlife such as hunting. 

This is an important direct link, and it’s believed to be a key to success.

Wildlife managers and scientists set up a scheme to pay villages on the edge of the protected are based on the species and number of animals that tourists saw when they visited the park.

The park is home to animals such as sambar deer, macaques and deer.   Unfortunately, a demand for wildlife parts, and access to weapons, led to a surge in illegal hunting even in this protected area.

The villages’ development funds got a set amount of money for every tourist visiting the park.  But if certain animals were spotted, the funds would receive a bonus.  So a civet or porcupine would get little more than $1 whilst a tiger spot would have meant $225.  (No tigers were spotted during the research period.)

If anyone from the communities was caught breaking the law, the community was penalised by the project. 

By the end of the study, there were 63% more sightings of the common animals (or evidence of them, such as their tracks) than at the start.

The research wanted to measure how effective incentives to protect wildlife could be at changing their behaviour.   The researchers estimate that it did.   The authors argue that the paper the project produced is laying out a method for measuring the impacts of other projects such as this.

Laos travel guide from Lonely Planet

The Half Earth Project has launched the first phrase of their rather incredible global biodiversity map.  It uses the latest science and technology to map thousands of species worldwide.   And it shows where future conservation efforts should be made to best care for our planet and ourselves.

The rate at which species are becoming extinct by human activity continues to increase to such an extent that it may eliminate half the species by the end of this century.  E.O.Wilson commented in the New York Times Sunday Review  on 3 March that we have to enlarge the area of earth devoted to the natural world enough to save the variety of life in it.

Conservation scientists widely agree that we should keep half the land and half the sea on the planet as wild and protected from human activity and intervention as possible, Wilson also states.

The Half Earth Project  is providing vital and urgent research, leadership and knowledge necessary to do just his.   It’s mapping the distribution of species worldwide to show where we can protected the greatest number of species.  Once it’s been possible to identify the blocks of land and sea can be strung together for greatest effect, tit will be possible to support these places, home to both wildlife and people.

It is hoped that the map for most terrestrial, marine and freshwater plant and animal species will be complete within 5 years.

E.O.Wilson Biodiveristy Foundation Board member Jeff Ubben and his wife Laurie are giving or have given $5 million to seed the second phrase.  

The map will give us the information required to make strong conservation investments. 

There’s an awful lot of bad news about big cats around at the moment; they are being hunted for their skins, claws, bones and other parts; killed to prevent human-wildlife conflict, and their habitats are increasingly fragmented and lost.

So it’s great to hear from African Parks that there are some hopeful signs across the continent for these majestic animals.

Lions are being restored to Malawi

In 2012, African Parks reintroduced lions to the Majete Wildlife Reserve.  They secured the park and brought back key species, including prey populations.  The lions have formed a small but growing pride to such an extent that African Parks have moved the first two of 10 lions to Liwonde National Park – the first time lions have been there for at least 4 years!

New cheetah population doubles in less than a year

In 2017, African Parks reintroduced cheetahs to Liwonde National Park, also in Malawi.  They’d been absent for 100 years.  Several females have had cubs, so increasing their numbers in just a few months since their arrival.

Lion numbers grow in Rwanda

Lions were eradicated by refugees coming back to Rwanda after the genocide, so they had been absent for 20 years.   African Parks reintroduced 7 lions to the Akagera National Park.   With the space to thrive, lions have nearly tripled, and the park is now a real wildlife gem.  Tourism is flourishing with over 36,000 annual visitors to the park, bringing $1.3 million in tourism revenue.  This is reinvested in the surrounding areas.

Restoring and protecting the big cat in Africa’s wild places does a number of things:

• It maintains vital ecological processes
• It gives tourism a boost
• Tourism gives much needed benefits to the local communities and revenue to the region

Get involved

You can help African Parks continue to protect Africa’s big cats and ensure they have the space, prey and safety they need to breed and thrive.    Donate here

The Straitstimes.com reports that Singapore has a 3 pronged approach to dealing with wildlife trafficking at border checkpoints, and it’s resulted in a number of seizures already.

The 3 pronged approach is:

1. Subjecting passengers and shipments to a risk assessment
2. Conducting multiple layers of checks at checkpoints.  Passengers and cargo are screened by officers and tools such as x-ray machines.
3. Adopting a co-ordinated enforcement approach amongst agencies such as the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority, Singapore Customs and Immigration and Checkpoints Authority.   These agencies may respond to any intelligence which is credible and actionable, or tip offs from the public and international partners.

Traffickers are subject to heavy penalties if they are discovered to have wildlife parts, with either fines of up to  $500,000 or two years in jail or both.

Singapore has long been flagged by international environmental organisations as transit points for items such as rhino horn, ivory and pangolin scales.

The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority is constantly reviewing the effectiveness of different tools and techniques, and they haven’t yet ruled out using sniffer dogs if studies show they can be more effective than current methods.

For more information on wildlife trafficking, visit TRAFFIC