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NDTV
4 hours ago
- Science
- NDTV
Here's The Path To Conserving Protected Areas In The Amazon
Despite serving as crucial guardians of biodiversity, traditional communities continue to be systematically excluded from developing and managing protected areas. This often subtle, silent exclusion has fueled persistent, complex socio-environmental conflicts, harming both conservation and the welfare of Indigenous peoples, riverside populations, Afro-Brazilian quilombola communities, and smallholder farmers. A recent study, 'Socio-environmental Conflicts and Traditional Communities in Protected Areas: A Scientometric Analysis,' published in the Journal for Nature Conservation, mapped how scientific literature has examined these conflicts over time. Researchers from the Federal University of Western Pará (UFOPA), the Federal University of Pará (UFPA), the University of International Integration of Afro-Brazilian Lusophony (UNILAB), and the Vale Institute of Technology (ITV) collaborated on the study as part of the National Institute of Science and Technology in Synthesis of Amazonian Biodiversity (INCT-SynBiAm) and the Eastern Amazon Biodiversity Research Program (PPBio-AmOr). The team reviewed 263 scientific articles published worldwide between 1990 and August 2024, sourced from Scopus and Web of Science. Their analysis revealed significant gaps in research on this topic and offered recommendations for more just, inclusive, and effective management of protected territories. What Does Science Reveal About These Conflicts? The research shows not only a rise in conflicts involving traditional communities and protected zones, but also their diversity. The main sources of tension are: 1. Access to subsistence resources: Local prohibitions—often unilaterally enacted—restrict fishing, hunting, gathering, and subsistence agriculture, all vital for food and income. These constraints sever longstanding traditions of sustainable resource use, leading to food insecurity and marginalization. For example, in Ethiopia's Nech Sar National Park, new conservation policies have curtailed local residents' access to natu re, sparking community tension and resistance. 2. Exclusionary management of protected areas: Community voices are rarely included in decisions about protected area creation or management. The absence of prior consultation and disregard for traditional knowledge often yield policies disconnected from local realities. Such centralized management breeds resentment and undermines conservation; participatory governance is essential to socio-environmental justice. A study in Chile involving Aymaras, Atacameñas, and Mapuche-Huilliches communities found that while participatory practices and technical support from the CONAF forest agency improved perceptions, dissatisfaction persists due to initial exclusion. Many continue to assert ancestral land rights and demand meaningful input, highlighting the urgent need to build trust and align conservation with social justice. 3. Conflicts involving wildlife: Local communities contend with damaged crops, attacks on domestic animals, and even threats to personal safety. Large mammals such as elephants, lions, jaguars, and buffalo are the main culprits. Habitat loss and depleted food sources exacerbate these incidents. Peaceful coexistence requires inclusive, context-specific solutions. A study from Ethiopia highlighted rising human-wildlife conflict in Chebera Churchura National Park: crop invasion, livestock predation and disease, and increased risks to human life were all reported. 4. Territorial disputes and land rights: Many protected areas overlap with territories long used by traditional peoples. Disavowed land rights provoke legal battles, forced displacement, and greater insecurity, compounding social challenges. Formal recognition of collective land title is key to reducing conflict and ensuring autonomy; these disputes exemplify the global fight for territorial justice. In Mexico, a recent study documents the impact of land privatization, livestock expansion, plantations, and urbanization in the protected areas of Veracruz, Chiapas, and Morelos. It generated a land market that is disrupting Indigenous and peasant communities and threatening both their territories and forest conservation. 5. Cultural and socioeconomic disruption: Establishing protected areas can upend ways of life rooted in symbolic, generational relationships with nature. Prohibiting customary practices disrupts rituals, beliefs, and the intergenerational transmission of knowledge, silently eroding local cultures. In the United States, Australia, and New Zealand, studies have noted frequent friction between Indigenous groups, recreational visitors, and managing agencies. Issues include access to sacred sites and resources on traditional lands, visitor infrastructure, permitted activities, and even place names. 6. Lack of recognition and real participation: When communities are denied a voice in decisions, historical inequities deepen, fueling conflict. Despite legal progress, many traditional groups remain excluded from governance. Without meaningful participation, environmental policy fails to address local needs—highlighting the urgent need for community leadership and real power-sharing in conservation. Italy's Monti Sibillini National Park in the Central Apennines offers an instructive case: rural depopulation has coincided with rising friction between environmental managers and locals. Imposed bureaucratic guidelines, unresponsiveness to community aspirations, and challenging collaboration between the park and municipalities have generated mutual frustration and hostility. This underscores the need for 'knowledge democracy' and truly participatory stewardship that respects diverse ways of living on the land. Within Brazil, the same types of socio-environmental strife observed worldwide are especially acute in national protected areas. Research shows that even in sustainably managed zones like Extractive Reserves, communities regularly face resource restrictions and limited decision-making power—a recipe for lingering resentment and compromised conservation. Centralized authority and denial of customary land rights often lead to drawn-out disputes, mirroring patterns across the Global South. These findings highlight Brazil's urgent need for strong co-management models—mechanisms that value local knowledge and foster territorial justice. Such tensions cluster in nature reserves and national parks, where regulatory regimes often disregard local lifeways and worldviews. Although the law guarantees consultation and participation mechanisms like free, prior, and informed consultation, they are often ignored or implemented ineffectively. Another key finding: 66.54% of studies focused on non-Indigenous populations, while only 16.73% examined Indigenous peoples exclusively. This imbalance exposes the under-representation of research attentive to the full range of traditional communities. Such gaps hinder efforts to understand these peoples' rich cultural and ecological realities—and in turn, weakens recognition of their expertise and the value of their knowledge for global biodiversity conservation. Scientific consensus now affirms the vital role these communities play in preservation, yet too often they are treated as problems to be managed, not as collaborative partners. Why Does Conservation Demand Inclusion? Ensuring traditional communities participate in planning and stewarding protected lands is not only a matter of justice, but fundamental to effective conservation. Sustainable outcomes depend on their involvement. This study underscores the urgent need for public policies that are both inclusive and tailored to local conditions, embedding traditional knowledge as an indispensable part of conservation solutions, not as an obstacle. Worldwide, co-management experiments show that community involvement fosters compliance with conservation rules, improves governance, and delivers stronger socio-environmental benefits. Shifting The Focus To Amazonian Science While most studies reviewed focus on countries in the Global South—like Brazil and India—research production is dominated by institutions in the Global North. This reflects persistent 'parachute science': fieldwork by foreign scientists in rich biodiversity zones, often excluding local scientists and communities from the research process. Such projects often leave little local benefit, treating Amazonian residents as data collectors or study subjects. To address this, efforts must shift toward empowering Amazonian scientific institutions and researchers, strengthening their role in shaping conservation and research agendas, and realizing epistemic justice. Investments are especially needed in institutions serving remote, often overlooked regions of the Amazon. With robust support, these institutions can fill crucial gaps—producing research attuned to local realities, expanding our understanding of Amazonian ecosystems, and inspiring new generations of scientists. Researchers living and working in the Amazon possess deep, context-sensitive knowledge of the territory, enabling them to pose more relevant questions and craft solutions suited to regional challenges and opportunities. Their scholarship, in ongoing dialogue with both environment and community, enriches global science and yields practical advances that matter for daily life in the forest. Proximity to Indigenous, riverside, and urban populations also enables more authentic community participation in research. When research projects originate from local priorities and perspectives, they strengthen communities, help protect biodiversity, and affirm the possibility of uniting science, social justice, and climate action. (Authors: Everton Silva, Doutorando no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA); Fernando Abreu Oliveira, Mestre em Biociências e técnico de laboratório em Química, Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA); Fernando Geraldo de Carvalho, Doutor em Ecologia, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA); James Ferreira Moura Junior, Psicólogo comunitário e Professor, Universidade da Integração Internacional da Lusofonia Afro-Brasileira (Unilab); José Max B. Oliveira-Junior, Professor Adjunto IV no Instituto de Ciências e Tecnologia das Águas (ICTA), Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA); Karina Dias-Silva, Professora Adjunta III de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA); Leandro Juen, Professor Associado III de Ciências Biológicas, Universidade Federal do Pará (UFPA), and Mayerly Alexandra Guerrero Moreno, Doutoranda em Sociedade, Natureza e Desenvolvimento, Universidade Federal do Oeste do Pará (UFOPA)) (Disclosure statement: Leandro Juen has a productivity grant from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), research projects funded by CNPq, the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), the Amazon Foundation for Studies and Research (FAPESPA) and the BRC Biodiversity Consortium. Everton Silva, Fernando Abreu Oliveira, Fernando Geraldo de Carvalho, James Ferreira Moura Junior, José Max B. Oliveira-Junior, Karina Dias-Silva, and Mayerly Alexandra Guerrero Moreno do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.)
Scroll.in
6 days ago
- Health
- Scroll.in
Livestock is out grazing the majestic wild goat in the Kashmir Himalayas
In the mountainous terrain of the Kashmir Himalayas, a rare and majestic wild goat – the Kashmir markhor – is competing for space. A new study has revealed that increasing livestock populations in the alpine and sub-alpine areas are restricting the feeding and movement of this animal in its natural habitat. The markhor (Capra falconeri) is the world's largest wild goat and is known for its spiral horns. Listed as 'near threatened' in the IUCN Red List, the markhor is found across the mountain ranges of India as well as Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Pakistan. Of the three sub-species, the Capra falconeri cashmeriensis is found in India, mainly in Kashmir, and is protected under Schedule I of the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972. There are two viable populations of markhor in Kashmir – a smaller group in the Pir Panjal range (Hirpora and Tatakutti Wildlife Sanctuaries in Shopian and Poonch district), and a larger one in the Kazinag range (Kazinag National Park in Baramulla district). The recent study, published in the Journal for Nature Conservation, looked at the impacts of livestock (mainly sheep and goats) on the movement and habitat use of markhor across different altitudes. The study was conducted in the Kazinag region, in the Lacchipora and Limber wildlife sanctuaries. As Lacchipora receives fewer livestock, due to restrictions at a check post as it is nearer to the Line of Control, this helped the researchers to better understand and compare how livestock impact the markhor. Seasonal habits and habitats Female markhor and their young typically migrate to the higher alpine and sub-alpine habitats during the summer. These habitats are crucial as they provide ample and nutritious food for the animals to build the strength necessary to survive harsh winters. Common food plants for the markhor at these elevations are shrubs and trees such as redberry honeysuckle, Himalayan wayfaring tree, and Himalayan birch. Females markhor give birth during May and June each year, notes Gopal Singh Rawat, a senior scientist at the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun, and co-author of the study. This period also coincides with the arrival of migratory livestock; herders move into the area in May, when rising temperatures and melting snow at lower and middle elevations lead to fresh vegetation growth. According to the study, the livestock population exceeds that of the markhor by over 30 times each season. The study found that the markhor primarily used areas with low to medium livestock pressure and avoided areas with high livestock pressure in both the valleys. In Lacchipora valley, where livestock numbers were less, they observed that markhor migrated to higher elevations to access the 'fresh and better quality forage' in the few areas that were free from livestock. But in Limber, where there was more livestock presence, both male and female markhor remained at lower elevations, thus possibly missing out on the benefits of nutritious forage. The paper thus noted that high livestock pressure negatively impacted the markhor. This was also evidenced by a lower population density and extremely low ratio of yearlings to adult females in the Limber valley. The study concluded that keeping the habitats of markhor relatively free from grazing could help maintain the population of this threatened caprid within India. 'This research raises serious concerns for markhor conservation in the region. The severe competition with livestock for space and resources in summer, combined with the disturbance by herders and herding dogs, will affect their migration patterns as well. This may force the markhor to sub-optimal habitats, thereby exposing them to several risks,' says Tawqir Bashir, an assistant professor at the Division of Wildlife Sciences, Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Kashmir, who was not associated with the study. He adds that the study provides a sustainable and ecologically sound solution to address this issue by recommending regulation of livestock, restricting heavy livestock at markhor fawning sites and few peak summer markhor habitats, and using alternate summer grazing sites as a long-term management approach. Rising threat After the 'Markhor Recovery Project' was launched in Jammu and Kashmir in 2004, researchers from the Wildlife Trust of India have been monitoring the region's markhor population trends. While the population in the Kazinag range has shown a slow but steady increase – from 155 individuals in 2004 to 221 in 2023 – the smaller Pir Panjal population has declined sharply, with numbers dropping from around 55 individuals in 2004 to only a handful of sightings in recent years, according to the Wildlife Trust of India . 'Interestingly, during our field surveys, markhor groups were sighted in areas adjacent to the Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary after a gap of 60 years. This led to the notification of the Tatakutti Wildlife Sanctuary in the Pir Panjal range, providing an alternative refuge for the dwindling Pir Panjal population,' says Tanushree Srivastava, Head of Jammu and Kashmir Projects at Wildlife Trust of India. She notes that livestock herding is a threat not only to the markhor but also other hoofed animals in the Himalayas, as it increases competition for limited food. 'Although livestock herding has been practiced for centuries, the pressure has increased in recent years due to rising human and livestock populations. This exposes the markhor to competition for food and space, the transmission of diseases, and an increased risk of predation – particularly of young ones – by guard dogs accompanying herders,' she points out. Beyond grazing pressure, there are additional threats such as infrastructure development. The construction of roads, such as the Mughal road through Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary, as well as mining activities, installation of power lines, and border fencing, have severely restricted markhor movement. 'The increased livestock grazing by migratory herders after the road's construction has further impeded markhor population recovery,' she says. 'Poaching, especially targeting large-bodied males for their horns, remains a serious concern, particularly during seasonal migrations when markhor venture closer to human settlements.' While the specific impact of climate change on markhor has not yet been studied, she notes that it could affects mountain ungulates (hoofed animals) through its influence on plant growth patterns. 'Rising temperatures could push vegetation to higher elevations, which would, in turn, shift grazing zones upward, impacting markhor and other high-elevation species,' she says. Long game To address livestock pressure in the Pir Panjal range, WTI has been monitoring herders and assisting Kashmir's Department of Wildlife Protection, in establishing anti-grazing camps at key locations in and around Hirpora Wildlife Sanctuary. At these camps, WTI and DoWP teams check herders' legal documents and discourage non-bonafide herders from entering the sanctuary. 'We have also identified critical markhor habitats within the protected areas, where we are actively working to reduce livestock pressure through these measures,' Srivastava says. 'Additionally, we have connected herders and local communities in fringe villages to government welfare schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, aiming to reduce their dependency on resources from markhor habitats.' She adds that it is important to involve local communities in conservation efforts, such as engaging them in patrolling and in activities that help prevent illegal grazing and poaching. Wildlife Warden North Kashmir, Intesar Suhail told Mongabay India that livestock grazing – or rather, overgrazing – in highland pastures has been recognised as a major limiting factor affecting wild herbivore populations across the Himalayan landscape, and the markhor is no exception. 'We have successfully identified several critical markhor habitats within Kazinag National Park and the Limber and Lachipora Wildlife Sanctuaries, and efforts are underway to make these areas grazing-free,' says Suhail. The critical markhor habitats identified have been systematically mapped and subjected to intensive management interventions, with a strong focus on minimising human disturbances. 'Particularly strict protective measures are enforced during the rutting season (November-December) and the birthing season (May) to ensure minimal disruption to the species during these sensitive periods,' Suhail says.
