Brazil's National Plan for Climate Change (PNMC [Plano Nacional sobre Mudança do Clima]) brought the good news of quantified ‘objectives’ for deforestation reduction in Brazilian Amazonia, a departure from past policy, under which the Brazilian government has steadfastly refused any quantitative goals deforestation reduction in the context of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, the ‘objectives’ given in the PNMC carry no consequences if they are not met, other than possible suspension of contributions to the new Amazon Fund. The PNMC offers little information on how deforestation would be reduced, which is critical to achieving the results it proposes. Effective control of deforestation is needed both to avoid direct loss of the forest and to leverage the international commitment needed to contain global warming within a reasonable limit, such as 2°C. This is approximately the limit for avoiding replacement of substantial areas of Amazonian forest by either savannah or degraded secondary scrub. Brazil needs to move quickly to take the lead in the effort to halt global warming because it is one of the countries with the most to lose from climate change, including risk to the country's Amazon forest.

Pesticides are widely used throughout the world to control agricultural pests. Owing to their well identified side-effects on wildlife, the release of high quantities of pesticides to the environment should always require responsible use of both science-based information and the precautionary principle, however decision making in wildlife management and conservation is not systematically supported by scientific evidence. This is particularly worrying when decision making involves release of toxic substances to the environment, as often occurs in rodent plague control. Poorly-informed management decisions to control a rodent plague can adversely affect wildlife, especially when chemical-based treatments are generically designed and applied on a broad scale, with high economic cost. Evidence-based and environmentally sustainable management should be used to control rodent plagues in Spain.

Reserve selection algorithms (RSAs) are a powerful tool for marine conservation, but need biological realistic constraints. A common constraint is that the RSA aims to include the same percentage area of each habitat in the reserve network. The example of Caribbean reefs is used to argue that there is significant additional scope to set specific areal targets for each habitat type, as in many terrestrial case studies. Ten Caribbean habitats are weighted by data on their biodiversity, functional value to ecosystem processes and ecosystem services. These weightings vary depending on the criteria used, and are particularly distinct for ecosystem services. Furthermore, a percentage goal for a habitat can be achieved in multiple ways by including different combinations of habitat patches from across a seascape. RSAs may treat these combinations equally, but some habitat patches are more ‘valuable’ than others because, for example, high abundances of grazers make the benthic community resilient. Incorporating some of these considerations into RSAs is relatively easy, while others are more difficult. However, establishing how to integrate patterns of biodiversity, and ecological processes, functions, goods and services across seascapes into RSAs offers opportunities to improve the design of networks of reserves.

New initiatives are being proposed to create knowledge-transfer mechanisms between biodiversity science and so-called ‘decision makers’ that are apparently ignoring some of the significant differences to which biodiversity governance is subject at different scales. Shifting scales seriously change the rules of knowledge transfer; some implications of this are explored. Appropriate scope and focus are vital for international initiatives. There is no substitute for the full development of local capacities, and the multinational lending agencies interested in the conservation of biodiversity, the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals, and others should support such national efforts and establish regional training facilities to help generate the human and basic institutional capacities needed.

Land use/land cover change (LULC) is a major threat to natural protected areas worldwide. This paper explores the relationships between four estimated LULC parameters for 17 Mexican biosphere reserves (BRs) for 1993–2002 on a GIS platform, and ten socioeconomic factors obtained from census data. These relationships were tested through linear correlations and multivariate analysis. BRs showed lower human demographic pressure, but higher population dispersion, social marginality, percentage of rain-fed agriculture area, and dependence upon agriculture and cattle compared to nationwide values. BRs also varied in their indigenous population, and showed cattle overpopulation, and low immigration and road density. Socioeconomic factors explained 87% of LULC variation. High population and road density, cattle overpopulation and low percentage indigenous population were related to percentage of transformed area (2002). Conversely, small population and road density, large proportion of indigenous population and high dependency on agriculture and cattle, were related to the rate of change in transformed area (1993–2002). High human population growth and urban concentration occurred when BRs suffered higher LULC than their corresponding ecoregions. Including socioeconomic conditions prevailing in BRs and their influence on LULC in reserve management and rural development planning will improve strategies for the confluence of conservation and development goals.

No-take marine reserves are widely recognized as an effective conservation tool for protecting marine resources. Despite considerable empirical evidence that abundance and biomass of fished species increase within marine reserve boundaries, the potential for reserves to provide fisheries and conservation benefits to adjacent waters remains heavily debated. This paper uses statistical and population models to evaluate published empirical data on adult spillover from marine reserves and shows that spillover is a common phenomenon for species that respond positively to reserve protection, but at relatively small scales, detectable on average up to 800 m from reserve boundaries. At these small scales, local fisheries around reserves were likely unsustainable in 12 of 14 cases without the reserve, and spillover partially or fully offsets losses in catch due to reserve closure in the other two cases. For reserves to play a role in sustaining and replenishing larger-scale fished stocks, networks of reserves may be necessary, but as few exist this is difficult to evaluate. The results suggest reserves can simultaneously meet conservation objectives and benefit local fisheries adjacent to their boundaries.

The scourge of HIV/AIDS (human immunodeficiency virus/acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is most prevalent in southern Africa. South Africa has the highest number of people in the world living with HIV/AIDS and a prevalence rate of over 30 % for females presenting at antenatal clinics. There are now almost five million orphans within southern Africa, as a result of AIDS deaths of one or more or their parents. AIDS-related mortality and morbidity of care-givers may lead to increased reliance on wild sources of animal protein by surviving children. This increase in hunting pressure has unknown, but potentially important impacts on local animal populations.

The Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI) in south-east Asia offers a new opportunity to address marine conservation in this global biodiversity hotspot. This commentary offers an analysis of the concept of networked marine protected areas (MPAs) which form the cornerstone of this agenda. Attention is drawn to the value of the scientific rationale for implementing such a network, along with the ability for component MPAs to be self-financing and managed in accordance with local environmental conditions and the needs of resident communities. It is concluded that the current model of MPA networks as represented in the CTI needs to build upon existing MPA practices, recognize the varied socioeconomic, political and environmental characteristics of the region and adopt an adaptive approach to MPA implementation if it is to offer genuine prospects for conservation.

When compared to tropical forest zones in west and central Africa, off-take of wild meat from savannah and grassland biomes by local rural communities has not been well assessed. This case study of wild meat collection activities within a rural community in the Mount Frere region of the Eastern Cape (South Africa) uses last-catch records derived from 50 wild meat gatherers to calculate average off-take of taxa, species and fresh mass of wild meat per collection event. When per-event off take is overlaid onto household hunting frequency data, annual off-take would be 268.6 kg km−2 yr−1 or 3 kg person−1 yr−1 presuming constant off-take over an annual period. Monetary value of off-take would be South African R 307 (US$ 39) per household annually. For some species, off-take weight per km2 shows similar values to data from tropical forest zones, but high human population densities tend to dilute off-takes to less nutritionally significant amounts at the per person scale. However, unlike many tropical zones, none of the species harvested can be considered high-priority conservation species. Even densely populated and heavily harvested communal lands appear to offer high wild meat off-takes from low conservation priority species.

As global fishing effort increasingly expands into deeper water, concerns exist over the ability of deep-sea fishes to sustain fisheries. There is however little quantitative evidence to support these concerns for the deep-sea cartilaginous fishes (Chondrichthyes: sharks, rays and chimaeras). This paper compiled available life history data for this group to analyse their ability to rebound from population declines relative to continental shelf and pelagic species. Deep-sea cartilaginous fishes have rates of population increase that are on average less than half those of shelf and pelagic species, and include the lowest levels observed to date. Population doubling times indicate that once a stock has been depleted, it will take decades, and potentially centuries, before it will recover. Furthermore, population recovery rates decrease with increasing depth, suggesting species that occur deepest are those most vulnerable to fishing. These results provide the first assessment of the productivity of deep-sea chondrichthyans, highlighting that precautionary management of developing deep-sea fisheries is essential if stocks and biodiversity are to be maintained.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) relies on the Elephant Trade Information System (ETIS) and Monitoring the Illegal Killing of Elephants Programme (MIKE) monitoring systems and trends in elephant numbers and the illegal killing of elephants to put resolutions forward to the Conference of Parties. Imprecision in elephant estimates and trends, as well as the spatial reality of elephant dynamics constrain CITES resolutions. Clusters of populations should instead serve as management units and demographic profiling predicting future population trends may complement existing approaches to inform CITES decisions.

Conserving natural vegetation cover is of critical importance for maintaining the ecological integrity and hydrological properties of large river basins (more than 100 000 km2). Recent estimates indicate that more than 700 000 km2 of Brazilian Amazon have already been deforested, and to reduce further losses and preserve the important natural and cultural resources in this region, large conservation areas have been created by the Brazilian government. The present study analysed land cover and land use change in the major watersheds of the Brazilian Amazon, in order to evaluate the current balance between deforestation and conservation of natural areas in the region. The results show that watersheds draining the southern part of the basin have suffered the highest deforestation rates, with the largest losses (8.3–20% of total basin area) occurring in the Madeira, Tapajós, Xingu, Araguaia and Tocantins river basins. Most large watersheds already have significant deforestation in their headwaters, which can affect hydrological functions and ecological sustainability. The greatest allocation of land for conservation was encountered in the Trombetas, Xingu and Negro watersheds, where conservation areas occupied 92.5, 56.9 and 50.6% of the total basin, respectively. While extensive areas of the Amazon biome have been deforested, on the scale of large watersheds there is a positive balance between conservation areas and deforestation, and on average the area delimited by conservation areas is more than three times larger than the deforested areas. An analysis by subwatersheds, however, indicates that certain regions have achieved more critical levels of deforestation, in some situations affecting more than 80% of the subwatersheds.

Scientific textbooks deserve substantial scrutiny because they generally appeal to a wider audience than technical papers; book reviews in journals are one mode of critiquing a book's scientific content. It is contended that the review by Lugo of the book Tropical Conservation Biology was based on a superficial reading, and omitted some basic principles and literature in conservation science.

Shark cage diving is both popular and controversial, with proponents citing educational value and non-extractive use of natural resources and opponents raising concerns about public safety and ecological impacts. Logbook data collected 2004–2008 from two Oahu (Hawaii) shark cage diving operations were analysed to determine whether such voluntary records provide useful insights into shark ecology or ecotourism impacts. Operators correctly identified common shark species and documented gross seasonal cycles and long-term trends in abundance of Galapagos (Carcharhinus galapagensis), sandbar (Carcharhinus plumbeus) and tiger sharks (Galeorcerdo cuvier). Annual cycles in shark abundance may indicate seasonal migrations, whereas long-term trends suggest gradual exclusion of smaller sandbar sharks from cage diving sites. Numerically dominant (> 98%) Galapagos and sandbar sharks are rarely implicated in attacks on humans. Negligible impact on public safety is supported by other factors such as: (1) remoteness of the sites, (2) conditioning stimuli that are specific to the tour operations and different from inshore recreational stimuli and (3) no increase in shark attacks on the north coast of Oahu since cage diving started. Tracking studies are required to validate logbook data and to determine whether sharks associated with offshore cage diving travel into inshore areas used for in-water recreation.

Among the most endangered tropical ecosystems, tropical dry forests are threatened by degradation that includes edge effects arising from perturbations such as the creation and maintenance of roads and other clearings. While much is known about these adverse effects on tree communities in tropical moist forests, similar effects in tropical dry forests are little understood. This paper examines the relationship between roads, road-related exotic plant invasion and tree community change in a tropical dry forest in southern India. Forty pairs of roadside and interior plots across four factorial combinations of road width (wide and narrow) and understorey type (native and exotic) were sampled. Tree death and extant tree community composition were compared using generalized linear models and similarity analyses. Tree death near roads was more than double that away from them, suggesting that roads may increase tree death in these forests. The interactive effect of understorey type (exotic or native) and road width on tree death was significant, with highest tree death near wide roads bordered by exotic understorey. Conversely, tree community composition was influenced by road width and understorey type, but not by proximity to roads. Creation and maintenance of roads for forest management may have serious implications for tree communities in tropical dry forests and should thus be minimized. Exotic plants may also be important contributors to increasing tree death, and further research on their impacts, particularly into underlying mechanisms, is critical to the long-term conservation of tropical dry forest communities.

The simplistic portrayal of road development as a classic environment versus development debate may be because the indirect pathways connecting road building with environmental change are poorly understood. Recent road development in previously remote regions of Nicaragua provides an opportunity to investigate these pathways. This paper examines the effects of increased market access on household resource use on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. Specifically, it looks at shifting market flow and price changes for natural resources and corresponding fishing and farming decisions in communities with varying degrees of market access before and after road completion. Fisheries markets were more responsive to market access increases than agricultural markets. With increased access, fishers increasingly sold to non-local buyers, overall export of fisheries' products increased and markets for new products emerged. Prices of fisheries goods were higher with proximity to markets and availability of non-local export outlets, and prices for some were more stable after the road was completed. There were no observed changes in household fishing and farming investments during the year-long study, and therefore the environmental implications of increased market access remain uncertain. Longer-term studies and additional biological monitoring are needed to determine the full environmental consequences of market access.

Illegal fishing has detrimental environmental and social impacts, but these effects are difficult to mitigate without reliable estimates of fisher non-compliance. Methods used by fisheries managers to estimate illegal fishing often require indirect estimation of poaching using biological, economic or sociological indicators. This study presents a unique application of the randomized response technique (RRT) for direct estimation of non-compliance in fisheries to the Northern California recreational red abalone (Haliotis rufescens) fishery. An anonymous paper-based compliance and sociodemographic survey of recreational fishers in Sonoma and Mendocino Counties estimated 29% non-compliance with the daily take limit, 23% with the minimum size limit, 19% with licensing laws and 15% with the annual take limit. RRT results also indicated how different sociodemographic characteristics related to non-compliance. Visitors had higher non-compliance rates than local fishers for all regulations except daily take limits, which an estimated 72% of locals violated versus 18% of visitors. High fisher awareness of regulations, fisher age, income and fishing experience did not appear to influence illegal take. RRT is a powerful tool which can aid conservation managers in prioritizing action.

Researchers, governments and conservation organizations recognize that the long-term integrity of protected areas (PAs) in low-income nations depends upon the support of indigenous and rural communities that live within or around them. Thus, understanding the determinants of residents’ attitudes towards PAs might provide guidance in the design, implementation and evaluation of this strategic form of biodiversity conservation. This paper (1) compares urban and rural residents’ perceptions of the impact of a PA and (2) analyses the association between the perception of economic, social and environmental impacts, and overall attitude towards the PA. Information was collected among urban and rural residents living in the vicinity of the Dandeli Wildlife Sanctuary in the Western Ghats (Karnataka, India). Local residents’ attitudes towards the PA were mainly positive, especially among urban residents. Multivariate analysis showed a positive association between the perception of economic benefits and individual attitudes towards the PA. There was no statistically significant association between attitudes towards the PA and perception of social and environmental impacts. Future research should address whether positive attitudes translate into more sustainable behaviours.

Many marine ecosystems are depleted of living resources as a result of long-term overexploitation. Restoration plans should perhaps consider the entire ecosystem as opposed to single species, yet there is currently no suitable framework available for the design and comparison of whole-ecosystem restoration trajectories. This paper presents a novel addition to Ecopath with Ecosim's policy search routine, the ‘specific biomass’ objective function, which allows gaming scenarios to be run using selective fishing as a tool to rebuild depleted marine ecosystems or modify them into a preferred state. In this paper, restoration scenarios aimed to restore an ecosystem in Northern British Columbia to a state similar to the historic ecosystem of 1950 AD. Restoration plans that achieve restoration quickly tend to require a large sacrifice in fishery profits, while slower plans allow for continued harvest benefits. A convex relationship between profit and recovered biodiversity suggests that there may be an optimal rate of restoration. Cost-benefit analysis demonstrates that conservative restoration plans can offer a rate of return superior to bank interest when viewed as an investment in natural capital. Increasing the selectivity of fishing gear improves the economic outlook.

Oil and gas development generates socio-ecological consequences for coastal ecosystems. Within the Caribbean region, rural communities depend heavily on wetland resources, however attitudes and beliefs of these communities regarding the impacts of oil and gas drilling are ambiguous. This paper assesses factors influencing attitudes and behaviours among rural communities of the Nariva Swamp (Trinidad) toward oil development. Interviews and structured questionnaires indicated varying levels of beliefs, concerns and behaviours based on distance of the village from the swamp, gender and type of livelihood the respondent engaged in. Villagers who lived in closer proximity to the swamp demonstrated the greatest health and environmental concerns, pro-environmental beliefs and behaviours, probably due to their greater dependence on the resource for livelihoods. Females illustrated a higher affinity for altruistic and egoistic concerns, while males, engaged in outdoor employment and recreational opportunities, demonstrated greater biospheric concerns and environmental behaviours. Given their intimacy with the natural environment, farmers engaged in environmental behaviours to a greater extent than other groups within the villages. The varying levels of beliefs, concerns and behaviours among villagers toward drilling should be given full consideration by public officials, industrial managers and other decision makers when addressing resource management.