Multiple services provided by protected-areas in times of crises and implication for socio-ecological systems resilience Insights from Hwange SES in Zimbabwe by Chloé Guerbois, Carli Bunding-Venter & Hervé Fritz
Protected areas in socio-ecological systems Challenges to protected areas: Political transformations, competing land-uses Global changes (climatic, environmental and demographic) Neoliberal conservation «Nature should pay for itself» Local support (poaching, empowerment, conservation conflicts, food security, management decisions) Uncertainties! All humanly used resources are embedded in complex socio-ecological systems (SESs) (Ostrom 2009). Protected areas can not be managed in isolation
Governance of sustainable SESs SESs present inherent properties such as non-linearity, emergence, self-organisation, path dependence and feed back loops. Governance is a process of building feedback loops into SESs Exogenous drivers affecting human and social infrastructures 1 Resource Users 2 Resources 5 6 Public Infr. Providers 4 Public 3 Infrastructures Exogenous drivers affecting natural and human-made infrastructures The robustness framework Anderies el al. (2004, 2014)
Governance of sustainable SESs Protected areas can be considered as one of the public infrastructures that condition the dynamics of the SESs Exogenous drivers affecting human and social infrastructures care Resource Users inform Resources regulate legitimate Public Infr. Providers conserve PROTECTED AREAS manage Exogenous drivers affecting natural and human-made infrastructures The robustness framework Adapted from Anderies el al. (2004)
Case Study: The Hwange SES KAZA TFCA Zimbabwe, Matabeleland North Hwange District (Mining)
Case Study: The Hwange SES Historical context 1930-1970: Designation of protected areas - resettlements 1965-1986: Pumping and culling - changing wildlife abundance and movements 1967-1987: Civil wars - human population movements 1990 s: Rise of wildlife industry Buffer Area Hwange National Park Hwange Communal Area Sikumi Forest Gwayi farms
The Hwange SES at the end of the 1990 s Operators, Tourists (photographic and hunting), Farming communities Functional landscapes Attractive wildlife and landscapes Resources Resource Users Public Infrastructures Public Infr. Providers ZIM Parks RDC CAMPFIRE Extension services Traditional Leaders Local NGO s Hard and soft infrastructures that suport well-being and conservation
The Hwange SES at the end of the 1990 s Provisioning, regulating and cultural services Rangeland management Regulations PAC APU Extension Services Transport Employment Information Support Support Conservation Building Stock and Capacity
The 2000 s Times of crises Political: Land reform (2000) Economic : Hyperinflation (2004) In a context of aridification and increasing drought severity
Effects of the crises on Hwange SES Drop of eco-tourism, fall of the local economy Degradation of public services (Parks, CAMPFIRE, police, ) Degradation of local hard infrastructures (veterinary fence, roads, ) Increasing impact of wildlife on farming systems Decreasing farming yields Hunger
Effects of the crises on Hwange SES Farming communities, operators, tourists Economic crisis Functional ecosystems Attractive wildlife and landscapes Resources Increasing drought severity Resource Users Public Infrastructures Public Infr. Providers ZIM Parks RDC CAMPFIRE Extension services Traditional Leaders Local NGO s Hard and soft infrastructures related to well-being and conservation
What was the contribution of the protected areas to the resilience of Hwange SES? Economic crisis Resources Resource Users??? Public Infr. Providers Increasing drought severity PROTECTED AREAS?
Methods HERD programme - Hwange LTSER Participatory observations and informal discussions, archives gathering (2009-2011) Extensive survey ( 217 semi-directed interviews in 2011) at the edge of the park Livelihood Resource uses Access and perceived trends Multivariate analyses, GLMs, SNA
Buffering livelihood crisis in neighbouring communities n Land-use contribution (%) * Provisioning services citations CA PA Nutrition 350 0.65 0.33 Wild animal 107 0.08 0.92 Invertebrates 7 0.14 0.86 Birds 11 0.36 0.64 Mammals 89 0.04 0.96 Wild plant 133 0.86 0.12 Mushrooms 2 0.50 0.50 Fruits - Leaves 131 0.87 0.11 Ground Water 110 1.00 0.00 Material 368 0.63 0.21 Fibers and other 347 0.53 0.30 Timber 170 0.51 0.27 Fibers 3 0.67 0.33 Grass 139 0.42 0.40 Medicine 39 0.95 0.05 Surface Water 18 0.72 0.11 Energy 128 0.66 0.23 Plant based 128 0.66 0.23 Guerbois and Fritz. submitted
SES Response 1 Population increased by 61% between 2000 and 2010 against 16% for the previous decade (Guerbois et al. 2013) Increasing dependance on the protected areas especially for wild meat, fodder, fibers, wood and timber Immigration (push) Provisioning services Resource Users Resources Public Infr. Providers PROTECTED AREAS
Emerging local governance system (2007-2011) Hwange-Gwayi Tourism and Conservation Association Guerbois et al. in prep
Emerging local governance system (2007-2011) Law Enforcement Cooperative governance Maintenance of public infrastructure Sharing wildlife benefits Rangeland Management Wildlife Management Natural Resource Access Tourism and marketing Guerbois et al. in prep 0 5 10 15 20 25 Number of meetings where issues were raised
SES response 2 Emerging local collaborative governance that restored some feedback loops Hwange-Gwayi Tourism and Conservation Association Resource Users Resources Public Infr. Providers Protected areas
Strength of the leverage points Discussion Processes of transformation to sustainability INTENT The underpinning values, goals and world views of actors that shape the emergent direction to which a system is oriented DESIGN Social structures and institutions that manage feedbacks and parameters FEEDBACKS Interactions between elements within a system of interest that drive internal dynamics PARAMETERS The relatively mechanistic characteristics typically targeted by policy makers Common levels of interventions Leverage points for sustainability transformation (adapted from Abson et al. 2016)
Discussion The PAs acted as a CATALYST for sustainability transformations INTENT Conserve DESIGN Neighbourhood
Perpectives Planning for improved SES governance: Design principles 1A 1B 2A 2B Principles User boundaries Resource boundaries Congruence with local conditions Appropriation and vision 3 Collective choice arrangement 4A 4B Monitoring users Monitoring resources 5 Graduated sanctions 6 Conflict resolution mechanism 7 Recognition of rights to organise 8 Nested enterprises Design principles for CBNRM (inspired from Common Pool Resources Governance, Ostrom 2009) (Cox et al. 2010)
Perspectives Monitoring for managing feedbacks and external threats for sustainability Provisioning services Nutrition Resource stress (% decreasing) as perceived by local community Land-Use Stress Index * CA PA BA 0.08 0.10 0.00 Material 0.43 0.26 0.39 Energy 0.68 0.45 0.43 (Guerbois and Fritz submitted) Overutilisation of plant-based resources in the communal area (grazing, wood) and probably at the edge of the PAs
Perspectives Monitoring for managing feedbacks and external threats for sustainability Buffer effect of the protected areas on a distance gradient Honey pot effect of the protected areas increases stress at the edge
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