Bottom-Up Approach towards a Human Wellbeing Assessment for the Design of a Management Plan: A Study Case with Contributions to Improve Sustainable Management of Resources in a Northern Area of Mozambique

Abstract

The loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services disturbance will result in serious ecological and socioeconomic consequences. How can people be prepared to be more efficient in preserving ecosystems, its services and resources? The Messalo Wilderness Area (MWA) is an area lacking a bottom-up approach for the design of a management plan. This research intended to develop a strategy to gather people's views to begin a human wellbeing assessment for the area, for which a Digital Questionnaire (DQ) was developed and tested. The specific objectives were to 1) verify the dispersion/distribution of people and elephants; 2) study the natural resources used by the inhabitants; 3) locate the areas from where the most important natural resources are extracted and where conflict between humans and animals occur; 4) propose a Management Plan (MP) capable of mitigating the human-animals conflict, promoting the conservation of elephants and, consequently, of other types of biodiversity, thus working towards a better socio-economical development of the area. The elements gathered in the consulted references were used to design several

Global Science Teaching for Human Well-Being

“…Elephants are poached because of their ivory (Goldenberg et al, 2016), and though it is prohibited to hunt them, many poachers still take the risk, because of the profit generated in the market (Goldenberg et al, 2016). Many elephants are also killed because they are feared and destroy goods (Taruvinga & Mushunje, 2014;Anastácio et al, 2014). But in all cultures they are seen as symbols of nature, used as flagship species (Lee & Graham, 2006).…”

Software for improved field surveys of nesting marine turtles

“…Ecologists have multiple strategies to implement conservation; some of them are exciting, new and technological. Monitoring ecosystems has become the centre of attention due to pressures that affect their equilibrium, such as climate change, disturbances in the mass-energy flow from producers to top consumers 2 , and competition for resources between wild species and humans 3 . Monitoring is also labour intensive due to the number of variables that must be measured and the speed at which analytical delivery must act 4 , 5 .…”