Evaluating the performance of a decade of Save The Tiger Fund's investments to save the world's last wild tigers

Abstract

This is the first attempt to analyse the performance of US$ 12.6 million invested by Save The Tiger Fund (STF) in more than 250 tiger conservation grants in 13 tiger-range countries. We devised a simple implementation evaluation method to assess performance on an ordinal scale using archival documents from project grant files. Performance was scored based on whether the grantee managed to achieve what they set out to do as articulated in their project proposal. On average, STF grantee project outputs exceeded their original objectives, but many confounding variables made it difficult to determine the ecological outcomes of grantees' conservation actions. Successful projects were usually collaborative in nature with high community visibility and support, their results were disseminated effectively, and they informed policy, measured outputs, were grounded by strong sound science, supported by government agencies, attracted new donors and delivered results even when political factors created difficult working environments. The poorly performing projects were associated with one or more of the following factors: poor tracking of results, deviation from the proposal, poorly defined goals, lack of capacity, poor evaluation practices, lack of political support, weak transparency, work at inappropriate scales or purchase of high-tech equipment that was never used.

Effect of Local Cultural Context on the Success of Community‐Based Conservation Interventions

“…For example, local involvement can allow incorporation of local knowledge and entails greater interest in and ownership over the resource in question, and so greater concern for its conservation. Some reviews of conservation interventions support this argument (e.g., Gratwicke et al 2007), whereas others reached no clear conclusion (e.g., Brooks et al 2006). Therefore, our third hypothesis is that greater community participation will increase the likelihood of intervention success.…”

Volume and Geographical Distribution of Ecological Research in the Andes and the Amazon, 1995–2008

“…But they also risk exchanging one kind of provincialism for another, by shifting the focus from a handful of well-studied sites in Mexico, Costa Rica, and Panama to a handful of well-studied sites in South America. Ensuring that these investments are well-directed will require both close monitoring of results and a careful reading of the current situation on the ground [19][20].…”

Evaluating a Survey Landscape for Tiger Abundance in the Confluence of the Western and Eastern Ghats

“…Sizeable funding has also been invested on research and monitoring activities 4,5 . In recent years the Indian federal government has taken initiatives to estimate tiger numbers on a nation-wide scale [6][7][8] , which in itself is a laudable effort.…”

“…Similarly, it also highlights the commitment of the government to view suitably designed and implemented research as a priority activity which is otherwise seen as nonpriority by protected area staff 4 . The recent incidences of human-tiger conflict in the tiger reserve (one human injury and two human deaths were reported during 2014-15) are also perhaps an indicator of the area reaching ecological carrying capacities.…”

“…Environmentalists elsewhere have pointed out the boom and bust cycle, disease problem, and socioeconomic impacts of shrimp farming 2,3 . The impacts of shrimp farming reported are economic benefits, utilization of marginal lands and water for economic benefits, the conversion of important coastal ecosystems like lakes, salt pans, mangroves and agricultural lands to aquaculture farms [4][5][6] , salinization of drinking water resources adjacent to shrimp farms 7 , nutrient loading of coastal water bodies and estuaries 8,9 , multi-user conflicts and escape of aquaculture stocks, viz. biological pollution of wild population.…”