Sustainable wetland management through bridging the communication gap between conservation projects and local communities

Zebardast, Lobat; Akbarpour, Saeed; Jafari, Hamid; Karimi, Masoud Bagherzadeh

doi:10.1007/s10668-020-01082-5

Cited by 4 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 53 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This can result in a vicious cycle of human-ecosystem conflicts [32,33]. To be effective and sustainable, wetland conservation should not only empower local communities to esteem wetlands but also involve them in the management programs, projects, and actions [34,35]. Community involvement helps integrate government policies and decisions with socio-cultural, economic, and other needs of the communities [34] and is particularly important in anthropized landscapes [36].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferred Attributes for Sustainable Wetland Management in Mpologoma Catchment, Uganda: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Bunyangha

Muthumbi

Egeru

et al. 2022

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Sustainable wetland management is a focus of many countries worldwide. These mainly use protection as a key policy directive for conservation. However, avoidance directives tend to disenfranchise local populations. Thus, such management is often resisted and rarely effective. Tailoring management strategies to user preferences allows conservation to support community livelihoods for sustainable development. This study employed a discrete choice experiment to determine the wetland management attributes preferred by residents of Mpologoma catchment as a prelude to developing a co-management system. Listed in descending order, attribute preferences were paddy farmers’ schemes, fish farming, education and research, protected wetland area, and recreation and tourism. Respondents’ characteristics influenced their choices. Older adults were more likely to support fish farming. In contrast, existing paddy farmers tended to resist such focuses and an increase in protected wetland area. Additionally, respondents with higher education were opposed to paddy farmers’ schemes, and the preference for education and research was positively influenced by respondents’ income. Respondents were willing to pay between $0.64 and $1.76 per household for each unit improvement in the preferred attribute. Our results underscore the role of DCEs in unlocking individuals’ attribute preferences, whose integration into co-management systems can be important for sustainable wetland conservation.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preferred Attributes for Sustainable Wetland Management in Mpologoma Catchment, Uganda: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Bunyangha

Muthumbi

Egeru

et al. 2022

Land

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Khamti region in the present study reported a decline in fish catch, loss of diversity, and fragmentation of wetlands owing to high dependence on wetland ecosystems for subsistence and the use of unsustainable extraction methods. Similar threats to wetland ecosystems and biodiversity have been documented in Myanmar by various studies [1,2,4,27,51,52]. The significance of community support in mitigating these risks cannot be overstated, particularly because most of the population that inhabit rural regions are heavily dependent on natural resources for sustenance [53].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 78%

“…The Chindwin River is the primary tributary of the Ayeyarwady and the third-largest river in Myanmar, playing a crucial role in providing sustenance to the people [35,36]. CRB has a total area of 114,112 km 2 , with approximately 15% of the basin situated within the Indian borders. The basin covers 46 townships and 13 districts, spanning 4 distinct regions in Myanmar, namely, Sagaing, Kachin, Chin, and Magway.…”

Section: Study Area Descriptionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wetland ecosystems and civilizations have maintained dynamic relationships for millennia. Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems that provide a vast array of ecosystem functions and services to humans [1][2][3][4]. Reclamation of wetlands, changing climate, fires, and surface and groundwater extraction have made wetlands among the most threatened ecosystems in the world [5].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Assessment of Community Dependence and Perceptions of Wetlands in the Upper Chindwin Basin, Myanmar

Saluja,

Prasad,

Lwin

et al. 2023

Resources

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding the relationship between communities and wetland ecosystems is imperative to facilitate the development of wetland management and conservation strategies that can effectively safeguard wetland health and sustain the flow of ecosystem services. To understand the knowledge, attitude, and perception of communities on wetland ecosystem services, a survey was conducted involving 133 households from 4 villages dependent on 5 wetlands within the Upper Chindwin Basin (UCB), northwestern Myanmar. Most of the respondents extracted wetland resources for subsistence and income. A total of 84% of the households depended on wetland fish for their primary protein consumption, while 70% (n = 94) collected fuelwood from wetlands for subsistence. The survey participants unanimously recognized the benefits of wetland ecosystem services (i.e., provisioning benefits), particularly for fish, food, fiber, fuel, natural medicines, ornamental resources, and minerals. A total of 97% of the participants lacked knowledge of any existing law or regulation that ensures wetland protection in Myanmar. Furthermore, 87% of the respondents concurred that the government has not adequately endeavored to promote awareness of wetland conservation in this remote area due to lack of capacity and resources. This study establishes a baseline for the region and recommends designing and implementing a community-centric wetland action plan. This action plan provides a self-sustaining and cost-effective approach to conserve wetlands and is crucial in enhancing the capacity of dependent communities to participate and eventually lead wetland management of UCB.

show abstract

“…Berg et al (2017) for example noted traditional restoration targets and forest management systems in Tayal territory impeded cooperation between the indigenous and non-indigenous stakeholders because the history of the local people was discounted. Zebardast et al (2020) reported several resource management projects in Iranian wetlands failed because the projects lacked a collective decision-making process that included the indigenous community. The Tayal forest classification system bears no resemblance to any modern classification system used in plant taxonomy because it is based on Tayal culture, within which the understanding and use of the forests, results in a biophysical and cultural-historical classification system that is of little use to ecologists (Berg et al 2017).…”

Section: Knowledgementioning

confidence: 99%

Managing Water and Wetlands Based on the Tayal’s Interpretation of Utux and Gaga

2021

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Humans first appeared on the planet about 3.5 million years ago and like most biota, they settled near wetlands because of the availability of food and water. The ancestors of our species understood and knew that water, wetlands, and healthy landscapes were essential for life. In Taiwan, the indigenous people have a long history being a part of and managing the natural resources, including wetlands in their respective habitats. Water and wetlands still play a substantial and significant role in the manner that the Tayal, an indigenous group of people in Taiwan use, preserve, care, protect, respect, and share the habitats and natural resources within which they live. The evolution of Taiwan’s tribal cultures, and probably most cultures on the planet are closely entwined with the resources present in each tribe’s habitat, especially water and wetlands. DNA results indicate 2 lineages of people migrated to Taiwan between 11,000 and 26,000 years ago and gave rise to 9 ethnic groups (Tajima et al. 2003). Today 16 indigenous cultures/tribes are recognized with each occupying different regions of Taiwan’s diverse landscape. Each tribe has its own language and culture and occupies its own geographic region, which contributes to Taiwan’s rich cultural history and diversity. The Tayal tribe is one of the larger tribes with about 88,000 people and the Smangus people are a subset of the Tayal tribe with a culture that is at least 6,000 years old. Culturally, the Tayal people consider themselves to be an element of the environment and their culture is defined by their relationship and interactions with the environment, including all of the other biotic, abiotic elements present in their habitats. In this paper we provide an overview of Tayal culture and philosophy, which determines how the Tayal people manage and protect their natural resources, especially water and wetlands following the tenets of Utux and Gaga that comprise the entirety of their core cultural values. The cultural and language variations, nuances, environmental interpretations, and management techniques are specific to tribal groups and differences in geographic location and environmental settings.

show abstract

Sustainable wetland management through bridging the communication gap between conservation projects and local communities

Cited by 4 publications

References 53 publications

Preferred Attributes for Sustainable Wetland Management in Mpologoma Catchment, Uganda: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Preferred Attributes for Sustainable Wetland Management in Mpologoma Catchment, Uganda: A Discrete Choice Experiment

Assessment of Community Dependence and Perceptions of Wetlands in the Upper Chindwin Basin, Myanmar

Managing Water and Wetlands Based on the Tayal’s Interpretation of Utux and Gaga

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About