Broad-scale priority setting for conservation

Biodiversity is vital for all humans. Despite a multitude of international agreements, local and global activism, academic debate and vast sums dedicated to conservation, the future of earth’s natural capital remains uncertain. After all, none of the internationally agreed Aichi Biodiversity Targets, to be achieved by 2020, has actually been achieved. Financial resources are highly limited and human pressure on land is every accelerating. Thus, ensuring the efficient allocation of resources for area selection, and thus maximum conservation impact, remains essential. Read More

Ecoregion TopSpots: The Conservation Mona Lisas

Ecoregions are geographic regions of the world that indicate the distribution of ecosystems and plant and animal communities. Ecoregion TopSpots are the most important areas for conservation containing the most unique and the most vulnerable ecoregions of the world. We published two papers on the prioritisation of ecoregions. Our innovative high-level investigation has identified a new world map, that will allow conservation organisations to join forces and work together on protecting crucial natural areas of the world.

Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) species: Pushing for zero extinction conservation

Effective protection of the about 19 000 IUCN-listed threatened species has never been more pressing. Ensuring the survival of the most vulnerable and irreplaceable taxa and places, such as those identified by the Alliance for Zero Extinction (AZE) species and their associated sites (AZEs&s), is an excellent opportunity to achieve the Aichi 2020 Targets T11 (protected areas) and T12 (preventing species extinctions).

We argue that the Alliance, whose initial main aim was to identify AZEs&s, must be followed up by a second-generation initiative that directs and co-ordinates AZE conservation activities on the ground.

Conservation and ecology

Nature Heritage has been involved in several projects in general conservation and ecology.

Diseases and parasites

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020/21 and the Ebola outbreaks over the last years remind us poignantly about the impact of disease on human health and livelihoods. These diseases were triggered by spill-over events of pathogens from wildlife to humans. But the same issue arises when pathogens cross species boundaries between wildlife species. Especially, when cross-over into threatened species occur, it can become a serious conservation issue as these threatened species are typically small and immunological naive. For example, many species of frogs are thought to have become recently extinct because of the parasitic fungal disease, chytridiomycosis.

We have investigated the impact of some microparasites (which include viruses, bacteria, fungi, and most protozoa, such as malaria) and macroparasites (mostly parasitic worms and parasitic arthropods such as mites) on humans and wildlife.

Molecular genetic tools for conservation

Molecular genetic techniques have become essential for the study of biodiversity and nature conservation. These tools allow to make the invisible visible. They allow to reconstruct the history of species and populations. Going back in time, processes such as population expansion, decline, historic dispersal patterns and inter- and intra-specific gene flow can be reconstructed, thus allowing to identify evolutionary processes. For current populations, they can reveal the dispersal patterns of plants and animals, relations between species and populations, population size or parentage assignment to name but a few applications. Non-invasive methods by extracting and analysing DNA from hair, faeces or other other remains that can be found in the field, allows the analysis and monitoring of population status of elusive and rare species. Most endangered species are difficult to study with traditional ecological methods and molecular tools represent the most powerful approach to understand their populations and plan for their conservation.

Refining the molecular genetic tools

Molecular genetic techniques have evolved very fast over the last three decades. This is normally the quest of universities and research laboratories. But sometimes, genetic markers need to be identified for specific applied projects, such as in the case of red foxes. We also had to test the reliability of a particularly large data set. The problems of large genetic data sets are relatively new as the technological advances of genetic screening together with decreasing costs has only recently allowed to compile large data sets. We faced the problem whilst analysing the population structure and gene flow of domestic horses from across the world.

Applying molecular genetic toos

We have worked on a broad array of topics ranging from taxonomy to applied conservation management:

• Hispaniolan solenodon, a highly threatened Caribbean ‘relict’ mammal
• translocation of Bojer’s skink in Mauritius
• history of indigenous horse breeds in Croatia
• conservation genetics of the Ethiopian wolf
• genetic description of a possibly new Salanoia mongoose species in Madagascar
• population genetic history of a Salangid icefish in China
• genetic differentiation golden brown mouse lemur populations in Madagascar
• phylogeography the critically endangered golden monkey in China
• phylogeography of the endemic St. Lucia whiptail lizard

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Indigenous Mapuche Food Systems and the Importance of Forest Products in Southern Andean Araucaria Landscapes

The araucaria tree - also called the monkey puzzle tree in English and pewen in Mapudungun - is endemic to a small region in the Chilean and Argentinian Andes. Over millennia the Pewenche (the indigenous Mapuche people of the araucaria/pewen forest) have developed an intrinsic relationship with these forests. These forests provide food for both domestic animals and people. They offer numerous food resources, from mushrooms, berries, and the seeds of the pewen. This close relationship between the area's Pewenche and their resources has been affected during the last century by processes such as land grabbing by settlers, or by laws focused on the strict conservation of biodiversity, including the pewen forests within the National Parks.

In the Chilean Araucanía region (named after the araucaria tree) access to communal forests has been restricted and jeopardises the traditional use of the natural resources. In this survey we work with Pewenches to document traditional knowledge about the use of food plants and by-products from the Pewen forests. We document the importance of forest foods to the Pewenche. By documenting this traditional knowledge, we want to support the recovery of food sovereignty for the Pewenche.

With food sovereignty we affirm the rights of people to define their own food systems in ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate ways according to their unique circumstances.

Wild meat - bushmeat use

For millennia, terrestrial wildlife has been the primary source of protein and a major contributor to local livelihoods for millions of tropical forest inhabitants worldwide. Although humans have always used wildlife as a source of food and materials, the scale of current harvest is unprecedented, rapidly accelerating and mostly unsustainable. Harvest of wild meat, also called bushmeat, has profound impacts on hunted species on a global scale and particularly in the tropics and subtropics. Nature Heritage has been involved in several projects on the ecology of wild meat harvesting.

Working with and for communities

The average human behaviour strives for economic growth, fuels by the use of natural resources and ecosystem services. There is no doubt that the capitalist economic system, now dominant all over the world, is unsustainable. We have already breached several ecological boundaries in relation to climate change, biodiversity loss and nutrient enrichment. This system not only endangered humanity long-term, but it leads to increased inequality of marginalised people and communities, such as many indigenous communities.   If we want to to change this trajectory into an unsustainable and ever increasing inequity, we must start to change human behaviour alongside conservation actions. Nature Heritage contributes to change human behaviour by,

• first, helping to document sustainable practices of indigenous people (e.g. assessment of the use of non-timber forest products in Cameroon),
• second, helping marginalised communities to improve their health (e.g., Baka Pygmy People in Cameroon)  and
• third, conducting education campaigns promoting conservation and behavioural change (e.g., campaigns in the Dominican Republic)

Documenting the use of non-timber forest products in Cameroon

We conducted two ethnobotanical surveys in 2019 in four villages of Baka People in dense rainforests in south-eastern Cameroon to document the use of non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in general and wild edible plants (WEP) in particular.

Nutrition, growth and body mass index of Baka Pygmy children and adults

Baka Pygmy People suffer from poorer health than sympatric peoples because of greater poverty and insufficient health care. Read More

Training and capacity building

A critical part of our commitment to conservation is ensuring that conservation managers are supported to apply the most up-to-date information and skills for conservation and sustainable development. Article 17 of the Convention on Biological Diversity stresses the importance of information exchange and training:  "Such exchange of information shall include exchange of results of technical, scientific and socio-economic research, as well as information on training and surveying programmes, specialized knowledge, indigenous and traditional knowledge as such and in combination with the technologies referred to in Article 16, paragraph 1. It shall also, where feasible, include repatriation of information." Yet, limited research funding often leads to research-and-run approaches where local conservation managers are not fully informed of the results gathered in their areas. We fill the gap and ensure that local conservation managers are fully informed and trained.