Ecologists and Biologists do research on biology and ecology which is supposed to contribute to conservation. Except it seldom does. Sometimes we know enough biology and need to look at governance problems which prevent successful conservation in Africa.

1. Biology is (almost)
irrelevant. Governance is
(almost) everything.
For successful biodiversity conservation outcomes in
Africa.

2. Examples from the Miombo
Biome
• Dry Tropical Forests cover
70%-80% of forested land in
Africa
• About 50% of Africa’s
population live in areas where
the forests occur
• The forests are essential for
rural livelihoods

4. Zambia is at
the heart of the
Miombo Biome
One of the highest rates of
deforestation in the world
Charcoal is the main fuel for
urban poor
Examples from a 5 year
study of land use change
over 30 years

5. Scale of Environmental Change
(time/area) is staggering
• This is a major crisis. No time for decade long
studies or just adding to the literature - IF the
aim is conservation
• Social, economic and political (Governance)
factors are driving this faster - not slower
• What role is there for biological research?

6. Location of the study area

7. rial view

8. Kalahari Woodland Zambezi Teak Forest

9. Zambezi Teak Forests
1975

10. Zambezi Teak Forests
2005 - 53% reduction in area

11. What role for
biological/ecolo
gical research?
• Fire? - already important
-may increase with climate
change
• Phenology? - important for
predicting effects of climate
change
• Modelling landcover
change?

12. Fire Frequency 2000-2005
Data from MODIS FIRMS (Davies et al., 2009; Giglio et al., 2003)
There is justification for fire study – will it help?

13. A General Drying Trend
From www.climatewizard.org
based on data from Mitchell et al. (2004)
Could phenological studies assist with conservation?

14. A General Warming Trend
From www.climatewizard.org
based on data from Mitchell et al. (2004)
Could phenological studies assist with conservation?

15. In the Midst of Destruction
• What new biological
knowledge will help to
conserve forested landscapes
in the Miombo ecoregion?
• What new ecological model,
methodology, or mapping
technique will prevent large
scale destruction?

16. I Don’t Know
Do you?

17. New Conceptual
Approaches
Resilience Approach
• Maintain Diversity and Redundancy
• Manage Connectivity
• Manage slow variables and feedbacks
• Complex Adaptive Systems thinking
• Encourage learning
• Broaden participation
• Promote poly-centric governance
• Caveats - context is important

18. New Conceptual
Approaches
Sustainability Science
• Multi, Inter and Trans - Disciplinary approaches
• Focus on interactions between ecology, society
• Problem driven research agenda
• Context, Context, Context - there are few
universal solutions - unfortunately
• Bridge the gap between theory, practice and
policy

19. Governance and Interactions
How does biological research fit in?

20. Scale and Governance

21. Zambezi Teak
Forests
Past / Current Logging
Control Fire opens forest to fire
Conservation
NGO’s
enhance
Honey Harvest
cause of fires
Cultural
PracticeTraditional
Governance
regulates
access
demands
Elected Local
Government
conflict
rival claims
to authority
regulates
Timber company
Hunting safaris
enhance
increases
Corruption
causes
New ecological research contributes
very little to these interactions

22. Biology/Ecology is important
for conservation, but…
• Only if biologists/ecologists take
on the challenge of new
conceptual frameworks
• You’re not alone -
Anthropologists, Political
Scientists, etc. are having to
learn biology too
• Scale, Local Context, and
Interactions mediated through
Governance must determine the
type of biological/ecological
studies. Biologists must not
drive the agenda.

23. Future Change
• Sometimes we know enough biology for conservation
purposes. Stop and consider other factors
• Wider scientific community must value context based
studies that do not necessarily have wider significance
• Stop trying to be physicists and discover a theory of
everything
• Open up to include humans in an ecological role (esp.
in Africa) in structuring past habitats - it will help with
their future role

24. This is how we should be doing conservation in Africa