A mammoth study came out last month, in the journal Science, with some very uplifting conclusions about conservation. The goal was to figure out whether conservation efforts are actually effective at reducing global biodiversity loss, slowing its decline, and protecting endangered habitats and species. The study wasn’t limited to any one area of conservation. It examined efforts in a vast array of countries, in oceans, across species and even across centuries, with the earliest measures going all the way back to 1890. It was conducted by dozens of researchers from all around the world over a period of 10 years, examining 665 trials in 186 studies of conservation efforts.
It is no secret that biodiversity is declining at an alarming rate around the globe. In fact, we have entered what scientists call the sixth mass extinction event. Despite how apocalyptic that sounds (and actually is), I’m often struck by how much we underestimate its significance. We focus so much on the problem of climate change, and rightly so. But we seem to downplay the importance of biodiversity loss. Of course, these things are closely related. Much biodiversity loss is caused by climate change and vice versa. But it is also caused by deforestation, overfishing, agriculture, and endless other human activity.
Given the severity of biodiversity loss and the importance of slowing it down (at the very least), figuring out in what ways conservation can improve and how much it actually helps is really helpful information to have. Answering the latter question is what the study aimed to do. It looked at a number of different types of intervention that address some of the main drivers of biodiversity loss and environmental degradation, such as the sustainable management of ecosystems, control of populations, eradication and control of alien species, establishment and management of protected areas, and sustainable use of species.
So what are the results?
The findings showed that two out of every three conservation efforts had a positive effect, and often a very substantial positive effect, compared with no intervention at all. The study explains, “Conservation actions can yield positive impacts in both an absolute and relative sense. In two-thirds of trials, conservation either improved the state of biodiversity (absolute positive impacts, 45.4%), or at least slowed declines (relative positive impacts, 20.6%)”. Speaking to the BBC, Dr Penny Langhammer, a co-author, said “This study provides the strongest evidence to date that not only does conservation improve the state of biodiversity and slow its decline, but when it works, it really works.”
Some of the most effective and notable conservation efforts have been those focusing on the eradication and control of invasive species, especially on islands. Protected areas have also proven to be particularly successful at reducing biodiversity threats such as tropical forest fires, coral loss, and species extinction risk. Often, when conservation efforts were less successful this was due to what the study (rather euphemistically) called “shortfalls in human and financial capacities”. This means that when efforts fail, it is not necessarily the case that the conservation practice itself doesn’t work, but rather that there is just not enough money or too few feet on the ground.
One problem with the study which was pointed out by environmental biology professor Dr Fiona Matthews is that it largely neglected to examine conservation efforts in the Global South. Co-author Dr Joseph Bull acknowledged this issue but said that he is confident that had more developing countries been included, this would not have changed the results of the study. The findings of the study were consistent across regions and contexts. Dr Langhammer told Mongabay in an interview, “What surprised me the most was just how well conservation works, kind of across the board, meaning across different geographic locations, ecosystems and political systems. We saw this [positive] signal from places like off the coast of Florida to South Africa to the Philippines, there was no geographic differentiation”.
That being said, I would like to highlight a few great conservation projects happening in Africa that I think deserve recognition — just to fill in the gap!
Women take the lead
Probably one of the coolest conservation groups ever to exist comes from our very own Olifants West Nature Reserve, in the Greater Kruger National Park. The group, the Black Mambas, is an all-women, army-trained anti-poaching unit. The Kruger is the worst hit area when it comes to rhino-poaching in the entire world. There can be as many as 11 poaching groups working in the area at a time. The Black Mambas’ role is to detect and deter. And they have been incredibly successful, with poaching incidents dropping 63% in the 150 000 acres that they monitor.
The women all come from communities in the area, many of which are also the homes of the very poachers they are trying to deter. This gives the Black Mambas a particularly intimate insight into the complex dynamics of poaching, poverty, and conservation.
This is one of the reasons that the group patrols unarmed. Their aim is to bring peace and harmony to the area, not more violence. Patrolling on foot, they track human footprints, look for snares, and raise the alarm to trained special forces if they come across suspicious activity.
Besides patrolling, the women engage with the surrounding communities to spread awareness about the importance of conservation and engender a deeper appreciation for the wildlife around them. Through their Bush Babies programme, they provide conservation education to thousands of local children, even taking groups of them on trips into the Reserve to give them an up-close experience of the awe-inspiring nature on their doorstep.
The beauty of bottom-up conservation
Another remarkable conservation success story comes out of Senegal. Roughly 185 000 hectares of the country are covered in mangroves, but since the 1970s, the mangroves have taken a major beating. Around a quarter have been lost to deforestation, droughts, agriculture, and construction. This devastation of the mangrove forests has severely impacted the biodiversity of the area, particularly in the fish stocks. Enter the largest mangrove reforestation project the world has ever seen.
In 2008, Oceanium, an environmental organisation, began the reforestation process. As of today, they have replanted 79 million mangroves over an area spanning 10 000 hectares. In doing so, the organisation has mobilised an astonishing 200 000 people from 350 local villages to pull off this mammoth project.
10 years after the project started, an independent impact study was conducted in the villages that participated. 95% of the villagers stated that their lives are positively impacted by the replanted mangroves.
There has been an increase of 4200 tons per year in fish stocks and the oyster, shrimp, and shellfish populations are also recovering. This in turn creates greater economic and food security for the communities. Almost half of all households have improved their financial situation through the restoration project while 80% of the poorest households have reported a reduction in their food vulnerability. After the organised project, 25% of the 450 villages continued their own mangrove restoration campaigns, and 70% of the villages have created monitoring systems to protect their mangroves from illegal fishing and logging. The villagers are immensely proud of their conservation work and their healthy mangrove forests, as they should be.
These are just two African conservation success stories but rest assured there are plenty more where they came from! Africa’s unique and breathtaking wildlife and natural world have suffered from climate change and human action over the last century, along with the rest of the world. But, also along with the rest of the world, there are conservation projects that are making a serious tangible difference to reverse the situation. With more resources, government and community buy-in, and commitment, drastically improving and restoring the world’s biodiversity is completely possible and infinitely worthwhile.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Josie is a writer and researcher who wants to do her bit to make the world a little greener. She is currently doing her PhD in Philosophy at King’s College London where she is researching ethical questions surrounding AI.
