Wildlife poaching is directly associated with illegal wildlife trade. Although poaching is recognized as a major threat to wildlife in India, it has not been analyzed quantitatively, because of a lack of data. Thus, the understanding of poaching or illegal wildlife trade and its true implications on conservation has not been considered by policymakers. The deficiency of data on poaching in the public domain also hampered scientific research on poaching. The lack of a scientific approach to analyze poaching creates a gap between reality and an effective solution to reduce its implications on wildlife conservation. Poaching has also been affected by fast economic development in India and the region, which has given rise to increased demand of wildlife. Protected areas, created to conserve wildlife, face pressure from poaching and demographic growth. Economic developments affect poaching and demographic changes and affect conservation.Analyzing this trend at the country and the global level can help predict future scenarios and develop effective strategies to reduce loss to biodiversity.We examined stakeholders' perspectives on wildlife policy development in India(Part 1) and analyzed poaching and other emerging threats to 3 different protected areas in India (Part 2). This analysis is based on the perceptions of the village communities living inside and on the fringe of the protected areas. We also conducted a temporal and spatial analysis of poaching in India from 1992-2006 (Part 3). This period sees the transformation of Indian economy following an economic liberalization process, which increased the development process. Finally, we analyzed the relationship between growth in the economy and wildlife conservation in India from a historical and statistical perspective(Part 4). This part also develops system feedback loop diagrams to determine possible10relationships between variables that are connected to conservation. The relationships are then assessed at the global level to understand the impact of economic growth on wildlife conservation and understand how it influences the endangered mammals and birds.

Architectural heritage, as an important form of the past, has been attracted increasing awareness. Nowadays there is a shared common view in the world that to protect architectural heritage reasonably and based on scientific methods is a necessity of our age. This dissertation intends to analyze and compare the policies for the protection of the architectural heritage in East Asian and European countries. Japan, China, Singapore, Italy, Britain and Germany are selected as representative countries. This dissertation is a non-empirical study, the main method for research is the documentary analysis. The contents of relevant literature and documents were comparatively analyzed by focusing on three issues: legislation, administration, finance. Each issue within six representative countries is described respectively. Based on such descriptions, a comprehensive comparison of each issue is conducted. These descriptions and comparisons can form the results of study and provide a remarkable insight into such issues of architectural heritage conservation in East Asian and European countries. The conservation legislation of the representative countries is examined respectively in the process of reviewing their conservation movement. As a result of the review process, the main laws that apply to their present conservation practices are presented. Important provisions concerning architectural conservation of the main laws are described; some possible similarities and differences of these provisions are analyzed and compared. This can deliver a general understanding about the policy framework or institutions in these countries\' architectural conservation. The administrative structures of the representative countries are analyzed from four levels: national, regional or local, consultation commissions and civic organizations. This dissertation summarizes some main authorities or organizations responsible for architectural conservation and their duties. In reference to previous descriptions, this dissertation analyzes and compares the characteristics of administrative structures of architectural conservation in East Asian and European countries based on the national and regional/local authorities. It can be concluded that most countries have been moving towards decentralization with varying degrees since the last decades of the 20th century. This dissertation also explores some possible motives for decentralized administration, analyzes the status quo of decentralization in the field of architectural conservation in different East Asian and European countries. This dissertation also provides an overview of their different financial policies in the field of architectural conservation from two aspects: direct public finance and indirect finance. In their conservation practices, direct public funds invested in architectural conservation projects mainly come from central and local subsidies. Two proportions of central and local subsidies in conservation projects are summarized. This dissertation concludes that direct public finance is the main source of their conservation funds but the supply of direct public finance is often limited. In this context, this dissertation argues the important role of indirect finance in the field of architectural conservation, gives some possible ways to improve the efficiency of indirect financing.

Architectural heritage, as an important form of the past, has been attracted increasing awareness. Nowadays there is a shared common view in the world that to protect architectural heritage reasonably and based on scientific methods is a necessity of our age. This dissertation intends to analyze and compare the policies for the protection of the architectural heritage in East Asian and European countries. Japan, China, Singapore, Italy, Britain and Germany are selected as representative countries. This dissertation is a non-empirical study, the main method for research is the documentary analysis. The contents of relevant literature and documents were comparatively analyzed by focusing on three issues: legislation, administration, finance. Each issue within six representative countries is described respectively. Based on such descriptions, a comprehensive comparison of each issue is conducted. These descriptions and comparisons can form the results of study and provide a remarkable insight into such issues of architectural heritage conservation in East Asian and European countries. The conservation legislation of the representative countries is examined respectively in the process of reviewing their conservation movement. As a result of the review process, the main laws that apply to their present conservation practices are presented. Important provisions concerning architectural conservation of the main laws are described; some possible similarities and differences of these provisions are analyzed and compared. This can deliver a general understanding about the policy framework or institutions in these countries\' architectural conservation. The administrative structures of the representative countries are analyzed from four levels: national, regional or local, consultation commissions and civic organizations. This dissertation summarizes some main authorities or organizations responsible for architectural conservation and their duties. In reference to previous descriptions, this dissertation analyzes and compares the characteristics of administrative structures of architectural conservation in East Asian and European countries based on the national and regional/local authorities. It can be concluded that most countries have been moving towards decentralization with varying degrees since the last decades of the 20th century. This dissertation also explores some possible motives for decentralized administration, analyzes the status quo of decentralization in the field of architectural conservation in different East Asian and European countries. This dissertation also provides an overview of their different financial policies in the field of architectural conservation from two aspects: direct public finance and indirect finance. In their conservation practices, direct public funds invested in architectural conservation projects mainly come from central and local subsidies. Two proportions of central and local subsidies in conservation projects are summarized. This dissertation concludes that direct public finance is the main source of their conservation funds but the supply of direct public finance is often limited. In this context, this dissertation argues the important role of indirect finance in the field of architectural conservation, gives some possible ways to improve the efficiency of indirect financing.

No description available.

<p>This dissertation explores local people's framing of externally driven biodiversity conservation approaches in the context of transfrontier conservation initiatives. It uses data from the Madimbo corridor, a specific locality within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, situated to the northeast of South Africa along the South Africa-Zimbabwe boundary. It shows that livelihoods, historical experiences with external interventions and exclusion from policy-making processes and programme implementation influence local strategies for engaging with external interventions. Thus, an analysis of framing of external interventions at a local level should establish the following: the role of natural resources in sustaining local livelihoods / local historical experiences with an external intervention / iii) the nature of multi-level actor interactions from local resource dependent people, to national, regional and global actors involved in or affected by an intervention. The study uses a detailed case study of Bennde Mutale village to trace local people&rsquo / s ideas, ways of speaking and actions in response to the implementation of a large-scale transfrontier conservation initiative. The study finds that local livelihoods play a central role in local responses to the changes that transfrontier conservation bring upon people's lives. Many see further exclusion, while some also see and hope for a restoration of the socio-cultural border region. The globally significant biodiversity - to be conserved for &lsquo / future generations&rsquo / &ndash / at the same time constitutes the natural resources that sustain local people&rsquo / s livelihoods. Further, local livelihoods are more diverse than is commonly acknowledged in literature advocating for transfrontier conservation. This lack of acknowledgement of local diversification contributes to the main observation made in this study: that current processes of transfrontier conservation end up replicating and re-inventing the multiple forms of exclusion that have characterised state conservation practices for over a century. While transfrontier conservation enables the freer movement of wildlife, it in fact further constrains the movements of people whose mobility within less closely controlled border regions remains centrally important to survival. At the same time, state actors come into the area with contradicting and conflicting demands ranging from the beneficial advocacy role for land rights to the enforcement of conservation through fences and game rangers, experienced as a direct infringement on livelihood possibilities. The study concludes that there is a need to rethink transfrontier conservation interventions. The diversity of local livelihood approaches needs to be considered more centrally and clearer understanding needs to be developed of how the promises of opportunities, betterment of lives and increased human mobility actually unfold in practice. In order to succeed and deliver on site - not only to high-class tourists seeking to view unique biodiversity but to local people - transfrontier conservation efforts need to engage multiple actors directly from the ground up and throughout the process of policy-making, programme conceptualisation and implementation.</p>

<p>This dissertation explores local people's framing of externally driven biodiversity conservation approaches in the context of transfrontier conservation initiatives. It uses data from the Madimbo corridor, a specific locality within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, situated to the northeast of South Africa along the South Africa-Zimbabwe boundary. It shows that livelihoods, historical experiences with external interventions and exclusion from policy-making processes and programme implementation influence local strategies for engaging with external interventions. Thus, an analysis of framing of external interventions at a local level should establish the following: the role of natural resources in sustaining local livelihoods / local historical experiences with an external intervention / iii) the nature of multi-level actor interactions from local resource dependent people, to national, regional and global actors involved in or affected by an intervention. The study uses a detailed case study of Bennde Mutale village to trace local people&rsquo / s ideas, ways of speaking and actions in response to the implementation of a large-scale transfrontier conservation initiative. The study finds that local livelihoods play a central role in local responses to the changes that transfrontier conservation bring upon people's lives. Many see further exclusion, while some also see and hope for a restoration of the socio-cultural border region. The globally significant biodiversity - to be conserved for &lsquo / future generations&rsquo / &ndash / at the same time constitutes the natural resources that sustain local people&rsquo / s livelihoods. Further, local livelihoods are more diverse than is commonly acknowledged in literature advocating for transfrontier conservation. This lack of acknowledgement of local diversification contributes to the main observation made in this study: that current processes of transfrontier conservation end up replicating and re-inventing the multiple forms of exclusion that have characterised state conservation practices for over a century. While transfrontier conservation enables the freer movement of wildlife, it in fact further constrains the movements of people whose mobility within less closely controlled border regions remains centrally important to survival. At the same time, state actors come into the area with contradicting and conflicting demands ranging from the beneficial advocacy role for land rights to the enforcement of conservation through fences and game rangers, experienced as a direct infringement on livelihood possibilities. The study concludes that there is a need to rethink transfrontier conservation interventions. The diversity of local livelihood approaches needs to be considered more centrally and clearer understanding needs to be developed of how the promises of opportunities, betterment of lives and increased human mobility actually unfold in practice. In order to succeed and deliver on site - not only to high-class tourists seeking to view unique biodiversity but to local people - transfrontier conservation efforts need to engage multiple actors directly from the ground up and throughout the process of policy-making, programme conceptualisation and implementation.</p>

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / This dissertation explores local people's framing of externally driven biodiversity conservation approaches in the context of transfrontier conservation initiatives. It uses data from the Madimbo corridor, a specific locality within the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area, situated to the northeast of South Africa along the South Africa-Zimbabwe boundary. It shows that livelihoods, historical experiences with external interventions and exclusion from policy-making processes and programme implementation influence local strategies for engaging with external interventions. Thus, an analysis of framing of external interventions at a local level should establish the following: the role of natural resources in sustaining local livelihoods; local historical experiences with an external intervention; iii) the nature of multi-level actor interactions from local resource dependent people, to national, regional and global actors involved in or affected by an intervention. The study uses a detailed case study of Bennde Mutale village to trace local people's ideas, ways of speaking and actions in response to the implementation of a large-scale transfrontier conservation initiative. The study finds that local livelihoods play a central role in local responses to the changes that transfrontier conservation bring upon people's lives. Many see further exclusion, while some also see and hope for a restoration of the socio-cultural border region. The globally significant biodiversity - to be conserved for 'future generations' - at the same time constitutes the natural resources that sustain local people's livelihoods. Further, local livelihoods are more diverse than is commonly acknowledged in literature advocating for transfrontier conservation. This lack of acknowledgement of local diversification contributes to the main observation made in this study: that current processes of transfrontier conservation end up replicating and re-inventing the multiple forms of exclusion that have characterised state conservation practices for over a century. While transfrontier conservation enables the freer movement of wildlife, it in fact further constrains the movements of people whose mobility within less closely controlled border regions remains centrally important to survival. At the same time, state actors come into the area with contradicting and conflicting demands ranging from the beneficial advocacy role for land rights to the enforcement of conservation through fences and game rangers, experienced as a direct infringement on livelihood possibilities. The study concludes that there is a need to rethink transfrontier conservation interventions. The diversity of local livelihood approaches needs to be considered more centrally and clearer understanding needs to be developed of how the promises of opportunities, betterment of lives and increased human mobility actually unfold in practice. In order to succeed and deliver on site - not only to high-class tourists seeking to view unique biodiversity but to local people - transfrontier conservation efforts need to engage multiple actors directly from the ground up and throughout the process of policy-making, programme conceptualisation and implementation. / South Africa

Le constat actuel d’une perte de biodiversité est largement partagé au sein de la communauté scientifique mais également auprès du public et du monde politique. L’attention portée depuis plus d’une décennie aux changements climatiques et à leurs effets sur la biodiversité a parfois conduit à négliger le principal facteur d’érosion de la biodiversité : la destruction des habitats. Le but de cette thèse est d’étudier les relations entre espèces et habitats avec un focus particulier sur différentes composantes de ces relations.La thèse aborde ainsi dans une première partie l’histoire et l’évolution du concept d’habitat en écologie et met en évidence une construction complexe de ce concept. Celle-ci montre par exemple une dichotomie autour de la définition du concept d’habitat avec une approche espèce-centrée d’un côté et une approche communauté-centrée de l’autre. Ces deux définitions se retrouvent aujourd’hui avec divers degrés d’importance dans leur utilisation selon les différents acteurs de la conservation, des scientifiques aux politiques. Ensuite, au travers du prisme de l’écologie du paysage, la thèse s’intéresse aux problématiques des échelles spatiales via une étude sur la distribution d’espèces d’arthropodes dans les paysages métropolitains. Les résultats mettent en évidence que les échelles spatiales de réponses des espèces aux mesures du paysage sont très variables et ceci indépendamment de la représentation choisie du paysage. La théorie prédirait pourtant une certaine cohérence en fonction par exemple de certains traits écologiques. Ainsi, l’échelle spatiale de relations des espèces avec le paysage, qui est considérée comme l’échelle de perception et d’interaction des espèces avec le paysage, semble difficile à caractériser en utilisant les méthodes habituellement appliquées en écologie des paysages. La relation entre espèces et habitats peut se quantifier via les mesures de spécialisation. Nous avons taché de comprendre comment les espèces dites spécialistes se répartissent le long d’un gradient continu d’habitat et en particulier le rôle des environnements hétérogènes dans ces patrons de spécialisations. Dans ce cadre théorique, l’hypothèse de complémentation, qui stipule que certaines espèces ont besoin d’une certaine hétérogénéité environnementale, n’a pas pu être vérifiée. En effet, même si certaines espèces présentent des affinités particulières pour ces milieux hétérogènes, elles n’en sont pas pour autant spécialistes. Ces espèces semblent plutôt des généralistes qui sont exclues des milieux plus homogènes où l’on retrouve plus fréquemment des espèces spécialistes, plus compétitives. Ces résultats permettent d’apporter un éclairage nouveau sur les règles d’assemblages des communautés d’espèces, en particulier le long d’un gradient continu d’habitat. Finalement, l’implication du concept d’habitat dans les politiques publiques de conservation a été étudiée en menant une évaluation du volet « habitat » de la Directive Habitats européenne. Différents critères, touchant autant à l’application qu’à la construction, à la légitimation et aux aboutissements de la directive en matière de conservation ont été utilisés pour cette évaluation. A travers des exemples concrets et l’analyse du corpus bibliographique, ce travail a permis identifier d’importantes lacunes de connaissances au sein de la directive qui entravent ces critères. Ce travail met finalement en évidence un découplage entre les aspects scientifiques et leurs applications dans la directive et questionne l’opportunité d’utiliser le niveau habitat pour répondre à des problématiques de conservation. En conclusion, ce travail de thèse, axé sur le concept d’habitat, a permis d’identifier certaines complexités, théoriques ou appliquées, qui peuvent entraver une meilleure compréhension des relations entre espèces et habitats et il offre des pistes pour mieux les appréhender et pousse ainsi à penser autrement ces relations. / The loss of biodiversity is largely acknowledged by the scientific community but also by the public and politicians. Most research on biodiversity loss is focused on climate change effects, and neglects the main factor of biodiversity loss: habitat destruction. The aim of this thesis is to study species-habitats relationships with a particular focus on the different components of these relationships. In a first part, the thesis deals with the history and the evolution of the concept of habitat in ecology. Particularly, it highlights a complex construction of this concept. For instance, the analysis shows a dichotomy around the definition of the concept of habitat with on one hand, a species-centered approach and on the other hand, a community-centered approach. These definitions are still used nowadays by the different actors of conservation, from scientists to politicians, but with different degrees of importance. Then, through the prism of landscape ecology, the thesis is interested in spatial scale issues via a study of arthropods species distribution in French landscapes. Results show that the spatial scales of species responses to landscapes measures are highly variable. This result holds true whatever the representation of landscape used in the analysis. However, theory would predict some consistencies in spatial scales of response, for example in relation to ecological traits of species. Hence, the spatial scale of relationship between a species and its landscape, which is considered as the scale of perception and interaction of the species with its environment, seems difficult to characterize using usual methodology developed in landscape ecology. Species-habitats relationships can be quantified using specialization measurement. In the next part of the thesis, we try to understand how specialist species are spread along a continuous gradient of habitat and in particular, the role of heterogeneous environments in driving observed patterns of specialization. In this theoretical context, the hypothesis of complementation, which states that particular species need some environmental heterogeneity to strive, cannot be verified. Even if some species prefer heterogeneous landscape, they cannot be classified as specialists. These species seems to be generalists that are excluded from more homogeneous landscape due to competition rather than real specialists that are more often found in these landscapes. These results shed a new light on rules of assemblage of species communities, particularly along a continuous gradient of habitat.Finally, in a last part, the importance of the concept of habitat in conservation public policies is studied. An evaluation of the “habitat” part of the European Habitats Directive is proposed. Different criteria, related to the application, construction, legitimacy and outcomes of the directive were used to evaluate the policy. Through some concrete examples and an extensive literature analysis, this work allows identifying important knowledge gaps in the directive that imped evaluation criteria. Results show a discrepancy between scientific aspects and their application in the directive, questioning the opportunity to use the habitat level to answer to conservation issues. To conclude, this thesis, focused on the concept of habitat, allows identifying important theoretical and applied knowledge gaps that imped a better understanding of species-habitats relationships. This work offers new perspectives and challenges the way we usually think, as scientists, these relationships.

No description available.

This habilitation thesis consists of seven published journal articles and one published book chapter. Part I, consisting of chapter 1, introduces the overarching theme of environmental policy instruments and discusses the current use of and prospects for economic instruments in conservation policies. A number of research gaps are identified which are addressed in the subsequent chapters. Part II, consisting of chapters 2–5, encompasses four papers focused on a single type of policy instrument: intergovernmental fiscal transfers. Although well documented in public finance literature, intergovernmental fiscal transfers remain a somewhat neglected instrument in environmental policy. Despite being well suited to address the spillover benefits that often accrue with conservation policies, there is scant research literature on ecological fiscal transfers compared to other economic instruments such as environmental taxes or tradable permits. In fact, very few countries make practical use of them to achieve conservation objectives. Thus intergovernmental fiscal transfers are an innovative instrument in conservation policies in particular, so that advances in both theory and applied research may prove especially beneficial here. Part III, consisting of chapters 6–9, combines a number of articles in integrative biodiversity research and applied biodiversity governance, themes that are often neglected in the economic analysis of environmental policy instruments. However, when implementing policy instruments in societal settings, interdisciplinary research bridging the natural and social sciences is as much a prerequisite as policy-relevant research that responds to the needs of decision makers and other stakeholders. Both policy design and policy evaluation yield the best outcomes when they involve ecologists, economists, legal and other social scientists, as this ensures that consideration is given to ecological effectiveness, economic efficiency, administrative feasibility, social acceptance, and perception by stakeholders. Policy-relevant research also responds to current societal developments and prospective changes in legislation which may provide windows of opportunity to propose new instruments. Meanwhile, sound empirical research and case study design are indispensable in making concrete policy recommendations, taking into account existing formal and informal institutions.