Doctor of Philosophy / The population size and range of giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis have been greatly reduced in Africa in the past century, resulting in geographical isolation of local populations and some herds surviving at the edge of the species’ preferred range. Numerous factors have contributed to these declines, but historical analysis indicates that habitat loss and fragmentation, human encroachment, disease and poaching are the main threatening processes. These processes can be expected to continue to impact on giraffe populations, particularly as human populations grow and needs for land and resources increase. This study used field data and laboratory analyses to investigate the taxonomy, behaviour and ecology of desert-dwelling giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis angolensis in the northern Namib Desert. This population resides at the extreme of the giraffe’s range. My research also complements the community-based natural resource management (CBNRM) program of the Namibian government, and provides baseline data on the current population status and structure of giraffe in the Kunene Region. The field data, genetic, habitat and forage samples used in this study were collected by myself and a number of research assistants over a period of two years (2001 to 2003), following preliminary research that I undertook between 1999 and 2001. Laboratory analysis of genetic samples was conducted by Dr R. Brenneman and his team at Henry Doorly Zoo, Omaha, NB., as well as by Mr D. Brown at UCLA, CA. Mr W. Gawa!nab and his team at the agricultural laboratory, Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Rural Affairs, Namibia, conducted chemical analyses on plant samples that form part of the giraffe’s diet. The genetic architecture of Namibian giraffe was investigated, including the samples from the desert-dwelling giraffe of the northern Namib Desert and giraffe from Etosha National Park. The results were compared with genetic profiles of giraffe subspecies throughout Africa, but in particular with G. c. giraffa which is the currently-accepted nomenclature of the Namibian giraffe. Results indicated that the Namibian giraffe has five unique haplotypes and is genetically distinct from G. c. giraffa or any other extant subspecies; it is considered here, tentatively, to represent G. c. angolensis. Furthermore, the Namibian Abstract iv giraffe has been separated from other populations for an extended period. Some gene flow has occurred between the desert-dwelling and Etosha NP giraffe population, and can be attributed to recent translocations between these regions. Within the study region, a sharing of haplotypes between three studied subpopulations indicated gene flow among giraffe throughout the northern Namib Desert, and this was confirmed by field-based monitoring. Taken together, these findings suggest that Namibian giraffe should be viewed as important for the conservation of overall genetic variation within Giraffa camelopardalis, although further investigation into the taxonomy of the Namibian form is warranted. Following these findings, I then investigated the behaviour and ecology of the desert-dwelling giraffe. As no previous study has been published on the ecology of G. c. angolensis, there is an information gap in our knowledge of this subspecies. One hundred and fifty six giraffe were identified individually using field-based identification methods and digital imagery. An assessment of the population structure and dynamics indicated marked variation in numbers, sex and age structure, herd structure and densities between three study areas. These variations possibly arose from differences in study area size, aridity, availability of forage and human impacts. I also investigated levels of associations between giraffe within the population using a simple ratio technique, and observed that increased association occurred in smaller populations; there appeared to be a matrilineal social structure. In one bull-biased population, a higher degree of association between bulls was observed compared to bulls in the other two populations. To gain further insight into the distribution and range of giraffe, I collected GPS locations from a combination of field-based monitoring and GPS satellite collars. The GPS satellite collars were the first trial of this technology on giraffe in Africa. Using Range Manager, a MapInfo animal location analysis extension program, I estimated 100% and 95% minimum convex polygon for daily, monthly and annual home range sizes of giraffe in the northern Namib Desert. Giraffe were observed to have large home ranges, with the largest individual range for a bull, Africa-wide, being recorded in this study. Large home ranges correlated with low population density, reduced diversity of forage and, in bulls, increased search areas for receptive cows. Giraffe movements occurred predominantly along riparian woodlands, although seasonal use of other habitats was recorded. Observations Abstract v Abstract vi and data from four GPS satellite-collared giraffe provided high-resolution data on daily movements, and indicated a pattern of highly biphasic movement behaviour that correlated with ambient temperatures. Diurnal activity budgets varied between the sexes, with cows spending more time feeding and resting, while bulls walked and ruminated more frequently. Juveniles rested more often than other giraffe. Seasonal variation in activity budgets was evident, perhaps reflecting use of an energy maximiser strategy for cows and an energy minimiser strategy for bulls. The establishment of artificial water points in the Hoanib River during the study period appeared to alter the seeming independence of giraffe on water in the northern Namib Desert, and also resulted in small-scale shifts in use of the riparian woodland by elephant. To investigate the diet of giraffe, I observed animals feeding in the field and also carried out laboratory analyses of the chemical content of preferred plant species. Seasonal changes in the abundance, moisture and protein content of available food plants correlated with shifts in the diet of giraffe. Giraffe impacted on their preferred forage source, Faidherbia albida, causing distinct structural changes in the individual plants and the F. albida population. This impact, combined with elephant damage and seasonal flood events, has resulted in a shift in the age structure and dynamics of the F. albida population over the past two decades. Finally, I present a brief overview on the history of conservation and management in the Kunene Region. The established CBNRM program provides a baseline for future wildlife conservation and management, of which the desert-dwelling giraffe could be an integral component for non-consumptive tourism. Long-term research on the population’s status, range, behaviour, social structure, habitat requirements, and ecology would help to provide a better understanding of the giraffe’s adaptation to the arid environment, while focussed legislation would enable increased control of communal lands and continue to benefit community-based conservancies.

We live in the Anthropocene – an age where humans dominate natural systems – and there is ample evidence that our current practices degrade the capacity of natural systems to provide us with natural resources. How we, as humans, organize and learn, in communities and among state and other societal actors, constitute a decisive factor for both local management of natural resources and the functioning of the planet Earth. In other words, the outcome of learning has become a matter of governance across multiple levels. This thesis studies the role of social learning in governance of natural resources, asking the following three overarching questions: i) What are the institutional barriers limiting better environmental governance at different scales? ii) Is there a causal connection between social learning and better environmental governance? iii) What are the normative challenges with better environmental governance or social-ecological resilience being linked to the adaptive capacity of actors to learn socially? The primary method is semi-structured in-depth interviews. Papers provide results on institutional barriers such as competency traps and show how customs and current practices and collaborations limit better environmental governance. It is found that social learning might, and might not, lead to better environmental governance, and the causal connection between social learning and better environmental governance is found to be rather weak, with both variables depending on other factors. Enabling policy, a mandate to make broad assessments, or an engaged leader facilitating social learning, are examples of factors that explain the existence of both social learning and outcomes in terms of better environmental governance. It is concluded that since conditions for, and facilitation of, social learning are so important, research should focus more on what initiates social learning and how social learning can be mainstreamed across multiple levels of governance / At the time of the doctoral defense, the following papers were unpublished and had a status as follows: Paper 3: Submitted: Paper 4: Submitted; Paper 5: Submitted.

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The purpose of this thesis is to explore the relation between national economic ventures, environmental security and community development. It does so through a case study of the implementation process of an iron and copper mine (La Dominga Project) in a “biodiversity hotspot” in central-northern Chile. Using qualitative methods to gather empirical data and a discursive analytical framework, it seeks to understand how the mine affects livelihoods and community development, as perceived by local citizens. The results show that the state, the extractive industries and private landowners constantly contest the local community’s access to land. The state and the industry have an advantage in power, manifested in the decision-making procedure. As a consequence of the deficient participation in this process, the community faces a forced exposure to risk. La Dominga jeopardizes local livelihoods and alternative development plans, which show potential to be long-term ecologically sustainable. Those are 1) the community based- and adaptively co-managed area for exploitation of benthic resources and 2) the tourist activities, based on the bird and whale spotting tours to the closely located protected islands. The thesis further suggests that social mobilization and articulation of local resistance fails because of 1) elements of social control within the community, 2) the discursive role of mining, and more specifically copper mining in the Chilean landscape ideologies and 3) CSR-interventions in form of extensive, individual “grant programs”.

The shale gas industry in northeast British Columbia is rapidly expanding and is promoted by the provincial government as a promising economic venture for the entire province. However, the industry is having impacts on the traditional territory of the Fort Nelson First Nation, although they have constitutionally recognized treaty rights to continue to use the land to meet their subsistence needs. I conducted this research in partnership with the Fort Nelson First Nation Department of Lands and Resources, with a focus on critically assessing the challenges they face. This research focuses on determining how the Fort Nelson First Nation can protect their treaty rights by taking control of, or inserting themselves into the data collection and monitoring activities of the shale gas industry. Utilizing a theory of knowledge politics, this research analyzes two strategies that challenge what knowledge should count, and on what terms: (1) the Fort Nelson First Nation’s participation and appropriation of the professionalized science regime and (2) the development of the Fort Nelson First Nation’s community-based monitoring program and its ability to impact decision-making. Drawing on primary research, participant observation, literature reviews and document analyses, I argue that these strategies are crucial and can create – but do not guarantee – links to affecting natural resource management decisions. / Graduate

<p>This dissertation explores decision problems faced by organizations willing to address or support the incorporation of sustainability aspects on their "business as usual" activities. We study to specific problems. First, we analyze the decision problem of a forest manager who, in addition to selling timber, has the option of selling carbon offsets for the carbon sequestered by the forest. We study both the single-rotation and the multiple-rotations harvesting problems, and develop stochastic dynamic programming models to find the optimal harvesting and offset-selling policy, the expected optimal harvesting time, and the expected optimal reward under different offset-trading schemes. Then, we study the case in which an organization (sustainability buyer) outsources sustainability efforts to another organization (sustainability seller). While buyers cannot directly exert sustainability efforts, they can provide economic or technical support to their sellers in order to incentivize these efforts. We investigate how the effort and support decisions change according to characteristics of stakeholders, buyers, and sellers. Considering that buyers can compete on the sustainability effort exerted by their sellers, we extend our analysis to the case of competing buyers, and we determine conditions under which sharing sellers is preferred by the buyers to having separate sellers for each buyer.</p> / Dissertation

Community Based Natural Resource Management has been espoused by many as a way to move global environmental agendas for biodiversity protection forward. CBNRM places the locus of control and management of resources closer to the communities that depend on them. This idealized view of community based resource management has often proven to be challenging to implement. In this thesis the CBNRM literature is reviewed and a framework developed identifying the main criteria for successful CBNRM and the main explanations of failure in CBNRM. I then look at the role of CBNRM as a tool for rural economic development and wildlife conservation in Botswana with a case study of the village of Xai Xai. I spent approximately one year in Botswana, gaining a greater understanding of the implications of CBNRM in the country as a whole. I conclude overall, that CBNRM has not been successful in promoting either biodiversity protection or local economic development though there are certain exceptions throughout the country. I spent over three months in Xai Xai conducting interviews. I conclude that the project has led to limited wildlife conservation (or it is impossible to tell as there is no data), and has contributed in only a limited way to rural economic development and empowerment of the Basarwa. But the project has potentially led to increasing hostilities and declining cooperation and relationships within and among the ethnic groups in the village. This thesis shows through a specific case study, that there are many complexities at play when implementing a CBNRM project. The local context, knowledge and perspective must be taken into consideration or the success of the project may be doomed from the start. Possibly the premise of CBNRM may not be a realistic approach to begin with and other options should be considered.

Connections to the Land: the Politics of Health and Wellbeing in Arviat, Nunavut is about traditional knowledge as process. The thesis examines the relationships between Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) [“the Inuit way of doing things”; traditional knowledge (TK);], Inuit perceptions of health and wellbeing and the land; and what the relationships mean for integrated coastal and ocean management. Among Arviat Inuit (Arviarmiut), IQ, health and wellbeing and the land are tightly interconnected. When one relationship is stressed, disruptions occur throughout the whole system. IQ is embedded in Inuit perceptions of health and wellbeing, and to be healthy, Inuit maintain they must interact with the land in Inuit ways. In 2004, issues surrounding the nature of IQ, its control, production, documentation and legitimation were contested by Arviarmiut. Inuit strongly resented input from academics, resource managers, scientists or other southern “experts”. Arviarmiut sensitivities regarding IQ were in part the result of the rapid social change that had occurred over the last half century. Social systems suffered upheaval as colonial processes and institutions impacted values, networks, families and identity. The rate of change did not allow for time for traditional systems to adapt, and aspects of social change happened out of sync with each other resulting in dysfunction. Arviat’s history of relocation, uneven social change and expanded communication ability all affected the formation of IQ. Through participatory research, participant observation, interviews and network-building with Inuit organizations, the research explores IQ as process and the interconnections with the land and wellbeing. It recommends greater integration of Inuit into resource management planning and decision-making in ways consistent with IQ; and allowing Inuit to decide what processes and policies are most appropriate for them.

<p> The Unimak Island caribou herd is in the midst of a population decline associated with low birth rates and calf survival. I evaluated the spatial and temporal complexity of caribou landscape use and the availability and nutritional quality of key forage species. First, I examined seasonal landscape use and movement using GPS collar data. Second, I determined seasonal diets to the species-level for spring, summer, and fall using a novel n-alkane and long-chain fatty acid (LCOH) method. Finally, I compared diet quality with needs for maintenance and to the quality of available plant species. Caribou home ranges were largest and movements least in the winter, and movements appeared dependent on plant phenology and weather conditions. Diets were complex and seasonally variable but generally contained higher proportions of forbs than other caribou herds likely due to their higher relative availability as compared to other preferred forages. Finally, animals foraged selectively each season, obtaining a diet that was higher in digestible dry matter and nitrogen than the average of plants available. Nutritional quality appeared to be well above requirements during the three seasons investigated. Overall, I concluded that spring, summer, and fall forage quality and availability do not impose strong constraints on Unimak Island caribou. However, I recommend that diet composition and quality be determined in the winter, the time when forage often limits the productivity of caribou herds.</p>

Connections to the Land: the Politics of Health and Wellbeing in Arviat, Nunavut is about traditional knowledge as process. The thesis examines the relationships between Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (IQ) [“the Inuit way of doing things”; traditional knowledge (TK);], Inuit perceptions of health and wellbeing and the land; and what the relationships mean for integrated coastal and ocean management. Among Arviat Inuit (Arviarmiut), IQ, health and wellbeing and the land are tightly interconnected. When one relationship is stressed, disruptions occur throughout the whole system. IQ is embedded in Inuit perceptions of health and wellbeing, and to be healthy, Inuit maintain they must interact with the land in Inuit ways. In 2004, issues surrounding the nature of IQ, its control, production, documentation and legitimation were contested by Arviarmiut. Inuit strongly resented input from academics, resource managers, scientists or other southern “experts”. Arviarmiut sensitivities regarding IQ were in part the result of the rapid social change that had occurred over the last half century. Social systems suffered upheaval as colonial processes and institutions impacted values, networks, families and identity. The rate of change did not allow for time for traditional systems to adapt, and aspects of social change happened out of sync with each other resulting in dysfunction. Arviat’s history of relocation, uneven social change and expanded communication ability all affected the formation of IQ. Through participatory research, participant observation, interviews and network-building with Inuit organizations, the research explores IQ as process and the interconnections with the land and wellbeing. It recommends greater integration of Inuit into resource management planning and decision-making in ways consistent with IQ; and allowing Inuit to decide what processes and policies are most appropriate for them.