The purpose of this study was to examine conservation, livelihoods, and the role of tourism. The village of Sukau in the Kinabatangan District of Sabah, Malaysia, served as a case study. The vital importance of the Lower Kinabatangan in wildlife conservation, coupled with the tourism potential of the region, underpinned the creation of the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary in 2005. The 26,000 hectare sanctuary is fragmented in nature and surrounded by palm oil plantations. Still, with the protection of these fragmented forested areas, Sukau has evolved into the ‘hub’ of tourism in the Lower Kinabatangan. The majority of visitors come to Sukau for the opportunity to view the flagship species of the Kinabatangan Wildlife Sanctuary (orang-utan, Bornean pygmy elephant, proboscis monkey, and hornbills) in the wild. Many of the local villagers own land which is still forested and serves as important ecological links between the fragmented protected areas. However many of the villagers plan to use their lands for smallholder palm oil farming in the future. This will further fragment the forested areas of the Wildlife Sanctuary, and will have severe implications for nature conservation and tourism in Sukau. The Sabah Tourism Master Plan (1996) stresses that for the tourism-conservation linkage to be effective in Sukau, the local community must benefit from tourism. If the locals of Sukau are able to depend on tourism as a livelihood option, then perhaps the forested areas of the Wildlife Sanctuary will not be further fragmented in the near future. This study will attempt to answer whether tourism is an effective alternative livelihood source for the locals of Sukau. Predominantly qualitative research methods were used for this study. These included semi-structured interviews with the local villagers of Sukau, and informal interviews with key informants in the area. Structured questionnaires and interviews were also undertaken with lodges in and near the village. The information gathered from these sources was further strengthened by my own personal and participatory observations. In 2006, 10 per cent of the population of Sukau, and 23 per cent of the estimated total workforce were directly employed in tourism. Results indicate that having tourism as a livelihood option has made the villagers more motivated to protect their environment. Yet the locals of Sukau disagree that their community benefits sufficiently from tourism, and smallholder palm oil farming is viewed as the more lucrative livelihood option. The current financial crisis (2008-9) has complicated the likely contribution of tourism to livelihoods and conservation in the future. Nevertheless it is likely that both the palm oil and tourism industries will recover from the economic downturn, and consequently they will both continue to be future livelihood options for the villagers of Sukau. Therefore steps should be made to improve both industries for the benefit of livelihoods and nature conservation in Sukau. There are a number of potential ways in which tourism could be improved in Sukau to bring more benefits to the locals. If these suggested improvements occur, then the effectiveness of tourism as an alternative livelihood source for the locals of Sukau will be enhanced.

The aim of the project was to explore the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge amongst decision-makers involved in the management of red deer in Scotland. While research exists on the ecology of red deer habitat, no research exists that focuses on the relationship between the deer and the people responsible for their management. Therefore, this thesis is primarily qualitative research which aimed to explore the various aspects of red deer management in Scotland within the socio-ecological context in which it exists. There are numerous groups with interest in red deer management, however this research, due to scope and time restrictions, was limited to two primary groups, the individuals tasked with implementing policy and the practitioners who carry out culling. During the course of the project, under-researched topics surfaced, highlighting areas of practical and theoretical divergence between stakeholders. This thesis therefore aims to explore how differing views and perspectives of two of the key stakeholder groups – the estate-based practitioners (including stalkers, land-managers, and land-owners) and staff of governmental agencies – influence the management of red deer in Scotland. This research indicates that people with different roles hold different relationships with the deer, which affect management decisions and implementation at local, regional, and/or national level. As with other areas within conservation and wildlife management, this research indicates there is a disconnect between blanket governmental policy and site-specific needs, with a lack of inclusion of practitioner knowledge. Potential future research would include additional qualitative research to follow up some of the management issues raised by this research and formulate recommendations for changes to practice, followed by collection of quantitative data assessing the efficacy of interventions.

One of the biggest challenges with today's conservation strategy has been the increase in human-wildlife conflicts in rural areas. Different strategies in conservation have been presented, such as mainstream conservation and convivial conservation, both with the same goal but different approaches when it comes to economic, social and environmental aspects. Conservation of species and mitigation of human-wildlife conflicts are complex, both in practice and in theory. This makes the subject important to study in order to improve conservation models which in turn improve livelihoods, attitudes and surroundings for villagers affected by the conflicts. In this paper, the authors performed interviews with representatives of two administrations working with conservation of elephants as well as interviews with villagers living in wildlife management areas (WMA), specifically Burunge Wildlife Management Area (BWMA) in Manyara region, Tanzania. This paper aims to examine villagers’ perception of the BWMA and if the wildlife management areas fulfil their purpose and live up to their expectations as well as examine the potential perks and risks for villagers that live near wildlife areas. The overall perception was that the villagers were satisfied with the BWMA and the organization seemed to be successful in fulfilling their purpose regarding conservation. The risks of living near wildlife areas does seem to surpass the perks, both when looking from an economic perspective and overall safety, which makes the solutions to the conflicts a subject of great importance. / En av de största utmaningarna med dagens bevarandestrategier har varit ökningen av konflikter mellan människor och vilda djur. De olika strategierna som presenterats inom bevarande, som mainstream conservation och convivial conservation, har samma mål men olika tillvägagångssätt när det kommer till ekonomiska, sociala och miljömässiga aspekter. Att bevara arter och mildra konflikterna mellan människor och vilda djur är komplext, både i praktiken och i teorin. Detta gör det till ett ämne värt att studera vidare för att förbättra modeller för bevarande, vilket i sin tur ämnar stärka områden som: försörjning, attityder och omgivningen för bybor som drabbats av dessa konflikter. I denna artikel genomförde författarna intervjuer med representanter från två administrationer som arbetar med bevarandet av elefanter samt intervjuer med bybor som bor nära viltförvaltningsområden, närmare bestämt Burunge Wildlife Management Area (BWMA) i Babati-distriktet, Tanzania. Den här artikeln syftar till att undersöka bybors uppfattning om BWMA och huruvida viltförvaltningsområden uppfyller sitt syfte och lever upp till dess förväntningar samt att undersöka de potentiella förmånerna och riskerna för bybor som bor nära dessa områden. Den övergripande uppfattningen var att majoriteten av byborna var nöjda med BWMA och att organisationen verkade ha lyckats med att uppfylla sitt syfte gällande bevarande. Riskerna med att bo nära viltområden tycks överträffa fördelarna, både från ett ekonomiskt- och trygghetsperspektiv vilket motiverar att lösningarna på konflikterna prioriteras.

Angesichts der weltweit zunehmenden Zerstörung von Ökosystemen spielen ökologisch wirksame und sozial gerechte Umweltschutzinstrumente eine wichtige Rolle. Zahlungen für Ökosystemleistungen (Payments for Ecosystem Services, PES) finden zunehmend Anwendung. Sie dienen als freiwillige und konditionale Anreize für die Bereitstellung von Ökosystemleistungen. Einige dieser PES-Verträge werden mit lokalen Gemeinschaften abgeschlossen, die die Vertragsbedingungen gemeinsam erfüllen (Collective PES, C-PES). Während diese Programme einerseits als Chance für einen erfolgreichen Umweltschutz gesehen werden, wird zum anderen befürchtet, dass sich die Einführung von Marktprinzipien negativ auf lokale Gemeinschaften auswirkt. Vor diesem Hintergrund widmet sich die Dissertation der Frage, inwieweit C-PES-Programme die sozial-ökologische Transformation in Richtung Nachhaltigkeit fördern oder erschweren. Paper I gibt einen literaturgestützten Überblick über Definitionen und Systematisierungen von Kommodifizierungsprozessen und deren sozial-ökologische Auswirkungen. Basierend auf einem im ersten Paper entwickelten Framework werden in Paper II 29 C-PES-Programme weltweit hinsichtlich ihres ökosystemleistungsbezogenen Kommodifizierungsgrades untersucht. Paper III fokussiert auf Mensch-Wildtier-Konflikte im Zusammenhang mit einem Schutzprogramm für Vielfraße und Luchse im Kontext indigener Samen-Gemeinschaften in Schweden. Insgesamt zeigt sich, dass C-PES nicht per se eine Transformation in Richtung sozial-ökologischer Nachhaltigkeit unterstützen, sondern nur dann einen erfolgreichen Beitrag leisten können, wenn bei der Umsetzung die lokalen Gegebenheiten berücksichtigt und Entscheidungen über die Programmgestaltung inklusiv getroffen werden. Darüber hinaus ist es wichtig, dass C-PES Programme engere Mensch-Natur-Beziehungen ermöglichen und in einen umfassenden institutionellen Wandel eingebettet sind, der sich über verschiedene räumliche und politische Ebenen erstreckt. / As ecosystems around the world continue to degrade, the implementation of ecologically effective and socially just conservation instruments is critical. Payments for ecosystem services (PES) are an increasingly popular tool. PES are voluntary and conditional incentives for the provision of ecosystem services, rewarding landowners for their conservation efforts. Some PES programs target local communities that collectively meet contractual obligations (collective PES, C-PES). Proponents see C-PES as a promising tool for successful nature conservation, while critics argue that the introduction of market principles into areas not previously characterized by them can have negative effects, such as the erosion and replacement of well-functioning local community institutions and the crowding out of intrinsic conservation motivations. Against the background of these controversies, this dissertation aims to contribute to answering the question of how paying local communities for their conservation efforts supports or hinders the social-ecological transformation towards sustainability. Paper I reviews definitions and systematizations of program-related commodification processes and local land tenure structures, and their links to social-ecological program outcomes. Based on a framework developed in the first paper, Paper II examines 29 C-PES programs worldwide regarding their ES-related degree of commodification. Paper III focuses on human-environment conflicts in the context of conservation performance payments for wolverines and lynxes in Sweden, which are made to indigenous Sámi communities. Overall, the findings of the three papers suggest that C-PES programs do not in themselves address leverage points for a sustainability transformation, but can only be fully effective when implemented in a careful and inclusive manner, ensuring that they contribute to a larger institutional change across scales and when they support closer connections between people and nature.

Die Hauptursachen für die derzeitige weltweite Krise der biologischen Vielfalt sind Lebensraumzerstörung und Übernutzung. Wir wissen jedoch nicht, wie sich diese beiden Faktoren einzeln und zusammen auf die verschiedenen Aspekte biologischer Vielfalt auswirken und wie sie sich im Laufe der Zeit verändern. Da beide Bedrohungen weit verbreitet sind, verhindern dies die Entwicklung wirksamer Schutzstrategien. Das übergeordnete Ziel dieser Arbeit war räumliche und zeitliche Veränderungsmuster der Auswirkungen von Lebensraumzerstörung und Übernutzung auf die biologische Vielfalt zu verstehen. Ich habe diese Bedrohungsgeographien mit hoher räumlicher Auflösung und über drei Jahrzehnte hinweg für verschiedene Aspekte biologischer Vielfalt untersucht: Arten, Lebensgemeinschaften und taxonomische, phylogenetische und funktionale Facetten biologischer Vielfalt. Ich konzentrierte mich auf den 1,1 Millionen km² großen Gran Chaco, den größten tropischen Trockenwald der Welt und einen globalen Entwaldungs-Hotspot. Meine Ergebnisse zeigen, dass sich im Laufe von 30 Jahren die räumlichen Auswirkungen der einzelnen Bedrohungen auf größere Gebiete ausdehnten als nur auf die abgeholzte Fläche. Dies führte zu einem Verlust an hochwertigen und sicheren Gebieten für den Jaguar, die gesamte Großsäugergemeinschaft und alle Facetten der Säugetiervielfalt. Beide Bedrohungen trugen wesentlich zum Rückgang biologischer Vielfalt bei, ihre relative Bedeutung variierte jedoch je nach Art und Facette der biologischen Vielfalt. Zudem haben die Gebiete, in denen beide Bedrohungen zusammenwirken, im Laufe der Zeit zugenommen, was den Verlust der biologischen Vielfalt wahrscheinlich noch verschlimmert hat. Diese Arbeit unterstreicht, wie wichtig es ist, die Auswirkungen mehrerer Bedrohungen im Laufe der Zeit gemeinsam zu bewerten, um den menschlichen Einfluss auf die biologische Vielfalt besser verstehen zu können und wirksame Schutzstrategien zu finden. / The main drivers of the current global biodiversity crisis are habitat destruction and overexploitation. Yet, we lack understanding of their individual and combined spatial impact on different aspects of biodiversity, and how they change over time. Because both threats are common, these knowledge gaps preclude building more effective conservation strategies. The overarching goal of this thesis was to understand how the impacts of habitat destruction and overexploitation on biodiversity change in space and over time. I assessed these geographies of threat at high spatial resolutions and over three decades for different biodiversity aspects: species, communities, and the taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional facets of biodiversity. I focused on the 1.1 million km² Gran Chaco, the largest tropical dry forest globally, and a global deforestation hotspot. Results reveal that over 30 years, the spatial impacts of each threat expanded over larger areas than the area deforested. This resulted in widespread losses of high-quality and safe areas for the jaguar, the entire larger mammal community and for all facets of the mammalian diversity. Such declines suggest a generalized biotic impoverishment that includes the loss of species, evolutionary history, and ecological functions across much of the Chaco. Both threats contributed substantially to biodiversity declines, and their relative importance varied among species and biodiversity facets. Moreover, the areas where both threats synergize increased over time, likely exacerbating biodiversity losses. For each biodiversity aspect, I identified priority areas of safe and high-quality habitats, and hotspots of high threat impacts, which could guide more effective complementary proactive and reactive conservation strategies. This thesis highlights the importance of jointly assessing the impact of multiple threats over time to better understand the impact of humans on biodiversity and to identify effective ways to mitigate them. / Los principales factores de la actual crisis de la biodiversidad global son la destrucción del hábitat y la sobreexplotación. Sin embargo, desconocemos su impacto espacial, tanto individual como combinado, sobre los diferentes aspectos de la biodiversidad, y cómo cambian en el tiempo. Como ambas amenazas son comunes, estos vacíos de conocimiento impiden elaborar estrategias de conservación más eficaces. El objetivo general de esta tesis fue comprender cómo los impactos de la destrucción del hábitat y la sobreexplotación en la biodiversidad cambian en el espacio y en el tiempo. Evalué estas geografías de las amenazas a altas resoluciones espaciales y a lo largo de tres décadas para diferentes aspectos de la biodiversidad: especies, comunidades y las facetas taxonómica, filogenética y funcional de la biodiversidad. Me centré en el Gran Chaco, de 1,1 millones de km², el mayor bosque seco tropical del mundo y un foco global de deforestación. Los resultados revelan que, a lo largo de 30 años, los impactos espaciales de cada una de las amenazas se extendieron por areas mayores que la superficie deforestada. Esto dio lugar a pérdidas extendidas de áreas seguras y de alta calidad para el jaguar, la comunidad de mamíferos grandes y para todas las facetas de la diversidad de mamíferos. Estos declives sugieren un empobrecimiento biótico generalizado que incluye la pérdida de especies, historia evolutiva y funciones ecológicas en gran parte del Chaco. Ambas amenazas contribuyeron sustancialmente al declive de la biodiversidad, y su importancia relativa varió entre especies y facetas de la biodiversidad. Además, las áreas en las que ambas amenazas sinergizan aumentaron en el tiempo, probablemente exacerbando las pérdidas de biodiversidad. Para cada aspecto de la biodiversidad, identifiqué áreas prioritarias de hábitats seguros y de alta calidad, y focos de alto impacto de las amenazas, que podrían orientar estrategias de conservación complementarias más eficaces, tanto proactivas como reactivas. Esta tesis destaca la importancia de evaluar conjuntamente el impacto de múltiples amenazas a lo largo del tiempo para comprender mejor el impacto de los humanos en la biodiversidad e identificar vías eficaces para mitigarlas.