Priority areas for promoting co-benefits between conservation and the traditional use of mammals and birds in the Chaco

Daniela Tamburini, Ricardo Torres, Tobias Kuemmerle, Christian Levers, Javier Nori*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

As ambitious new targets to increase area-based conservation are discussed, there is a growing concern that such an expansion might ignore or marginalize local people. How to set top-down priorities to implement new protected areas that reconcile local peoples' interaction with and dependence on biodiversity remains a challenge. The Gran Chaco, a global hotspot of deforestation and biodiversity loss, faces the dual challenge of expanding area-based conservation while helping to transition to more sustainable natural resource use in order to maintain traditional livelihoods. We used a literature review to identify species that are important for local communities' livelihoods and then we compared conservation prioritization schemes that sought to identify priority areas for threatened species, versus priority areas for the same species plus species that underpin local livelihoods. We found that current protected areas insufficiently protect threatened species, but that a modest expansion would boost the representativeness of conservation-relevant species almost threefold. Importantly, we found a considerable overlap between priority areas for species of conservation concern and those important for people. This suggests major potential for area-based conservation to leverage co-benefits between conservation and livelihood goals, provided that new conservation initiatives are inclusive and consider the needs and customary rights of local communities. Protected areas that emphasize multiple uses and community-based management appear particularly promising to deliver co-benefits for conservation and development in the Chaco; however, those areas remain scarce. Our approach enables the consideration and empowerment of local people as key actors in conservation planning.

Original languageEnglish
Article number109827
Pages (from-to)1-10
Number of pages10
JournalBiological Conservation
Volume277
Early online date15 Dec 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
DT, RT and JN would like to thank the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Argentina. CL gratefully acknowledges support by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 796451 (FFSize). TK acknowledges support by the European Research Council (ERC, grant agreement # 101001239 SYSTEMSHIFT ). JN is a UNC and CONICET staff member, his research is supported by SeCyT and FONCyT ( PICT 2017-2666 ).

Funding Information:
DT, RT and JN would like to thank the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Argentina. CL gratefully acknowledges support by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 796451 (FFSize). TK acknowledges support by the European Research Council (ERC, grant agreement #101001239 SYSTEMSHIFT). JN is a UNC and CONICET staff member, his research is supported by SeCyT and FONCyT (PICT 2017-2666).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Ltd

Funding

DT, RT and JN would like to thank the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Argentina. CL gratefully acknowledges support by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 796451 (FFSize). TK acknowledges support by the European Research Council (ERC, grant agreement # 101001239 SYSTEMSHIFT ). JN is a UNC and CONICET staff member, his research is supported by SeCyT and FONCyT ( PICT 2017-2666 ). DT, RT and JN would like to thank the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, and National Council for Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), Argentina. CL gratefully acknowledges support by the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Grant Agreement No 796451 (FFSize). TK acknowledges support by the European Research Council (ERC, grant agreement #101001239 SYSTEMSHIFT). JN is a UNC and CONICET staff member, his research is supported by SeCyT and FONCyT (PICT 2017-2666).

Keywords

  • Chaco
  • Conservation planning
  • Sustainable development
  • Threatened species
  • Tropical and subtropical dry forests
  • Wildlife-dependent people

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