Community involvement works where enforcement fails: conservation success through community-based management of Amazon river turtle nests

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1 School of Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Amapá, Macapá, Amapá, Brazil
2 Ecology and Conservation of Amazonian Vertebrates Research Group, Federal University of Amapá, Macapá, Amapá, Brazil
3 Postgraduate Programme in Tropical Biodiversity, Federal University of Amapá, Macapá, Amapá, Brazil
4 Instituto Pró-Carnívoros, Atibaia, São Paulo, Brazil
5 Department of Forest and Environmental Biology, State University of New York (SUNY), Syracuse, New York, United States
DOI
10.7287/peerj.preprints.26843v1
Published
Accepted
Subject Areas
Coupled Natural and Human Systems, Natural Resource Management, Environmental Impacts
Keywords
Integrated management, Protected area, Reptile, Nest harvest, Turtle conservation, Monitoring, Amazon conservation, Natural resource management, Human impact
Copyright
© 2018 Norris et al.
Licence
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, reproduction and adaptation in any medium and for any purpose provided that it is properly attributed. For attribution, the original author(s), title, publication source (PeerJ Preprints) and either DOI or URL of the article must be cited.
Cite this article
Norris D, Michalski F, Gibbs JP. 2018. Community involvement works where enforcement fails: conservation success through community-based management of Amazon river turtle nests. PeerJ Preprints 6:e26843v1

Abstract

Law enforcement is widely regarded as a cornerstone to effective natural resource management. Practical guidelines for the optimal use of enforcement measures are lacking particularly in areas protected under sustainable and/or mixed use management regimes and where legal institution are weak. Focusing on the yellow-spotted river turtles (Podocnemis unifilis) along 33 km of river that runs between two sustainable–use reserves in the Brazilian Amazon as an illustrative example, we show that two years of patrols to enforce lawful protection regulations had no effect on nest harvesting. In contrast, during one year when community-based management approaches were enacted harvest levels dropped nearly threefold to a rate (26%) that is likely sufficient for river turtle population recovery. Our findings support previous studies that show how community participation, if appropriately implemented, can facilitate effective natural resource management where law enforcement is limited or ineffective.

Author Comment

This is a submission to PeerJ for review.

Supplemental Information

Community management of nesting areas

DOI: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.26843v1/supp-1