Conservation news

INTRINSIC: Training materials for integrating rights

and social issues in conservation
Fauna & Flora International, together with BirdLife
International, the Tropical Biology Association and the
Department of Geography, University of Cambridge, UK,
have developed a flexible package of training materials to
help build the capacity of conservationists to address the social and rights aspects of conservation. The project, known
as INTRINSIC, was funded by the Cambridge Conservation
Initiative Collaborative Fund. Materials were tested with
students on the Cambridge University Masters in
Conservation Leadership and with conservation practitioners in East Africa.
Biodiversity conservation is essentially a social process,
involving as it does decisions about access to, and the use,
values and protection of nature. As such conservation inevitably entails both social costs and benefits, and the social
context is likely to affect the efficiency and effectiveness of
any conservation initiative. Unfortunately conservation
practitioners often lack the knowledge and skills to address
and integrate rights and other social issues into their work.
The typical pathway to a professional conservation career
involves the pursuit of educational opportunities and formal
qualifications in natural sciences. However, the contemporary practice of conservation necessitates working with people, local communities and groups, and requires knowledge
and skills about social systems that are often not gained
through these traditional academic pathways. A number
of authors have pointed out discrepancies between conservation course content and the skills needed, and have bemoaned the lack of training in the social dimensions of
conservation (e.g. Saberwal & Kothari, , Conservation
Biology, , ; Jacobsen & McDuff, ,
Conservation Biology, , ; Fisher et al., ,
Oryx, , ). The INTRINSIC training package aims
to help address this capacity gap and improve conservation
policy and practice by increasing environmental and social
sustainability, thereby enabling positive, equitable outcomes
for both nature and people.
The INTRINSIC materials comprise a trainers guide and
accompanying set of slide presentations designed to be customized for the particular context in which the training is to
take place. It is expected that users will have some experience of working in conservation but in-depth knowledge
of the specific social issues covered in the guide is not required. The developers envisage that delivery of the training
can be a learning opportunity for trainers as well as participants. Subjects covered include community and social diversity, gender, conflict management, livelihoods and
well-being. A range of governance topics are also covered,

including rights-based approaches to conservation, and issues

of equity, participation and power. The materials provided are
designed for a day course or days if a field trip is included.
However, depending on the learning needs of participants,
and the time available, each module can also be used independently or trainers can choose to deliver a subset of the
modules. The trainers notes for each module include session
objectives, rationale (as background for the trainer), key learning points and step-by-step guidance for the delivery of the
content, including plenary presentations. There are also a
range of interactive activities and exercises involving case studies, role play, pair and small group discussions and feedback.
For further information, please contact Dr Helen
Schneider.
HELEN SCHNEIDER Fauna & Flora International, Cambridge,
UK. E-mail helen.schneider@fauna-flora.org

Design and testing of a replicable, scalable

capacity-building model for species conservation
A major challenge for Venezuelan conservation scientists is
to provide support to policy makers engaged in the conservation and sustainable use of the countrys rich biological
diversity, with comparably limited human and financial resources to do so. This challenge includes documenting the
distribution and abundance of genes, species and ecosystems; integrating data from traditional knowledge and biological inventories; systematizing, analysing and socializing
this information with the active involvement of key stakeholders; and facilitating open access through information
and communication technologies.
A primary goal of the Biological Diversity Unit of the
Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Investigation (IVIC) is
to help by implementing a programme for building technical capacity in field sampling and data gathering techniques, and management of biological collections and
information at the national scale, within the framework of
the National Strategy for the Conservation of Biodiversity
and National Action Plan, with the vision of
scaling it up regionally, as additional funds are secured.
Building on the facilities and infrastructure provided by
IVIC, the Biological Diversity Unit has piloted a series of
inter-institutional courses to develop the human resources
required, focusing on skills that are relevant to providing inputs to Venezuelas reporting commitments to international
agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity,
CITES and the Sustainable Development Goals.
Courses on niche models and species distributions were
offered in , georeferencing in , and the legal

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and biological framework for biological diversity research in

, coordinated by the Biological Diversity Unit in collaboration with other institutions, and an introductory course
on taxonomy, ecology and biogeography of amphibians in
. Modest fellowships were offered to those willing to
go further and obtain certification for IUCN Red List assessments (Http://www.iucnredlist.org/technical-documents/
red-list-training/online-training).
With the support of IVIC, Universidad Centroccidental
Lisandro Alvarado, Universidad Nacional Experimental de
los Llanos Occidentales Ezequiel Zamora, City University of
New York, Fundacin La Salle de Ciencias Naturales,
Universidad Central de Venezuela , Ministerio del Poder
Popular para Ecosocialismo y Aguas, Instituto Socialista
de la Pesca y Acuicultura (Insopesca), Provita and the
IUCN Species Survival Commission Freshwater Fish
Specialist Group, the Biological Diversity Unit worked offered a course on biogeography, ecology, integrity and conservation of freshwater fishes during April May .
Twenty-seven students and professionals combined lectures
at IVIC with field trips to a montane watershed in the coast
of Aragua, and to the Orinoco river floodplain at Hato Santa
Luisa, in Apure, where the owners were generous with their
support to the course.
These courses have provided training to more than
students, professionals, technicians and governmental
agency officials involved in the management of biological
diversity. The skills and techniques taught are not part of
the traditional curricula of Venezuelan universities, although they are essential for maintaining and strengthening
national capacities for management of natural heritage.
Improvement of scientific knowledge is, however, only
the initial step in informing conservation policies. Data
must be synthesized, and socialized with the public. In
January the Biological Diversity Unit offered a course
on writing popular scientific articles in conservation biology, exposing participants to the experience of science journalists, linguists and scientists, and to appropriate media
outlets. For weeks, day of lectures per week was combined
with writing assignments, leading to short pieces on a topic
of choice by each of the participants. The course organizers contacted media outlets to place the articles, and a
number have been published or accepted for publication
(e.g. Http://bit.ly/aZXwS, Http://bit.ly/aan, Http://
bit.ly/avQtL).
During the second semester of we will continue with
courses on georeferencing, species distribution modelling
and the legal and biological framework for biological diversity research. We are also exploring the expansion of the
courses on natural history and field techniques, and further
training in Red List assessments.
Ultimately, our training programme supports conservation policies by helping establish a new cohort of conservation professionals and feeding information into the

Venezuelan Information System on Biological Diversity

(Http://diversidadbiologica.minamb.gob.ve/),
WikiEVA
(Threatened Venezuelan Species, Http://wikieva.org.ve/),
the recent update of the Red List of Venezuelan Fauna
(Http://animalesamenazados.provita.org.ve/)
and
the
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (Http://www.iucnredlist.org/). Securing financial support to replicate and scaleup this programme at the regional level is the next step.
HAIDY ROJAS DINORA SNCHEZ DANIEL LEW JOS
RAFAEL SEARIS and GRISEL VELSQUEZ Instituto Venezolano
de Investigaciones Cientficas, Venezuela. E-mail hrojas@
ivic.gob.ve
DOUGLAS RODRGUEZ-OLARTE Museo de Ciencias Naturales,
Universidad Centroccidental Lisandro Alvarado, Venezuela
CARLIZ DAZ DIRECCIN General de Diversidad Biolgica,
Ministerio del Poder Popular para Ecosocialismo y Aguas,
Venezuela
John Muirs little-known 1911 trip to Chile:
conserving the historical and ecological legacy
John Muir, the important American nature writer, scientist
and conservationist, travelled alone to Chile in , at the
age of , because he wanted to see native forests of
Araucaria araucana, the monkey puzzle tree. Few
Americans and almost no Chileans know about this trip because Muir never published anything about it before his
death in . In and two of us (B. Byers and
J. Byers) used Muirs sparse journal notes and sketches to
reconstruct his route to the site, now on private land adjacent to Tolhuaca National Park in central Chile, where he
finally found Araucaria and camped amongst and sketched
them.
In April we held a workshop in Chile to outline the
first steps for securing the recognition and protection this
historically and ecologically important site deserves. The
workshop brought together a diverse group of more than
people, including representatives from the Corporacin
Nacional Forestal, which manages Chiles protected areas
and forestry sector; the private commercial forestry company that manages the land on which the site is located; academic ecologists and historians; and leaders of Chilean
conservation organizations.
The first day of the workshop consisted of presentations
and discussions that ranged from forest ecology and history
to conservation policy and nature tourism in Chile. Chiles
Araucaria forests, although under strict legal protection,
face unique threats from land-use and climate change, and
invasive species, and are underrepresented in the national
system of protected areas. Araucaria forests exist in a dynamic relationship with fire, climate and human land uses

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such as grazing. Private protected areas in Chile offer a lot of

flexibility in terms of what they are called, and how and for
what purposes they are managed. One category of private
protected area is an area of high conservation value, and
forest certification organizations recognize and reward forest owners who protect such areas. Around % of the property on which the site visited by Muir is located is native
forest, and % is plantations of non-native species, mainly
Eucalyptus. A group of nature and ecotourism operators in
Malalcahuello, Chile, is interested in the Muir site being
opened for limited access so that it can be added to one of
the existing national Rutas Patrimoniales (Heritage Routes)
in the Araucana Region, and the National Tourism Service
of Chile, SERNATUR, supports this idea.
The second day of the workshop was a visit to the site
where Muir camped and sketched. His unpublished sketches
provide a unique record of an Araucaria forest at an identifiable site a century ago. We know of no photographs of other
identifiable sites from that time, so these sketches provide a
baseline for understanding a century of forest change in the
region. The Araucaria forest Muir sketched consisted of large
old trees with an open understorey, probably the result of a
stand-replacing fire at least several decades before his visit.
We found old fire scars on several of the biggest Araucaria
at the site, including one of the trees Muir sketched. After
it seems likely that there was little or no fire in this
area, indicated by the multi-aged stand of younger
Araucaria now growing there, but grazing must have been
intense to suppress the regeneration of Nothofagus species,
the seedlings of which are eaten by cattle.
Following the workshop we are continuing to discuss options for a formal conservation agreement for the site with
the private forestry company and other stakeholders. We are
planning further studies to understand the fire history and
forest dynamics that led to the current forest condition at
the site, and we are also working on a plan for limited and
regulated access so that local ecotourism operators can start
marketing trips to the site to groups of specialized clients.
BRUCE A. BYERS Bruce Byers Consulting, Falls Church,
Virginia, USA. E-mail bruce.byers@verizon.net
JONATHAN BYERS Alpine of the Americas Project, El Portal,
California, USA
MAURO GONZALEZ Universidad Austral de ChileInstituto de
Conservacin, Biodiversidad y Territorio, Campus Isla teja
Valdivia, University Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

A 90 year old mystery solved: a potentially new

species of owl from Prncipe
The Gulf of Guinea contains a chain of four main islands:
Bioko (Fernando Po) and the oceanic islands of Prncipe,
So Tom and Annobon. So Tom and Prncipe is an independent nation of which Principe is the smallest and oldest island. In a recent expedition to a remote rainforest on
Prncipe an apparently undescribed species of scops owl
was observed. The owl appears to have vocalizations unlike
any known scops owl and is probably an undescribed species. The news was first announced at an international conference on island biology in the Azores in July .
Speculation about the presence of an unknown species
of scops owl on Prncipe is almost years old but the
species had previously eluded researchers despite several
expeditions to find it. Early explorers to Prncipe reported
in that inhabitants of the island indicated the presence of a small and rare owl species. In one of us
(M. Melo) collected testimonials of local parrot trappers,
who described seeing a scops-owl like bird in tree holes
in the rainforest, and later reported that in the most remote forests one could hear unknown calls within the frequency range of owl calls, and urged ornithologist to
search for the owl (Melo & Dallimer, , Malimbus,
, ).
In July two of (P. Verbelen & F. Spina) organized an
expedition to Prncipe in search of the presumed owl.
During days in the southern rainforests the unidentified
calls, from high in the forest canopy, were heard at various
locations. The bird was lured into view, confirming that the
mysterious calls came from an owl. The species was photographed and recordings made at close range when an individual descended from the canopy to lower branches after
playback of its own recorded calls. A formal description of
the Prncipe scops owl is now in preparation.
The islands of So Tom and Prncipe harbour endemic bird species ( including the new owl species) and
have thus been dubbed the African Galapagos and the lost
Eden of Africa. The rainforests on the islands are a global
priority for biodiversity conservation, especially for birds,
and the Natural Park of So Tom is considered an irreplaceable protected area. In Fauna & Flora
International joined forces with the Prncipe Trust
Foundation to work together to enhance the conservation
of the islands outstanding biodiversity. A collaboration
agreement was signed, a conservation strategy defined and
two conservation managers seconded to the Foundation.

ANBAL PAUCHARD Universidad de ConcepcinFacultad de

Ciencias Forestales, Concepcin, Chile

PHILIPPE VERBELEN Ghent, Belgium

SERGIO PREZ Suizandina Lodge, Malalcahuello, Chile

MARTIM MELO Research Centre in Biodiversity and Genetic

Resources, Porto University, Lisbon, Portugal

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GEORGE SANGSTER Department of Bioinformatics and

Genetics, Swedish Museum of Natural History, Stockholm,
Sweden
FELIPE SPINA Principe Trust Foundation and Fauna and Flora
International, So Tom and Prncipe. E-mail felipe.spina@
fauna-flora.org
Chinese nature reserve continues experimental use
of fire to benefit the threatened Cycas
panzhihuaensis
On January Chinas Panzhihua Cycad National
Nature Preserve successfully carried out its th round of
prescribed fire to improve the habitat of the threatened
Panzhihua cycad Cycas panzhihuaensis. This cycad is categorized as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and as a Class I
National Protected Plant of China. The number of populations has shrunk from to one and the size of the one remaining population has shrunk by more than % over
generations as a result of poaching during the s and
habitat destruction by mining activities.
The Panzhihua cycad is restricted to the hot, dry savannah along the valleys of the Jinsha River and its tributaries in
and around Panzhihua City. This habitat has been subjected
historically to frequent wildfires. However, since the establishment of the area as a municipal preserve in (upgraded to a National Nature Preserve in ), fire has
been excluded in accordance with national policy to prevent
fires in all protected areas. After more than decades without fire the Panzhihua cycad population within the preserve
started to show signs of decline as a result of competition
with trees. Permission was therefore obtained from the
State Forestry Administration to carry out three prescribed
fires, of . ha in , ha in , and . ha in , in
north, south and south-east-facing areas respectively.
However, non-burn controls were not used and therefore
the effects of the fires remained unclear.
The th prescribed fire, however, was carried out in areas
with known time-to-last-fire and included non-burn control plots. In addition, cm thick steel plates painted with
temperature sensitive paints (C) were placed at
ground level throughout the burn areas to measure fire
intensity. In addition, a replicated seed experiment was set
up to examine the effect of fire on seed germination rates.
The nature preserve harbours a total of plant species
from families and genera, including other threatened plants, and the research will also provide information
on the response of these plants to fire.
Knowledge of the effect of fire on the Panzhihua cycad
will be used to design a management plan for the species
and will also provide scientific data for a reconsideration
of the policy on prescribed fire in nature reserves. Fire is
currently treated as a threat to the persistence of all species

and habitats in China, but certain habitat types and species

are dependent upon periodic burning for their continued
existence. Although the suppression of wildfire is often necessary to reduce the negative consequences of fire, a programme to introduce fire periodically, under controlled
conditions, will help to conserve C. panzhihuaensis and its
remaining habitat as well as other species and habitats that
evolved with and depend upon fire.
H. Liu acknowledges support from the Guangxi Science
and Technology Bureau (grant no -).
HONG LIU International Center for Tropical Botany and the
Department of Earth and Environment, Florida
International University, Miami, Florida, USA, Fairchild
Tropical Botanic Garden, Coral Gables, Florida, USA, and
College of Forestry, Guangxi University, China. E-mail
hliu@fiu.edu
WUYING LIN and XIAOYA LI Fauna and Flora International,
China Programme
New tree species described from the Western Ghats,
India
The wet evergreen rainforests of the Western Ghats of India
have undergone serious fragmentation. While the loss of
primary forest continues, scientists are beginning to realize
they have underestimated the species diversity and evolutionary uniqueness of this ecosystem. Biologists have, for example, recently discovered several new species of
amphibians and reptiles, some with unique evolutionary
histories and novel breeding behaviours.
Trees, one of the well-studied groups in the Western
Ghats, are also providing surprises, as evidenced from the
recent discovery of a new species in the genus Miliusa, an
understorey tree of the Annonaceae (custard apple) family.
This discovery was made during an expedition to
Kudremukh peak in , one of the highest peaks in the
central Western Ghats, and subsequent expeditions in
. This new tree species has now been named Miliusa
malnadensis (Page & Nerlekar, , Phytotaxa, ,
). It is restricted to montane evergreen forests at a narrow
elevational zone of ,, m.
This tree species may have previously gone unnoticed because of its restricted distribution, sparse and sporadic flowering, and perhaps because it may have been mistaken for its
morphologically similar congener, Miliusa wightiana,
which has a disjunct distribution in the southern Western
Ghats. The new discovery makes southern India the centre
of diversity of this genus. There are also likely to be other
tree species yet to be discovered and, like M. malnadensis,
it will be difficult to assign an IUCN Red List status to
such species without information on range or population
size.

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The publication of the discovery of this new species was

made possible through the support of the Conservation
Leadership Programme (www.conservationleadershippro
gramme.org), which is currently supporting a project to
carry out distribution and population status assessments of
selected endemic trees of the Western Ghats. We hope that

the discovery of M. malnadensis and other new species will

help in some way to save this unique and diverse ecosystem.
NAVENDU PAGE Center for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute
of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. E-mail navendu.
page@gmail.com

Oryx, 2016, 50(4), 580584 2016 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605316000892