Conservation

Enforcement: is more always better?

Malta is renowned as a “blackspot” for illegal bird hunting. This article describes Malta’s current enforcement efforts which, assisted by the Army, and surveillance technology such as drones, and have likely led to a reduction in crime. However, this article also describes how current conservation policies are being counterproductive. They are fostering a culture of … [Read more…]

The second extinction of forgotten species

We often think of extinction as happening out there, in far away wild places, but it also takes place right inside our minds, in our everyday conversations and on social media. Beyond biological extinction, which takes place when the last animal or plant of its kind dies, species can live on in our collective memory, … [Read more…]

Book Review for Con Bio

I recently wrote a book review for the journal Conservation Biology, focused on the two books below: The Wicked Problem of Forest Policy: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Sustainability in Forest Landscapes. Nikolakis W., and J. L. Innes, editors. 2020. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, U.K. x + 400 pp. ISBN 978-1-108-47140-4. Sustainable Governance of Wildlife and Community Based … [Read more…]

Not a cookie-cutter approach: how the uses and trade of giraffe parts vary across Africa

The giraffe is an icon of the African subcontinent, and yet, there are many gaps in knowledge about giraffes in the wild and how to best protect them. In the 21 countries where giraffe populations are found, their conservation status differs depending on the species, geography, and threats they face. Coupled with the threats of … [Read more…]

What determines the success and failure of environmental crowdfunding?

Online crowdfunding can help address the perennial financial shortfalls in environmental conservation and management. Although many online crowdfunding campaigns fail to collect any funds due to not achieving their targets, little is known about what drives success. To address this knowledge gap, we applied a mixed-methods approach to data from 473 successful and failed campaigns … [Read more…]

Five reasons people buy illegal wildlife products – and how to stop them

Laura Thomas-Walters, University of Stirling; Amy Hinsley, University of Oxford, and Diogo Veríssimo, University of Oxford A British tourist on a tropical beach poses for a photo with a cute monkey-like animal. A Vietnamese man buys some rhino-horn powder and brags to his friends about its potency. An orchid collector admires their latest purchase, a … [Read more…]

Ethical Publishing in Biodiversity Conservation Science

For many researchers, particularly in academia, publishing in peer-reviewed journals is a necessity, with major implications for their career progression. Yet, it is increasingly recognised that the current scientific publishing model is not fair and equitable, which can have severe consequences for the way science is accessed and used in nature conservation. We evaluated the … [Read more…]

Culturomics to monitor attitudes towards wildlife

Yesterday I gave a talk as part of the Ecology Live series organized by the British Ecological Society. I talked about some recent research around the use on online data to build a global and real time monitoring system of attitudes towards wildlife. Have a look below if that sounds interesting… It was a great … [Read more…]