Protecting nature is a challenge we have been failing to tackle. The
longer we take, the harder finding solutions becomes, given the growing
demand for natural resources by an ever-increasing human population.
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| Fishers waiting for an arapaima (Arapaima sp.) to come up to the surface to harpoon it, during an arapaima co-management harvest season in the Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve, Amazonas, Brazil. Photo credit: Carolina Freitas) |
Human activities have triggered the extinction or sharp decline of
numerous species in the last centuries, and the artificial imbalance of
many, if not most ecosystems worldwide. Over the last decades, parks and
reserves have been showcased and implemented as one of the main
solutions to protect wildlife and ecosystems. However, these initiatives
often fail to reconcile environmental goals with the social rights of
local peoples with a long history of living in close dependence on
nature. In many cases and contrarily to expectations, market insertion
has not necessarily undermined the connection, respect and customary
rules local people adopt towards nature, but the collapse of some
species might have such negative impact. Preventing species collapse and
promoting ecosystem protection needs us to include aspects we may have
overlooked. Ecologists have long used keystone species as the basis for
conservation plans and decision making, but what about species that play
a key role in human culture? Could conservation efforts be focused on
these culturally important species (CIS) as a way of protecting both
nature and traditional ways of life? In this perspective article, we use
data from the literature and explore the outcomes of two management
schemes, both encompassing multiple independent initiatives, to show
that the cultural importance of some species should be regarded as a
highly relevant aspect of conservation strategies in places where
natural resource use is critical to local livelihoods.
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| Local fishers interacting with aquatic resources in the Juruá River basin, Amazonas, Brazil. Left: Man carrying an arapaima (Arapaima sp.) individual (Photo: Helder Espírito-Santo). Right: Man carrying a yellow-spotted river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) (Photo: Carolina Freitas) |
We argue that
management initiatives focusing on the recovery of CIS will likely
stimulate the interests of local people, their engagement and
compliance, as well as local surveillance against infractions. Local and
continuous enforcement is potentially more effective than official
institutional mechanisms, which are typically funding and
staff-deficient and only sporadically deployed, especially in developing
countries. CIS-management can achieve a wide range of positive
ecological, social, cultural and economic outcomes and be an effective
tool to reconcile biodiversity conservation with local people quality of
life.
By Carolina Freitas & Priscila Lopes
Freitas et al. 2019. Co‐management of culturally important species: A tool to promote biodiversity conservation and human well‐being. People and Nature:https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10064
