Search

Sacred natural sites (SNSs) are examples of community‐level governance for sustainable management of natural resources, which can greatly benefit nature conservation. However, the lack of a comprehensive understanding of the role of SNSs in conservation has resulted in overly simplistic classifications of SNSs that challenge current SNS research and conservation practice. Here, we propose an SNS classification framework based on the types and levels of material and spiritual services that SNSs provide, and applied this framework in the Khawa Karpo, an important sacred area in the Tibetan region of China based on detailed field surveys conducted from 2000 to 2004 and 2015 to 2017 that addressed six types of SNSs, including sacred mountains, Ri Vgags, sacred lakes, sacred rocks, sacred caves, and sacred trees. We found that SNSs in this region played a crucial role in sustaining traditional cultures and providing material services. Adoption of our classification framework will assist with the development of management strategies and targeted conservation actions for individual SNSs, thus improving conservation levels particularly in the Tibetan region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Private land conservation areas (PLCAs) have become critical for achieving global conservation goals, but we lack understanding of how and when these areas respond to global pressures and opportunities. In southern Africa, where many PLCAs rely on trophy hunting as an income‐generating strategy, a potential ban on trophy hunting locally or abroad holds unknown consequences for the future conservation of these lands. In this study, we investigate the consequences of a potential trophy hunting ban in PLCAs in two biodiversity hotspots in South Africa's Eastern and Western Cape provinces. We used semistructured interviews with PLCA managers and owners to elicit perceived impacts of an internationally imposed trophy hunting ban on conservation activities in PLCAs, and to probe alternative viable land uses. The majority of interviewees believed that both the economic viability of their PLCA and biodiversity would be lost following a hunting ban. Owners would primarily consider transitioning to ecotourism or livestock farming, but these options were constrained by the social‐ecological context of their PLCA (e.g., competition with other PLCAs, ecological viability of farming). Our results suggest that a trophy hunting ban may have many unintended consequences for biodiversity conservation, national economies, and the livelihoods of PLCA owners and employees. Along with similar social‐ecological studies in other areas and contexts, our work can inform policy decisions around global trophy hunting regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]