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Formal engagement of indigenous peoples in conservation is increasing globally and leads to multiple benefits to communities while contributing to national and international biodiversity goals and obligations. This and ongoing declines in biodiversity have led to calls to increase opportunities for indigenous people to engage in managing their estates. However, there is no overarching understanding of indigenous peoples' involvement in conservation, which limits the identification of new opportunities. We amalgamated information across governments and large nongovernmental organizations in the megadiverse country of Australia to quantify the involvement of indigenous people in management of threatened species. We identified 153 Australian-based projects undertaken by different indigenous groups around the nation in 2015 and 2016 that included explicit funds for management of threatened species or threatened ecosystems. Most were in remote parts of western and northern Australia. Almost one-quarter of all threatened animals and 2% of threatened plants were the subject of some formal conservation action by indigenous people. Occurrence records for 1574 threatened species showed that 823 (89.2%) of 923 species recorded on indigenous peoples' lands were not listed in management projects. This gap may represent new opportunities for conservation initiatives. Because at least 59.5% of Australia's threatened species occur on indigenous peoples' lands, efforts to build appropriate and effective indigenous conservation alliances are vital. However, it is also important to recognize that threatened species are part of complex social, ecological, economic and cultural systems, and to achieve successful outcomes requires consideration of indigenous peoples' priorities, rights, and obligations and relationships with their traditionally owned land and sea.

Globally, freshwater fishes are declining at an alarming rate. Despite much evidence of catastrophic declines, few Australian species are listed as threatened under national legislation. We aim to help redress this by identifying the Australian freshwater fishes that are in the most immediate risk of extinction. For 22 freshwater fishes (identified as highly threatened by experts), we used structured expert elicitation to estimate the probability of extinction in the next ~20 years, and to identify key threats and priority management needs. All but one of the 22 species are small (50% probability of extinction in the next ~20 years. Collectively, the biggest factor contributing to the likelihood of extinction of the freshwater fishes considered is that they occur in small (distributions ≤44km2), geographically isolated populations, and are threatened by a mix of processes (particularly alien fishes and climate change). Nineteen of these species are unlisted on national legislation, so legislative drivers for recovery actions are largely absent. Research has provided strong direction on how to manage ~35% of known threats to the species considered, and, of these, ~36% of threats have some management underway (although virtually none are at the stage where intervention is no longer required). Increased resourcing, management intervention and social attitudinal change is urgently needed to avert the impending extinction of Australia’s most imperilled freshwater fishes.

Migratory shorebirds are declining in all transequatorial flyways, most rapidly in the East Asian–Australasian Flyway. Population trends for shorebirds have been derived at a flyway and continental scale, but changes at the local scale are less well understood. Here we compare trends in migratory shorebird populations using natural and artificial roost sites within a tropical harbour, examine possible drivers of change, and identify appropriate conservation management responses. Counts of 19 migratory shorebird species from 2010 and 2018 showed that total abundance increased at an average annual rate of 3.3% (95% CI=1.3–5.4%, P=0.001) across five natural roost sites. This was driven largely by increases in great knot, with most other species declining. At an artificial site in an adjacent shorebird area, total abundance increased at an average annual rate of 14.5% (95% CI=10.5–18.6%, P ≤ 0.000), with few species declining. These results suggest that there is a need to include both natural and artificial sites within shorebird conservation and management planning and that trends in different species can be driven by a combination of local and external drivers.

Many programmes formally engage Australian Indigenous people in land and sea management to provide environmental services. There are also many Indigenous people who 'look after country' without rewards or payment because of cultural obligations. We investigated how Indigenous peoples' mobility in and around two communities (Maningrida and Ngukurr) is affected by their formal or informal engagement in cultural and natural resource management (CNRM). Understanding factors that influence peoples' mobility is important if essential services are to be provided to communities efficiently. We found that those providing formal CNRM were significantly less likely to stay away from settlements than those 'looking after their country' without payment or reward. Paying Indigenous people to engage with markets for CNRM through carbon farming or payments for environmental services (PES) schemes may alter traditional activities and reduce mobility, particularly movements away from communities that extend the time spent overnight on country. This could have both environmental and social consequences that could be managed through greater opportunities for people to engage in formal CNRM while living away from communities and greater recognition of the centrality of culture to all Indigenous CNRM, formal or otherwise.

The extent to which project outcomes are sustained years after development projects have ended is not routinely investigated. This study assessed the long-term impacts of a fire management project in eastern Indonesia seven years after the funding ended. Post-project evaluation increased understanding of the factors determining sustainability of project outcomes and links to development impacts. The continuation of community fire management and agroforestry groups was linked to demonstration of benefits to farmers and multi-level engagement. Activities had ceased where ownership was disputed. Some long-term impacts were outside the original aims of the fire project, including district government agencies applying fire mapping skills to other development issues.

Through collation of global, national and state/territory threatened species lists, we conclude that 100 Australian endemic species (one protist, 38 vascular plants, ten invertebrates, one fish, four frogs, three reptiles, nine birds and 34 mammals) are validly listed as extinct (or extinct in the wild) since the nation’s colonisation by Europeans in 1788. This tally represents about 6–10% of the world’s post-1500 recognised extinctions. The actual number of extinctions is likely to be far more than those recognised in formal lists. Mammals have suffered the highest proportional rate of extinction (ca. 10% of the endemic mammal fauna). There are four main distributional features of these extinctions: (i) consistent with global patterns, island endemic species are disproportionately represented; (ii) many non-island extinct species had highly restricted mainland ranges; but conversely (iii) many extinct mammals had extensive ranges; and (iv) there have been no recognised extinctions of species confined to Australia’s mainland monsoonal tropics. Extinctions have occurred largely continuously since Australia’s European settlement, with at least three extinctions in the last decade. Mammal extinctions were caused mainly by introduced predators; plant extinctions by habitat loss; frog extinctions by disease; reptile extinctions by an introduced snake; and invertebrate extinctions by a range of anthropogenic processes. Causality has changed over time, with recent extinctions more likely to be associated with disease, introduced reptiles and introduced fish and less likely to be associated with hunting and introduced mammalian predators. The most recent extinction is the sole case for which climate change was a major factor.

Novel, agricultural habitats are increasingly recognised for the conservation opportunities they present. Rice fields show particular promise for waterbirds and 'wildlife-friendly' farming initiatives, but most work has focussed on conspicuous, well-known species and the value of flooding harvested fields to provide non-breeding habitat. The Australasian bittern (Botaurus poiciloptilus) is a cryptic, globally endangered waterbird that breeds in rice crops in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. To assess the size of the population, we surveyed rice fields from 2013 to 2017 on randomly selected farms in the Murrumbidgee valley. Occupancy modelling yielded population estimates ranging from 368 to 409 for 'early permanent water' crops. With conservative estimates for the unsurveyed Murray region, and for fields with 'delayed permanent water', we suggest that in most years the Riverina's rice fields attract approximately 500–1000 individuals to breed, representing about 40% of the global population. Water allocations for irrigation drive the area of rice grown, with the total Riverina rice crop ranging from 5,000-113,000 ha during 2010–2019. Previously overlooked, rice fields can play an integral role alongside natural wetlands in the conservation of the Australasian bittern. Contraction of the ponding period to increase water use efficiency and the transition of Riverina irrigators to cotton farming are immediate threats to this population. We recommend trialling 'bittern-friendly' rice growing incentives, development of supportive policy and acknowledgement that some water allocated to agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin can have explicit environmental benefits. The significance of rice fields to other cryptic wetland species should also be assessed.

Fluffy, orange and endearing, orang-utans have won the hearts of people all over the world. However, all sub-species are endangered in the wild with the Bornean orang-utan population having declined by more than 50% over the past 60 years. Fewer than 2,000 wild orang-utans remain in Sarawak with nearly all truly wild ones confined to a remote site on the Indonesian border. Yet each year thousands of tourists and local Sarawak people see orang-utans semi-wild in a reserve or captive in a rehabilitation centre. We investigated the attitudes of such tourists towards the conservation of the remaining wild populations by means of questionnaires, including a choice experiment. Sixty percent of the respondents were, in principle, willing to pay to ensure survival of a wild orang-utan population. International tourists tended to regard wild survival as being more important than having a high probability of seeing orang-utans personally-indeed they preferred wild orang-utans to be hard to find. Malaysian tourists were more inclined to favour investment in the small number of captive or semi-wild animals. Using conservative judgements of the difference between stated and real willingness-to-pay, we estimated that about USD 6.6 million per year could be made available to wild orang-utan conservation from voluntary contributions by visitors to the semi-wild animals. We also estimated that the 40% of visitors to these facilities who come to Sarawak primarily because of the apes, bring between USD 13 and USD 23 million into the local economy each year through their expenditure on local businesses, about 0.6% of the income earned by Sarawak from timber products. Our results suggest that far fewer would come if there were no wild orang-utans in Sarawak. Thus the value of wild orang-utans in Sarawak can be delivered through the captive facilities but the economic benefits from orang-utans require both captive and wild orang-utans.

Despite high levels of poverty in Indigenous Australian communities, workforce participation is low for the few jobs available. Our research showed that, in contrast, there was a high level of interest in involvement in wildlife-based industries. Young men were particularly interested in animal-based industries whereas involvement in plant-based industries was more likely among middle-aged people of both sexes. People who had employment as land and sea managers (‘rangers’) were more likely than others to express interest in enterprise involvement. Importantly the level and type of interest differed between communities, reflecting differences in history and culture. The results, which are the first documentation of a quantitative analysis of Australian Indigenous peoples’ interest in wildlife-based enterprises, suggest that this is considered far more desirable than involvement in other types of work that might be available. It also suggests that any programmes facilitating such enterprises need to be tailored to the community for which they are being designed.

We surveyed small-scale farmers in the Kenyan Rift Valley province (Narok and Nakuru districts) to describe constraints to, and changes in, livestock production and to assess the extent to which farmers have adopted new technologies promoted by extension services. In the arid areas of southern Narok, farmers' main constraints were drought and disease. Farmers in Nakuru district, situated in the fertile highlands of the Rift Valley, were also affected by disease but also lacked markets and capital. Although 83% of the farmers had regular contact with extension services that provided advice on new technologies and livestock production innovations, only about half of the respondents implemented the proposed changes. Many of those who did change (38%) improved pasture/nutrition/manure management and relatively few (16%) improved their animal breeding practices. Results of a multinomial logit model revealed that, apart from the significant differences between the two districts, the nature of the advice and the expected outcomes had the strongest influence on the probability of successfully implementing changes to livestock production. The results further suggest that adoption of new technologies is limited by lack of knowledge, inadequate support and a failure to target local needs and conditions and empower livestock keepers.

Summary In cases where assisted colonisation is the appropriate conservation tool, the selection of recipient sites is a major challenge. Here, we propose a framework for site selection that can be applied to the Australian biota, where planning for assisted colonisation is in its infancy. Characteristics that will be important drivers in the decision-making process include the size of a recipient site, the potential to augment corridors and respond to niche gaps, the maximisation of climatic buffering, bioregional similarity, tenure security, and the minimisation of opportunities for hybridisation and invasiveness. Sites we suggest be precluded from assisted colonisation include sites of high species endemism, IUCN category 1 reference reserves and fully-functioning threatened ecological communities.

Much biodiversity lives on lands to which Indigenous people retain strong legal and management rights. However this is rarely quantified. Here we provide the first quantitative overview of the importance of Indigenous land for a critical and vulnerable part of biodiversity, threatened species, using the continent of Australia as a case study. We find that three quarters of Australia’s 272 terrestrial or freshwater vertebrate species listed as threatened under national legislation have projected ranges that overlap Indigenous lands. On average this overlap represents 45% of the range of each threatened species while Indigenous land is 52% of the country. Hotspots where multiple threatened species ranges overlap occur predominantly in coastal Northern Australia. Our analysis quantifies the vast potential of Indigenous land in Australia for contributing to national level conservation goals, and identifies the main land management arrangements available to Indigenous people which may enable them to deliver those goals should they choose to do so.

Joint management of protected areas by indigenous people and government management agencies is being promoted at the international level as a tool to strengthen the protection of biodiversity and the recognition of indigenous peoples' interests in protected areas. Monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of joint management is, however, in its infancy. To help managers, we calculated the costs of participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) of joint management in the Northern Territory (NT), Australia relative to other joint management expenses. Costs of the process constituted only 1.3–1.5 per cent of the total joint management budget of over AU$10 million over three years. The preparation and validation/feedback phases of PM&E demanded most time and money, with contractor costs, particularly for external facilitators, representing the largest proportion of expenditure. The relatively low costs of PM&E are in contrast with common perceptions of the process as time-consuming and expensive.

Rewards for environmental service provision, couched under market-based instruments, are widely touted in Australia as a means of improving natural resource management while empowering indigenous people. We document here the views of indigenous Australians in a community in Arnhem Land about their motivations for, and ways to provide, such services. Most respondents (93%) said that they ‘look after country’ to fulfil cultural responsibilities. Natural resource management, they said, should be carried out communally, primarily under the direction of elders and family. Sixty percent of respondents preferred direct payments such as cash or salaried remuneration like that commonly offered in return for ranger-like activities such as feral animal/weed control, coastal surveillance and prescribed burning. Some (14%) either did not want or did not need rewards for environmental service provision. Others (19%) preferred rewards in a form that benefited their community or family rather than themselves as individuals. There was agreement that outcomes should be monitored, consistent with the principle that reward payments should be conditional on performance. We suggest that a reward system that is too narrowly defined could thwart the potential for win-win outcomes from indigenous incentive-based natural resource management but that their articulation could allow solutions to be negotiated.

Coastal northern Australia is largely owned and occupied by Aboriginal people who are strongly connected to their traditional country. We assess the views of Aboriginal people in Arnhem Land on the impacts of climate change and their possible precautionary responses to both sea level rise and a potential increase in the intensity of tropical cyclones in coastal communities. All respondents had heard about climate change, and 48 % had already seen environmental changes, particularly sea level rise, which they attributed to climate change. Fifty-eight percent of respondents would consider relocating in the future for safety reasons, although most respondents perceived living close to the sea as highly important for their future well-being, emphasising their strong connection to their traditional sea country. Many of those willing to relocate would consider moving inland, either temporarily or permanently, provided that community facilities could also be moved. Other respondents who said they would be unlikely to relocate in the future because of climate change impacts, and would prefer to adapt in situ with government support (e.g. building more shelters for severe cyclones, building sea walls and better roads for quick evacuation if necessary). We recommend that the diversity of adaptation preferences among Aboriginal people should be accommodated in policy to minimise social impacts of climate change and to take advantage of potential opportunities that could arise from moving.

Severe impacts on biodiversity are predicted to arise from climate change. These impacts may not be adequately addressed by conventional approaches to conservation. As a result, additional management actions are now being considered. However, there is currently limited guidance to help decision makers choose which set of actions (and in what order) is most appropriate for species that are considered to be vulnerable. Here, we provide a decision framework for the full complement of actions aimed at conserving species under climate change from ongoing conservation in existing refugia through various forms of mobility enhancement to ex situ conservation outside the natural environment. We explicitly recognize that allocation of conservation resources toward particular actions may be governed by factors such as the likelihood of success, cost and likely co-benefits to non-target species in addition to perceived vulnerability of individual species. As such, we use expert judgment of probable tradeoffs in resource allocation to inform the sequential evaluation of proposed management interventions.

Assisted colonisation has received considerable attention recently, and the risks and benefits of introducing taxa to sites beyond their historical range have been vigorously debated. The debate has primarily focused on using assisted colonization to enhance the persistence of taxa that would otherwise be stranded in unsuitable habitat as a consequence of anthropogenic climate change and habitat fragmentation. However, a complementary motivation for assisted colonisation could be to relocate taxa to restore declining ecosystem processes that support biodiversity in recipient sites. We compare the benefits and risks of species introductions motivated by either goal, which we respectively term ‘push’ versus ‘pull’ strategies for introductions to preserve single species or for restoration of ecological processes. We highlight that, by focusing on push and neglecting pull options, ecologists have greatly under-estimated potential benefits and risks that may result from assisted colonisation. Assisted colonisation may receive higher priority in climate change adaptation strategies if relocated taxa perform valuable ecological functions (pull) rather than have little collateral benefit (push). Potential roles include enhancing resistance to invasion by undesired species, supporting co-dependent species, performing keystone functions, providing temporally critical resources, replacing taxa of low ecological redundancy, and avoiding time lags in the provisioning of desired functions.

Costs of Conservation In 2010, world governments agreed to a strategic plan for biodiversity conservation, including 20 targets to be met by 2020, through the Convention on Biological Diversity. Discussions on financing the plan have still not been resolved, partly because there is little information on the likely costs of meeting the targets. McCarthy et al. (p. 946 , published online 11 October) estimate the financial costs for two of the targets relating to protected areas and preventing extinctions. Using data from birds, they develop models that can be extrapolated to the costs for biodiversity more broadly. Reducing extinction risk for all species is estimated to require in the region of U.S. $4 billion annually, while the projected costs of establishing and maintaining protected areas may be as much as U.S. $58 billion—although both sums are small, relative to the economic costs of ecosystem losses.

This paper examines an issue that is becoming increasingly relevant as the pressures of a warming planet, changing climate and changing ecosystems ramp up. The broad context for the paper is the intragenerational, intergenerational, and interspecies equity implications of changing the climate and the value orientations of adapting to such change. In addition, the need to stabilize the planetary climate by urgent mitigation of change factors is a foundational ethical assumption. In order to avoid further animal and plant extinctions, or at the very least, their increased vulnerability to becoming rare and endangered; the systematic assisted colonization of “at risk” species is being seriously considered by scientists and managers of biodiversity. The more practical aspects of assisted colonization have been covered in the conservation biology literature; however, the ethical implications of such actions have not been extensively examined. Our discussion of the value issues, using a novel case study approach, will rectify the limited ethical analysis of the issue of assisted colonization of species in the face of climate change pressures. Beyond sustainability ethics, both animal and environmental ethical approaches will be used and intrinsic versus instrumental value orientations in the literature shall form the basis of our discussion. After the application of all the ethical approaches to the case studies, we conclude that without mitigation and the prospect of a future stable climate, assisted colonization will be involved in an inherently unethical process and a “move and lose it” outcome. With mitigation, there is wide-ranging ethical support for assisted colonization.

Summary 1. Expert knowledge is used routinely to inform listing decisions under the IUCN Red List criteria. Differences in opinion arise between experts in the presence of epistemic uncertainty, as a result of different interpretations of incomplete information and differences in individual beliefs, values and experiences. Structured expert elicitation aims to anticipate and account for such differences to increase the accuracy of final estimates. 2. A diverse panel of 16 experts independently evaluated up to 125 parameters per taxon to assess the IUCN Red List category of extinction risk for nine Australian bird taxa. Each panellist was provided with the same baseline data. Additional judgments and advice were sought from taxon specialists outside the panel. One question set elicited lowest and highest plausible estimates, best estimates and probabilities that the true values were contained within the upper and lower bounds. A second question set elicited yes ⁄ no answers and a degree of credibility in the answer provided. 3. Once initial estimates were obtained, all panellists were shown each others’ values. They discussed differences and reassessed their original values. Most communication was carried out by email. 4. The process took nearly 6 months overall to complete, and required an average of 1 h and up to 13 h per taxon for a panellist to complete the initial assessment. 5. Panellists were mostly in agreement with one another about IUCN categorisations for each taxon. Where they differed, there was some evidence of convergence in the second round of assessments, although there was persistent non-overlap for about 2% of estimates. The method exposed evidence of common subjective biases including overconfidence, anchoring to available data, definitional ambiguity and the conceptual difficulty of estimating percentages rather than natural numbers. 6. This study demonstrates the value of structured elicitation techniques to identify and to reduce potential sources of bias and error among experts. The formal nature of the process meant that the consensus position reached carried greater weight in subsequent deliberations on status. The structured process is worthwhile for high profile or contentious taxa, but may be too time intensive for less divisive cases.

Failure to act quickly on evidence of rapid population decline has led to the first mammal extinction in Australia in the last 50 years, the Christmas Island Pipistrelle (Pipistrellus murrayi). The fate of another iconic species, the migratory Orange-bellied Parrot (Neophema chrysogaster), monitored intensively for over 20 years, hangs in the balance. To inform future conservation management and decision making, we investigate the decision process that has led to the plight of both species. Our analysis suggests three globally relevant recommendations for minimizing species extinction worldwide: (1) informed, empowered, and responsive governance and leadership is essential; (2) processes that ensure institutional accountability must be in place, and; (3) decisions must be made whilst there is an opportunity to act. The bottom line is that, unless responsive and accountable institutional processes are in place, decisions will be delayed and extinction will occur.

The Red List Index (RLI), which uses information from the IUCN Red List to track trends in the projected overall extinction risk of sets of species, is among the indicators adopted by the world’s governments to assess performance under the Convention on Biological Diversity and the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. For greatest impact, such indicators need to be measured and used at a national scale as well as globally. We present the first application of the RLI based on assessments of extinction risk at the national scale using IUCN’s recommended methods, evaluating trends in the status of Australian birds for 1990–2010. We calculated RLIs based on the number of taxa in each Red List category and the number that changed categories between assessments in 1990, 2000 and 2010 as a result of genuine improvement or deterioration in status. A novel comparison between trends at the species and ultrataxon (subspecies or monotypic species) level showed that these were remarkably similar, suggesting that current global RLI trends at the species level may also be a useful surrogate for tracking losses in genetic diversity at this scale, for which no global measures currently exist. The RLI for Australia is declining faster than global rates when migratory shorebirds and seabirds are included, but not when changes resulting from threats in Australia alone are considered. The RLI of oceanic island taxa has declined faster than those on the continent or on continental islands. There were also differences in the performance of different jurisdictions within Australia.

AHTEENSUU ET AL. highlight four issues with our proposed framework for guiding decisions to conserve species under climate change and suggest some ways forward. From the outset we stress that we presented a framework. By their very nature, frameworks are for building on and elaborating. We thus welcome the contribution of Ahteensuu et al.. Here we continue the conversation about how the framework might more easily translate into practice across a range of applications.

Effective biodiversity monitoring is critical to evaluate, learn from, and ultimately improve conservation practice. Well conceived, designed and implemented monitoring of biodiversity should: (i) deliver information on trends in key aspects of biodiversity (e.g. population changes); (ii) provide early warning of problems that might otherwise be difficult or expensive to reverse; (iii) generate quantifiable evidence of conservation successes (e.g. species recovery following management) and conservation failures; (iv) highlight ways to make management more effective; and (v) provide information on return on conservation investment. The importance of effective biodiversity monitoring is widely recognized (e.g. Australian Biodiversity Strategy). Yet, while everyone thinks biodiversity monitoring is a good idea, this has not translated into a culture of sound biodiversity monitoring, or widespread use of monitoring data. We identify four barriers to more effective biodiversity monitoring in Australia. These are: (i) many conservation programmes have poorly articulated or vague objectives against which it is difficult to measure progress contributing to design and implementation problems; (ii) the case for long-term and sustained biodiversity monitoring is often poorly developed and/or articulated; (iii) there is often a lack of appropriate institutional support, co-ordination, and targeted funding for biodiversity monitoring; and (iv) there is often a lack of appropriate standards to guide monitoring activities and make data available from these programmes. To deal with these issues, we suggest that policy makers, resource managers and scientists better and more explicitly articulate the objectives of biodiversity monitoring and better demonstrate the case for greater investments in biodiversitymonitoring. There is an urgent need for improved institutional support for biodiversity monitoring in Australia, for improved monitoring standards, and for improved archiving of, and access to, monitoring data. We suggest that more strategic financial, institutional and intellectual investments in monitoring will lead to more efficient use of the resources available for biodiversity conservation and ultimately better conservation outcomes.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyse the Gulin Gulin Buffalo Company (GGBC), an Indigenous wildlife enterprise, within a sustainable livelihoods framework and to understand the factors that have contributed to its success.Design/methodology/approachA combination of participatory observation, semi‐structured interviews and a focus‐group discussion were undertaken to understand the implications of the enterprise with regards to each of the five capitals of the sustainable livelihoods framework.FindingsThe GGBC has successfully mustered feral buffalo from Northern Australia for 20 years. A livelihoods assessment of the industry shows that the natural capital (the buffalo) are harvested below replacement levels, financial returns are significant, the business possesses adequate physical infrastructure, human capital is increased through on‐the‐job training, and there is community support. Seven factors underpin this enterprise's success: the productive capacity of the buffalo and the resources it consumes; the minimal amount of anti‐use sentiment harboured by the Australian public towards the commercial use of buffalo; the size of the market and its indifference to wild harvested stock; consistent culturally aware management; strong historical roots in the pastoral industry; considerable alignment of the company's activities to the local culture; and strong relationships with the associated community.Originality/valueThis paper provides insight into the nature of a successful Indigenous wildlife enterprise in remote and regional Australia that sheds light on Indigenous enterprise success more generally. As such, this paper will be valuable for Indigenous entrepreneurs and Indigenous economic development professionals, policy makers and researchers.

The population of the Norfolk Island boobook owlNinox novaeseelandiae undulata, a nocturnal bird restricted to the Australian territory of Norfolk Island, was reduced to a single female in 1986. Deliberate introduction of two males of its nearest relative, the New Zealand boobookN. n. novaeseelandiae, as a conservation intervention has allowed the taxon to persist on Norfolk Island, albeit in hybrid form. Although declared Extinct in 2000, a re-examination of this unique situation has concluded there is a strong argument that the taxon should be categorized as Critically Endangered because, on average, approximately half the nuclear genome of the original taxon and all the mitochondrial DNA is conserved in all living owls on the island. This thus represents a special case in which the taxon can be considered to be extant, in hybrid form, even though no pure-bred individuals survive. More generally, we suggest that, in exceptional cases, hybridization may not be a threat to highly threatened species and that guidelines are needed to determine when to consider hybrid populations as extant forms of the original taxon, and when to declare extinction through hybridization.

Addressing the conflict between biodiversity conservation and enhancing human well-being is a complex exercise that must draw upon social, economic, cultural and biophysical perspectives. Project interventions seeking to achieve a ‘balance’ between conservation and development whereby biodiversity is conserved and people's livelihoods improve need to address these broad contextual issues. However, most attempts fail because they are not based upon understanding of system complexity, they assume “win-win” situations, they fail to plan for the impacts of society-wide changes happening beyond the project landscapes, and they use top-down – planning – approaches. In this paper we explore the use of system dynamics modelling for investigating trade-offs and synergies in landscape-scale approaches to conservation and development. We advocate the use of ‘scoping models’ because of their ability to incorporate complexity and promote social-learning in a participatory environment, while increasing the capacity of local actors to manage social-ecological complexity. We discuss their role in facilitating change in policies and practice in three landscapes in the tropics. Models do not provide a magic bullet solution and should not be used in isolation. They must be deployed along side other participatory and technical tools appropriate to local conditions.

Bangladesh is the 7th most populous country in the world, covering an area of 144 000 km2 with a population of 164 million. population is constantly increasing in Bangladesh with 2.26 million more people being added each year (United Nations 2009). Bangladesh is also the most densely populated country (1142 per km2) in the world, ranking 11th in population density when small island countries and city-states are included. Despite sustained efforts by donors since independence (1971), Bangladesh remains one of the world’s least developed countries with 58% of its population classified as poor (Alkire and Santos 2010). Although per capita income has more than tripled from US$203 in 1975 to US$641 in 2010, it is still extremely low compared to the world average of US$8 985 (IMF 2010). The effects of climate change are a further threat to food security in Bangladesh as the country ranks first in terms of vulnerability to climate change (Harmeling 2010). Already one in four households, or 27% of the population (44 million), are undernourished (FAO 2010a). Despite progress in reducing child malnutrition in Bangladesh, it is still one of the highest in the world (Faruque et al. 2008; Bland 2009). Moreover, up to 77 million people in Bangladesh are being exposed to water contaminated by arsenic (Argos et al. 2010). We suggest that a “blue–green revolution” of fish farming in rice fields can offer a solution to these problems. Because of its fertile soil and available water resources, Bangladesh is ranked 4th and 6th in global rice and fish (aquaculture) production, respectively (FAO 2010b, c). Rice is the most important agricultural crop in Bangladesh with an annual production of 29 million tonnes a year (BRKB 2010), while annual fish production is 2.7 million tonnes (DOF 2010). The total area of rice fields in Bangladesh is about 10.14 million ha with an additional 2.83 million ha of inundated seasonal rice fields where water remains for about 4–6 months (BRKB 2010). The carrying capacities of these lands and waters are not fully utilized, but there exists tremendous scope for increasing food production and economic growth through a blue–green revolution.

An essential component of conservation science is repeated surveys over time to monitor species that might be responding to local factors, such as land management, or more broadly to global change. A systematic survey of the avifauna of Cape York Peninsula was conducted in the late 1990s and early 2000s providing an ideal basal dataset for measuring change in the avifauna. A subset (n >600) of these sites, primarily within savanna landscapes, was selected for re-survey in 2008 to investigate changes in bird communities on Cape York Peninsula. Changes in mean species richness varied across the study area (decreases in 59 grid cells and increases in 43) with no apparent pattern. Significant change in reporting rates was recorded in 30 species. Four sedentary and highly detectable species declined (Bar-shouldered Dove, Brown Treecreeper, Sulphur-crested Cockatoo and Pale-headed Rosella) and five increased (Peaceful Dove, Pheasant Coucal, Weebill, White-throated Honeyeater and Yellow Oriole). Habitat preference for the species that showed change remained relatively stable between the two survey periods. Some species that were recorded in very low numbers in the original survey and are conside red to be threatened (Brown Treecreeper, Black-faced Woodswallow) remained in very low numbers or decreased in our survey suggesting that there has been no regional recovery of these species. Long-term monitoring can describe important patterns of species change over time, though in the case of large, highly seasonal environments like the tropical savannas, signals of change may manifest over decades rather than annually.

In spite of the potential for rice-fish farming in Bangladesh, it has been adopted by relatively few farmers because of socioeconomic, environmental, technological and institutional constraints. Rice monoculture remains the main farming system in Bangladesh even though integrated rice-fish farming is the best farming system in terms of resource utilisation, diversity, productivity, production efficiency and food supply. Only a small number of farmers involve in integrated rice-fish farming. This study concludes that rice-fish farming is as production efficient as rice monoculture and that integrated performs better in terms of cost and technical efficiency compared with alternate rice-fish farming. Integrated rice-fish farming can help Bangladesh keep pace with the current demand for food through rice and fish production. However, a lack of technical knowledge of farmers, high production costs and risks associated with flood and drought are inhibiting more widespread adoption of the practice.

The Northern Territory (NT) in Australia has been perceived by many as a frontier for future agricultural development that could serve as a future food bowl for Australia. However, such development is likely to require the conversion of large areas of relatively intact savanna forests, woodlands and grasslands into other land uses, resulting in the release of large amounts of greenhouse gases. With the evolution of international carbon markets, new livelihood opportunities are arising from the management of carbon in landscapes, to enhance sequestration as a means of combating climate change. In order for land owners and governments to realise these opportunities, it is necessary to gain a better understanding of the potential carbon stocks that can occur across different ecosystems throughout the NT. This article assesses the utility of the National Carbon Accounting Toolbox (NCAT) for estimating and mapping carbon stocks in the NT. The NCAT modelling estimates that the NT environments hold approximately 21.5billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents. The estimates of carbon vary from 5 to 235tonnes of carbon per ha, decreasing from the north, where the highest estimates are for north-east Arnhem Land and the Tiwi Islands, to the arid lands of the south. They are thought to be the lowest in the Spinifex grasslands east of Alice Springs and west of Tennant Creek. Estimates of potential emissions from clearing and burning of native vegetation range from 27 to 439tonnes of carbon dioxide per ha, depending on the initial vegetation type. The NCAT estimates are already being used for land-clearing assessments in the NT and demonstrate that Indigenous lands hold high levels of carbon. The performance of NCAT will depend strongly on the quality of the data on which predictions are based and the robustness of model parameterisation. We suggest that further work on soils, fire, grasslands, wetlands and woody debris is needed to improve the validity of the NCAT estimates for carbon in north Australian environments.

The processes which determine the structure of plant communities vary across spatial and temporal scales. Climatic factors are more likely to influence community structure at a regional scale with more transient environmental effects such as disturbance or demographic interactions having a greater influence at local scales. Understanding these differences is important for managing communities at a landscape scale. Triodia spp. grasslands are the most extensive plant community in Australia, covering 1.4 million km 2, and yet little is known about the processes which structure these communities. We collected data on six sympatric Triodia spp. at the regional, landscape and local scale across the 325000ha property, Mornington Wildlife Sanctuary, in the Kimberley region of northern Western Australia to investigate the processes which structure this community. Regionally we looked for correlations between species distributions and substrate or rainfall. At the landscape scale we collected data on substrate, drainage and vegetation type and at the local scale we determined the extent to which individuals form mono-specific stands both along and across the contour gradient. Only one species, T.aeria, was found to be substrate specific and only T.epactia was restricted to the drier southern end of the property. The other species were not restricted by substrate or rainfall at the regional scale and were found to be habitat generalists at the landscape scale. All species grew in mono-specific stands with little to no mixing at shared boundaries. However, this pattern broke down when crossing the contour gradient on hillsides. The results suggest rainfall may influence the distribution of some Triodia spp. at a regional scale with interspecific competition, due to differences in post-fire regeneration niches, structuring the community at the local scale. At the landscape scale community structure appears to be influenced by feedback mechanisms involving differences in the post-fire regeneration strategies of sympatric species and subsequent competition for establishment microsites.

Since European occupation of Australia, human activities have caused the dramatic decline and sometimes extinction of many of the continent’s unique species. Here we provide a comprehensive review of threats to species listed as threatened under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Following accepted global categories of threat, we find that invasive species affect the largest number of listed species (1257 species, or 82% of all threatened species); ecosystem modifications (e.g. fire) (74% of listed species) and agricultural activity (57%) are also important. The ranking of threats was largely consistent across taxonomic groups and the degree of species’ endangerment. These results were significantly different (P

Flocks of brolgas (Antigone rubicunda) and Australian sarus cranes (A. antigone gillae) congregate in cropping areas of the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland, Australia, during the non-breeding months of May to December each year and sometimes come into conflict with farmers. The central part of the region has been declared a Key Biodiversity Area, largely because it is the only well known non-breeding area for the Australian sarus crane. We investigated spatial and temporal patterns of use of this landscape for foraging by the two species to determine how they might be affected by changes in cropping. Abundances of the species were positively correlated with each other over both time and space. Sarus cranes were nevertheless markedly more abundant on the fertile volcanic soils of the central Tablelands, whilst brolgas were more abundant on a variety of soils in outlying cropping areas close to roost sites, especially in the south-west of the region. Both species used a wide variety of crops and pastures but occurred at highest densities on ploughed land and areas from which crops (especially maize) had been harvested. In addition, brolgas were also strongly associated with early-stage winter cereals with volunteer peanuts from the previous crop. We conclude that maize and peanut crops are important as foraging sites for both species during the non-breeding season, a situation that requires management in the interest of both cranes and farmers, especially as cropping patterns intensify and agricultural technology changes. However, we also note that flocking on the Atherton Tablelands indicates that brolgas and sarus cranes are likely to be adaptable to change and able to take advantage of newly created cropping areas.

Australia’s two cranes, the brolga (Antigone rubicunda) and Australian sarus crane (Antigone antigone gillae), form dry-season flocks on the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland, Australia, where they forage almost exclusively amongst planted crops. The long-term relationship between cranes and farmers is therefore critical to their conservation, especially as the cranes can sometimes cause significant economic damage to crops. We interviewed farmers to explore their current attitudes to cranes and their intentions for land use that might affect the birds. We found that most farmers tolerated the cranes, particularly when they feed among stubble. Most, however, are increasing the efficiency of their agronomic practices, harvesting combinable crops such as maize and peanuts in ways that are beginning to reduce post-harvest crop residues. There is also a rapid trend away from field crops to perennial and tree crops that have a higher return per unit area. Both trends may reduce foraging opportunities for the cranes and, unless managed effectively, are likely to increase the potential for damage and conflict with farmers in the field crops that remain.

Since European occupation of Australia, human activities have caused the dramatic decline and sometimes extinction of many of the continent's unique species. Here we provide a comprehensive review of threats to species listed as threatened under Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. Following accepted global categories of threat, we find that invasive species affect the largest number of listed species (1257 species, or 82% of all threatened species); ecosystem modifications (e.g. fire) (74% of listed species) and agricultural activity (57%) are also important. The ranking of threats was largely consistent across taxonomic groups and the degree of species' endangerment. These results were significantly different (P

In order to meet the soaring demand for food, there is a need to increase rice and fish production in Bangladesh. In spite of the potential for rice-fish farming, rice monoculture remains the main farming system in Bangladesh. However, rice monoculture cannot provide a sustainable food supply without a cost to long-term environmental sustainability. We provide evidence that integrated rice-fish farming can play an important role in increasing food production as the integrated farming system is better than rice monoculture in terms of resource utilization, diversity, productivity, and both the quality and quantity of the food produced. The Cobb-Douglas production function model also suggests that higher yields can be achieved by increasing inputs in the integrated farming system. Integrated rice-fish farming also provides various socioeconomic and environmental benefits. Nevertheless, only a small number of farmers are involved in integrated rice-fish farming due to a lack of technical knowledge, and an aversion to the risks associated with flood and drought. We conclude that integrated rice-fish farming can help Bangladesh keep pace with the current demand for food through rice and fish production but requires greater encouragement if it is to realize its full potential.

Rationale To identify the possible savings in the cost of primary health care of chronic disease associated with the participation by Aboriginal people in land management. In so-doing we investigate the connection of health of Aboriginal people and the extent of their involvement in land management in remote-very remote Australia. Methods Possible savings in primary care costs for hypertension, renal disease and diabetes were estimated using multivariate regression to examine associations between Aboriginal involvement in land management and Northern Territory Government-defined chronic disease outcomes, controlling for socio-demographics and health behaviours. Participants were 298 Aboriginal adults aged 15–54 from a remote Aboriginal community, classified by their chronic disease status and a previously validated measure of self-reported participation in land management activities. Results Land management participants were significantly less likely to have diabetes, renal disease or hypertension. Using the sampled mean value of engagement in land management, we found the expected net annual savings for the community from involvement in land management of $268,000. This equates to a net present value of primary health care savings in chronic disease care for the sampled community over 25 years of $4.08 million. This estimate does not include further savings in other primary health conditions nor costs anticipated in referred and hospital-based health care for chronic disease. Conclusion While the association between involvement in land management and better health requires further clarification, our findings indicate that significant and substantial primary health care cost savings may be associated with greater participation in land management activities. These estimated savings are in addition to the market and non-market economic benefits of a healthier population and environmental benefits.

Farming of the freshwater prawn (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) in rice fields is widespread in southwest Bangladesh. It plays an important role in the economy of the country, earning foreign exchange, increasing food production and providing opportunities for employment. This paper provides an overview of the sustainability of prawn farming in rice fields in southwest Bangladesh. It concludes that integrated prawn-fish-rice farming can help Bangladesh keep pace with current demand for fish and rice, and enhance economic development through exports of prawns. However, while prawn farming in rice fields has huge potential, there are environmental consequences. Some of these may eventually reduce productivity of the prawn–fish–rice farming system itself; others are the inevitable consequence of an expanding human population sequestering all available resources to itself.

Fifty-four percent of Benin's population in rural areas keep indigenous chickens for subsistence livelihoods. Despite the potential to alleviate poverty by improving indigenous chicken breeds, smallholders' participation in the implementation of breeding programmes is weak. Participation could be improved with greater understanding of the many functions of chickens to smallholders. The objectives of this study are (1) to evaluate chicken traits including market and non-market values, and (2) to assess factors that influence the conservation of indigenous breeds. Choice modelling, a multi-attribute preference elicitation technique, was applied across 300 households in two districts in Benin. The results revealed that many of the preferred traits are expressed in indigenous chickens, whose conservation should be supported through village chicken breeding programmes and that preferences differed greatly between farmers in the two districts. However, from an economic point of view, the aim of conserving culturally significant and disease resistant indigenous breeds is contrary to the objective of increasing chicken productivity. A preference for white plumage, most common among exotic breeds, could further hinder conservation of indigenous breeds, which are mostly brown or black. The lack of knowledge about chicken characterization and flock management were identified as further severe constraints to village conservation programmes.

This paper seeks to provide a picture of sustainability of the Northern Territory by analysing a number of sustainability indicators across indigenous status and remoteness class. The paper seeks to extend current socio-economic statistics and analysis by including environmental considerations in a ‘triple bottom line’ or ‘sustainability assessment’ approach. Further, a life-cycle approach is employed for a number of indicators so that both direct and indirect impacts are considered where applicable. Whereas urban populations are generally doing better against most quantitative economic and social indicators, environmental indicators show the opposite, reflecting the increasing market-based environmental impacts of urban populations. As we seek to value these environmental impacts appropriately, it would be beneficial to start incorporating these results in policy and planning.

In lieu of diverse consequences in the demand and supply of health care professionals such as nurses and midwives in Australia and the world, a firm understanding of the characteristics of staff mobility and the factors influencing their retention could lead to achieving enhanced service delivery, greater job satisfaction, and the establishment of a more stable and robust workforce. The research reported in this paper attempts to shed light on qualitative aspects of mobility in health care professional staff in the Northern Territory of Australia. It builds upon an existing survey study of the quantitative factors that determine why nurses and midwives come to the Northern Territory, why some stay and why many leave, by analysing additional qualitative textual responses of participants using semantic network approaches to natural language processing. Our results illustrate the methodological and policy significance of semantic approaches to knowledge acquisition and representation, especially in complementing findings of traditional survey analysis techniques, and in analysing the broader social settings, effects and consequences of staff retention and mobility.

SUMMARYIntermediaries are seen as important actors in facilitating payments for environmental services (PES). However, few data exist on the adequacy of the services provided by intermediaries and the impacts of their interventions. Using four PES case studies in Vietnam, this paper analyses the roles of government agencies, non-government organizations, international agencies, local organizations and professional consulting firms as PES intermediaries. The findings indicate that these intermediaries are essential in supporting PES establishment. Their roles are as service and information providers, mediators, arbitrators, equalizers, representatives, watchdogs, developers of standards and bridge builders. Concerns have been raised about the quality of intermediaries’ participatory work, political influence on intermediaries’ activities and the neutral status of intermediaries. Although local organizations are strongly driven by the government, they are important channels for the poor to express their opinions. However, to act as environmental services (ES) sellers, local organizations need to overcome numerous challenges, particularly related to capacity for monitoring ES and enforcement of contracts. Relationships amongst intermediaries are complex and should be carefully examined by PES stakeholders to avoid negative impact on the poor. Each of the intermediaries may operate at a different level and can have different functions but a multi-sector approach is required for an effective PES implementation.

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to synthesise three separate but similar studies into the motivations of accountants, engineers, and nurses to come to Australia's Northern Territory. Gordon's job structures model and the labour force development implications of staples thesis are to be used to provide a view of the differences between types of jobs.Design/methodology/approachSeparate surveys of accountants, engineers and nurses registered in the Northern Territory were conducted in 2006 and 2007. Similarities in design between the studies allowed comparisons to be made regarding responses to questions about motives to move to the Northern Territory. Comparisons between the job groups were made on the basis of responses to individual motives, and a principal components analysis was used to identify groups of motives.FindingsNurses were more likely than engineers to be motivated to work with indigenous people and by their own family and social issues. Accountants were similar to engineers with regards to working with indigenous people, and similar to nurses with regards to family and social migration motives.Practical implicationsGrowing the professional workforce in the Northern Territory is a prominent government policy objective. This study shows that different approaches to recruitment need to be taken with workers in different professions.Originality/valueOne of the weaknesses in existing academic literature on recruitment and retention of professionals in rural and remote areas is a lack of studies comparing rural migration motives of labour employed in different types of jobs. This study covers those aspects of the field.

Payments for environmental services (PES) are seen as a useful economic tool to ensure both environmental health and human welfare. Doubts have been expressed, however, as to whether PES can be pro-poor. Using four PES case studies in Vietnam (one project on carbon sequestration, two projects on landscape beauty and biodiversity conservation, and one project on watershed protection), the article highlights the pitfalls of PES projects and discusses lessons learnt for PES and pro-poor PES approaches. Major pitfalls and lessons for PES and pro-poor PES are: high transaction costs due to complex project administration and conficts among actors; limited number of ES buyers due to political interference; the need for continuous follow-up activities among potential ES buyers; the need to adopt an approach to PES that is more bottom-up than the current rather top-down approach; and transparent and well monitored mechanisms for the distribution of benefits. The studied projects, although still incipient, have had...

Environmental research is often conducted independently of the community in which the environment is situated, with transfer of results into policy and on-ground action occurring independently of the community's interests or aspirations. Increasingly the need for greater community involvement in the research process has been recognized. For community members, however, such engagement usually involves trade-offs. While it is often assumed that community members should participate voluntarily because they will gain from the research, any benefits from knowledge, understanding and a capacity to influence the research have to be offset against time and potential loss of unremunerated intellectual property. We argue, using case studies from tropical Australia and Africa, that a more effective means of engagement and knowledge transfer is training and remuneration of community members as coresearchers. This engagement is much more than payment for labor—it is investment in local intellectual property and requires researcher humility, power-sharing and recognition that access to research funding provides no moral or intellectual authority. Further, we argue that, for effective adoption of research results, community members need to be part of negotiated agreements on the initial nature of the research to ensure it answers questions of genuine local relevance and that local researchers have the capacity to place locally conducted research into a wider context. We argue that immediate rewards for involvement not only secure engagement but, where appropriate, are likely to lead to effective implementation of research results, enhanced local capacity and greater equity in intellectual power-sharing.

This paper examines invasion of grasslands on Cape York Peninsula, Australia, by Melaleuca viridiflora and other woody species, and the role of storm-burning (lighting fires after the first wet season rains) in their maintenance. Trends in disturbance features, fuel characteristics, ground layer composition, and woody plants dynamics under combinations of withholding fire and storm-burning over a 3-year period were measured on 19 plots in three landscape settings. Population dynamics of M. viridiflora are described in detail and 20-year population projections based on transition matrices under different fire regimes generated. Numerous M. viridiflora suckers occurred within the grass layer, increasing each year regardless of fire regime, and were rapidly recruited to the canopy in the absence of fire. Storm-burning had little impact on fuel, ground layer or woody plant composition, but maintained open vegetation structure by substantially reducing recruitment of M. viridiflora suckers to the sapling layer, and by reducing the above-grass-layer abundance of several other invasive woody species. Population projections indicated that withholding fire for 20 years could cause a sevenfold increase of M. viridiflora density on Ti-tree flats, and that annual to triennial storm-burning should be effective at maintaining a stable open vegetation structure. These findings argue against vegetation thickening being an inevitable consequence of climate change. We conclude that a fire regime that includes regular storm-burning can be effective for maintaining grasslands and grassy woodlands being invaded by M. viridiflora.