Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
political support. It is important that socio-economic
studies should be made to assess impacts, costs and
benefits of the re-introduction programme to local
people. According to the IUCN (1995) guidelines, a
thorough assessment of attitudes of local people to the
proposed project is necessary to ensure long-term
protection of the re-introduced population, especially
if the cause of a species' decline was due to human
factors (e.g. over-hunting, over-collection or loss or
alteration of habitat). The relevance of these guide-
lines should not be underrated because there are
many examples of failures due to not paying suffi-
cient attention to the attitudes of local communities.
From an extensive literature review on exclosures,
afforestation, reafforestation, rehabilitation and other
regeneration operations over several million hectares
in Mediterranean bioclimatic areas from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Aral Sea, combined with 50 years of per-
sonal field experience, Le Houérou (2000) concluded
that, while the main constraint for success is the
restoration of habitat factors that have caused degrada-
tion, the most difficult constraints to overcome are usu-
ally of a socio-economic and/or sociocultural nature.
Poaching can also be a problem, for example in the
relocation of 22 Tule elk (
Cervus elaphus nannodes
)
from the Tupman Tule Elk Reserve near Buttonwillow
to Fort Hunter Liggett (both in California) in 1978.
Factors conducive to the high poaching rate were tame-
ness of the relocated elk, location of release site, lack
of monitoring and resentment by locals to changing
policies at Fort Hunter Liggett (Hanson & Willison
1983).
Resentment can be especially strong against pred-
ators. Thus, when nine European lynx (
Lynx lynx
) were
released in central Austria in 1975, 100 years after the
last native lynx had been killed, there was strong local
opposition from hunters, especially in Carynthia.
Carynthia has few federal forest estates, but many large
private forest estates pursuing trophy hunting by
tourists as a source of income (Gossow & Honsig-
Erlenburg 1986). Similar problems are encountered
with wolves. In response to popular resistance, red
wolves (
Canis rufus
) re-introduced to the Alligator River
National Wildlife Refuge in North Carolina were
classified as a 'non-essential experimental population'
and did not have the full protection of the Endangered
Species Act when released. Proposed re-introduction
of grey wolves (
Canis lupus
) to Yellowstone National
Park met similar opposition from livestock interests,
hunters and state agencies (Wilcove 1987).
Some species have a much more positive press.
Especially, the release of high-profile flagship species
may raise public awareness of conservation issues and
generate funding for wider programmes. In Saudi
Arabia the first wildlife conservation project targeted
the Houbara bustard (
Chlamydotis macqueenii
), which
is threatened as a resident. Programmes directed
towards the re-introduction of this large, appealing bird
have attracted wide public attention owing to the
emblematic status of the bird throughout the Middle
East as the premier quarry for falconry, and thus
these programmes have helped generate support for
other, lower-profile species in need of protection. The
aesthetic value or economic benefits of an animal may
also be tied to the generation of public support and
the means to raise public awareness of conservation
issues. In Latvia the re-introduction of the beaver
(
Castor fiber
) resulted in the creation and conserva-
tion of wetlands; their value in water purification has
been estimated at up to £1.3 billion sterling, and
beavers re-introduced into France and Sweden have
become tourist attractions (Seddon & Soorae 1999).
In conclusion it seems to be clear that the idea
of re-introducing species within their former habitat
has gained quite some acceptance within the context
of the restoration paradigm. An important incentive
is that in most cases species are not able to colonize
these areas by themselves and need a little help.
Nevertheless, as has been amply demonstrated, much
can go wrong and indeed has gone wrong in the many
thousands of re-introduction attempts already set in
motion. The ones that were successful, however, also
teach us that it can be done and that success cannot
be attributed to sheer luck alone. If re-introduction
programmes take into account that the habitat is
suitable (or can be made suitable again), the founding
population is sufficiently large, the population structure
is right, a high level of genetic diversity is ensured,
the proper techniques are applied, careful planning has
been applied and the public has been consulted prop-
erly, then the chances for a successful re-introduction
are enhanced considerably.
