Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
failures due to not paying suffi cient attention to the
attitudes of local communities. From an extensive
literature review on exclosures, afforestation, refor-
estation, rehabilitation and other regeneration or envi-
ronmental repair operations, over several million
hectares in Mediterranean bioclimatic areas, extend-
ing from the Atlantic Ocean to the Aral Sea, combined
with 50 years of personal fi eld experience, Le Houérou
(2000) concluded that, while the main constraint for
success was the restoration of those habitat elements
that had caused degradation, the most diffi cult con-
straints to overcome usually are of a socio-economic
and/or sociocultural nature. Poaching can also be a
problem, for example in the 1978 relocation of 22 tule
elk (
Cervus elaphus nannodes
) from the Tupman Tule Elk
Reserve near Buttonwillow, California, to nearby Fort
Hunter Liggett reserve. Factors conducive to the high
poaching rate were tameness of the relocated elk, loca-
tion of release site, lack of monitoring and resentment
by locals to changing policies at Fort Hunter Liggett
(Hanson & Willison 1983 ).
Resentment can especially be strong among local
people against predators. 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, in the southernmost part of
the country. This Austrian state 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, the red wolf (
Canis rufus
), reintroduced to
the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in North
Carolina, was classifi ed as a ' non - essential experimen-
tal population' and did not have the full protection of
the Endangered Species Act when released. Proposed
reintroduction of grey wolves (
Canis lupus
) to Yellow-
stone National Park met similar opposition from live-
stock managers and owners and hunters, and from
various state agencies as well (Wilcove 1987).
Some animal species have a much more positive
popular image than wolves and lynx. Thus, the release
of high - profi le and popular 'fl agship' species may raise
public awareness of conservation issues and generate
funding for wider programmes. In Saudi Arabia, for
example, the fi rst national wildlife conservation project
targeted the houbara bustard (
Chlamydotis macqueenii
),
which is threatened as a resident. Programmes directed
towards the reintroduction of this large, charistmatic
bird have attracted wide public attention owing to the
emblematic status of the bird throughout the Middle
East as the premier quarry for falconers, and thus these
programmes have helped generate support for other,
lower profi le species in need of protection (Le Cuziat
et al
. 2005). The aesthetic value or economic benefi ts
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 reintroduction of
the European beaver (
Castor fi ber
) resulted in the crea-
tion and conservation of wetlands; their value in water
purifi cation has been estimated at up to £1.3 billion
sterling (ca. 2 billion euros), and beavers reintroduced
into rivers in France and Sweden have become tourist
attractions (Seddon & Soorae 1999 ).
8.8
PERSPECTIVES
In conclusion, it seems clear that the idea of reintro-
ducing species within their former territory or habitats
has gained acceptance within the context of the resto-
ration 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 more than 700 docu-
mented reintroduction attempts carried out to date
(Seddon
et al
. 2007). The ones that were successful,
however, teach us that it can be done and that success
should not be attributed to sheer luck alone. If reintro-
duction programmes take into account that the habitat
is suitable (or can be made suitable again), the found-
ing population is suffi ciently 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 properly, and their approval obtained, then
the chances for a successful reintroduction are
enhanced. But even then we have to realize that we
live in a dynamic world with occasional periods of
rapid ecosystem change, either naturally or human
induced.
Recently, and with good reason, much attention
has been paid to the possible consequences for ecosys-
tems of human-induced
climate change
(see several
chapters in Part 3 of this topic). It is expected that
some regions of the Earth will experience high levels
of warming (>4°C), as well as altered precipitation
(Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
