Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
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Monitoring needs to be
dynamic and responsive
to poacher behaviour. If
poachers go out in the winter, then rangers need to patrol then as well, however
difficult the conditions. If rangers are following set routes around their bases,
then poachers will soon learn to avoid these, and a false sense of security will
ensue.
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Monitoring that leads to
informal sanctions
or withdrawal of privileges
needs to be fairly and professionally carried out to ensure that resentment is
not sparked by perceived arbitrariness.
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It is also important to
tailor monitoring
for compliance to the poaching
threat involved. Locally based community monitors cannot be expected to
tackle fully-armed elephant poachers.
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Monitors need to be well paid, trained, properly equipped and well supervised
by a manager who acts upon their concerns and suggestions and is aware of the
difficult social circumstances that they may find themselves in (for example, if
friends or relations are implicated in poaching). This will enable them to do
their job properly and take pride in their work. Monitors who are not prop-
erly supported are at best unlikely to be
motivated
to do their difficult job
well, at worst will be tempted to get involved in poaching themselves, which
they will be well placed to do given their specialist knowledge, equipment and
access to the protected area.
7.4.1.1 Using law enforcement data to assess conservation effectiveness
One way to improve job satisfaction can be to include enforcement monitors in
studies
monitoring trends
in biodiversity (Box 7.2). This gives a clear additional
benefit to their patrols by collecting useful data for management, ensures that they
see a point in continuing to monitor even when poaching is not occurring, and
can enhance their professional satisfaction, particularly if they are involved in the
analysis and interpretation of the data.
However, there are some caveats to this seemingly win-win situation. The
routes that monitors need to follow in order to carry out law enforcement are non-
random and should vary depending on poacher activity. By contrast, in order to
detect trends in wildlife numbers, monitoring needs to be statistically rigorous and
repeatable, such that observed trends from year to year are a true reflection of
wildlife trends and not of changes in observer behaviour (Chapter 2). This is a
major drawback which suggests that using data from law enforcement patrols to
monitor wildlife trends needs to be very carefully thought-through to ensure biases
are not introduced.
The interpretation of data on poaching incidents as a measure of poaching effort
is also not as straightforward as it might appear. The underlying interaction between
poacher behaviour and monitoring effort needs to be considered. The number of
poaching signs observed by monitors is a non-linear function of monitoring effort,
because there is an interaction between effort and compliance. If either effort
increased but poaching activity stayed constant, or poaching activity increased and
