University of Kent

Previous projects: Transnational conservation planning in the Maputaland Centre of Endemism of Southern Africa

Principal Investigator - Professor Nigel Leader-Williams

Project Officer - Dr Bob Smith

Project Dates - 2003/06

Funding Body - Darwin Initiative

Abstract

Maputaland is an area of high conservation value and these natural resources are managed by stakeholders in three countries. The expanding conservation sector has the potential to provide sustainable livelihoods for many people but this is threatened by subsistence agriculture and ad hoc development. There is a great need to produce a transnational conservation planning system for the ecoregion and this project will achieve this by (1) producing the necessary ecological and socio-economic data (2) producing user-friendly conservation planning software and (3) working with the stakeholders to set biodiversity targets and identify optimal land-use systems. This project will build institutional capacity, both by providing outside help and by strengthening links between the three nations, and will produce a suite of planning tools for use in other developing countries.

Publications

	Knight, AT, Smith, RJ, Cowling, RM, Desmet, PG, Faith, DP, Ferrier, S, Gelderblom, CM, Grantham, H, Lombard, AT, Maze, K, Nel, JL, Parrish, JD, Pence, GQK, Possingham, HP, Reyers, B, Rouget, M, Roux, D, and Wilson, KA (2007). Improving the Key Biodiversity Areas approach for effective conservation planning. BioScience, 57, 256-261.
	Smith, RJ, Easton, J, Nhancale, BA, Armstrong, AJ, Culverwell, J, Dlamini, S, Goodman, PS, Loffler, L, Matthews, WS, Monadjem, A, Mulqueeny, CM, Ngwenya, P, Ntumi, CP, Soto, B and Leader-Williams, N (2008). Designing a transfrontier conservation landscape for the Maputaland centre of endemism using biodiversity, economic and threat data. Biological Conservation, 141, 2127-2138.
	Smith, RJ, Goodman, PS and Matthews, WS (2006). Systematic conservation planning: a review of perceived limitations and an illustration of the benefits using a case study from Maputaland, South Africa. Oryx, 40, 400-410.

Reports and other documents

	Smith, RJ & Leader-Williams, N (2006). The Maputaland Conservation Planning System and Conservation Assessment.
	Brookes, PA & Smith, RJ (2005). Protocol for collecting data on bark-stripping and tree-cutting in the Maputaland centre of endemism.
	Smith, RJ (2005). Protocol for collecting data to groundtruth the Maputaland landcover map.
	Smith, RJ (2005). The Maputaland landcover classification scheme.

Software

Conservation Land-Use Zoning software

Create MARXAN boundary file - an ArcView extension

GIS data

	Maputaland conservation planning system
	Conservation assessment priority areas
	Ecological zone map of Maputaland
	Landcover map of Maputaland
	Game ranching profit map of Maputaland
	Transformation risk map of Maputaland

Posters

	Preliminary conservation plan for Maputaland, South Africa (A4 poster)
	Maputaland satellite image poster (A4 version)
	Producing a preliminary conservation plan for Maputaland, South Africa

Press releases and newsletters

	Maputaland newsletter No 1 - English version
	Maputaland newsletter No 1 - Portuguese version
	Maputaland newsletter No 2 - English version
	Maputaland newsletter No 2 - Portuguese version
	Maputaland newsletter No 3 - English version
	Maputaland newsletter No 3 - Portuguese version
	Press release 1: Conservation map helps protect important habitats in South Africa
	Press release 2: Conservation planning in Swaziland

MSc dissertations

Brookes, PA (2004). Modelling tree resource harvesting on communal land in the Maputaland centre of endemism. MSc thesis, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

Chao, N (2004). Local community perceptions of the establishment of a community conservation area in Usuthu Gorge, South Africa. MSc thesis, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

Easton, J (2004). Hunting for conservation targets: designing a community-conservation area network for Maputaland, South Africa. MSc thesis, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

McRae, L (2005). Modelling spatial distribution of tree resource harvesting in Maputaland, South Africa. MSc thesis, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

Ngwenya, P (2005). Developing resource-use buffer zones along the Northern boundary of Mkhuze Game Reserve: a feasibility study. MSc thesis, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

Nhancale, BA (2005). Modelling future human-elephant conflict in Maputaland, Mozambique. MSc thesis, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

Ransom, CM (2005). An investigation into poaching in Mkhuze Game Reserve, South Africa. MSc thesis, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK.

Training workshops for Maputaland partners

Dec 04: Conservation planning workshop at the University of Swaziland.

Feb 05: Conservation planning workshops at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, Mozambique

Mar 05: Conservation planning workshops at Queen Elizabeth Park, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

May 05: Conservation planning workshops at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa

May 05: Conservation planning workshops at Groenvlei, Eastern Cape, South Africa

Feb 06: Conservation planning workshops at the Hotel Tivoli, Maputo

Training workshops for other groups

Feb 04: Conservation planning workshops for DICE MSc students

Feb 05: Conservation planning workshops for DICE MSc students

Mar 05: Conservation planning workshop at the Student Conference for Conservation Science in Cambridge, UK

July 05: Conservation planning short course for students attending the SCB annual meeting in Brasilia.

Jan 06: Conservation planning workshops for DICE MSc students

Feb 06: Conservation planning workshops at the South African Biodiversity Implementation Forum in Blydepoort.

Mar 06: Conservation planning workshop at the Student Conference for Conservation Science in Cambridge, UK.

Presentations

Jul 04: Oral presentation at the 18th Society for Conservation Biology annual meeting in New York City.

Feb 05: Conservation planning presentation at the Centre for Environment, Fisheries, & Aquaculture Science (CEFAS) in Lowestoft, UK.

Apr 05: Conservation planning presentation to participants at the European Crop Wild Relative Diversity Assessment and Conservation Forum workshop in Korsør, Denmark.

July 05: Oral presentation at the 19th Society for Conservation Biology annual meeting in Brasilia.

Jun 06: Poster presentation at the 20th Society for Conservation Biology annual meeting in San Jose.