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The Durrell Trust for Conservation Biology
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CV
PhD research entitled "Reconciling conservation and development within Madagascar’s rapidly expanding protected area system" Supervisors: Dr Zoe Davies and Professor Douglas MacMillan Madagascar is one of the world’s top conservation priorities, possessing an unparalleled combination of diversity, endemism (particularly at higher taxonomic levels), and anthropogenic threat. Human impacts on biodiversity have been extensive; the island’s megafauna (all species >10kg) have become extinct since human colonisation around 2300 years ago, and no more than 16% of the island retained forest cover by 2000. In an effort to safeguard the remaining biodiversity, the government of Madagascar declared, at the 2003 World Parks Congress, to triple the coverage of its protected area (PA) system by 2012. This ambitious programme required wholesale reform in the way the country viewed its protected areas: the existing model of state-managed, strict PAs (IUCN categories I, II and IV) was seen as largely unsuitable because Madagascar National Parks did not have the capacity to oversee the expansion, and because most remaining forest areas contained sizeable human populations heavily dependent on natural resources for their subsistence and household income. Following changes to protected area legislation, most new PAs under creation are co-managed by NGOs and local community associations, and are proposed as IUCN category III, V and VI (in which sustainable resource use is permitted). As well as new PA models, the state’s objectives for the new PA system were expanded to include the conservation of cultural heritage and the sustainable use of natural resources for poverty alleviation and development, as well as the conservation of biodiversity. Management of the new generation of PAs therefore poses a great challenge, particularly with regards to reconciling biodiversity conservation and rural development, since the impacts of natural resource use are largely negative for the endemic biota. My research, to be carried out part-time and by publication, seeks to inform the management of these PAs using a transdisciplinary approach to investigate the complex social-ecological systems influencing the effectiveness and sustainability of protected areas as functional resource management institutions. Using a principal case study of PK-32 Ranobe, a newly-established category V PA in southwest Madagascar, and drawing on diverse fields including ecology, political ecology, ethnobiology and ecological economics, I seek to produce research of both academic interest and practical utility by investigating the values and interests of diverse protected area stakeholders and their contributions (positive and negative) to protected area sustainability. Research topics include the impacts of livelihood practices on biodiversity, factors influencing local livelihood and environmental management strategies, forest resource use, the role of informal institutions in protected area management, protected area categorisation, protected area management planning and policy, protected area governance and social justice, indices of conservation value for species prioritisation, and the economic value of multiple-use PAs to local communities and tourists.
Funding WWF Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean Programme Office African Bird Club
Publications Gardner, CJ (2011). IUCN management categories fail to represent new, multiple-use protected areas in Madagascar. Oryx, 45, 336-346. Gardner, CJ and Jasper, L (2011). Status of Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica in south-west Madagascar. Bulletin of the African Bird Club, 18, 207-210. Gardner, C, Jasper, L & Razafinarivo, N (2011). A new, isolated population of Oplurus (Iguanidae) from Tsingy de Bemaraha National Park, western Madagascar. Herpetology Notes, 4, 253-254. Andriamalala, G. & Gardner, C.J. 2010. L’utilisation du dina comme outil de gouvernance des ressources naturelles : leçons tirés de Velondriake, sud-ouest de Madagascar. Tropical Conservation Science 3: 447-472. Ferguson, B. & Gardner, C.J. 2010. Editorial: Looking back and thinking ahead – where next for conservation in Madagascar ? Madagascar Conservation & Development 5: 75-76. Gardner, C.J. & Jasper, L. In Press. Status of Barn Swallow Hirundo rustica in south-west Madagascar. Bulletin of the African Bird Club Irwin, M.T., Wright, P.C., Birkinshaw, C., Fisher, B., Gardner, C.J., Glos, J., Goodman, S.M., Loiselle, P., Rabeson, P., Raharison, J.-L., Raherilalao, M.J., Rakotondravony, D., Raselimanana, A., Ratsimbazafy, J., Sparks, J., Wilmé, L. & Ganzhorn, J.U. 2010. Patterns of species change in anthropogenically disturbed habitats of Madagascar. Biological Conservation 142: 2351-2362. Gardner, C. and Jasper, L. 2010. New locality records for Phelsuma breviceps and Cryptoblepharus boutonii ssp. from Andavadoaka, southwest Madagascar. Herpetology Notes 3: 233-235. Gardner, C.J. 2009. A review of the impacts of anthropogenic habitat change on terrestrial biodiversity in Madagascar: Implications for the design and management of new protected areas. Malagasy Nature 2: 2-29. Gardner, C.J., Kidney, D. and Thomas, H. 2009. First comprehensive avifaunal survey of PK32-Ranobe, a new protected area in south-western Madagascar. Phelsuma 17: 20-39. Gardner, C.J., Fanning, E., Thomas, H. and Kidney, D. 2009 The lemur diversity of the Fiherenana-Manombo Complex, southwest Madagascar. Madagascar Conservation and Development 4(1): 38-43. Sabel, J. Green, K., Dawson, J. Robinson, J., Gardner, C., Starkie, G. and D’Cruze, N. 2009. The conservation status of mammals and avifauna in the Montagne des Français massif, Madagascar. Madagascar Conservation and Development 4(1): 44-51. Gardner, C.J. and Jasper, L. 2009. Possible new Mirza taxon from the Fiherenana River valley, Atsimo-Andrefana Region. Lemur News 14: 46-49. Gardner, C. and Jasper, L. 2009. The urban herpetofauna of Toliara, southwest Madagascar. Herpetology Notes 2: 239-242. Gardner, C. J., Ferguson, B., Rebara, F., & Ratsifandrihamanana, A. N. 2008. Integrating traditional values and management regimes into Madagascar’s expanded protected area system: the case of Ankodida. In J-M. Mallarach (ed.) Protected Landscapes and Cultural and Spiritual Values, pp. 92-103. IUCN, GTZ and Obra Social de Caixa Catalunya. Kasparek Verlag, Heidelberg. D’Cruze, N., Sable, J., Green, K., Dawson, J., Gardner, C., Robinson, J., Starkie, G., Vences, M. and Glaw, F. 2007 The first comprehensive survey of amphibians and reptiles at Montagne des Français, Madagascar. Herpetological Conservation and Biology 2(2): 87-99. D’Cruze, N.C., Green, K.E., Robinson, J.E. and Gardner, C.J. 2006 A rapid assessment of the amphibians and reptiles of an unprotected area of dry deciduous forest in north Madagascar. Herpetological Bulletin 96: 17-25. Evans, D.M., Redpath, S.M., Evans, S.A., Elston, D.A., Gardner, C.J., Dennis, P. & Pakeman, R.J. 2006 Low intensity, mixed livestock grazing improves the breeding abundance of a common insectivorous passerine. Biology Letters 2(4): 636-638.
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