Impact case study database

4.1. Conservation management

York research has informed the in situ management of threatened ecosystems and species.

Our research led directly to the establishment of a Tanzanian not-for-profit company (2016), UK charity (2019) and Tanzanian Non-governmental Organisation (NGO, 2019), all under the name of Reforest Africa [5.1], run by Dr Marshall and guided by UK Trustees and a Tanzanian Board of Directors. Creating Reforest Africa followed years of gathering evidence on the negative impact of inadequate forest conservation on habitat fragmentation and animals [3.1] and on people [3.3], and poor knowledge of forest restoration techniques [2.1]. Thus, Reforest Africa’s mission is “To develop and implement techniques for ecological restoration, conservation and monitoring of African forests for wildlife and people”.

Through Reforest Africa, Dr Marshall led a successful 2019 campaign and fundraising drive, partnering with the Government of Tanzania, Rainforest Trust, World Land Trust, Reforest Africa and another local NGO, to gazette the new, globally unique, Magombera Nature Reserve [5.2]. This stemmed directly from Dr Marshall’s work identifying Magombera as a very important conservation priority for habitat connectivity and species conservation, and placed in the context of regional forest connectivity in [3.1]. In a consultancy report for WWF, Dr Marshall’s data showed extreme levels of illegal tree-cutting in Magombera that would have cleared all regenerating trees from the forest by 2018 if left to continue [5.3a]. This forest has a plant community found nowhere else, with many globally threatened species including a flagship species, the Magombera chameleon, discovered by Dr Marshall in the jaws of a snake. As Director of Reforest Africa, Dr Marshall now directs the management of this protected area through his team of 13 staff in Tanzania. The outline management plan for the reserve developed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism specifically cites our research and states that it will be used in the management of the reserve [5.2], including forest restoration techniques [2.1] and direct revenue generation for local villages [3.3]. Creation of the new Nature Reserve received widespread media attention, e.g. Steve Lemacq’s BBC Radio 6 Music show dedicated to trees and forests, and numerous press articles. A Chief Scientist at UNEP-WCMC (UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre) stated: “ The creation of this new Reserve demonstrates just how powerful bottom-up, inclusive conservation can be. By working with local communities, charities, academics and private organisations, we were all able to establish a Reserve that protects people’s livelihoods as well as providing a home to a range of endangered species.” [5.3c]

Preceding Reforest Africa, and inspired by the same research [3.1, 3.3, 2.1, 2.2], Dr Marshall’s forest protection and community engagement work in Magombera, since 2013 (Udzungwa Forest Project), has stimulated improvements in habitat quality, species conservation, community knowledge and support including (a) increasing tree density (c. 100 stems/ha in 2007 to c. 450 by 2018-20) and size (mean DBH increase from c. 32 cm in 2013 to c. 38 cm in 2016), (b) reduced illegal firewood collection (from c. 5 down to 0 observations per km between 2013 and 2016), (c) 10-100% improvement in villager knowledge regarding different aspects of forest conservation, from 2015 to 2017, (d) formal community agreement for forest conservation with economic benefits for the communities, and (e) downgrading of a monkey species on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species [5.3a,b,d,e]. Dr Marshall’s associated species discoveries and field surveys have led to at least five complete and/or ongoing species reclassifications on the IUCN Red List (including three reliant on Magombera Nature Reserve [5.3e]). Successive agreements on forest conservation have led to four nearby villages receiving in excess of TSh 27 million (GBP9,000) in combined revenue from tourism and partnership with Reforest Africa, between 2013 and 2020, and in excess of GBP250,000 through in-kind support. These funds have provided employment, school, tree seedlings, education and training, and the support has given the community a voice in forest management decisions [5.3d]. In 2020, the Reforest Africa team trained more than 2,200 people in the construction of fuel-efficient stoves, resulting in more than 1,300 new households using these in their homes. This has reduced demand for firewood from the forest and was also a direct result of York work [5.3d].

The SMART tool [2.1; 3.2] led to more effective protected area management, through implementation of new methods which assist in planning ‘predictive patrolling’ for rangers, and these have been rolled out at 10 preliminary sites across countries such as Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia. The programme manager of SMART, which is in use at 900 sites across 70 countries, stated, “ Dr Beale’s work using data collected by rangers using SMART...has highlighted the importance of effective analysis of ranger-based data to further improve the efficiency of ranger patrols, a key conservation activity in each site where SMART is implemented.” [5.4a] Dr Beale’s work on law enforcement at Queen Elizabeth National Park, Uganda, resulted in rangers detecting 3-5 times more illegal activities when following optimisation regimes, with no additional financial cost. Uganda Wildlife Authority have adapted ranger patrol routes and are continuing to use York’s methods to improve ranger effectiveness across wildlife areas. The Key Biodiversity Areas programme stated, “ Without effective ranger patrols it is likely that we would see rampant poaching for the bushmeat and commercial trade…the ability to significantly increase detection of illegal activities without increased costs is a major advance” [5.4b].

4.2. Conservation drivers

York research into human, infrastructure and environmental considerations for successful conservation has led to some significant progress in managing these drivers. Forest ecology and human livelihood research [2.1, 2.2, 3.1] and the establishment of Reforest Africa, led directly to a Forest Landscape Restoration Plan for a 40,000km² region of major importance for biodiversity conservation, the greater Udzungwa-Kilombero Ecosystem [5.5a]. Crucially, this plan stimulated a workshop attended by tens of expert delegates, and village representatives from across the region, who universally agreed to a Declaration on Forest Landscape Restoration, with quantifiable commitments by 2030 [5.5a, p18; 5.5b]. To act as a hub for implementation of this plan, in 2019-20 Dr Marshall fundraised ~GBP20,000 to found a new botanic garden, on the edge of the Udzungwa Mountains National Park in Tanzania, that will act as the first seed reservoir, plus a training and method-testing site, for implementation of the Declaration. Thirteen acres of land has been purchased for the garden and letters of support written by Missouri and Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, Rainforest Trust, Tanzania Forest Service Agency and the Tanzania Forest Conservation Group [5.6a-c].

Data from the Valuing the Arc Project [2.2] is used by the National Carbon Monitoring Centre in Tanzania and contributes to Tanzania's assessment of carbon budgets. The results are used to inform the country on carbon changes, forest management policy, and feed into national commitments and international agreements, e.g. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change [5.7a]. The associated Kesho landcover scenario tool [2.2; 3.4] has been employed for land-use planning at different scales in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Kenya during the REF period. For example, the African Wildlife Foundation used Kesho to inform the development of the Kilombero Cluster Development Framework in the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania, and Frankfurt Zoological Society used Kesho to enable local communities to input their pastoral knowledge into future rangeland management in Loliondo (Tanzania). [5.7b]. This informed planning decisions and led to greater awareness among practitioners and local communities of land use transitions and the interactions of agricultural, infrastructure, conservation and pastoral demands on future land use [5.7b].

Regarding climatic drivers of forest conservation [2.2; 3.5], our AFRICLIM tool has been accessed by more than 50,000 people, averaging more than 500 people daily in 2018-19 [5.8a]. AFRICLIM has been cited by non-academic organisations including Biodiversity International, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, International Relief and Development, World Conservation Monitoring Centre, IUCN, and World Agroforestry Centre [5.8b].

Through membership of the IUCN Species Survival Commission's (SSC) Climate Change Specialist Group, AFRICLIM [3.5] and other climate change modelling research [2.2], Dr Platts’ work has been a major influence towards the IUCN SSC Guidelines for Assessing Species’ Vulnerability to Climate Change. Dr Platts co-authored two chapters in the Guidelines and was lead author of a Guidelines case study [5.9a]. The Guidelines have been downloaded more than 12,000 times since 2016, leading to impacts such as improved watershed health for people and amphibians (Columbia), improved assessment of threats to biodiversity from hurricanes (Mexico), and improved protected area management for climate change (South Africa) [5.9b]. The Guidelines are being translated into training modules for IUCN Red List assessments, to help 160+ IUCN SSC specialist groups better account for climate change in their Red List assessments of extinction risk [5.9b].

4.3. Ex situ conservation

In his DEFRA advisory role on the Zoo Expert Committee (ZEC), Dr Marshall and other committee members used York research findings [2.3; 3.6], to propose updates to the UK Secretary of State Standards for Modern Zoo Practice. The Director of Animal and Plant Health and Welfare at DEFRA stated that Dr Marshall “ ...played an important role in ZEC activities, in particular through encouraging zoos to undertake conservation activities and by ensuring that clear requirements on conservation are included in the proposed updates to the Secretary of State's Standards for Modern Zoo Practice.” [5.10]