Discussions around the militarisation of conservation have largely focused on violence meted out against subsistence and commercial poachers in, and around, protected areas. Overlooked is violence experienced by perpetrators of such violence. Using lived experiences of anti-poaching in Sikumi Forest Reserve—a state forest managed by Zimbabwe's Forestry Commission—this article examines working experiences of paramilitary personnel. Empirical evidence shows that, in the process of implementing state militarised conservation practices, paramilitary personnel are subjected to violence perpetrated by the state through its authorities. I discuss this violence in the context of occupational violence and make two arguments. The first is that the range of victims of militarised conservation violence goes beyond local communities and commercial poachers to include paramilitary personnel perpetrating such violence. Related to this argument is the second argument that occupational violence has an exacerbating effect on everyday persistent violence. I conclude that aspects of occupational violence, such as displayed in Sikumi Forest Reserve, should be understood as part of broader green violence.

Assessments of management effectiveness of protected areas offer vital information about threats and management issues at the protected area. However, these assessments are frequently conducted mainly at the internal management level, without input from the local communities that implicitly influence the resources of the protected areas. The aim of this study was to assess the effectiveness of three protected areas in Ghana—Kogyae Strict Nature Reserve, Gbele Resource Reserve, and Kalakpa Resource Reserve—using the Rapid Assessment and Prioritisation of Protected Areas Management assessment tool. The study included workshops with park managers and representatives from local communities, district assemblies, and the Environmental Protection Agency. Poaching, settlements, agricultural encroachment, poverty in nearby communities, and bush fires were identified as common pressures to all the assessed protected areas. The degree of these pressures was influenced by little or no funding, poor community relations, lack of staff and research, and natural resource inventories in the protected areas. Our study highlights the priority of remedial actions that are urgently needed to preserve the protected area resources.

In 2010, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) outlined an international strategic plan, which included the twenty Aichi Biodiversity Targets to be met by 2020. Target 12 refers to preventing extinctions and halting species declines. Despite some local conservation successes, this target is not on track to be met at the global level. We aimed to understand what is needed to achieve this target according to two invested but contrasting groups: species conservation experts and global conservation policy makers. We surveyed a diversity of species conservation experts and contrasted their views with those of policy makers engaged with CBD. Species experts considered that the greatest need was for increased political will, while policy makers most frequently cited the need for increased knowledge of species conservation status. Both groups did, however, emphasise that achieving species conservation targets requires greater progress to be made towards many of the other Aichi Targets. We suggest that improved communication, collaboration and data sharing among institutions should be a priority to help overcome the perceived knowledge-gap. Doing so could help to align the views of practitioners and policy makers, and develop a shared understanding of the key actions needed to accelerate progress towards global biodiversity targets.

Global environmental governance today is grounded in a set of ontological assumptions that involve measurement and commodification of carbon emissions as tradeable units between countries for mitigating climate change and preventing deforestation. These ontological assumptions are not necessarily shared by communities that are targeted for implementing projects developed under such agendas. This article provides an ethnographic account of the tensions around a REDD+ Pilot Project and a Save the Forest conservation program in Central Suau, Papua New Guinea. Despite efforts by project proponents to conduct 'awareness' on the programs to local communities, people feared these interventions as attempts to steal their air and land to sell to other countries. The study shows that differing assumptions of reality between project proponents and communities are related to the politics of translation that are embedded in past histories of colonisation, missionisation, and ongoing resource extraction. The ensuing disagreements highlight failures to mediate ontological intersections, which are manifested in local fears of new forms of power and external appropriation of their land and air through global environmental governance mechanisms.

The role of institutions in conservation of biological resources is globally recognised. This study is aimed at assessing institutions governing conservation and management of the Shea tree in West-Nile region of Uganda where it is at risk of extirpation. Arua and Nebbi districts which are dominated by different ethnic groups were selected for the study. The study involved 200 respondents, six focus groups and 20 key informants. Chi-square tests were used to analyse the origin and level of compliance to institutions between the two districts. A multinomial logit model was used to analyse factors influencing levels of rule enforcement. Content analysis was used to analyse data from key informants and focus group discussions. The results showed the existence of seven different rules that were categorised as management, conservation and harvesting rules. The level of compliance to rules for the Shea tree was higher in Nebbi than Arua. Involvement in rule crafting, clarity of resource boundary, age, education level and ethnicity of respondents significantly influenced participation in rule enforcement. The study concluded that traditional institutions are relevant in the conservation of Shea trees. It is therefore, vital to incorporate them into statutory laws in the quest for sustainable management of Shea tree.

Wilpattu Forest Complex, comprised of the Wilpattu National Park and adjoining forest areas in north-western Sri Lanka, was at the centre of a dispute over biodiversity conservation, deforestation and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPSs), Muslim minorities at the end of the Sri Lankan civil war – 1983-2009. This paper traces how the majority Buddhist and the minority Muslim cleavages have ethnicised this conflict. Militant Buddhist nationalists have framed resettlement as “illegal encroachment” since 2014. However, in the following year, environmentalists took on the issue from the standpoint of biodiversity conservation leading to members of the Muslim community reacting against perceived injuries. The subsequent contradictory responses by Sri Lankan state representatives highlighted its factionalised character regarding conservation policies and territorial planning, further exacerbated existing ethnopolitical divisions. Data has been gathered through field research and a literature survey, and has been analysed using a political ecology approach. The paper contributes to the literature on conservation and violence and shows that in post-conflict situations, the territorial reconfiguration of protected areas is deeply intertwined with conflict legacies and on-going power struggles within post-civil-war societies.

Coral reef restoration is often presented as a marine conservation solution that provides 'win-win' outcomes. However, most studies on reef restoration have focused on the biological success, while little is known about whether social objectives are ever achieved. This study investigates a reef restoration initiative in the Spermonde archipelago, Indonesia, where food security was initially presented as an intended social outcome. We utilised an ethnographic mixed-methods approach to investigate: 1) perceived sociocultural benefits of coral restoration to the local community; 2) impacts of reef restoration on local food security; and 3) local sociocultural barriers and limitations of reef restoration as a mechanism for improving food security. We found fish contributed to food security primarily as an income source to purchase food. Local people mainly valued nearby reefs for storm protection. Furthermore, most fishers are organised through patron-client systems that target pelagic species; therefore they currently have minimal dependency on adjacent reefs. However, fishing restrictions linked to the restoration programme still negatively impacted both pelagic fishers and a small population of reef-based fishers—indirectly by damaging reciprocal fishing relations with neighbouring islands and directly by limiting access to local reefs. Complex social and trade networks associated with patron-client networks present potential barriers for transitioning to reef-based fisheries and eradicating the use of destructive fishing gear, therefore limiting access to potential food security benefits generated from reef restoration. These findings show that the relationship between coral restoration and food security is tenuous and cannot be assumed. These findings also demonstrate that social dynamics surrounding community-based conservation initiatives are complex and context-dependent, and such details must be considered when designing marine habitat restoration initiatives.

Efforts to reintroduce species to portions of their historic ranges are growing in number and kind. These include proposals and projects to reintroduce large carnivores in areas where these species have been absent for decades. Reintroductions, like all conservation efforts, involve not only empirical and logistical problems, but also complex normative questions. So, what are the obligations, values, permissions, restrictions, and demands that citizens, conservationists, wildlife managers, and other impacted parties must address? This paper attempts to organise, summarise and briefly analyse the diverse suite of common normative arguments concerning large carnivore reintroduction. Clarifying arguments as a methodological approach grounded in environmental ethics sheds light on many implicit ethical presuppositions that underwrite reintroduction efforts. As an example, we use the grizzly bear (Ursus arctos), whose populations have grown in recent years in both Europe and North America. Whereas past efforts to recover grizzlies in the lower 48 U.S. states focused on the Northern Rockies and North Cascades, research, legal proceedings, and other proposals have emerged to return the species to other portions of its historic range, including California. Clarifying ethical arguments that may arise from large carnivore reintroduction can contribute to a more civil public discourse and effective decision-making processes.