Developing fencing policies for dryland ecosystems
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Date
2015
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
British Ecological Society
Abstract
In dry land ecosystems, mobility is essential for both wildlife and people to access
unpredictable and spatially heterogeneous resources, particularly in the face of climate
change. Fences can prevent connectivity vital for this mobility. There are recent calls for
large-scale barrier fencing interventions to address human–wild life conflict and illegal
resource extraction. Fencing has costs and benefits to people and wild life. However, the
evidence available for facilitating sound decision-making for fencing initiatives is limited,
particularly for dry lands. We identify six research areas that are key to informing evaluations
of fencing initiatives: economics, edge permeability, reserve design, connectivity, ecosystem
services and communities. Policy implications. Implementing this research agenda to
evaluate fencing interventions in dry land ecosystems will enable better management and
policy decisions. The United Nations Conventions on Migratory Species (CMS) and to
Combat Desertification (UNCCD) are appropriate international agreements for moving this
agenda forward and leading the development of policies and guidelines on fencing in dry
lands.
Description
Abstract. Full text available at https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2664.12415
Keywords
Biodiversity conservation, Conservation policy, Ecosystem function, Management interventions, Nomadic pastoralism, Rangelands, Transhumance
Citation
Durant, S. M., Becker, M. S., Creel, S., Bashir, S., Dickman, A. J., Beudels‐Jamar, R. C., ... & Pettorelli, N. (2015). Developing fencing policies for dryland ecosystems. Journal of Applied Ecology, 52(3), 544-551.