Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Governance and the loss of biodiversity

Abstract

Most of the world's biodiversity occurs within developing countries that require donor support to build their conservation capacity1. Unfortunately, some of these countries experience high levels of political corruption2, which may limit the success of conservation projects by reducing effective funding levels and distorting priorities3. We investigated whether changes in three well surveyed and widespread components of biodiversity were associated with national governance scores and other socio-economic measures. Here we show that governance scores were correlated with changes in total forest cover, but not with changes in natural forest cover. We found strong associations between governance scores and changes in the numbers of African elephants and black rhinoceroses, and these socio-economic factors explained observed patterns better than any others. Finally, we show that countries rich in species and identified as containing priority areas for conservation have lower governance scores than other nations. These results stress the need for conservationists to develop and implement policies that reduce the effects of political corruption and, in this regard, we question the universal applicability of an influential approach to conservation that seeks to ban international trade in endangered species.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2: Mean modelled governance scores and changes in national populations of two species, 1987–94.
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Balmford, A. et al. Ecology—Economic reasons for conserving wild nature. Science 297, 950–953 (2002)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index 2002 (Transparency International, Berlin, 2002)

    Google Scholar 

  3. Kaufmann, D. Corruption: The facts. Foreign Policy 107, 114–131 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Azfar, O., Lee, Y. & Swamy, A. The causes and consequences of corruption. Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci. 573, 42–56 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Costanza, R. et al. The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature 387, 253–260 (1997)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Balmford, A., Gaston, K. J., Blyth, S., James, A. & Kapos, V. Global variation in terrestrial conservation costs, conservation benefits, and unmet conservation needs. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 100, 1046–1050 (2003)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. James, A., Gaston, K. J. & Balmford, A. Can we afford to conserve biodiversity? Bioscience 51, 43–52 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Hughey, K. F. D., Cullen, R. & Moran, E. Integrating economics into priority setting and evaluation in conservation management. Conserv. Biol. 17, 93–103 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Balmford, A. & Whitten, T. Who should pay for tropical conservation, and how could the costs be met? Oryx 37, 238–250 (2003)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Barnes, R. F. W., Blom, A. & Alers, M. P. T. A review of the status of forest elephants Loxodonta africana in Central Africa. Biol. Conserv. 71, 125–132 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Archabald, K. & Naughton-Treves, L. Tourism revenue-sharing around national parks in Western Uganda: Early efforts to identify and reward local communities. Environ. Conserv. 28, 135–149 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Myers, N. The Primary Source: Tropical Forests and our Future (Norton & Co, New York, 1992)

    Google Scholar 

  13. Robertson, J. M. Y. & van Schaik, C. P. Causal factors underlying the dramatic decline of the Sumatran orang-utan. Oryx 35, 26–38 (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  14. Salafsky, N., Margoluis, R., Redford, K. H. & Robinson, J. G. Improving the practice of conservation: A conceptual framework and research agenda for conservation science. Conserv. Biol. 16, 1469–1479 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Didia, D. O. Democracy, political instability and tropical deforestation. Glob. Environ. Change 7, 63–76 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Geist, H. J. & Lambin, E. F. Proximate causes and underlying driving forces of tropical deforestation. Bioscience 52, 143–150 (2002)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Jepson, P., Jarvie, J. K., MacKinnon, K. & Monk, K. A. The end for Indonesia's lowland forests? Science 292, 859 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Leader-Williams, N. & Albon, S. D. Allocation of resources for conservation. Nature 336, 533–535 (1988)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. Barnes, R. F. W. et al. African Elephant Database 1998 (IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  20. Emslie, R. & Brooks, M. African Rhino: Status Survey and Conservation Action Plan (IUCN/SSC African Rhino Specialist Group, IUCN, Gland, Switzerland, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Stattersfield, A. J., Crosby, M. J., Long, A. J. & Wege, D. C. Endemic Bird Areas of the World: Priorities for Biodiversity Conservation (BirdLife International, Cambridge, UK, 1998)

    Google Scholar 

  22. Myers, N., Mittermeier, R. A., Mittermeier, C. G., da Fonseca, G. A. B. & Kent, J. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403, 853–858 (2000)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. World Wide Fund For Nature Living Planet Campaign: A Call to Action (WWF, Washington DC, 1999)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Whitten, T., Holmes, D. & MacKinnon, K. Conservation biology: A displacement behavior for academia? Conserv. Biol. 15, 1–3 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Leakey, R. & Morell, V. Wildlife Wars: My Battle to Save Kenya's Elephants (Pan Macmillan, London, 2001)

    Google Scholar 

  26. Walpole, M. J. & Leader-Williams, N. Masai Mara tourism reveals partnership benefits. Nature 413, 771 (2001)

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. International Institute for Environment and Development Whose Eden? An Overview of Community Approaches to Wildlife Management (IIED, London, 1994)

    Google Scholar 

  28. Oldfield, S. The Trade in Wildlife: Regulation for Conservation (Earthscan, London, 2002)

    Google Scholar 

  29. James, A., Green, M. J. B. & Paine, J. R. (eds) A Global Review of Protected Area Budgets and Staff (WCMC-World Conservation Press, Cambridge, UK, 1999)

  30. Rosenzweig, M. L. Species Diversity in Space and Time (Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, UK, 1995)

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank the Durrell Institute for Conservation and Ecology for providing funding, and K. Brandon, N. Burgess, S. Elton, R. Green, J. Groombridge, A. Huggins, S. Thornton and T. Whitten for advice.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. J. Smith.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Smith, R., Muir, R., Walpole, M. et al. Governance and the loss of biodiversity. Nature 426, 67–70 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02025

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature02025

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing