Sustaining Animal and Ecosystem Health

in Large Landscapes:

Draft concept/discussion paper for a programme

to address

Wildlife, Livestock and related Ecosystem

and Human Health issues

in the SADC Region

with particular reference to

Transfrontier Conservation Areas

Outline

• Origins of the proposed Project• Context• Problems and opportunities• Assumptions and approach• Overall objective & themes• Modules within themes• Budgets

Origins

Animal Health for the Environment and Development (AHEAD)

2-day Forum at World Parks Congress (WPC) Sept. 2003

Group elected a “champion” to develop a concept for a programme on Animal, Human and Ecosystem Health for theGLTFCA/Shashe-Limpopo area

David Cumming was tasked by the GLTFCA Working Group, with support from WCS, to develop the concept.

Strong regional representation Working groups across countries One southern African group (Bw, Mz, SA, Zw)

selected GLTFCA and Shashe-Limpopo as

priority areas

Origins

Animal Health for the Environment and Development (AHEAD)

Developments since WPC Sept. 2003

Next Steps: 4th Meeting of working Group

1. Preliminary concept presented to WG 8 Nov 03 in

Pretoria (Wildlife Diseases Conference)

2. Draft Concept/Discussion Paper circulated Jan 2004

3. Paper critically examined by WG at 25th Feb. 2004

meeting

4. Informal presentations of concept to SADC Secretariat on

March 3rd (Jbg.) and 16th March (Gaborone).

5. Revised Concept paper circulated 8th April, 2004 .

Context

• 20 TFCAs covering 120 million hectares

• Most in marginal, poorly developed areas

• Cross border disease issues of major concern and a major threat to TFCA concept

• Minimal integrated, cross disciplinary research

• Policy and protocols on animal health do not appear to have been developed yet

SADC Region:

GLTFCA

Context - GLTFCA

1. Key features of the GLTFCA (100,000 km2 +)

• Low altitude, high temperatures, low and uncertain rainfall, extended dry season

• Long history of wildlife/livestock interaction

• Agriculturally marginal land with very low potential apart from pockets of irrigable land

• Historically neglected, poor infra-structure and sparsely populated - relegated to wildlife and subsistence agro-pastoralism

But, effective animal disease control measures based on national borders and fences were in place (i.e. until recently!)

Context

2. Current trends

• Development of TFCAs with major focus on wildlife and culturally based tourism

• Infrastructure development and removal of fences (and other barriers) to encourage tourism and restore

mobility of wildlife over larger landscapes

• High expectations for tourism development and wealth generation on the part of governments, parks agencies and TFCA residents

But, serious wildlife, livestock and associated human and resource use issues remain to be

addressed across national and land use boundaries

Context

Context

3. Animal health and humans

• Major Wildlife and Livestock diseases & related human health issues

Wildlife Livestock Human related

**BTb **FMD* **BTb

Anthrax Theileriosis Anthrax

Rabies MCF, BTb, ASF Rabies

RVF Anthrax, Brucella Echinococcus

(?Distemper) **Ngana (Tryps) Neospora/Toxo

RVF RVF

* Zw now has a strain of FMD not formerly present in the TFCA** Priorities (??) for surveillance and strategic control/containment

4. Ecosystem services, animal health & human wellbeing• Water, Grazing, timber, fruits, firewood etc.

• Inappropriate land uses (e.g. dry land cropping)

• Scale mismatches between ecosystem processes and economic enterprises

• Conflicting policies driving sectoral interests

• Water – a key resource but from outside the TFCA

Context

TRENDS?

Land degradation

Food insecurity and malnutrition (people & livestock)

Increased susceptibility to zoonoses

Increased pressure on natural resources

Poverty traps and social unrest

Problems and Opportunities • The TFCAThe TFCA concept envisages the creation of larger

landscapes made up of diverse but complimentary land uses that promote conservation and human welfare.

Is this a problem or an opportunity?

• We don’t know the answer because we have not previously attempted to manage such large landscapes in an integrated

manner.

• International policy and agreements have been based on optimistic conservation and tourism scenarios

• Consequences (both + & -) for the remaining landuse sectors and actors have been largely ignored – something that could undermine the sustainability of TFCAs.

• Animal health interventions that work at local scales may not do so over large landscapes

• Increasing animal health problems?

Problems and Opportunities

Are existing Command & Control approaches to managing animal

health in confined landuse units applicable to large landscapes?

Mgmt. alternatives

Mgmt plan

Implementation

Mgmt. failure

The “Backloop”

Collapse?

Creative destruction?

Innovation

Problems and Opportunities

Increase scale & diversity

Scale land uses to savanna process scales

Match socio-economic enterprise scales and ecological process

scales

Increase adaptive capacity and resilience of ecological & social

systems IRC presentations (2003): du Toit & Fritz; Cumming & Slotow

Ecological insights on extensive rangeland systems indicate that we should :

Assumptions and Approaches

1. Pilanesburg Resolution

2. Dealing with a TFCA not only the TFNP

3. Management practices need to match scale

4. Scaling up will result in trade offs

5. Command and Control inappropriate

6. Strong participatory approach

7. Healthy mix of scientific approaches

8. Common understanding needed

9. Communication - costly but essential

Assumptions and Approaches

Scientific approaches?

Employ a healthy mix of appropriate scientific approaches,

paradigms and methodologies

a. Normal science (hypothetico-deductive, reductionist)

b. Integrative science (consilient, inductive, holistic)

c. Post normal science (dealing with uncertainty)

Assumptions and Approaches Scientific & Management approaches

System Uncertainty

Dec

isio

n S

take

s

High

HighLow

Normal

Consultancy

Post normal

Applied Science

(Funtowicz & Ravetz 1991)

AdaptiveManagement

OptimalControl

Hedging

ScenarioPlanning

ControllabilityUncontrollableControllable

High

LowUn

cert

ain

ty

Management

(Peterson et al 2003)

Objective:Objective: Contribute, through innovative and integrated inter-disciplinary research ……. to improving animal and ecosystem health, and human wellbeing in the TFCAs in the GLTFCA (and SADC Region ?)

ThemesThemes::

1. Overarching conceptual framework

2. Animal health and diseases

3. Land use, ecosystem goods and services, and animal health

4. Human livelihoods and animal and ecosystem integrity/processes

5. Policy support and protocols on Animal Health

6. Communications and outreach

Overall Objectives & Themes

Theme #1: Theme #1: Overarching conceptual framework

To provide:

1. Common interdisciplinary understanding of linkages and interaction between the major components of interest (i.e. animal & ecosystem health and human wellbeing)

2. Building a common understanding amongst participants

3. Basis for participatory interaction between researchers and resource managers and spreading knowledge between resource managers

4. Defining core projects

Themes and Modules

Alternative? A disparate set of projects that are unlikely to gel or result in clear policy support

Theme #2: Theme #2: Animal health and diseases

Modules:

1. Epidemiological studies of key wildlife & livestock diseases

• Surveillance, monitoring and spatially explicit epid. models

2. Alternative strategies animal health & disease control

• Biological, social and economic implications

3. Theoretical studies

• Anthropogenic interventions on host parasite population dynamics

• Effects of interventions/disturbances on virulence, enzootic stability, competitive displacement of pathogenic strains

• Influence of landscape scale – host population sizes and dispersion and movements on host/parasite dynamics

Themes and Modules

Theme #3: Theme #3: Land use, ecosystem goods & services, and animal health

Modules:

a. Spatial relationships between ecosystem health and

disease

b. Animal impacts on ecosystem goods & services

c. Scale and pattern of land use & their impact on animal

health

d. Linkages between animal and human health

e. Animal husbandry practices, disease and predators

Themes and Modules

Theme #4: Theme #4: Human livelihoods and animal health & ecosystem goods and services

Modules:

a. Scenarios to explore alternative futures for land use &

development

b. Economic, social & ecological trade offs of alternative

patterns and scales of landuse.

c. Policy and institutional effects on alternative scenarios

d. Baseline indicators of wellbeing (ecosystems, animals,

humans)

Themes and Modules

Theme # 5Theme # 5 Animal Health policy and protocols

• Facilitate and provide support to local, national and regional (and SADC?) needs in the development of policy related to animal health and the linkages between animal health and human and ecosystem health

• Explore likely consequences of alternative policies using scenarios and related approaches

Themes and Modules

Theme # 6: Theme # 6: Communications and Outreach

Themes and Modules

Conceptual Framework

Animal Health & Disease

Land Use &Ecosystem Services

HumanLivelihoods

• Within the program between modules and projects

Theme # 6: Theme # 6: Communications and Outreach

ConceptualFramework

AH&D

LU & GS

H L

NGOs

Resource Managers & Communities

DONORS

Universities

WCS, WWF,CESVI, PPF,FNP

UP, UN, UZ, EMU, UCB

Govt.

Vet. ServicesAgriculture

Local Govt.Planning

Parks & WL

TFNP-JMB

Committees

Themes and Modules

• Between the program, resource managers and agencies

Theme # 6: Theme # 6: Communications and Outreach

ConceptualFramework

AH&D

LU & GS

H L

Govt.

Vet. ServicesAgriculture

Local Govt.Planning

Parks & WL

SADC

Themes and Modules

• Between the program, consortium and SADC

AHEAD-GLTFCAConsortium/Partnerships

Coordination

Mozambique:• University Eduardo Mondlane• Veterinary Services• Dept. National Parks & Tourism

South Africa: • SANParks, • University of Pretoria, University of Kwazulu-Natal • Dept. Veterinary Services• PPF

Zimbabwe:• Zimbabwe Veterinary Services, NPWMA• University of Zimbabwe - TREP

International: • Wildlife Conservation Society• WWF-SARPO, AWF

Collaborative Partnership or Consortium – Still to be formed

Coordination ?

NGOs: NGOs:

• Peace Parks Foundation

• CESVI regional CBNRM project

• SELCORE Programme & Resilience in SE Lowveld of Zw.

• WWF Rhino Conservancies

• Sand County Foundation - landholder monitoring

• FNP – support to Zinave & Banhine

• AWF – Heartlands program

• Co-management programmes e.g. Makuleke

• Several Universities in the region and elsewhere

Existing initiatives – Existing initiatives – building synergies & avoiding overlapbuilding synergies & avoiding overlap

Project Budgets

GLTFP Programme GLTFP Programme

• Approximately $10 million per annum

Policy & Protocol support Policy & Protocol support

• Approximately $2 million per annum