Lion Landscape co-funded wildlife monitoring programmes
Lion landscapes offers tailored wildlife monitoring programmes, designed around the specific needs of the wildlife areas we work with. We increase the capacity of local staff through training, and utilise the resources already available on the ground, to make sure our methods are cost effective and sustainable. We provide results that are scientifically robust, and ongoing support to use the results to better fulfil management goals (e.g. reports, scientific publication, production of management plans).
Why monitor your wildlife?
Without a system of monitoring, conservation managers have no way of showing the impacts of their actions. Monitoring allows a management team or organisation to measure how their practices affect their goals. This in turn facilitates a process of adaptive management that maximises the positive impacts and minimises the negative impacts of their activities.
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Monitoring provides the crucial verification that management goals are being met.
Our wildlife monitoring programmes are designed to fulfil the following criteria:
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Specificity – tailored to serve the information needs of each partner;
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Feasibility - realistic and cost effective;
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Propriety – conducted legally and ethically;
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Accuracy - outputs reveal and convey technically adequate information.
Who we partner with
Lion landscapes builds partnerships with land owners, managers, or organisations that work in areas that are important to large carnivores.
Our partners must share the goal of maintaining or improving biodiversity, including large carnivore species.
Our Goal
Our goal is to provide the tools and guidance our partners need to verify and achieve their management goals, whilst improving large carnivore conservation.
How we work
The methods we use will vary according-to the needs of the wildlife area concerned but most are based on a combination of distance sampling and occupancy modelling. In general, our monitoring provides a way of measuring the status (how many) of something a wildlife area has, and trends (any changes over time) in abundance, distribution and composition. Our monitoring models can be designed to reveal the effects of area specific management activities (e.g. sustainable logging, grazing programs, or community outreach programs), or external activities that effect management goals (e.g. poaching or illegal mining). Examples of what we measure include; wildlife species, livestock species, people, the occurrence of certain activities (e.g. logging, mining, poaching).
Ongoing support for Wildlife Monitoring
Wildlife monitoring programs show trends over mid-long periods of time. We not only design a monitoring program for our partners but also offer follow-up support in subsequent years. This includes running surveys and the analysis and publication of data collected. We can also advise management on how to address any issues that monitoring may bring to light, particularly with regards to the conservation of large carnivore species
Wildlife monitoring allows us to explore additional activities which may offer an opportunity for cost sharing. Examples: large carnivore research, human-carnivore conflict mitigation work, carnivore management plans etc. By sharing costs and resources with partners, together we can have a greater impact on shared conservation goals..
