Spatiotemporal modeling of human activities from ranger-collected data in W biosphere reserve of Benin to design effective conservation interventions
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Protected areas (PAs) are currently the cornerstones for conservation, but they are constantly under significant threats from anthropogenic activities leading to habitat degradation and biodiversity loss. What about the W Biosphere Reserve of Benin, an exceptional natural heritage in West Africa? Understanding the spatiotemporal trends of illegal activities would enable more effective patrol and potentially reduce biodiversity decline within PAs. We developed a spatially and temporally explicit map of global distribution in human pressure commonly called illegal activities (poaching, illegal grazing, agricultural encroachment, and illegal logging) over 4 years using ranger collected data in W Biosphere Reserve of Benin. Grazing is the most common illegal activity observed in the reserve (1137 incidents), followed by poaching (469), agricultural encroachment (285), and logging (69). The distribution of these activities in the reserve is highly dependent on zones and varies between seasons (p<0.001). Activities occurred more during the non-hunting season than hunting season because of flooding, impassability of tracks, and the closing of plant cover which limit patrol activities. Spatiotemporal modeling approaches can aid the analyses of ranger-collected data in protected
areas and provide guidance to improve patrol allocation. From our findings, managers of the reserve can identify high human pressure zones where ranger patrol efforts should be enhanced. Regular patrols throughout the protected area are, however, required because of distribution changes in illegal activities. We propose the use of emerging technologies such as Unmanned Aerial Vehicles to better monitor high-pressure zones, especially during the non-hunting season when the reserve is practically inaccessible to rangers.
Keywords: Deforestation and forest degradation, Agriculture, Monitoring and data collection, Sustainable Forest management, Biodiversity conservation
ID: 3478553