Employ local people as ‘biomonitors’

Overall effectiveness category Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)
Number of studies: 1
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How is the evidence assessed?

Effectiveness

50%
Certainty

19%
Harms

0%

Calculating overall effectiveness category

Background information and definitions

Employing local people in conservation can give them an active stake in ensuring that species or habitats survive. In addition, if locals are used to reduce threats such as poaching then those responsible may respond more positively than to police or conservationists.

Key messages

A single replicated study in Venezuela found that poaching of parrot nestlings was significantly lower following the employment of five young men as ‘biomonitors’.

About key messages

Key messages provide a descriptive index to studies we have found that test this intervention.

Studies are not directly comparable or of equal value. When making decisions based on this evidence, you should consider factors such as study size, study design, reported metrics and relevance of the study to your situation, rather than simply counting the number of studies that support a particular interpretation.

Supporting evidence from individual studies

A replicated study in 2004 (part of a longer study from 2000-2009) of 10 monitored yellow-shouldered parrot Amazona barbadensis nests in tropical forest habitat on Margarita Island, Venezuela (Briceño-Linares et al. 2011) found that the recruitment of young people as nest biomonitors significantly decreased poaching rate. Implementation of 24 h surveillance by the biomonitors resulted in a decrease in poaching from nearly 100% between 2000 and 2003, to 56% in 2004. A team of five young people of a similar age, background and social context as poachers were recruited from local communities to monitor nests. The authors point out that it was their hope that the biomonitors would be well-placed to encourage positive conservation action by peers. This study is also discussed in ‘Relocate nestlings to reduce poaching’, ‘Use education programmes and local engagement to help reduce pressures on species’, ‘Provide artificial nest sites’ and ‘Foster eggs or chicks with wild conspecifics’.
Study and other actions tested
Referenced paper
Briceño-Linares J.M., Rodríguez J.P., Rodríguez-Clark K.M., Rojas-Suárez F., Millán P.A., Vittori E.G. & Carrasco-Muñoz M. (2011) Adapting to changing poaching intensity of yellow-shouldered parrot (Amazona barbadensis) nestlings in Margarita Island, Venezuela. Biological Conservation, 144, 1188-1193.

Please cite as:

Williams, D.R., Child, M.F., Dicks, L.V., Ockendon, N., Pople, R.G., Showler, D.A., Walsh, J.C., zu Ermgassen, E.K.H.J. & Sutherland, W.J. (2020) Bird Conservation. Pages 137-281 in: W.J. Sutherland, L.V. Dicks, S.O. Petrovan & R.K. Smith (eds) What Works in Conservation 2020. Open Book Publishers, Cambridge, UK.

Where has this evidence come from?

List of journals searched by synopsis

All the journals searched for all synopses

This Action forms part of the Action Synopsis:

Bird Conservation

Related Actions

Actions	Effectiveness	Studies	Category
Scare fish-eating birds from areas to reduce conflict Action Link	Evidence not assessed	0	Synopsis Link
Relocate nestlings to reduce poaching Action Link	Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)	1	Synopsis Link
Provide ‘sacrificial’ grasslands to reduce the impact of wild geese on crops Action Link	Unknown effectiveness (limited evidence)	2	Synopsis Link