%0 Journal Article
%T Unintended multispecies co-benefits of an Amazonian community-based conservation programme
%J -
%D 2018
%R https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-018-0170-5
%X Urgent challenges posed by widespread degradation in tropical ecosystems with poor governance require new development pathways to reconcile biodiversity conservation and human welfare. Community-based conservation management has shown potential for integrating socio-economic needs with conservation goals in tropical environments; however, assessing the effectiveness of this approach is often held back by the lack of comprehensive ecological assessments. We conduct a robust ecological evaluation of the largest community-based conservation management initiative in the Brazilian Amazon over the last 40£¿years. We show that this programme has induced large-scale population recovery of the target giant South American turtle (Podocnemis expansa) and other freshwater turtles along a 1,500-km section of a major tributary of the Amazon River. Poaching activity on protected beaches was around 2% compared to 99% on unprotected beaches. We also find positive demographic co-benefits across a wide range of non-target vertebrate and invertebrate taxa. As a result, beaches protected by local communities represent islands of high biodiversity, while unprotected beaches remain ¡®empty and silent¡¯, showing the effectiveness of empowering local conservation action, particularly in countries experiencing shortages in financial and human resources
%U https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0170-5