Steluta Manolache

Collaboration Networks in Applied Conservation Projects across Europe

The main funding instrument for implementing EU policies on nature conservation and supporting environmental and climate action is the LIFE Nature programme, established by the European Commission in 1992. LIFE Nature projects (>1400 awarded) are applied conservation projects in which partnerships between institutions are critical for successful conservation outcomes, yet little is known about the structure of collaborative networks within and between EU countries. The aim of our study is to understand the nature of collaboration in LIFE Nature projects using a novel application of social network theory at two levels: (1) collaboration between countries, and (2) collaboration within countries using six case studies: Western Europe (United Kingdom and Netherlands), Eastern Europe (Romania and Latvia) and Southern Europe (Greece and Portugal). Using data on 1261 projects financed between 1996 and 2013, we found that Italy was the most successful country not only in terms of awarded number of projects, but also in terms of overall influence being by far the most influent country in the European LIFE Nature network, having the highest eigenvector (0.989) and degree centrality (0.177). Another key player in the network is Netherlands, which ensures a fast communication flow with other network members (closeness—0.318) by staying connected with the most active countries. Although Western European countries have higher centrality scores than most of the Eastern European countries, our results showed that overall there is a lower tendency to create partnerships between different organization categories. Also, the comparisons of the six case studies indicates significant differences in regards to the pattern of creating partnerships, providing valuable information on collaboration on EU nature conservation. This study represents a starting point in predicting the formation of future partnerships within LIFE Nature programme, suggesting ways to improve transnational cooperation and communication.

Power, influence and structure in Natura 2000 governance networks. A comparative analysis of two protected areas in Romania

Successful management of complex social-ecological landscapes overlapping Natura 2000 sites requires collaboration between various actors such as law enforcement agencies, NGOs and enterprises. Natura 2000 governance is stimulated by central actors (e.g., Natura 2000 administrators), with successes and failures of management activities depending on the capacity of the network leader to implement a collaborative approach to environmental governance. By using social network analysis, we analysed the cooperation, information flow and capacity for collective action within Natura 2000 governance networks within two Romanian protected areas: Lower Siret Floodplain and Iron Gates Natural Park. The two networks represent protected areas managed by different types of organisations (i.e., Lower Siret Floodplain - by an NGO, Iron Gates Natural Park - by a public entity). Taking into consideration that NGOs may favour an adaptive co-management, while the public bodies may take a top-down management approach, we hypothesize that Lower Siret Floodplain will have a more cohesive and collaborating network compared to Iron Gates Natural Park, and that there will be a greater representation of private and NGO sector in the network coordinated by Lower Siret Floodplain. Contrary to our expectations, the results show that collaboration patterns are similar in the two networks, although they are governed by two different types of institutions, both being less participative than expected, with low involvement of NGOs and private stakeholders. Furthermore, Lower Siret Floodplain network is surprisingly more centralized around a small number of public authorities, and the pre-existing power of public bodies likely inhibit the capacity of the NGO to collaborate with private stakeholders. We also found lower collaboration levels between actors in the network periphery with other organisations from the same cluster, denoting a clear top-down approach of the management in both networks. Our findings suggest that delegating the protected areas administration to NGOs, a solution to increase the use of co-management in protected areas, does not solve the poor representation of private stakeholders.

A network approach for understanding opportunities and barriers to effective public participation in the management of protected areas

Generally, the management of protected areas is accepted to have conflicts, particularly between stakeholders and public agencies. NGOs may be viewed as the key players in implementing management systems, offering essential organizational support, and ensuring information flow within the entire network. Non-participative protected area management often leads to conflicts, particularly between stakeholders and administrative public agencies. Involving NGOs in management decisions can play an essential role in the successful enforcement of conservation programs. In this paper, we merge public perception with social network analysis to identify the network management structure of Iron Gates Natural Park, a Natura 2000 protected area in Romania. By conducting surveys of the local population in 2012 and 2016, we observed an increasing trend in awareness regarding the protected area and conservation methods conducted by the area’s administration. Subsequently, we identified lower percentages of participation by the local population in these activities. The social network analysis applied to management actors and relationships among them revealed a marginal position of NGOs in park management, including a lack of coordination between these NGOs. The network analyses draw attention to the outdated Romanian management system, which essentially works only in theory and is often based on outdated legislation. Our conclusions illustrate the actual collaborative relationships between stakeholders and offer significant recommendations for achieving established management objectives. Public bodies and NGOs should together address ecological and societal issues in the management of Natura 2000 to ensure sustainability, improve trust, and establish long-term viability of natural and cultural heritage.

A social network approach to diagnose public participation in protected areas management: Insights from a Natura 2000 case study

Non-participative protected areas management can generate conflicts especially between stakeholders and administrative public bodies. Involving NGOs in management activities, as representatives of citizens and stakeholders can be critical for a successful enforcement of conservation activities, contributing to a better information flow within the management network. Nevertheless, integrating NGOs in management activities coordinated by public bodies is a challenging task, mostly due the dominant top-down approach, with no shared responsibilities with other actors. To evaluate the public participation in management of Natura 2000 sites, we compare public perception data with social network analysis around administration of Iron Gates Natural Park (SW Romania) and overlapped Natura 2000 protected areas. By applying a survey in 2012 and 2016 to local people, we observed an increasing trend of awareness regarding the protected area and conservation activities carried out by the administration. However, we identified lower percentages regarding the level of participation in activities of the protected area. The social network analysis applied to management actors and relationships between them revealed a marginal position of NGOs involved in Iron Gates Natural Park management, and as well a lack of coordination of these NGOs. Our paper highlights the low level of collaboration between different types of institutions involved in environmental management. Our social network analysis results illustrate the actual collaboration relationships between stakeholders, critical findings in achieving established management objectives. Public bodies and NGOs should make progress by addressing both ecological and societal issues in the management of Natura 2000 sites, in order to ensure sustainability, raise trust and maintain long-term viability of natural and cultural heritage.

Navigating protected areas networks for improving diffusion of conservation practices

The Natura 2000 protected area network is the cornerstone of European Unions biodiversity conservation strategy. These protected areas range across multiple biogeographic regions, and they include a diversity of species assemblages along with a diversity of managing organizations, altogether making difficult to pool relevant sites to facilitate the flow of knowledge significant to their management. Here we introduce an approach to navigating protected area networks that has the potential to foster systematic identification of key sites for facilitating the exchange of knowledge and diffusion of information within the network. To demonstrate our approach, we abstractly represented Romanian Natura 2000 network as a co-occurrence network, with individual sites as nodes and shared species as edges, further combining into our analysis network topology, community detection, and network reduction methods. We identified most representative Natura 2000 sites that may increase the transfer of information within the national network of protected areas, detected clusters of sites and key sites for maintaining network cohesiveness, and highlighted the subsample of sites that retain the characteristics of the entire network. Our analysis provides implications for protected area prioritization by proposing a network perspective approach to collaboration rooted in ecological principles.

Empirical analysis and modelling of Argos Doppler location errors in Romania

Advancements in tracking technology allow researchers to understand the spatial ecology of many terrestrial and aquatic species. Argos Doppler is a widely used technology for wildlife telemetry as it suits smaller species and have longer life span than miniaturized GPS. In practice, large Argos location errors often occur due to communication conditions such as transmitters settings, local environment, area of reception, behaviour of tracked individual, etc. Considering the specificity of errors and the lack of benchmark studies in Eastern Europe, our research objectives are (1) to provide empirical evidences of the accuracy of Argos Doppler locations in Romania, (2) investigate the effectiveness of straight forward destructive filters for improving Argos data quality, and (3) to provide guidance for handling Argos wildlife monitoring data to researchers in Eastern Europe. We assessed the errors associated to Argos locations in 4 geographic locations from Romania in static, low speed and high-speed tests and then we evaluated the effectiveness of Douglas Argos distance angle filter algorithm to minimize location errors. Argos locations received in our tests had larger horizontal errors than those indicated by the operator of the Argos system, including when reception conditions are ideal. The errors are highly variable within each location class, however, positions from location class 0 were constantly prone to large errors. The errors were anisotropic, predominantly oriented East and West, a pattern confirmed by the larger longitudinal errors in the vast majority of data. Errors were mostly related to movement speed of Argos transmitter at the time of reception, but other factors such as topographic conditions and position of the device toward the sky at the time of the transmission contribute at receiving low quality data.Douglas-Argos filter successfully excluded largest errors while retained a large amount of data when the threshold was properly defined for local scale (2 km). Thus, filter selection requires previous knowledge about the movement patterns and behaviour of the species of interest, and parametrisation of the selected filter must follow a trial and error approach.

Conservation priorities for terrestrial mammals in Dobrogea Region, Romania

Abstract Based on species occurrence records of museum collections, published literature, and unpublished records shared by mammalian experts, we compiled a distribution database for 59 terrestrial mammals populating the extensively protected Dobrogea Region of Romania. The spatial patterns of mammal distribution and diversity was evaluated and systematic conservation planning applied to identify priority areas for their conservation. The spatial analyses revealed that intensive sampling was not directly correlated to mammal diversity but rather to accessibility for inventory. The spatial prioritisation analysis indicated a relatively aggregated pattern of areas with a high or low conservation value with virtually no connecting corridors between them. The significant overlap between Natura 2000 sites and national protected areas induced an over-optimistic vision of the effectiveness and representativeness of existing Natura 2000 network for species found in Annexes II and IV of the Habitats Directive. These results represent a key step in identifying core areas for the protection of mammal diversity and dispersal corridors for improved connectivity, and to guide future conservation efforts in increasing the effectiveness of the existing protected areas in the context of environmental changes.

Characterizing protected areas management using ego-networks

The centerpiece of biodiversity conservation is ensuring cooperation among actors involved in the management of protected areas. To contribute to the debate in the field of protected areas governance, we investigate the characteristics of two ego networks established in two Natura 2000 protected areas in Romania. After evaluating the most common ego-network metrics that demonstrate the characteristics of each network, we analyzed the strong ties by using Simmelian ties within protected areas management ego-networks and clustered the embedded links in three primary Girvan Newman groups. The study provides insights regarding several means to improve the cooperation of environmental conservation in Natura 2000 areas.