Selection and Implementation of a Flagship Fleet in a Locally Undervalued Region of High Endemicity
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AMBIO 2013, 42:776–787 DOI 10.1007/s13280-013-0385-7 REPORT Selection and Implementation of a Flagship Fleet in a Locally Undervalued Region of High Endemicity Meredith Root-Bernstein, Juan Armesto Received: 21 August 2012 / Revised: 13 December 2012 / Accepted: 31 January 2013 / Published online: 12 March 2013 Abstract Flagships are one conservation education tool. region. There is a pervasive perception that the landscape is We present a proposed flagship species fleet for environ- ‘‘empty’’, without plants or animals of value to protect mental education in central Chile. Our methods followed (Fuentes et al. 1984; de la Fuente de Val et al. 2004; Root- recent flagship guidelines. We present our selection process Bernstein, accepted). Central Chile is overlooked at a and a detailed justification for the fleet of flagship species policy level in terms of prioritization of environmental that we selected. Our results are a list of eight flagship problems and creation of public protected areas (Simonetti species forming a flagship fleet, including two small- and 1994; Tognelli et al. 2008). Here we recommend a com- medium-sized mammals, the degu (Octodon degus) and the plementary approach to conservation policy in central culpeo fox (Lycalopex culpeaus), two birds, the turca Chile through environmental education. (Pteroptochos megapoidius) and the burrowing owl (Ath- Environmental education can play an important role in ene cunicularia), the Chilean iguana (Calopistes palluma), preserving the biodiversity of central Chile. Environmental the tarantula (Grammostola mollicoma), and two trees, the education, whether through schools, community activities, litre (Lithrea caustica) and the espino (Acacia caven). We or publicity, seeks both to transmit information and to then describe how these flagships can be deployed most engage people in a hands-on, sensual relationship with effectively, describing their audience, effective narrative nature (Jacobson et al. 2006). Environmental education frames, and modes of presentation. We conclude that programs, whether for children or for adults, are an general selection rules paired with social science back- essential conservation tool for increasing interest in and ground data allow for an efficient selection process. positive attitudes towards nature and conservation (Noss 1997; Orr 1999; Ewert et al. 2005). Implicitly, these new Keywords Chile Á Mediterranean Á Flagship species Á attitudes and relationships are expected to translate into LEK Á Environmental education Á Octodon degus positive conservation-related behaviors. However, involv- ing people in action is a complex task and no single con- servation tool can move the public from apathy to INTRODUCTION engagement. The development of a range of tools to in- centivize or inspire conservation-friendly actions is thus an The Mediterranean habitat of central Chile is rich in area of active research in conservation, ranging from endemic biodiversity (Myers 1990; Simonetti 1999; Myers payments for monetized ecosystem services (PES) pro- et al. 2000). Central Chile also has a large human popu- grams to childrens’ poetry competitions. lation, significant overdevelopment, and poor land man- Flagship species are one common tool of environmental agement (Pauchard et al. 2006). This combination suggests education and conservation awareness programs (Caro an imminent conservation problem for species in central 2010; Barua et al. 2011). A flagship species, or group Chile, one which should be prevented rather than allowed (‘‘fleet’’) of flagship species, possesses characteristics that to worsen. An issue that stands in the way of mobilizing allow them to carry out conservation-promotion roles in public and private support for conservation initiatives in society (Barua et al. 2011). Such roles include, for exam- central Chile is the low value attributed to nature in this ple, attracting scientific research and funding, stimulating Ó Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2013 123 www.kva.se/en AMBIO 2013, 42:776–787 777 conservation policy development, engaging people in (Mankin et al. 1999; Tikka et al. 2000; Bandara and Tisdell community-based conservation, or raising conservation 2002). As part of our broader research plan we therefore awareness through environmental education. Here we carried out an ethnographic study focusing on the attitudes, present and justify a flagship fleet selection for use in knowledge and experiences of nature among middle and environmental education and conservation awareness pro- upper class urban dwellers in Santiago, Chile (Root-Bern- grams in central Chile. The proposed flagship fleet is thus stein, accepted). This ethnographic research found that one tool, which in conjunction with other tools and pro- subjects largely adhered to a public discourse that presents grams, could play a role in leading to behavioral change in the natural and rural landscapes of central Chile as empty the public. of species, dry, transitory, degraded, and eternally going This paper aims both to make locally appropriate rec- from bad to worse. Nevertheless, all subjects attributed ommendations for a flagship fleet to raise conservation positive values to individual species, places or activities, in awareness in central Chile, and to be a case study of putting the context of personal nostalgia for childhood. In addition, recent flagship selection criteria into practice (Barua et al. some species and places were given value when described 2011). We present previously unpublished data on local as ‘exclusive,’ ‘rare,’ ‘endemic,’ or ‘accessed’ through ecological knowledge (LEK) from our ethnographic study, intimate practices of observation. Thus, these two key which formed the list of possible flagship species. We concepts of personal nostalgia and exclusivity of access present and justify our flagship fleet selection. We then can be used to promote flagship species and their habitat to discuss how we believe the flagship fleet could most middle and upper class urban and peri-urban residents in effectively be presented and used within the local cultural central Chile. context. We conclude with a discussion of the generaliz- In addition, we used data from this ethnographic study able versus the locally specific aspects of the flagship as a direct input into the flagship selection process. We selection process. used the LEK of our key informants to produce lists of possible flagship species. The reported LEK represents the knowledge and experience of a subset of people with the MATERIALS AND METHODS kinds of relationships with nature that we would like to promote with the flagship species. Social Science Background Key Informant Selection Flagships selected without a basis in social science data on the local attitudes and culture are unlikely to successfully As part of the ethnographic study described above, in influence their target audience (Bowen-Jones and Entwistle 2010–2011 one of us (MR-B) carried out 37 semi-struc- 2002; Barua et al. 2011). However, this data is scarce for tured interviews of key informants with some relationship central Chile, with very little published human–wildlife to nature or the rural landscape. We focused on middle and ethnography, ethnobotanical or LEK research available. upper class adult Chilean women and men. We began with The majority of studies of human relationships to nature in personal contacts who grew up in the countryside, or cur- Chile focus on the Mapuche and other rural communities in rently were working in conservation and ecology, and used southern Chile (e.g., Silva-Rodrı´guez et al. 2006), or snowballing to make further contacts. These subjects were Aymara in northern Chile (Villagra´n et al. 1999). An considered key informants. Relationships to nature and unpublished study of local charismatic species has been rural spaces included growing up in rural areas (N = 8), carried out for rural dwellers near the Fray Jorge National currently living at the periphery of the city in semi-rural Park, which appears to be the only previous study of LEK areas (N = 8), having a summer home in the countryside and nonhuman charisma in a semi-arid habitat of Chile (W. (N = 1), being a professional conservationist or field biol- Marcelo, pers. comm.). ogist (N = 10), being in a profession related to teaching These existing studies focus on the knowledge and children about nature (N = 6), or having a nature-related attitudes of rural people or communities in smaller, remote hobby, i.e., bird watching or nature photography (N = 11). towns. However, the center of ecological protest move- Some people fit more than one category. The conserva- ments as well as the seat of power for development, tionists, biologists, and professionals teaching children environmental and conservation policy is the capital, about nature overlapped in only one case with the nature- Santiago, located in central Chile. Although urban dwellers related hobbyists. Of the professionals in nature-related of a relatively high socio-economic class may have less jobs, 1 was a government employee, 1 worked for a LEK than peasants or other rural dwellers (Clergeau et al. museum, 2 were freelancers, 2 were directors of NGOs, 4 2001; Pilgrim et al. 2008), they may also have strong were high school teachers, and 6 were university professors environmental values and an interest in conservation in 5 different departments. People with nature-related Ó Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2013 www.kva.se/en 123 778 AMBIO 2013, 42:776–787 hobbies or who were interviewed primarily because of categories using a Chi-squared test. As alternative measures where they grew up or currently lived worked in fields such of LEK, (1) the rank ordered frequencies with which sub- as design and architecture, art, engineering, tourism, jects mentioned species in response to the question ‘‘If you administration, or as housewives. Semi-structured inter- could choose an animal or a plant, or both, to represent views of key informants were complemented by over 200 h central Chile, what would they be?’’ and (2) other sponta- of participant-observation in a variety of nature-related neous mentions of species names were compared to each contexts (for details see Root-Bernstein, accepted).