Eurasian Beaver (Castor fiber) Former and Proposed Reintroductions in Romania A Comparative Attitudinal Study Alexandra Cristiana Panait MSc. in Conservation Science 4th of September 2012 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science and Diploma of Imperial College THE SIGNED DECLARATION OF OWN WORK I declare that this thesis 'European Beaver (Castor fiber) Former and Proposed Reintroductions in Romania - A Comparative Attitudinal Study' is entirely my own work and that where material could be construed as the work of others, it is fully cited and referenced, and/or with appropriate acknowledgement given. Signature ………………………… Alexandra Cristiana Panait Name of Supervisors: Professor John Fa & Professor Stephen Redpath 2 CONTENTS THE SIGNED DECLARATION OF OWN WORK ______________________________________________________________ 1 CONTENTS ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3 LIST OF FIGURES _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 5 LIST OF TABLES ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6 ACRONYMS ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 6 ABSTRACT ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7 WORD COUNT __________________________________________________________________________________________________ 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS _________________________________________________________________________________________ 8 1 INTRODUCTION _________________________________________________________________________________________ 9 1.1 THE CONTEXT _________________________________________________________________________________________ 9 1.2 FRAMING THE ISSUE – POLICY TERMS ____________________________________________________________ 10 1.3 SCARCITY OF DATA _________________________________________________________________________________ 12 1.4 AIMS, OBJECTIVES AND HYPOTHESIS _____________________________________________________________ 13 1.5 OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS STRUCTURE __________________________________________________________ 14 2 BACKGROUND _________________________________________________________________________________________ 16 2.1 ATTITUDES TOWARDS THE ENVIRONMENT AND ITS CURRENT STATE - A POLITICAL REGIME PERSPECTIVE ____________________________________________________________________________________ 16 2.1.1 A world defined by a dichotomy ______________________________________________________________ 16 2.1.2 Communist transformation and degraded environments? __________________________________ 17 2.1.3 Democratic restoration and restored habitats? ______________________________________________ 17 2.1.4 What was left behind and what can be done? The Danube Delta case study ______________ 18 2.1.4.1 Economically-politically driven ecosystem engineering _______________________________________ 18 2.1.4.2 Present ecosystem state: water, soil pollution levels and biodiversity _______________________ 19 2.1.4.3 The theory and practice of implementing conservation _______________________________________ 20 2.2 INTERVENTION AGAIN? WETLAND RESTORATION______________________________________________ 21 2.2.1 The relationship between restoration and reintroduction __________________________________ 21 2.2.2 Reintroduction in the historic ranges: Covasna and self introduction on the Danube River and Delta ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 22 2.2.3 Beaver’s work in progress _____________________________________________________________________ 24 2.3 PERCEPTIONS TOWARDS BEAVERS THROUGH TIME: FROM ECONOMICAL DRIVE ALMOST EXTINCTION TO ECO (-NOMICAL/ -LOGICAL) DRIVEN SUSTAINABILITY ____________________________ 26 2.3.1 Dress to kill: the fur industry __________________________________________________________________ 26 2.3.2 Fashionable changes: first shifts in attitudes, behaviour and protection laws _____________ 26 2.3.3 Is it possible to wear two hats in 21th century: participatory management in ecosystem restoration? _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 27 2.3.3.1 Restoration - beaver ecosystem services relationship _________________________________________ 27 2.3.3.2 Attitudes measurement as predictors for success or failure __________________________________ 27 3 METHODS _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 30 3.1 RESEARCH APPROACH______________________________________________________________________________ 30 3.1.1 The Ethics Behind the Scientific Methodology _______________________________________________ 30 3.1.2 Objectives reflection in the research approach ______________________________________________ 31 3.2 THE RESEARCH METHODS SUITED FOR THE RESEARCH APPROACH _____________________________ 31 3.2.1 An Overview____________________________________________________________________________________ 31 3.2.2 The Questionnaires ____________________________________________________________________________ 32 3.2.2.1 Questionnaire choice of method _________________________________________________________________ 32 3.2.2.2 Questionnaire structure design __________________________________________________________________ 32 3.2.2.3 Questionnaire Data Collection __________________________________________________________________ 35 3.2.3 The Focus Group _______________________________________________________________________________ 37 3.2.3.1 Choice of method _________________________________________________________________________________ 37 3.2.3.2 Structure design __________________________________________________________________________________ 37 3.2.3.3 Data collection ____________________________________________________________________________________ 38 3 3.3 DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS _________________________________________________________________39 3.3.1 The Questionnaires: Statistical Analysis ______________________________________________________ 39 3.3.1.1 Setting up the data for the analysis: Coding and Code Books __________________________________ 39 3.3.1.2 Constructing scores for measuring knowledge _________________________________________________ 39 3.3.1.3 Statistical tests ____________________________________________________________________________________ 39 3.3.2 The Focus Group: Conversation Analysis ______________________________________________________ 40 4 RESULTS ________________________________________________________________________________________________ 41 4.1 GENERAL DESCRIPTION AND TOTAL NUMBER OF COLLECTED QUESTIONNAIRES ___________41 4.2 COMPARATIVE SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHICS RESULTS ________________________________________________41 4.3 BEAVER’S BEHAVIOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE SCORES _________________________________________42 4.4 BEAVER’S CONSERVATION STATUS & LEGISLATION KNOWLEDGE SCORES ___________________44 4.5 REPORTED DAMAGES CAUSED BY WILD ANIMALS _______________________________________________46 4.6 ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT _______________________________________48 4.6.1 Outdoor activities ______________________________________________________________________________ 48 4.6.2 Environment related activities ________________________________________________________________ 48 4.7 THE ATTITUDES ______________________________________________________________________________________49 4.7.1 Constructing scales for attitudinal variables _________________________________________________ 51 4.7.2 Factors correlated with the attitudes scores __________________________________________________ 53 4.7.3 Factors significantly associated with attitudes scores ________________________________________ 55 4.7.3.1 The analysis for Covasna county sample ________________________________________________________ 55 4.7.3.2 The analysis for Sfantu Gheorghe village sample _______________________________________________ 57 5 DISCUSSION ____________________________________________________________________________________________ 60 5.1 THE TYPOLOGY OF BASIC WILDLIFE VALUES SHOW MIXED ATTITUDES TOWARDS BEAVER REINTRODUCTIONS 60 5.1.1 Certain demographics descriptors are relevant for describing attitudes ____________________ 60 5.1.2 Objective 1: There is no difference between the levels of Beaver species knowledge in the study areas and they moderately relate to attitudes ___________________________________________________ 62 5.1.3 Objective 2: There is a significant difference between the levels of knowledge about the Beaver species conservation status and the legislation protecting the species in the study areas. __ 63 5.1.4 Objective 3: Human-wildlife conflict levels differ significantly between the two Romanian areas 63 5.1.5 Objective 4: Civic implications, voluntary work and outdoor activities levels of each sample and comparison between them __________________________________________________________________________ 64 5.2 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY _____________________________________________________________________________65 5.3 RESEARCH LESSONS LEARNT AND SUGGESTED RECOMMENDATIONS AS DERIVED FROM THE STUDIED ATTITUDES FROM COVASNA COUNTY _______________________________________________________________________________________66 REFERENCES _________________________________________________________________________________________________