Phoenix flagships: Conservation values and guanaco reintroduction in an anthropogenic landscape

Abstract

Multiple forms of valuation contribute to public acceptance of conservation projects. Here, we consider how esthetic, intrinsic, and utilitarian values contribute to public attitudes toward a proposed reintroduction of guanaco (Lama guanicoe) in a silvopastoral system of central Chile. The nexus among landscape perceptions and valuations, support for reintroductions, and management of anthropogenic habitats is of increasing interest due to the proliferation of conservation approaches combining some or all of these elements, including rewilding and reconciliation ecology, for example. We assessed attitudes and values through an online questionnaire for residents of Santiago, Chile, using multiple methods including photo-montages and Likert scale assessments of value-based statements. We also combined the questionnaire approach with key informant interviews. We find strong support for the reintroduction of guanacos into the Chilean silvopastoral system ('espinal') in terms of esthetic and intrinsic values but less in terms of utilitarian values. Respondents preferred a scenario of espinal with guanacos and expressed interest in visiting it, as well as support for the reintroduction project on the basis that guanacos are native to central Chile. We suggest that reintroduced guanacos could serve as a 'phoenix flagship species' for espinal conservation, that is, a flagship species that has gone regionally extinct and is known but not associated with the region in the cultural memory. We consider how the lack of local cultural identity can both help and weaken phoenix flagships, which we expect to become more common.

Giant panda reintroduction: factors affecting public support

“…Social, economic and ecological benefits to the local community are another way to increase support. For example, in Chile, strong support for the reintroduction of guanaco (Lama guanicoe) is due to guanaco as a symbol of social culture (Lindon and Root-Bernstein 2015). In Oman, many people are employed by the captive-born Arabian oryx (Oryx leucoryx) reintroduction program and the program is widely accepted by the local community (Fitter 1984;Price 1986).…”

Tacit working models of human behavioural change I: Implementation of conservation projects

“…Following on from this, one can observe a belief that it is possible to increase the strength of affect or values regarding nature or the environment, and that is what increases motivation to act consistently in support of conservation (e.g. de Young 1993; Ballantyne et al 2007;Lindon and Root-Bernstein 2015;Wright et al 2015).…”

Local Territorial Practices Inform Co-Production of a Rewilding Project in the Chilean Andes

“…However, other approaches to rewilding, for example in South America, explicitly embrace rewilding in landscapes with human livelihoods [8,10]. One aspect that clearly needs to be addressed in such contexts, and which has received attention, is working with communities to reduce human-wildlife conflict, introduce or reinforce practices of coexistence, and strengthen pro-conservation and pro-wildlife values [10,11]. Another important angle of rewilding in livelihood landscapes is understanding how livelihood practices contribute to forming the territory in question, and how rewilding and territorial practices may interact to alter human and non-human species' territorial relationships.…”