Developing and testing a socio-ecological monitoring system for protecting large mammals in the southern Caucasus (SoMo)

Abstract

The global biodiversity crisis is driving many species towards extinction due to human actions. Reversing this trend requires monitoring the status of threatened wildlife species and the impacts of socioeconomic conditions on their survival. The project SoMo focused on the southern Caucasus, part of a global biodiversity hotspot, to address this challenge. Coordinated by Humboldt-University Berlin and involving scientific institutions and conservation organizations from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey, the project’s main objective was to create a unified system for monitoring the populations and habitats of threatened large mammals, and the social-ecological factors influencing them. The transdisciplinary workplan was organized into four work packages. Work package 1 established a conceptual and methodological framework for the social-ecological monitoring system, and developed guidelines for its implementation. Work package 2 focused on data digitization and consolidation and established a common geodatabase with the monitoring data and contextual, social-ecological factors. This involved the substantial digitization and consolidation of wildlife and socioeconomic data. A third work package demonstrated the value of the new monitoring system through a range of pilot studies, including assessing the distribution of large mammals, individual identification of animals, and examining the socio-ecological drivers of human-wildlife conflict. Key findings from the pilot studies showed that large mammal populations are fragmented, and human-wildlife conflicts are prevalent in many areas and where key areas for conservation interventions are located. A final work package focused on knowledge transfer and dissemination. SoMo helped build local capacity through a wide range of workshops and training activities, ensuring sustainable management of the monitoring system beyond the project’s lifespan. A range of students, from the BSc to PhD level, were trained in the project and several degree theses resulted from SoMo. Finally, a range of joint, collaborative scientific publications have been developed by the consortium, summarizing key results from the pilot studies. Datei-Upload durch TIB