Applying the positive deviance approach to conservation management

With continuous human population growth, humans and wildlife are increasingly living in proximity to one another, which often results in greater pressures on wildlife survival due to habitat destruction or direct hunting.... [ view full abstract ]

With continuous human population growth, humans and wildlife are increasingly living in proximity to one another, which often results in greater pressures on wildlife survival due to habitat destruction or direct hunting. However, some species are able to persist and co-exist with humans in specific social-ecological settings. To identify such favorable settings, it has been suggested that one key idea of the positive deviance approach, a framework originally developed to find beneficial nutritional behaviors practiced within a community, could be applied to conservation management. Namely, to focus on cases of success and determine which conditions enable a species to survive. We applied this framework to western chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus), screening the landscape for social-ecological settings in which chimpanzee populations persist. While this subspecies declined by 80% over the last two decades, it remained stable in the Fouta Djallon, West Africa. To identify the characteristics of this positive deviant area in contrast to the rest of the region, we compiled 52 nest count surveys via the IUCN SSC A.P.E.S. database with a total survey effort of approx. 11,000 km, and extracted publicly available datasets capturing factors relevant for chimpanzee abundance, such as habitat, topography and socio-economic context. Using Generalized Linear Mixed Models we found that forest loss had a negative effect on chimpanzee densities, whereas chimpanzees persisted in areas with a high prevalence of hunting taboos, steep terrain, and low intensity of ‘human activity’. This study showed that a special human behavior, i.e., not hunting chimpanzees, was an important factor that enabled this species to persist in the positive deviant region. While hunting taboos cannot be transferred to other areas, we propose that tools focusing on behavioral change could be used to reduce hunting pressure. This can complement commonly implemented conservation interventions, such as protected areas and law enforcement. The concept of positive deviance can be used in different social and ecological contexts to guide the design of effective conservation interventions by mimicking key attributes of successful settings.