The NGO Fauna & Flora started working in the Myeik Archipelago, southern Myanmar in 2013, and in 2017 three locally managed marine areas were established to aid sustainable fisheries management and support biodiversity conservation. These sites are the first protected areas specifically established for co-management of marine fisheries in Myanmar, in which long-term management rights have been formally granted to local fishing communities. The establishment of a further four locally managed marine areas is now in progress, with ambitions for a network to be established throughout the archipelago. To track changes in these habitats over time, assess effectiveness and inform adaptive fisheries management, annual coral reef monitoring will be conducted at these community-managed sites. We provide an overview of the locally managed marine areas recently established in Myanmar and of proposed new sites, and detail the establishment of the first permanent coral reef monitoring transects. In sharing the initial evidence gathered on the impact of new, local management measures, we aim to highlight the importance and benefit of developing marine resource management systems to strengthen fisheries management while simultaneously establishing a monitoring framework to fill a national and global coral reef data gap.

We outline how securing the community tenure rights of forest peoples can create a rapid, rights-based route to the effective and sustainable conservation of their forests. We draw on the different skillsets and experiences of the authors (long-term fieldwork, mapping and monitoring, and a lifetime of experience) to identify the conditions that enable the Ogiek of Chepkitale, Mount Elgon, Kenya, to sustain and be sustained by their lands. We also identify the conditions that drive the disruption of this sustainable relationship through an appropriation of Ogiek resources by external interests that threaten to degrade, alienate and destroy their ecosystem. It is increasingly recognized that securing sustainable conservation outcomes can be best achieved through the deep knowledge, connection and commitment that ancestral communities have regarding their lands. Evidence from Mount Elgon and more broadly shows that Indigenous Peoples are better guardians of their forests than international or state protection agencies. This challenges the idea that evicting forest peoples is the best way to protect forests. Other studies, including those conducted by the Kenyan governmental Taskforce on Illegal Logging, highlight the way Kenyan state agencies such as the Kenya Forest Service have been responsible for the severe depletion of Indigenous forests. We examine how collective community control can enable decisions to be made in line with taking care of community lands over the long term, but also highlight how this ability is under constant threat until and unless national law and practice recognizes the collective tenure rights of such communities.

The internet has expanded opportunities for wildlife traders to conduct business globally, but monitoring this activity is often challenging. As monitoring techniques frequently employ language-based searches for particular words, it is important to understand the language traders use, particularly the nomenclature used to refer to traded species. We recorded advert data from four UK websites, focusing on reptiles, which constitute a large proportion of the international pet trade. We analysed whether the language types used by advertisers to refer to individual reptiles were associated with certain trader characteristics. We found English common names were the most frequent name type used to refer to species, regardless of the geographical location of the seller and the CITES Appendix listing of the species. However, scientific names were recorded in twice as many adverts for threatened and Near Threatened species as in adverts for non-threatened species, and only scientific names were used for three families: Anguidae, Pseudaspididae and Sphaerodactylidae. These findings could inform the creation of tailored keyword detection tools, which must account for the numerous language types in use within online wildlife trade communities. Future studies should examine the nuances of language used by other online wildlife trader communities in other contexts, such as different online platforms or different languages. The ultimate aim of these language detection tools will be to track in detail trends in the online reptile trade, offering a better understanding of potentially unsustainable trade patterns and helping authorities to enforce laws against illegal online reptile trade.

In May 2017, the relationship between conservation and human and Indigenous peoples' rights was considered for the first time by the African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights. In a case brought by the Indigenous Ogiek of Kenya, the Court stated that the preservation of the Mau Forest could not justify the lack of recognition of the Indigenous status of the Ogiek, nor the denial of the rights associated with that status. It also confirmed that the Ogiek could not be held responsible for the depletion of the Mau Forest, and that preservation of the ecosystem could not justify their eviction from or the denial of access to their land. Although Kenyan institutions have still failed to remedy Ogiek rights, the Ogiek have identified a pathway for the Kenyan Government to follow to restitute Ogiek land, following principles of conservation and symbolizing the central role that Indigenous forest dwellers can and should play in forest management. They sought a further ruling from the Court to clarify the steps the Government should take. In June 2022, the Court issued a judgment ordering the Government to grant the Ogiek collective title of their lands through a process of delimitation and demarcation. In the meantime, the Ogiek have established community forest scouts in East Mau to replant native trees and protect the forest from illegal logging. In addition, they have developed an Ogiek community Bio-Cultural Protocol. Here we examine the feasibility of restituting Ogiek land both legally and practically. We conclude with some general comments related to global conservation policy and practice on the restitution of lands and support for Indigenous conservation practices, where protected areas have caused displacement and rights abuses of Indigenous peoples.

Common names allow species diversity to be acknowledged by experts and non-specialists alike; they are descriptors with both scientific and cultural implications. However, a lack of clarity when using a common name could risk altering perceptions of threatened species. This is the case for the Critically Endangered wild camel Camelus ferus, which, despite extensive evidence of its species status, is frequently referred to in English as wild Bactrian camel. However, the wild camel (Mongolian: хавтгай, khavtgai; Chinese: 野骆驼, ye luo tuo) is not a wild version of the domestic Bactrian camel Camelus bactrianus but a separate species near extinction, with an estimated population of c. 950. Failure to clearly separate Bactrian and wild camels in name risks masking the plight of the few remaining wild camels with the visible abundance of the domesticated species. Here we advocate the use of the accurate English common name wild camel for C. ferus ideally alongside its Indigenous names to correctly represent its cultural and conservation importance.

Monitoring of cryptic or threatened species poses challenges for population assessment and conservation, as imperfect detection gives rise to misleading inferences about population status. We used a dynamic occupancy model that explicitly accounted for occupancy, colonization, local extinction and detectability to assess the status of the endemic Critically Endangered Bermuda skink Plestiodon longirostris. During 2015–2017, skinks were detected at 13 of 40 surveyed sites in Bermuda, two of which were new records. Ten observation-level and site-specific covariates were used to explore drivers of occupancy, colonization, extinction and detectability. Sites occupied by skinks tended to be islands with rocky coastal habitat and prickly pear cacti; the same variables were also associated with reduced risk of local extinction. The presence of seabirds appeared to encourage colonization, whereas the presence of cats had the opposite effect. The probability of detection was p = 0.45, and on average, five surveys were needed to reliably detect the presence of skinks with 95% certainty. However, skinks were unlikely to be detected on sites with cat and rat predators. Dynamic occupancy models can be used to elucidate drivers of occupancy dynamics, which in turn can inform species conservation management. The survey effort needed to determine population changes over time can be derived from estimates of detectability.

For many mammal species, converting dung density into population density requires accurate estimates of defaecation rate and dung survival time. The latter parameter probably varies seasonally. In Nki National Park, south-east Cameroon, we monitored 216 dung piles of the blue duiker Philantomba monticola and 373 of the red duiker group (Cephalophus spp.), major game animals in Central Africa, and estimated dung survival time across seasons. Mean survival time was 6.83 days in the major dry season and 1.21–1.81 in other seasons for the blue duiker, and 7.37 and 1.53–4.05 for red duikers, lower than the values conventionally used for density estimations in Central Africa (i.e. 18 days for the blue duiker and 21 days for red duikers). Overall, beetles removed half of the dung within 1 day of deposition. However, the proportion of dung piles that beetles removed was significantly lower in the major dry season, and other dung piles remained longer until they disappeared as a result of other factors. As shorter dung survival time results in higher estimates of population density, our findings imply that in forests with intense beetle activity, duiker densities are higher than those based on the conventional values of dung survival time. Duiker densities and dung survival time should be estimated simultaneously. To minimize the bias introduced by rapid removal of fresh dung by beetles, only fresh dung (< 3 hours old) should be monitored when estimating mean dung survival time.

Improving equity in the context of protected areas conservation cannot be achieved in situations where people have different capabilities to participate. Participatory video has the potential to uncover hidden perspectives and worldviews and to build trustworthy, transparent and accountable relationships between marginalized communities and external agencies. We present findings from video-mediated dialogues between Indigenous peoples and decision makers involved in the management of three protected areas in Guyana. Participatory films created by Indigenous researchers in their communities were screened and discussed with protected area managers. We recorded their responses and presented them back to the communities. We show how the video-mediated process provided a rich and contextualized understanding of equity issues. It enabled recognition and respect by protected area managers for Indigenous lived experiences and the contribution of their values and knowledge. For Indigenous peoples, the participatory video process built confidence and critical reflection on their own activities and responsibilities whilst allowing them to challenge decision makers on issues of transparency, communication and accountability. We show that equity is an evolving process and that different protected areas with their differing histories and relationships with Indigenous communities produce distinct outcomes over time. Thus, promoting equity in protected areas and conservation must be a long-term process, enabling participation and producing the conditions for regular, transparent and honest communications. Standardized indicators of protected areas equity could be useful for reporting on international targets, but video-mediated dialogue can facilitate deeper understanding, greater representation and a recognition of rights.

Although Indigenous Peoples' rights to own, control and manage their lands and territories are well established under international law, Indigenous Peoples affected by forest conservation and climate protection programmes continue to denounce interventions that fail to uphold their rights. This article focuses on the internationally funded Visión Amazonía REDD Early Movers programme in the Colombian Amazon. Drawing on observations and critiques by Indigenous rightsholders in the Middle Caquetá River and human rights insights from a legal complaint raised by one Indigenous community against the programme, we demonstrate the programme's inadequate protection of collective rights, especially relating to the fundamental right to free, prior and informed consent and the resulting inequitable benefit sharing. We focus on conflicting views between Indigenous and non-Indigenous actors over the definition of direct effects on Indigenous Peoples (which triggers the requirement for prior consultation and consent), the basis for inclusion of Indigenous Peoples as programme beneficiaries, and the role accorded to Indigenous science in such programmes. Notions of permission and consent in the customary law and economic practices of the concerned Indigenous Peoples are central to the conviviality and reproduction of human and non-human societies within their territories. To ensure more accountable and sustainable international environmental finance and conservation interventions, and to ensure respect for Indigenous Peoples' self-determination and territorial and cultural rights, we recommend that these initiatives adopt human rights-based, pluri-legal and intercultural approaches centring on the right to free, prior and informed consent as a structuring principle. Additionally, we call for more robust measures in forest and climate protection programmes, to recognize and respect customary law, collective property, traditional livelihoods and Indigenous science.