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Protected areas are controversial because they are so important for conservation and because they distribute fortune and misfortune unevenly. The nature of that distribution, as well as the terrain of protected areas themselves, have been vigorously contested. In particular, the relationship between protected areas and poverty is a long-running debate in academic and policy circles. We review the origins of this debate and chart its key moments. We then outline the continuing flashpoints and ways in which further evaluation studies could improve the evidence base for policy-making and conservation practice.

Recent advances in localization techniques have fundamentally enhanced social networking services, allowing users to share their locations and location-related contents, such as geo-tagged photos and notes. We refer to these social networks as location-based social networks (LBSNs). Location data bridges the gap between the physical and digital worlds and enables a deeper understanding of users’ preferences and behavior. This addition of vast geo-spatial datasets has stimulated research into novel recommender systems that seek to facilitate users’ travels and social interactions. In this paper, we offer a systematic review of this research, summarizing the contributions of individual efforts and exploring their relations. We discuss the new properties and challenges that location brings to recommender systems for LBSNs. We present a comprehensive survey analyzing 1) the data source used, 2) the methodology employed to generate a recommendation, and 3) the objective of the recommendation. We propose three taxonomies that partition the recommender systems according to the properties listed above. First, we categorize the recommender systems by the objective of the recommendation, which can include locations, users, activities, or social media. Second, we categorize the recommender systems by the methodologies employed, including content-based, link analysis-based, and collaborative filtering-based methodologies. Third, we categorize the systems by the data sources used, including user profiles, user online histories, and user location histories. For each category, we summarize the goals and contributions of each system and highlight the representative research effort. Further, we provide comparative analysis of the recommender systems within each category. Finally, we discuss the available data-sets and the popular methods used to evaluate the performance of recommender systems. Finally, we point out promising research topics for future work. This article presents a panorama of the recommender systems in location-based social networks with a balanced depth, facilitating research into this important research theme.

Secondary progressive multiple sclerosis, for which no satisfactory treatment presently exists, accounts for most of the disability in patients with multiple sclerosis. Simvastatin, which is widely used for treatment of vascular disease, with its excellent safety profile, has immunomodulatory and neuroprotective properties that could make it an appealing candidate drug for patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis. We undertook a double-blind, controlled trial between Jan 28, 2008, and Nov 4, 2011, at three neuroscience centres in the UK. Patients aged 18–65 years with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis were randomly assigned (1:1), by a centralised web-based service with a block size of eight, to receive either 80 mg of simvastatin or placebo. Patients, treating physicians, and outcome assessors were masked to treatment allocation. The primary outcome was the annualised rate of whole-brain atrophy measured from serial volumetric MRI. Analyses were by intention to treat and per protocol. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00647348. 140 participants were randomly assigned to receive either simvastatin (n=70) or placebo (n=70). The mean annualised atrophy rate was significantly lower in patients in the simvastatin group (0·288% per year [SD 0·521]) than in those in the placebo group (0·584% per year [0·498]). The adjusted difference in atrophy rate between groups was −0·254% per year (95% CI −0·422 to −0·087; p=0·003); a 43% reduction in annualised rate. Simvastatin was well tolerated, with no differences between the placebo and simvastatin groups in proportions of participants who had serious adverse events (14 [20%] vs nine [13%]). High-dose simvastatin reduced the annualised rate of whole-brain atrophy compared with placebo, and was well tolerated and safe. These results support the advancement of this treatment to phase 3 testing. The Moulton Foundation [charity number 1109891], Berkeley Foundation [268369], the Multiple Sclerosis Trials Collaboration [1113598], the Rosetrees Trust [298582] and a personal contribution from A Pidgley, UK National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) University College London Hospitals/UCL Biomedical Research Centres funding scheme.

In the 24-month MS-STAT phase 2 trial, we showed that high-dose simvastatin significantly reduced the annualised rate of whole brain atrophy in patients with secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). We now describe the results of the MS-STAT cognitive substudy, in which we investigated the treatment effect on cognitive, neuropsychiatric, and health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) outcome measures. We did a secondary analysis of MS-STAT, a 24-month, double-blind, controlled trial of patients with SPMS done at three neuroscience centres in the UK between Jan 28, 2008, and Nov 4, 2011. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to either 80 mg simvastatin (n=70) or placebo (n=70). The cognitive assessments done were the National Adult Reading Test, Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence, Graded Naming Test, Birt Memory and Information Processing Battery (BMIPB), Visual Object and Space Perception battery (cube analysis), Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Test. Neuropsychiatric status was assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale and the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire. HRQoL was assessed using the self-reported 36-Item Short Form Survey (SF-36) version 2. Assessments were done at study entry, 12 months, and 24 months. Patients, treating physicians, and outcome assessors were masked to treatment allocation. Analyses were by intention to treat. MS-STAT is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00647348. Baseline assessment revealed impairments in 60 (45%) of 133 patients on the test of frontal lobe function (FAB), and in between 13 (10%) and 43 (33%) of 130 patients in tests of non-verbal and verbal memory (BMIPB). Over the entire trial, we noted significant worsening on tests of verbal memory (T score decline of 5·7 points, 95% CI 3·6–7·8; p<0·0001) and non-verbal memory (decline of 6·8 points, 4·8–8·7; p<0·0001). At 24 months, the FAB score was 1·2 points higher in the simvastatin-treated group than in the placebo group (95% CI 0·2–2·3). The simvastatin group also had a 2·5 points better mean physical component score of the SF-36 (95% CI 0·3–4·8; p=0·028). A treatment effect was not noted for any other outcomes. To our knowledge, this SPMS cohort is the largest studied to date with comprehensive longitudinal cognitive, neuropsychiatric, and HRQoL assessments. We found evidence of a positive effect of simvastatin on frontal lobe function and a physical quality-of-life measure. Although we found no effect of simvastatin on the other outcome measures, these potential effects warrant confirmation and underline the importance of fully assessing cognition and quality of life in progressive multiple sclerosis treatment trials. The Moulton Foundation, the Berkeley Foundation, the Multiple Sclerosis Trials Collaboration, the Rosetrees Trust, a personal contribution from A W Pidgley CBE, and the National Institute for Health Research University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre and University College London.

Combating the surge of illegal wildlife trade (IWT) devastating wildlife populations is an urgent global priority for conservation. There are increasing policy commitments to take action at the local community level as part of effective responses. However, there is scarce evidence that in practice such interventions are being pursued and there is scant understanding regarding how they can help. Here we set out a conceptual framework to guide efforts to effectively combat IWT through actions at community level. This framework is based on articulating the net costs and benefits involved in supporting conservation versus supporting IWT, and how these incentives are shaped by anti‐IWT interventions. Using this framework highlights the limitations of an exclusive focus on \"top‐down,\" enforcement‐led responses to IWT. These responses can distract from a range of other approaches that shift incentives for local people toward supporting conservation rather than IWT, as well as in some cases actually decrease the net incentives in favor of wildlife conservation.

Drawing on structured interviews of 29 conservation practitioners with first‐hand experience working with successful community forest conservation projects in eight countries around the world, this article explores how context influences the importance of Mancur Olson's five requisites for collective action, and Elinor Ostrom's eight design principles for effective common‐pool resource management. Results suggest that Olson was correct that social cohesion is a common attribute of successful community forest management efforts. But the survey also suggests that it is shared identity that is most the important contributor to cohesion and that this can occur largely absent of regular, positive face‐to‐face interactions as Olson suggests. Interviews also show that all eight of Ostrom's design principles are manifest by successful community forest conservation efforts. Although recognition of a community rights to self‐determination was reported to be essential, it was also considered insufficient without the timely and competent support of national authorities to help communities effectively exercise their rights when faced with threats from more economically and politically powerful external actors. El Chino Community Members (TTRCCA) certifying that a peccary pelt to be sold was sustainably harvested (c) Michael Painter/WCS.

In an effort to increase conservation effectiveness through the use of Earth observation technologies, a group of remote sensing scientists affiliated with government and academic institutions and conservation organizations identified 10 questions in conservation for which the potential to be answered would be greatly increased by use of remotely sensed data and analyses of those data. Our goals were to increase conservation practitioners’ use of remote sensing to support their work, increase collaboration between the conservation science and remote sensing communities, identify and develop new and innovative uses of remote sensing for advancing conservation science, provide guidance to space agencies on how future satellite missions can support conservation science, and generate support from the public and private sector in the use of remote sensing data to address the 10 conservation questions. We identified a broad initial list of questions on the basis of an email chain‐referral survey. We then used a workshop‐based iterative and collaborative approach to whittle the list down to these final questions (which represent 10 major themes in conservation): How can global Earth observation data be used to model species distributions and abundances? How can remote sensing improve the understanding of animal movements? How can remotely sensed ecosystem variables be used to understand, monitor, and predict ecosystem response and resilience to multiple stressors? How can remote sensing be used to monitor the effects of climate on ecosystems? How can near real‐time ecosystem monitoring catalyze threat reduction, governance and regulation compliance, and resource management decisions? How can remote sensing inform configuration of protected area networks at spatial extents relevant to populations of target species and ecosystem services? How can remote sensing‐derived products be used to value and monitor changes in ecosystem services? How can remote sensing be used to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts? How does the expansion and intensification of agriculture and aquaculture alter ecosystems and the services they provide? How can remote sensing be used to determine the degree to which ecosystems are being disturbed or degraded and the effects of these changes on species and ecosystem functions?

An essential foundation of any science is a standard lexicon. Any given conservation project can be described in terms of the biodiversity targets, direct threats, contributing factors at the project site, and the conservation actions that the project team is employing to change the situation. These common elements can be linked in a causal chain, which represents a theory of change about how the conservation actions are intended to bring about desired project outcomes. If project teams want to describe and share their work and learn from one another, they need a standard and precise lexicon to specifically describe each node along this chain. To date, there have been several independent efforts to develop standard classifications for the direct threats that affect biodiversity and the conservation actions required to counteract these threats. Recognizing that it is far more effective to have only one accepted global scheme, we merged these separate efforts into unified classifications of threats and actions, which we present here. Each classification is a hierarchical listing of terms and associated definitions. The classifications are comprehensive and exclusive at the upper levels of the hierarchy, expandable at the lower levels, and simple, consistent, and scalable at all levels. We tested these classifications by applying them post hoc to 1191 threatened bird species and 737 conservation projects. Almost all threats and actions could be assigned to the new classification systems, save for some cases lacking detailed information. Furthermore, the new classification systems provided an improved way of analyzing and comparing information across projects when compared with earlier systems. We believe that widespread adoption of these classifications will help practitioners more systematically identify threats and appropriate actions, managers to more efficiently set priorities and allocate resources, and most important, facilitate cross-project learning and the development of a systematic science of conservation.

The trade of bushmeat from rural areas to supply burgeoning cities is a major conservation and livelihood concern. Using a whole-city sampling strategy we mapped the distribution and numbers of meat outlets in the Kinshasa-Brazzaville metropolitan area, two neighboring capital cities in Central Africa. We show that both cities differ in the number and density of meat outlets, with more in Brazzaville per area sampled and inhabitants. The number of meat outlets is related to human population densities and primarily concentrated along the banks of the Congo River, in the more affluent areas of the cities. Across the two cities, roughly 22% of all sampled markets (50% in Brazzaville and 19% in Kinshasa) and 24% of all visited restaurants (24% in each city) were selling bushmeat during our survey. Despite the relatively low number of establishments offering bushmeat for sale, extrapolated to the entire area and population of both cities, we expect the overall amount of wild animal meat consumed per annum to be significantly high. We suggest that the supply of such numbers of wild animal meat will strongly impact the animal populations sourcing these cities. Our data also indicate that the number of domestic meat outlets may be adequate to supply urban dwellers with sufficient animal protein.