WCS Working Paper - Protected Areas and Human Livelihoods

WORKING PAPER NO.
32 DECEMBER 2007
PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS

Edited by Kent H. Redford and Eva Fearn
WORKING PAPER NO. 32
DECEMBER 2007
protected areas and

human LIVELIHOODS
Edited by Kent H. Redford and Eva Fearn
Kent Redford
WCS Institute
Wildlife Conservation Society
2300 Southern Blvd.
Bronx, NY 10460
(718) 220-5889
[email protected]
WCS Working Papers: ISSN 1530-4426
Online posting: ISSN 1534-7389
Copies of the WCS Working Papers are available at www.wcs.org/science.
Cover photographs: © Kent H. Redford/WCS. Front cover: Fisherman in

Antongil Bay, adjacent to Masoala National Park, Madagascar. Back cover:
In the Luangwa Valley, Zambia, WCS promotes wildlife conservation through
agricultural extension and marketing in the COMACO (Community Markets
for Conservation).
Copyright:
The contents of this paper are the sole property of the authors and cannot be
reproduced without permission of the authors.
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complete list of WCS Working Papers, please see the end of this publication.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 2
Part 1: WCS Case Studies – Africa ............................................................................................ 6
1.1 Linking Livelihoods, Land Stewardship, and Resource Conservation in the Antongil
Bay Landscape, Madagascar – Christopher Holmes ..................................................... 6
1.2 Livelihoods and Protected Areas in the Ruaha Landscape: A Preliminary Review –
Pete Coppolillo and Amy Dickman ............................................................................. 17
1.3 The Evolution of Management and Impacts on Communities Adjacent to the
Mombasa Marine Protected Area, Kenya – Nyawira Muthiga ..................................... 27
1.4 Opportunities and Constraints for Protected Area Management through Increased
Connectivity to Local Livelihood Needs in Surrounding Border Areas: Lessons from
Luangwa Valley, Zambia – Dale M. Lewis ................................................................... 38

Part 2: WCS Case Studies – Asia .............................................................................................. 50
2.1 Batang Ai National Park: The Different Conditions under which Local People Benefit
or Do Not Benefit from Protected Areas in Malaysia – Melvin Gumal ........................ 50
2.2 Conservation, Wildlife, and Security: Afghanistan Case Study – Alex Dehgan, Peter
Zahler, Jim Wingard, and Lisa Yook ............................................................................ 58
2.3 Are Efforts to Conserve Biodiversity in Conflict with Those to Reduce Poverty?
A Case Study from Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, Sumatra – David L.A.
Gaveau and Noviar Andayani ..................................................................................... 69
Part 3: WCS Case Studies – Latin America .............................................................................. 76
3.1 The Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park, Bolivia – Andrew J. Noss and Oscar
Castillo ......................................................................................................................... 76
3.2 Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves: Involvement of Social Actors, Participation of
Locals and Conservation Benefit Sharing in Two Protected Areas in Central Amazon,
Brazil – Helder L. Queiroz ........................................................................................... 84
3.3 Costs and Benefits of Madidi Protected Area for Local Human Livelihoods – Lilian
Painter ......................................................................................................................... 97
Part 4: WCS Case Studies – North America ............................................................................. 105

4.1 How Landscape and Socio-economic Transitions Impact Human Livelihoods within
a Mosaic of Wilderness and Communities – Heidi Kretser .......................................... 105
Part 5: WCS Cross-regional Thematic Perspective .................................................................. 117

5.1 Paying for Results: The WCS Experience with Direct Incentives for Conservation
– Karin Svadlenak-Gomez, Tom Clements, Charles Foley, Nikolai Kazakov, Dale
Miquelle, and Renae Stenhouse .................................................................................... 117
Part 6: Perspectives from Outside WCS .................................................................................... 130

6.1 Reframing the Protected Areas-Livelihood Debate: Conserving Biodiversity in
Populated Agricultural Landscapes – Louise E. Buck, Seth Shames, and Sara J. Scherr 130
6.2 Protected Areas, Poverty, and Policy: A Review of Biodiversity and Protected Areas
within National Poverty Reduction Strategies – Dilys Roe .......................................... 135
6.3 Hard Choices: Understanding the Trade-offs between Conservation and Development
– Thomas O. McShane and Sheila O’Connor .............................................................. 145
6.4 Deforestation vs. Poverty at Kibale National Park, Uganda: A Ten-year Perspective –
Lisa Naughton-Treves .................................................................................................. 153
6.5 Transfrontier Conservation Areas, Animal Diseases, and Human Livelihoods: Issues
of System Health and Sustainability – David H.M. Cumming ..................................... 160
6.6 Securing Protected Areas: Compulsory Land Acquisition in East Africa – Peter G.
Veit, Rugemeleza Nshala, and Michael Ochieng’ Odhiambo ....................................... 171
Bibliographies .............................................................................................................................. 180

Background Readings ................................................................................................................ 195
WCS Working Paper Series ........................................................................................................ 196
INTRODUCTION
Protected Areas and Human Livelihoods: Experiences from
the Wildlife Conservation Society
Kent H. Redford+, David S. Wilkie*, and Eva Fearn+
+Wildlife
Conservation Society—WCS Institute, *Wildlife Conservation
Society—Living Landscapes Program
The creation of the global protected area estate is a contested process. It has
been called both the greatest biodiversity conservation planning exercise and
the largest illegitimate taking of private property and resources in the history of
the world. The global protected area network now exceeds 100,000 sites and
covers 12% of the world’s land surface. These sites range from fully protected
national parks and wilderness areas (IUCN I and II), to multi-use reserves
(IUCN IV-VI) designated primarily to protect the resource rights of local people.
Though wholly protected parks were historically predominant, today, multi-use
reserves are expanding fastest and now represent about 90% of all terrestrial
protected areas (Naughton-Treves et al. 2005). Yet despite, or perhaps because
of, the apparent success of creating parks and reserves to protect biodiversity,
their future is not assured. Myriad problems militate against the successful
protection of biodiversity in protected areas. These include inadequate gazett-
ing, ineffective management, rising expectations, and, most importantly, lack of
public support at all levels.
One of the most vexing problems facing protected areas is their expand-
ing remit. Originally established with the relatively limited scope of providing
a place for recreation and to protect some component of nature, the protected
area estate today is also expected to provide an increasing range of benefits to
an increasing range of people. Parks are no longer allowed to simply “protect”
but are charged with providing ecosystem services and facilitating poverty
reduction via local development, ecotourism, and sustainable resource use.
And, though often established for the benefit of people living at a distance from
the area (regional, national, or international), they are now expected to provide
increased direct benefits to people living in and adjacent to the protected areas
themselves.
Tension over historical injustices of establishment of protected areas, the
costs of enforcing their management regulations, and rising expectations for
economic benefit provision have combined to slacken broad scale support for
protected areas. This has been compounded by much recent rhetorical discus-
sion in the social science literature about protected areas and the purported
return to an emphasis on strict protection. These claims ignore the overwhelm-
ing push on protected areas in the other direction—towards much greater
integration with the human communities in and adjacent to them—and further
diminish support for protected areas as an essential tool for conservation of
biodiversity.
These complicated currents confront many of the Wildlife Conservation
Society’s (WCS) field programs at sites where we work and in national and
international discussions about the role and effectiveness of protected areas.
As part of our on-going commitment to conserving wild places, WCS, in col-
2 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

laboration with the White Oak Conservation Center, is conducting a set of three
workshops to address the constraining broader support for protected areas.
The overall theme for the meetings is “The future of protected areas in chang-
ing social contexts.” The first meeting, held in 2006, was on “Protected areas
and human displacement” (Redford and Fearn 2007). The second meeting, on
which this WCS Working Paper reports, was on “Protected areas and human
livelihoods,” and examined the ways, positive and negative, that protected
areas influence the human communities that once relied or still rely on natural
resources within protected areas. The final meeting will be on the topic of “Pro-
tected areas, ecological scale and governance.”
To bolster support for biodiversity conservation it is vital to produce a
more nuanced approach to the interaction between protected areas and local
people. It is clear that in some cases protected areas have been responsible for
diminishing the livelihood prospects of people living in and near them. Left
largely unexamined, however, are the benefits that protected areas may provide
for these same people. Sprinkled throughout the literature are references to
protected areas and the organizations that work to sustain them being sources
of support for local development, democratization, land titling and sustainable
resource planning. There are additional examples where protected areas were
created with the significant purpose being support for local empowerment (e.g.,
Redford and Painter 2006; Alcorn et al. 2006) and even cultural protection and
the protection of the rights of people as of yet uncontacted (e.g., Tagaeri and
Taromenane in the Yasuni Intangible Zone of Ecuador; and the Ayorea in Kaa
Iya National Park, Bolivia).
To address the complexity of conservation implementation in the context
of protected areas and livelihoods, with the specific aim of examining both
costs and benefits of creating and managing parks and reserves, we present case
studies from WCS field conservationists working at 12 sites on four continents.
These are complemented with six contributions from experts outside WCS
that explore such diverse dimensions of the livelihood-protected area debate as
the roles of agricultural development, economic policy, and wildlife (zoonotic)
disease. All were selected to explore two primary questions: 1) When and how
are local livelihoods influenced by the ecological parameters of a protected
area? and 2) When and how can markets be used to achieve sustainable liveli-
hoods and conservation? Together these varied case studies demonstrate the
fallacy of facile generalizations too commonly found in the current literature.
Instead they document the richness and complexity found in the real world and
the importance of considering a diversity of individual cases, the nuances and
experience that informs effective conservation and poverty alleviation, when
drawing conclusions about the costs and benefits of protected areas.
Grouped regionally, these cases provide some commonality when consider-
ing the relationship between protected areas and human livelihoods. For WCS
work in Asia, the way in which conservation detracts from livelihood potential
is similar across the case studies from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Afghanistan.
Livelihoods of local people are constrained by management activities designed
to protect target species, such as patrols and limits on grazing and resource har-
vesting. At the same time, livelihoods, or the foundations for better livelihoods,
are supported by conservation projects by institution-building, training, and
improvement of representation. At all three sites, conservation organizations
provide support for agricultural improvement. In areas where there is nascent
eco-tourism, local people benefit via job creation or direct revenue. Additional
livelihood-enhancing projects include formal education for indigenous people
PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 3

living within a national park in Sarawak, Malaysia, and a proposed microfi-
nance program for poor farmers on the fringes of a national park in Sumatra,
Indonesia.
In the Latin American cases, Mamiraua (Brazil), Kaa-Iya (Peru), and
Madidi-Tacana (Bolivia) were all created, in part, to protect indigenous peoples’
rights from being usurped by outsiders—in these cases, commercial fishers,
farmers and colonizers, and a natural gas company. In Mamiraua, by securing
fishing rights solely for local people, valuable but over-exploited fish stocks
were able to recover and today provide significantly improved incomes for
resident fishers. Though the protected areas have helped local people to avoid
a taking of their present nature resource access and use rights, they come at the
cost of accepting some resource use proscriptions (e.g., not hunting endangered
species) and foregoing some future rights (e.g., setting aside in perpetuity some
of their land for conservation). To offset these costs, conservation work focuses
on strengthening the capacity of local institutions to enforce their rights, and
helping to establish profitable and wildlife-friendly enterprises.
In the African cases, much like elsewhere, conservation activities both
impinge on and support local livelihoods. In Madagascar, conservation restricts
expansion of rice cultivation and other market crops, but compensates for these
loses through payments for forest protection financed through a voluntary
carbon-offset market. In Tanzania, conservation work has helped secure land
claims of local people, an important first step in their generating income from
wildlife tourism and trophy hunting. Simultaneously, conservation work has
resulted in the ousting of non-resident pastoralists from a wetland grazing area,
which has helped increase river flows to the benefit of all users of the great
Ruaha river. In Kenya, Marine Protected Areas exclude fishers from parts of the
reef, but recovery of fish stocks increase catch outside the MPAs and generate
tourism revenues.
In the North American example of the Adirondack Park, conservation
regulations limit timber, mining, and development, even on private property.
However, New York state compensates residents for land development restric-
tions and municipalities for lost property taxes by subsidizing schools and other
social services. In addition, investment in the park created many government
and tourism jobs.
Conservation activity is associated, in all cases, with both benefits and costs
to local people. The mix of these two depends on many factors, including the
social, ecological, and conservation circumstances of each area and what sorts
of other organizations (local, national, international) are working with WCS to
provide benefits to local peoples. In most circumstances, in most places, there
are trade-offs between conservation and local livelihoods but across a broad
range of currencies and over differing time frames. No simple calculations can
be made about winners and losers.
Discussion across case studies, and from broader experience, reached two
overall conclusions: First, in all of the systems examined, there were ecologi-
cal limits to achieving sustainable livelihoods from natural systems. Too often,
unfettered access to natural systems is assumed to be able to ensure improve-
ments in local livelihoods, and denial of such access is viewed as responsible for
local suffering. Natural systems can improve livelihoods in some cases but not
in all, and the returns may be short-lived if the systems are used non-sustain-
ably. Second markets were not a panacea for achieving twin goals of sustainable
livelihoods and conservation of protected areas. Unfettered access to markets is
also often thought to be the solution to local deprivation. Although sometimes

the source of durable solutions, market access is likewise only a partial solution
that works in some cases and not others. These two conclusions are important
when assessing under what conditions the livelihoods of local peoples suffer or
benefit from the establishment of protected areas.
Conclusion
The last centuries have seen massive changes in human population in terms
of demography and distribution. Human population has increased many-fold,
people are living longer, and for the first time in the history of the planet are
predominantly urban. Population growth, combined with strife, natural disas-
ters, land-use changes, and political change, have altered and realtered where
people live. In the countryside, not only have many people left, but massive
land-use changes have forever altered the landscape, now composed of indus-
trial forestry, agriculture at large scales on almost all suitable land, logging in
most forests, diversion or damming of many rivers, grazing across vast swaths
of grassland, disease increasing in some areas and decreasing in others with
concomitant land-use changes, and greatly increased settlement along coasts. It
is against these massive changes in land use and human population movements
that the impact on local peoples of protected area establishment must be judged.
This makes it extremely difficult to assign responsibility for changes in human
livelihoods to single factors.
Taken collectively, the contributions in this volume reject the essential-
ist arguments that prevail in the policy literature: Protected areas are not
necessarily bound in any predetermined relationship to poverty or to wealth.
Conservation is not necessarily good for local people, nor is it necessarily bad
(Fisher 2006). The particularities of place—ecology, biology, productivity, social
history, governance structures, protected area management, and other factors—
are powerful determinants of the interaction between protected areas and liveli-
hoods. But we are not yet at a point to be able to build predictive models.
There is a broadly developing understanding that protected areas must be
integrated into the surrounding land and with the neighboring human popula-
tions. The recent rise in appreciation for the value of ecosystem services and
the fragility of the ecosystems that provide them has highlighted the interac-
tions between protected and non-protected parts of the landscape. This joins
an earlier understanding that parks cannot survive as islands, but rely on flows
with non-protected parts of the landscape. It comes as no surprise then that
protected areas, because they are protected and therefore subject to a different
set of pressures than surrounding land uses, provide both benefits and costs to
neighboring peoples. In fact the World Commission of Protected Areas estab-
lished a task force on protected areas, equity, and livelihoods that is in the
process of completing a three-continent set of meetings. This working paper
offers to this broader discussion the experiences of the Wildlife Conservation
Society—including the Tranlinks project dedicated to the question of conserva-
tion and livelihoods—that emphasize the importance of a balanced approach
to the question, one not based on the soaring rhetoric so dominant today, but
rooted in decades of implementation and local experience.

PART 1
wcs case studies – africa
1.1 Linking Livelihoods, Land Stewardship, and Resource
Conservation in the Antongil Bay Landscape, Madagascar
Christopher Holmes
Wildlife Conservation Society—Madagascar Program
Madagascar is a remarkable biodiversity trust, containing a wealth of unique

flora and fauna. It is also an island of remarkable poverty and environmental
destruction with a largely rural population that is denuding the island at an
unsustainable rate. Finding the balance between biodiversity conservation, sus-
tainable resource use, and economic development has long been a priority for
Madagascar: As early as the 19th century, there was legislation banning defor-
estation for agriculture. At the end of the 20th century, the government enacted
the National Environmental Action Policy (NEAP), which included the devel-
opment of the country’s national park authority, ANGAP. Today, Madagascar
finds itself at a turning point: President Marc Ravalomanana’s pledge at the
2003 World Parks Congress was that Madagascar will triple the surface area
under IUCN recognized protection, largely through integrative, community-
based conservation initiatives.
The fate of biological diversity is dependent not only on the resilience of
the biological system, but equally on the resource management system. This
is nowhere more apparent than in Madagascar. Madagascar has an annual
population growth rate of almost 3%; 87% of the population depend on a
rural subsistence livelihood; and more than half of the population is 16 years
or younger, meaning the island’s natural resources and unique biodiversity
are under ever-increasing pressure. In this setting, the Wildlife Conservation
Society, in collaboration with the Ministry of Environment, Water and Forest
(MinEnvEF) and ANGAP, strives to develop the Antongil Bay landscape as a
model for resource conservation and biodiversity protection through better land
stewardship linked to improved livelihoods.
The Biological Landscape: A Hotspot within a Hotspot

The Antongil Bay landscape in northeastern Madagascar is the epicenter of the
island’s biodiversity. The landscape encompasses marine, coastal, and forest
habitats, and includes Madagascar’s largest protected areas, Masoala National
Park and the Makira Protected Area. Together Masoala, Makira, and their
buffer zones represent over 900,000 ha and over 10% of the remaining forests
of Madagascar, including half of the island’s critically endangered coastal for-
est and 25% of the remaining critically threatened lowland forest. Masoala’s
marine parks, some of the first in Madagascar, protect coral reefs, sea grass
beds, and mangroves around the Masoala peninsula. Antongil Bay itself is the
largest sheltered bay in Madagascar, and the most significant breeding, calving,
and nursing grounds for humpback whales in the East Indian Ocean.

Surface Area
At just over 240,000 ha, Masoala National Park is a complex of protected
areas including three marine parks totalling 10,000 ha, three detached parks
totalling 2,980 ha of coastal forests, and the principal protected area at just
under 230,000 ha. Also included in the management of Masoala is the island of
Nosy Mangabe, a 520 ha special reserve in Antongil Bay. Physically connected
to Masoala via a corridor of mid-altitude forest is the Makira Protected Area,
371,000 ha of mostly pristine mid- and high-altitude forest—Madagascar’s larg-
est protected area. Together these two parks protect over 50% of Madagascar’s
species-level diversity. The high degree of biological diversity and endemicity
is a result of the landscape’s various geological formations, bioclimatic zones,
and rugged terrain that has sheltered the biologically rich low- and mid-altitude
forests.
Fauna and Flora

Counted among its biological riches, the Antongil Bay landscape is home to
the only populations of the critically endangered red ruffed lemur (Varecia
variegata rubra), tomato frog (Dyscophus antongilii), Masoala pitcher plant
(Nepenthes masoalensis), and red owl (Tyto soumagnei). Fifty of the island’s
112 palm species are found here, as are 19 of 22 raptor species and over 100 of
the 203 resident bird species. The diversity of reptiles, amphibians, and fresh-
water fish is similarly high. Recent primate censuses in Makira have confirmed
the presence of 22 of Madagascar’s 71 currently identified lemur species and
subspecies (GERP 2006), more than any other single protected area. Included
among these is the silky sifaka (Propithecus candidus candidus), one of the
world’s most endangered primates. The Masoala and Makira protected areas
also represent the only intact landscape large enough to support viable popu-
lations of Madagascar’s critically endangered, area-demanding serpent eagle
(Eutriorchis astur) and fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox), the island’s principle preda-
tor (Hawkins and Racey 2005). This landscape also ensures connectivity to the
network of protected areas in the north, allowing a continued flow of genetic
material through Madagascar’s northeastern forests.
Threats to the Landscape

The main threats facing the Antongil Bay landscape are swidden agriculture,
bush meat hunting, collection/exploitation of timber and non timber forest
products (NTFP), burning forest for cattle grazing, illicit commercial exploita-
tion of the forests’ hardwood species, and illicit commercial mining of quartz
and precious stones. These threats are driven by both subsistence and larger
economic pressures. Of these threats, the most ubiquitous and destructive to the
forests is swidden agriculture, or “tavy,” which takes the form of rain-fed hill-
side rice. Tavy requires clearing and burning of forest habitat. While it can be a
sustainable form of agriculture in tropical forests, its sustainability is contingent
on long fallows and low density. In Madagascar, fallow periods should be up
to 15 years (Ferraro 1994). However, limited land availability and increasing
population pressure have resulted in decreasing fallow periods, and, in the
Antongil Bay landscape, an estimated 1,500 ha of primary forest are threatened
by deforestation annually (Meyers 2001).
Bush meat hunting is also a significant threat. Opportunistic as well as tar-
geted, hunting is driven by both subsistence and market influences. Ongoing
research has found that 21 forest mammal species—including four carnivore,
three bat, and 11 lemur species—are common targets and hunting for them is

largely unsustainable (Table 1) (Golden 2005). Hunting can include damage
to forest structure; traditional trapping techniques for lemurs require clearing
forest areas of up to 10 x 200 m for a single snare (GERP 2006).
Additional ongoing threats are the well-organized illicit commercial har-
vesting of hard woods and extraction of quartz and precious stones. Centered
largely along the northeast coast of the Masoala peninsula, illicit extraction of
hard woods—mostly ebony (Diospyros sp.) and rose wood (Dalbergia sp.)—
from the protected forests of Masoala remains a major challenge for park man-
agement. In 2000 an estimated 40,000 tons of rose wood with a value of $2,000
per ton were extracted from the peninsula. In 2006 all extraction permits were
frozen in an attempt to gain control of the situation. Less evident, but no less
damaging, is the extraction of quartz from the southern forests of the Makira
Protected Area. Organized by wealthy buyers paying an average of $2 per kg,
locally hired laborers extract quartz in a process that uproots trees, fragmenting
the forest. Extraction typically occurs in remote pristine forest and the mobility
of the operation makes it difficult to monitor (Dokolahy 2004).
The Human Landscape: Factors Influencing Resource and Land

Use Decisions
The Antongil Bay landscape has always been important for the regional econ-
omy: historically with commercial logging, but also for its coastal fisheries, as
well as for the production and export of several cash crops, including vanilla
(first introduced in the 1900s) and cloves. The forests’ ecosystem services pro-
tect watersheds for the regions whose economies are driven by agriculture: In
2003, 95% of the revenue generated in the landscape came from agriculture,
including 41% from rice and 27% from cash crops (Monographie de la region
de Toamasina 2003). The forests also regulate water levels in the plains, pre-
venting erosion and reducing sedimentation into Antongil Bay, an area that
supports small scale fisheries, artisanal shark fisheries, and industrial shrimp
trawling.
The forests also serve as the principle resource base for a largely rural
population of 230,000 people. The inhabitants are the coastal agrarian Betsimi-
saraka, although the high western plateau of Makira is largely populated by
semi-pastoralist Tsimihety. Surrounding the Makira Protected Area is a popula-
tion of greater than 150,000 people in a network of over 120 villages situated
in a 280,000 ha belt of mixed forest and agricultural lands. The population
surrounding Masoala National Park exceeds 85,000 individuals in over 250
permanent villages. Human settlements start along the coast and in the plains,
progressing upstream along the valleys.
Household Economy
Individual households center on subsistence cultivation of irrigated paddy rice
and rain-fed hillside tavy rice with varying investment in cash cropping of
vanilla, clove, and coffee. The communities on the eastern coast of Masoala
also invest in artisanal fisheries, while the Tsimihety of western Makira herd
cattle.1

Table 1: Species commonly hunted in the Antongil Bay landscape, and their conservation status
Species Name Common Name Conservation Status

Lemurs
Indri indri Indri endemic, endangered
Varecia variegata variegata Black and White Ruffed Lemur endemic, critically endangered
Varecia variegata rubra Red Ruffed Lemur endemic, critically endangered
Eulemur fulvus albifrons White-Fronted Brown Lemur endemic, low risk
Eulemur rubriventer Red-Bellied Lemur endemic, threatened
Hapalemur griseus griseus Eastern Grey Bamboo Lemur endemic, low risk
Lepilemur mustelinus Sportive Lemur endemic, low risk
Avahi laniger laniger Eastern Avahi endemic, low risk
Microcebus rufus Mouse Lemur endemic, low risk
Cheirogaleus major Fat-Tailed Dwarf Lemur endemic, low risk
Daubentonia madagascariensis Aye-aye endemic, endangered
Carnivores
Galidia elegans Ring-tailed Mongoose endemic, low risk
Cryptoprocta ferox Fosa endemic, endangered
Fossa fossana Fanaloka endemic, vulnerable
Viverricula indica Lesser Indian Civet introduced, low risk
Bats
Pteropus rufus Madagascar Flying Fox endemic, low risk
Rousettus madagascariensis Madagascar Roussette endemic, low risk
Miniopterus manavi Long-Fingered Manavy Bat endemic, low risk
Other
Subfamily Tenrecinae Spiny and Hedgehog Tenrecs endemic, low risk
Potamochoerus larvatus Bush Pig introduced
Nesomys rufus Forest Rat introduced
Households reported average annual cultivation of 0.80 ha of tavy rice and

0.72 ha of irrigated rice, with yields of 319 kg and 561 kg respectively (Table
2). With average household sizes of 6.4 individuals, and an average annual
consumption of 120 kg of rice per person, a household would have to produce
at least 768 kg of rice annually for household consumption. Based on a 2005
survey, neither tavy rice nor irrigated rice was sufficient to sustain households.
However, a mixed cultivation was sufficient, with a reported average surplus of
112 kg.2 This added value of tavy rice production to a household’s food stores is
important to consider when introducing alternative economic and agricultural
activities to these communities.

Table 2: Relative investment by crop across surveyed households in the Antongil Bay Landscape
Land Use Number of % of Total Area % Total Area Average Area by Total Production (kg)
Households Households (ha) Household
Subsistence
Tavy rice 606 56.37 483.08 19.44 0.80 319,628
Irrigated rice 829 77.12 597.00 24.02 0.72 561,337
Cassava 845 78.60 212.20 8.54 0.25 276,655
Potato 745 69.30 169.43 6.82 0.23 170,335
Beans 96 8.93 29.71 1.20 0.31 16,810
Cash
Vanilla 694 64.56 203.45 8.19 0.29 34,325
Clove 309 28.74 141.24 5.68 0.46 29,021
Coffee 390 36.28 267.09 10.75 0.68 27,755
Other
Banana 729 67.81 381.90 15.37 0.52 227,500
Subsistence and Cash Crops

For the rural population, the relationship between subsistence and market
economies is influential as they assess their annual investment in various agri-
cultural activities. Potential revenue from cash crop sales of vanilla, clove, and
coffee in 2005 was approximately $250 per household; the reported average
annual expenditure on basic household necessities, health, and clothing for
these households was just over $150. Therefore, variation in cash crop prices
can have a clear and immediate impact on land use decisions. During the height
of the 2000-2001 vanilla market, for example, when vanilla sold for up to $120
per kg, the Masoala National Park managers found a considerable drop in tavy
activity—measured in observations of smoke from tavy fires and evidence of
new clearings. In 2004 and 2005, however, the vanilla prices bottomed out at
roughly $5 per kg, and park authorities recorded increased tavy activity. The
year 2006 found tavy activity reduced around Masoala as a result of a produc-
tive clove season coupled with high market prices.
Cultural Significance
Strong spiritual ties to the forest, as well as local institutions concerning land
tenure, also influence land use decisions. The importance of respecting ances-
tors plays prominently in Malagasy culture, and ancestral spirits are believed to
reside in the land. For the Betsimisaraka, this translates into a belief that clear-
ing forest for agriculture is a way to pay respects to the ancestors. The Betsimi-
saraka also consider the forests as common property, with private ownership
recognized only after an individual has cleared the land and made it productive.
These cultural norms, juxtaposed against the fragility of the biological landscape
and placed in the context of an expanding subsistence agrarian society, produce
a potential “perfect storm” for environmental degradation. Cultural etiquette
favors clearing forest, growing populations demand more land to be cultivated,
and the local economy encourages revenues to be reinvested in agriculture. The
projected result, in the absence of resource protection, is deforestation by the
end of this century (Meyers 2001).

Climatic Significance
It is worth considering the role that coastal climate plays in land use decisions in
the Antongil Bay landscape. It is likely that the northeast coast of Madagascar
will be hit by a cyclone on average every 25 years. The occurrence has drastically
increased in recent times with cyclones driving through the landscape in 2000,
2002, 2004, and twice in 2007. The effects of cyclones on the human and eco-
logical systems are enormous: Strong winds blow over all but the largest trees,
snap the trunks of clove trees, and destroy vanilla plantings. Torrential rains
swell rivers and wash out downstream irrigated rice, thereby destroying food
stores. In the context of increasingly common and destructive climatic events,
an investment in mixed rice cultivation between irrigated drainages and cleared
forest seems like a good practice as it provides a degree of food security.
Non-timber Forest Products

The population uses timber and non-timber forest products in almost every
aspect of their lives. With the exception of purchased goods (e.g., flashlights,
cook pots) and consumables (e.g., sugar, kerosene, cooking oil), virtually every
item in a rural household—including the house itself—is a refined timber or
non-timber forest product. Products include building materials and boats,
woven products, gathered foodstuffs, and medicinal plants. In addition to pro-
viding the raw materials for household needs, refined timber and non-timber
forest products also provide some income through their sale in local markets,
although transportation costs from the villages to market centers are such that
sales are usually opportunistic and combined with the more profitable sale of
crops.
The forests of Masoala and Makira contain over 180 locally named spe-
cies of hardwood, palm, vine, and reed that are commonly used by households
to produce everything from mats and baskets to fish traps, tables and chairs,
floors, walls, roofs, and canoes. Given the absence of electricity in even the larg-
est of rural villages, fuel wood and/or charcoal is the sole source of energy. A
2004 survey of non-timber forest product use in selected villages bordering the
Makira Protected Area produced a list of over 40 locally named species of tuber,
fruit, and palm that are commonly collected in the forest as supplements to a
household’s diet, largely during the lean periods between rice harvests (Wilson
2005). In some villages the wild tuber “ovy ala” (Dioscorea sp.) is reported to
make up 38-45% of the household diet during the off-season (Ramanandriana
2006). Also commonly collected is the bark of the “bilahy” tree (Melicope sp.),
the key ingredient in the locally produced beer-equivalent “betsa betsa.” The
popularity of betsa betsa has increased the rarity of the tree in the forests, with
collectors reportedly searching for two to three days to find the tree.
While some cultural beliefs, such as sacred forests and hunting taboos, and
strong markets for cash crops can favor forest resource conservation, other
culturally and economically influenced activities, such as tavy, present serious
challenges. Understanding the extent of cultural, demographic, and economic
factors on land- and resource-use decisions is therefore fundamental to appro-
priate integration of communities into conservation planning and resource use
management.

The Civic Landscape: Administrative Boundaries and Public
Services
The civic landscape of the Masoala and Makira protected areas introduces
another layer of complexity to land and resource use management. Masoala
National Park is located in two administrative regions and partially overlaps
with nine communes (townships). Within these communes are over 50 fokon-
tany—a grouping of several villages with a common government administrator
—that partially border the protected area. The situation is slightly more com-
plicated for the larger Makira Protected Area, which is located in three regions.
The protected area sits in five districts, partially overlaps with 25 communes,
and is bordered by over 104 fokontany.
At each level of this administrative hierarchy sits an elected government offi-
cial with whom the management staffs of the Masoala and Makira protected
areas maintain communications and consult regarding protected area activities.
Employees of the Department of Water and Forest (Eaux et Forêts), under the
direction of the MinEnvEF, assist the ANGAP and WCS protected area man-
agers in these communications and consultations. There is an Eaux et Forêts
officer positioned at the provincial, regional, and district levels. In Makira, Eau
et Forêt officers are involved in all aspects of management and monitoring.
In Masoala, Eau et Forêt officers are not engaged in day-to-day management
but are the key component to law enforcement; ANGAP has the authority to
manage Masoala National Park, but only Eaux et Forêts has authority to issue
citations and arrest transgressors.
Health and Education

Each commune has a government-established health clinic and school. Given
the isolation of many of the fokontany, particularly those that share limits
with the protected areas, access to these services is limited. Among school-aged
children and adults surveyed in 24 villages around Masoala and Makira in
2005 (n=4,746), an average of 63% reported no formal education; this average
ranged from 91% in the most isolated fokontany of western Makira to just
over 46% in the fokontany of eastern Makira and western Masoala. During a
2006 health survey of 892 households in 21 villages around Makira, 70% of
households reported to have been in moderate to poor health during the past
30 days, with 79% of respondents reporting poor health as having a moderate
to severe impact on their work productivity. Of these, only 29% sought treat-
ment from a health clinic. Improving access to healthcare and education are two
necessary elements for improving livelihoods. The manner in which protected
area managers in the Antongil Bay landscape should work toward improving
community access to these services, either directly or indirectly, is a question of
their relatedness to conservation priorities and the availability of funds.
The Managed Landscape: Conservation Activities, Land Use

Planning, and Governance
In the management structures of Masoala and Makira, there is interest in com-
munity integration into conservation planning and resource use management.
With a period of 10 years separating the establishment of these two protected
areas (1997 and 2007 respectively), one can see an evolution in approach to
community integration: The current management structure of Masoala National
Park was adopted from an Integrated Conservation and Development Project
(ICDP) approach, while the management structure being developed for the
Makira Protected Area is the result of lessons learned from the ICDP approach,
as well as changes in national legislation regarding resource use management.

Protected Area Establishment
Masoala began in 1993 as an ICDP partnership between CARE International,
WCS, ANGAP, and MinEnvEF. The ICDP period ended in 1997 when the park
was officially gazetted as an IUCN Category II protected area. In 2000 ANGAP
and WCS took over co-management of Masoala National Park—management
authority rests with ANGAP, and WCS provides technical and financial sup-
port. The boundaries of Masoala National Park were based on sound biological
and socioeconomic understanding of the system. Limits were identified with
local community participation and based on the existence of human settlements
and their subsistence resource needs, resulting in over 71,000 ha of forest being
left outside the park boundary (Kremen et al. 1999).
The establishment of the Makira Protected Area has benefited from the hard
work and lessons learned while establishing Masoala. Like Masoala, the limits
of the Makira Protected Area are based on extensive biological and socioeco-
nomic inventories and surveys. Boundaries were identified based on legitimacy
and legality of activities in traditional village territories, and the final physical
delimitation—an activity still ongoing—involves the participation of local com-
mune and fokontany authorities. Makira is scheduled to receive IUCN Category
II status in December 2007.
For both protected areas, baseline biological and socioeconomic work also
informed internal zoning, allowing subsistence resource use by villages adjoin-
ing the protected areas under controlled circumstances. While no new settle-
ments are allowed in either protected area, the permanent residences inside the
park date back to pre-establishment, and their continued presence is justified
based on this history, as well as the type and extent of subsistence agriculture
practiced. The internal zoning is as follows:
• Strict protection no-take zones (noyau dur) account for 90% of Masoala and
93% of Makira.
• Limited-take zones, called Zones of Controlled Use (ZUC), permit local use
of certain resources by the adjacent villages. The allowed users are registered
and the limited uses are defined in a by-law adopted in a participatory man-
ner.
• Enclaves, called Zones of Controlled Settlement/Occupation (ZOC), do not
allow immigration; the inhabitants are registered, and activities destructive
to the environment are forbidden.
In addition to this internal zonation there is an external Zone of Protection

that extends 2.5 km outside the boundary and serves as a buffer to the protected
area. Controlled selective extraction is allowed in this buffer zone.
Direct Management and Co-Management

The principal difference between Masoala and Makira is in the protected areas’
management structures. The management structure for Masoala is one of direct
management by ANGAP with local community involvement limited to a level
of consultation concerning park affairs. This consultation occurs through the
comité d’orientation et de soutien a l’aire protegee (COSAP). While the COSAP
does not provide local communities with a deciding voice in management
decisions, it does provide an effective forum in which park management and
local community authorities can discuss management issues, thus allowing for
more informed decision-making. In addition to the COSAP, there is a comité
du survallience (COS) for each of the three Masoala marine parks. These 15
member committees are composed of local community members from the local
fishing associations. The COS collaborates with park management in monitor-

ing activities in the marine parks, which are 90% “controlled take” and 10%
“no take.”
Unlike Masoala, Makira’s management structure is proposed to be one of
collaborative co-management between WCS and local community associations
—WCS acts on behalf of MinEnvEF as protected area manager. Formal integra-
tion of the local communities will come via the inclusion of community resource
management association (COBA) representatives on the comité d’orientation et
de suivi (COS), which validates all Makira work plans. The COBAs will also be
engaged to work with WCS and Eaux et Forêts as part of the comité de gestion
(COGE) responsible for carrying out validated management activities.
Community Resource Management around the Protected Areas

This difference in management structures is largely the result of changes in
national legislation concerning resource use management; in 2001 the govern-
ment formalized the devolution of resource management authority to local com-
munity associations through forest management contracts, gestion contractu-
alisé des forêts (GCF). To better insure the lasting protection of habitats within
the Makira Protected Area, MinEnvEF and WCS placed great emphasis on the
conservation and sustainable use of the bordering mixed forest and agricultural
land—a “green belt” equaling 280,000 ha. Conservation and sustainable use
within this “green belt” will be achieved through a program to establish forest
management contracts (GCFs) with the surrounding communities.
These contracts have to be requested by the local communities. The commu-
nity rights and resource use claims for the land under question are then negoti-
ated and the community managed land is delineated—in the case of Makira,
this negotiation and delineation coincides with the delimitation of the protected
area boundaries. The zonation within the GCFs includes zones for agriculture,
subsistence resource extraction, services such as ecotourism, as well as a no take
zone; the no take zones are up against the shared boundary with the protected
area. The GCF process is finalized through the creation of a COBA and the
validation of the management contract, which specifies resource use rules and
indicates the rights and duties of the different partners (COBA, MinEnvEF, and
WCS). Since 2004, there have been 16 GCF contracts formalized in the mixed
forest and agricultural “green belt” surrounding the Makira Protected Area,
involving 30 villages and over 13,000 inhabitants in the sustainable manage-
ment of over 40,000 ha of forest. The expansion of GCF sites will continue
through 2010 and total roughly 28 sites.
Community Development Activities

The legal framework to devolve resource management authority to local com-
munities did not exist when Masoala National Park was established in 1997.
However, the importance of addressing local community resource needs was
still very much a part of developing that park. During the ICDP period, while
WCS worked with ANGAP and MinEnvEF to create the park, CARE addressed
the development needs of the people living on the peninsula. Working directly
with regional authorities, improved subsistence agriculture and sustainable
forestry were advanced in the 71,000 ha of forest land outside the park. After
the disengagement of CARE, these activities were taken over by ANGAP and
WCS outreach officers. Only since 2004 has management authority of these
forest lands begun to devolve to the local communities. Since then, Masoala
park authorities have established five GCF sites involving 10 communities and
encompassing 20,700 ha of forest.

In addition to development activities, the local communities bordering
Masoala National Park also receive tourist revenue: In keeping with ANGAP’s
national policy, half of all tourist fees are redistributed to local communities
to be invested in infrastructure improvement as the community sees fit. While
this revenue sharing program is meant to demonstrate the direct benefit local
communities receive from the protection of natural resources, in fact it has
often resulted in community conflict brought on by unachievable expectations.
In 2005-2006, $7,300 of tourist revenue was to be redistributed to the inhabit-
ants living around Masoala National Park. The insufficiency of these funds to
address community needs was coupled with a perceived unfairness on how the
funds were distributed. Since 2004, ANGAP has been working to decentralize
the process of deciding how tourist funds should be distributed to local com-
munities by establishing committees with community representation.
The Future of the Landscape: Next Steps in the Antongil Bay

The rural population of the Antongil Bay landscape depends on the resources
of these forests for their livelihoods, but this should not be considered solely
in terms of mounting threat. It should also be considered that they have a
collective interest in protecting the forests and conserving resources through
sustainable use. For this to occur several issues have to be addressed, includ-
ing: 1) reducing human population pressure in order to meet food security
and subsistence resource needs, 2) developing, monitoring, and maintaining
community capacity to be good land stewards, and, 3) securing clear benefits
to the communities from their sustainable management of the forest. WCS, in
collaboration with ANGAP and MinEnvEF, will continue to address these issues
in the following ways.
Food Security, Subsistence Resource Needs, and Human Welfare

Expanding rural populations can increase resource use pressure and overwhelm
outreach efforts to introduce sustainable resource use alternatives. Coupling
sustainable resource use alternatives outreach with human welfare outreach
will help to mitigate this pressure. Efforts to improve the rural agricultural
infrastructure in the landscape, and thus improve productivity, will continue.
Activities include further development of the rural irrigation systems, as well
as expansion of improved agricultural/permaculture micro-projects, including
intensified rice production, permanent gardens, tree nurseries, watershed man-
agement, technical training, and applied research/trials of new techniques. In
complement, human welfare activities will expand: In collaboration with CARE
and Population Services International, a baseline of community awareness
of—and need for—health and family planning information is being established,
and health and family planning education is being coupled with improved
access to those services.
Community Land Stewardship

In the context of mounting pressure on forest resources, “community-based for-
est management transfers” represent an opportunity for formal integration of
local communities into management efforts, as well as long-term conservation
of a buffer of productive forest around the protected areas. Efforts will continue
to expand the network of community forest management (GCF) sites bordering
Masoala and Makira, while at the same time focusing on building the capacity
of these local communities to be good land stewards. Devolution of resource
management will allow benefits (as well as costs) of sustainable management to

be internatilized, and improved governance will allow transparency of manage-
ment and promote greater cooperation between and within communities.
Economic Alternatives and Revenue Generation

Until local communities realize a larger and lasting benefit from conserving
forest resources, illicit and unsustainable activities will continue. To this end,
activities that provide dependable alternative revenue to these communities will
continue to be developed, including advancing community-based ecotourism
and identifying and establishing markets for sustainably produced products
such as bio-vanilla, bio-clove, and eco-silk. Together with these direct revenue-
generating activities, WCS will collaborate with development partners and
regional banking institutions to establish a system to make low interest loan
guarantees available for ecologically sustainable investments. Finally, WCS, in
collaboration with MinEnvEF, is developing sustainable financing mechanisms
with direct benefit to local communities through the sale of carbon emission
credits based on avoided deforestation. Calculated on a per hectare basis, ben-
efits to the communities from the sale of carbon credits are tied directly to their
successful stewardship of the forest. The security of these benefits, coupled with
ongoing governance, targeted development, education, and welfare outreach
efforts, can provide an appropriate framework to advance integrative resource
management that protects both biodiversity and human welfare.
1 2005 socioeconomic survey of 1,075 households in 24 villages surrounding the Masoala and
Makira protected areas found 56% of households (n=606) owned active tavy plots, and 77%
(n=829) owned irrigated rice fields. Vanilla was an important cash crop with 65% (n=694) of
households reporting cultivation.
2 2003 survey of households around Makira found that only 31% cultivated both tavy and irri-
gated rice, and that surplus stocks of rice were often used for gifting or reserved for ceremonial
activities.

1.2 Livelihoods and Protected Areas in the Ruaha
Landscape: A Preliminary Review
Pete Coppolillo+ and Amy Dickman*
+Wildlife Conservation Society—Ruaha Landscape Program, *Zoological
Society of London
Ecological Setting
The Ruaha Landscape covers an area of approximately 50,000 km2 in central
Tanzania. The landscape is a mosaic of habitat types straddling the southern
limit of the Sudano-sahelian “Acacia-thorn savannas” and the northern end
of the miombo woodlands. The landscape changes along edaphic, elevational,
and rainfall gradients, with the drier (<200 mm rainfall) lower-elevation (~700
m) and richer soils in the Rift Valley giving way to wetter (up to 1,500 mm
rainfall), higher elevation miombo woodland and Drypetes forest. The land-
scape’s physiognomic diversity is reflected in Ruaha National Park’s diverse bird
community—529 species recorded—and the large mammal community, which
includes the southernmost population of Grants gazelle and lesser kudu, and
roan, sable and greater kudu.
Cultural Setting
The Ruaha Landscape’s location in the Great Rift Valley suggests that some
human settlement has been present for as long as anatomically-modern humans
have existed. Rock art can be found at Kondoa, just east of the Ruaha Landscape,
and there are colonial accounts of rock art present in Ruaha National Park and
Rungwa Game Reserve. More recent cultural history reveals a diverse ethno-
graphic landscape. Bantu horticultural groups inhabit wetter areas and places
where traditional irrigation is possible, and Nilotic pastoralists from Barabaig
and Maasai ethnic groups have moved into the area in the last 50-70 years.
Also significant is Tanzania’s history of Ujamaa or “villagization,” where,
in the mid-1970s, scattered settlements were relocated into nucleated villages
and communal and managed village farms were established. This phenomenon
had lasting effects on Tanzanian society, but two are particularly significant
for conservation. First, nucleating villages created a pattern of human develop-
ment that concentrated human impacts in villages and left large unsettled tracts
for wildlife. Second, the process validated the idea of government-sponsored
resettlement in the minds of many Tanzanians.
History of Protected Areas Establishment

Colonial Period: Saba Reserve
The earliest conservation efforts in the area were consistent with the general
history of conservation in Tanzania: dry season aggregations were protected
as colonial hunting reserves. The Saba Reserve was established by the German
colonial government and covered most of what is today recognized as the Ruaha
Landscape. During this period, there was relatively little permanent settlement
in the landscape, but over 40 named places are still recognized in the protected
portions of the landscape, suggesting that the area was used seasonally and was
relatively well-known.

Post-Colonial: Rungwa-Ruaha
Just after independence (and with support from the New York Zoological
Society) Ruaha National Park was established to cover 10,800 km2 between
the Great Ruaha and Mzombe Rivers. From the beginning, no consumptive
use was allowed in Tanzanian national parks, which represented a step back
from the consumptive use allowed in the Saba Reserve. The areas in present-
day Rungwa, Kizigo, and Muhezi Game Reserves receiving game reserve status
between 1974 and 1984 and continued to be hunted. Usangu Game Reserve
was established in 1996 by upgrading the Utengule Swamp hunting block in
response to an influx of Sukuma and Maasai pastoralists, many of whom had
left northern Tanzania in search of better grazing lands. Those already settled in
Usangu were compensated and left, but unfortunately there was little enforce-
ment of the new regulations, and many returned almost immediately.
The final protected area in the Ruaha Landscape is Pawaga-Idodi Wildlife
Management Area (PI-WMA), which was officially designated in March 2007.
This 750 km2 strip south of Ruaha National Park is village land. In 1995, a
UK Department for International Development (DFID)-Funded program began
buffer-zone management activities in this area. This process coincided with
Tanzania’s establishment of “Wildlife Management Areas” legislation, which
(for the first time) allows local people to manage wildlife on their village land.
With the exception of management staff and tour operators, none of these
protected areas has human settlement within its boundaries. For PI-WMA, a
consortium of 21 villages is about to receive User Rights to manage the area.
Current Situation
During the 2006 dry season the drying of the Great Ruaha River forced the
Mtera Hydroelectric plant to close and reduced the Kidatu Hydroelectric Plant’s
production by 50%. A major driver of the river-drying was degradation of the
Ihefu Swamp in Usangu Game Reserve, where around 170,000 livestock were
grazing. In response to the power crisis, the Government of Tanzania expanded
Usangu Game Reserve’s boundaries and upgraded it to national park status.
Grazing in the game reserve was already illegal, but numbers of livestock had
increased steadily since the initial evictions, so Usangu was placed under the
Tanzania National Parks Authority (TANAPA), which is relatively better fund-
ed and in general is more effective at enforcement. At present the area is slated
to be annexed to Ruaha National Park, making it the largest Park in Africa, at
just over 20,000 km2. The boundaries of the expanded area are not yet final.
In keeping with its policy of no settlement in protected areas, at least three
villages will be resettled as part of this process. At this stage (actual movement
has not started), most of the affected people are cooperative, which may reflect
Tanzania’s recent history of resettlement. Present conflicts surrounding the
resettlement process focus on compensation amounts and who is eligible, rather
than whether or not resettlement should occur.
Resource Use and Governance

National parks allow no consumptive use, while game reserves allow low-vol-
ume trophy hunting by (mostly expatriate) tourist hunters. Pawaga-Idodi WMA
will be managed with both photographic (non-consumptive) and hunting zones
(81% and 19% of the area respectively).
One exception to these rules is Muhezi Game Reserve, which, in an effort
to demonstrate “tangible benefits” to adjacent communities, was designated a
“multiple use” game reserve in 1995. The result is that two extractive uses—

beekeeping and artisanal gold mining—are allowed. Beyond honey, gold min-
ing, and trophy hunting, there are no consumptive uses in the protected portion
of the landscape. Neither honey nor gold from the protected area have a special
market associated with them.
The “tangible benefits” of honey production and artisanal mining may be
more appropriately labeled “visible benefits.” The Rungwa-Kizigo-Muhezi
complex of reserves (the only management unit for which revenue data are
available) generates over $850,000 per year. These revenues go into Tanzania’s
central treasury, so they do in fact produce tangible monetary benefits, but only
as part of the national budget. This revenue is effectively invisible in the local
context, so the need for visible benefits contributed to the decision to allow
honey and gold mining in the Muhezi Game Reserve. It is not clear whether
this was perceived or presented as livelihood improvement or mitigation of lost
access.
Resource use outside protected areas is managed by village and district
government. As part of the Village Land Act, villages must establish land use
plans which are enforced through village by-laws. In general, village by-laws
only apply to land uses like cultivation, grazing, or settlement. Permits for
wood cutting and hunting are issued by forestry and wildlife officers, who are
part of district councils but administratively are part of the Ministry of Natural
Resources and Tourism.
Resource Use and Conservation Targets

It is generally accepted that in Tanzanian savannas, sanctioned use of natural
resources have far less impact than illegal uses. For example, assessments of
tourist hunting quotas show that with the exception of big cats, quotas tend to
be low (<2%) and are not generally considered to be a threat to wildlife popu-
lations. But illegal hunting outside reserves and in boundary areas is known to
have significant effects, even leading to local extinctions. For this reason, most
research and monitoring in the Ruaha Landscape has focused on illegal uses
and not systematically assessing the direct effects of legal consumptive uses.
Nevertheless, it is possible to paint a preliminary picture of the effects of min-
ing and beekeeping.
Honey is collected from wild baobab trees or from artisanal hives made
from hollowed logs. The direct effects of honey collecting are minimal, but the
indirect effects—fire and associated hunting—can be significant. Illegal hunting
associated with honey gathering is difficult to assess quantitatively for a number
of reasons. First, it is likely that a significant proportion—if not most—hunting
associated with honey gathering goes unnoticed because detection rates are low,
particularly in the dense miombo woodlands and Itigi Thicket of Muhezi Game
Reserve. Second, only arrests are recorded, so there is no mechanism to capture
encounters that do not lead to an arrest. Furthermore, no centralized record
remains after arrests are moved (administratively) to the legal realm, so retro-
spective analyses are impossible. Management and enforcement personnel point
out that honey collecting provides an excuse for people to enter the reserve, so
an individual’s presence in the reserve may not necessarily be illegal, even if his
intentions are to hunt illegally. This “cover” for illegal hunters who have no
intention to collect honey is the primary concern voiced by management per-
sonnel. Despite—or possibly because of—these difficulties in measuring honey-
related hunting, managers and rangers complain that the proportion of genuine
honey gatherers to disingenuous ones attempting to gain access is quite low.

Fires, the second effect associated with honey gathering, are more easily
measured. Fires are common throughout the dry season, from the time grass-
lands dry in May until the rains begin, usually in November. Because “dry
lightning” is not common in the Ruaha Landscape, virtually all fires can be
attributed to people. As a honey hunter opens a hive, the smoldering stick used
to subdue the bees is cast aside, often starting a fire. Fires are also intentionally
set to facilitate safer travel through the bush (to make snakes and large mam-
mals more visible), or to divert enforcement personnel because they are also
responsible for extinguishing fires.
The effects of artisanal mining are not dissimilar to those of honey hunting:
The direct disturbance from digging is minimal, but the human presence in the
reserve is much more significant. Again, by providing a legitimate excuse to
enter the reserve, mining creates an opportunity for illicit resource users to enter
under the guise of sanctioned use. Poor regulation of permits also means that
while only 12 initial miners were authorized to remain in the reserve, literally
hundreds of individuals claim access as one of the original 12. Miners—unlike
honey hunters who enter the reserve, collect honey, and leave—are inclined to
stay for long periods. This increases the probability that they themselves will
hunt for the pot while in the reserve.
The “effects” of honey hunting and mining described above are focused
primarily on illegal hunting and fires as potential threats to wildlife. But what
effects are visible through ecological outcomes like the decline of a species? To
address this question, we examined the available data on buffalo, as they are a
useful lens because they are affected by both threats and because they are eco-
nomically valuable. Their abundance relative to the other highly-prized trophy
species (like lion and leopard) and the cost of a buffalo hunt ($27,000 for a
one-week hunt) make buffalo the cornerstone of the tourist hunting industry.
Using buffalo as an indicator of overall ecosystem health, it is clear that
the decision to incorporate extractive use has affected Muhezi Game Reserve.
Ecosystem-wide, numbers of buffalo appear stable, but a closer look at the sub-
units of the landscape reveals a different story. Parts of the Ruaha Landscape
have seen a marked decline in buffalo (up to 70%). Poor nutrition may be driv-
ing or at least exacerbating this trend. Muhezi Game Reserve has the lowest
density of buffalo when compared to the adjacent reserves and Ruaha National
Park. While it would be inaccurate to attribute the decline of buffalo simply to
fires from honey collecting, the fires are an important contributing factor. Fires
affect all grazing species.
As far as hunting is concerned, other species may be facing more significant
threats than buffalo because buffalo are large and dangerous, and are avoided
by many subsistence hunters. Furthermore, buffalo use open habitats and are
in large herds, making them more difficult to hunt at close range, which is a
necessity when using homemade muzzle-loaders (the most common method of
illegal hunting).
In summary, very little consumptive use is allowed within the protected areas
of the Ruaha Landscape: Honey hunting and artisanal mining are the only uses
allowed, and these are practiced in Muhezi Game Reserve, which covers just
over 9% of the landscape. The direct effects of these sanctioned uses are rela-
tively small when compared to those of their indirect effects, hunting and fire.
While high quality data are not available, a preliminary assessment of the effects
of fire on buffalo suggests that it has significant local effects.

Displacement of Use
Excluding tourist lodges, reserve management, and hunting camps, there are no
human settlements in these protected areas. Therefore, the effects of protection
on local use, or “displacement,” are only visible in adjacent areas.
As mentioned above, the human population adjacent to protected areas is
split between horticulturalists and pastoralists. Because pastoralism is spatially
extensive, and because pastoralists are politically marginalized, they are the
most likely sub-population to suffer the effects of “economic displacement.”
Because pastoralists live closest to the protected areas of the Ruaha Landscape
and because their livestock share many resources with wildlife, their interac-
tions with the protected areas are stronger than those of horticulturalists. For
this reason, and because more data are available for pastoralists, we limit our
analysis of displacement to pastoral households.
To examine whether pastoralists are experiencing economic displacement,
we examined whether their access to grazing land was affected by the pres-
ence of protected areas. To do so, we tracked 35 groups of cattle as they were
herded from their households, and analyzed whether living closer to protected
areas affected the distance that herds needed to travel—the “herding radius.”
Economic displacement could increase the herding radius—by forcing herds to
travel farther to find other grazing areas to substitute for protected rangelands
—or decrease the herding radius—if the spatial constraint imposed by protec-
tion made it impossible to travel farther.
We found no evidence for either type of displacement. Distance from pro-
tected area boundary was not correlated with herding radius, and households
living between village centers and the protected area traveled no further than
households that lived on the opposite side of the village from the protected
area.
It is possible that displacement may be uniformly affecting all households
within the area. In that case, variation would only be apparent at larger spa-
tial scales. However, this seems unlikely in light of the following observations:
First, herding radii are short, relative to the overall size of villages. Because
households are only using small areas, there is local variation in the density
of livestock and in grazing pressure; in other words, entire villages are not
experiencing a uniform shadow of displacement. Furthermore, large, unsettled
and more lightly-grazed areas exist between villages, suggesting that grazing
resources are not uniformly exhausted. Given the long time since park estab-
lishment, one would expect that if displacement were significant, resource use
would shift and these areas would be more uniformly exploited. Finally, in
the villages examined, resettlements occurred during the colonial period, at
protected area establishment, during villagization, and nearby villages were
resettled after establishment of a dam for hydroelectric power. That resettlement
affects land use is undeniable, but the protected areas would be unclear. This
preliminary analysis suggests that livestock herding is not spatially constrained
by protected areas. But the spatial aspect of herding is only one component of
pastoral livelihoods.
Conservation and Livelihoods in Ruaha

Livelihoods may still be significantly affected by protected areas. The costs
of living near a protected area include livestock depredation by carnivores,
crop raiding by elephant and hippo, and the potential for disease transmission
between wildlife/livestock/human interfaces. Benefits may include employment
(by protected area authorities, tour operators, and lodges or by conservation

organizations), growth in reserve-adjacent village economies, or through ser-
vices like veterinary extension benefit sharing programs or land/resource-use
planning undertaken as part of reserve establishment or management.
Costs of Living with Wildlife in Ruaha

The costs of living with wildlife for pastoralists in the Ruaha Landscape are that
most pastoral households reported losses to carnivores. Reports varied from 0
to 12 cattle, but households averaged 0.34 animals lost during the year preced-
ing the study. (Animals stolen or dying from disease and starvation were also
recorded.) Table 1 shows the numbers of animals reported lost to these factors,
and their ratios. The economic cost of human-carnivore conflict (HCC) can be
calculated using animals’ market price, but since only a small percentage of ani-
mals are sold, the more common losses are in terms of household productivity.
No human deaths have been attributed to carnivores over the last four years,
but one herder was injured by a leopard while defending livestock. Whether
this should be “counted” as a cost is unclear because the livestock were being
herded illegally within a protected area.
Table 1: Average livestock losses per household
Mean # of each Mean # Ratio of stolen: Mean # dying Ratio of Ratio of non-
class of livestock stolen predated from disease and diseased or carnivore deaths
killed by predators Starvation starved: to carnivore
predated upon predation
Cattle 0.34 1.27 3.75 1.93 5.70 9.45
Small stock 0.93 1.54 1.66 2.96 3.20 4.86
Quantifying the costs of disease is more difficult. Disease and starvation

often go together, and many herd owners were reluctant to attribute deaths to
one or the other, so these two categories were aggregated. Reported losses to
disease and starvation are much greater than the losses to carnivores: 3 to 1 for
small stock and 5 to 1 for cattle. But the proportion of these losses to attribute
to wildlife is unclear. We examined households’ reported losses to disease in
relation to their distance to the protected area boundary and the densities of
other households and livestock. Reported losses to disease were most strongly
correlated to cattle density. Distance to the nearest protected area boundary was
not correlated to disease losses. Taken together, these results suggest that live-
stock are a more significant reservoir for their own diseases than are wildlife.
Because disease and starvation were lumped, it is difficult to say which process
drives this result more strongly, but direct sampling of zoonotic diseases in
livestock is underway.
Benefits of Living with Wildlife in Ruaha1

Pastoral communities have also benefited from living near protected areas.
During the last five years, five tourist lodges have opened in the area, and three
more are under construction. In addition to the lodges, many of the families of
Ruaha National Park (RUNAPA) staff choose to live outside the park, where
goods and services are more available, cultivation is possible, and regular trans-
portation to Iringa (the district center) is available. While the RUNAPA fami-
lies outside the park are uncounted, the economic effects of their salaries are
apparent in Tungamalenga, the closest village to the park entrance. In addition

to growing rapidly, having more stores and a wider selection of goods for sale,
Tungamalenga is also the only one of the nine villages in Idodi Division that has
guest houses (in addition to the eight wildlife-tourism camps).2
Another benefit of living next to a protected area comes in the form of HCC
mitigation. There has been research to understand and outreach to reduce live-
stock depredation, primarily in an effort to protect Ruaha’s intact carnivore
guild (it harbors the third largest population of wild dogs in Africa). One could
argue that without the protected area there would be no carnivores and no
conflict, but this would be an overstatement, as hyenas often persist in human-
dominated landscapes. Rural areas without protected areas may still have car-
nivore depredation without the benefit of mitigation efforts.
Pastoralists and tour operators also joined forces last year when an increase
in snaring killed two giraffe and a handful of pastoralists’ cattle. The Pastoral
Association raised the issue and pointed out that snaring was affecting livestock
in addition to wildlife. As the pastoralists began collecting snares in the bush,
the tour operators, with greater political standing and access to village govern-
ment, demanded an investigation and an increase in enforcement (two suspects
were arrested and remain in custody).
Tourism development may not benefit pastoralists forever. It is conceivable
that tourism could expand to fill all the available wildlife-only area, and tour
operators could push for more area to be designated as wildlife only. However,
this seems unlikely since only about 5% of Ruaha National Park is developed
for tourism. Furthermore, traditional pastoralism is well integrated with wild-
life conservation in northern Tanzania, where wildlife and cultural tourism go
hand in hand. Many pastoral groups have developed lucrative “cultural bomas”
to capture a share of tourist revenues. Therefore, it seems unlikely that Ruaha’s
tourism and pastoralism will come into conflict in the near future.
Other activities to protect wildlife also indirectly benefit local people. For
example, during heavy El Niño rains in early 2007, small stock began dying
in great numbers. Initially, authorities speculated contagious caprine pleuro-
pneumonia (CCPP). A Sokoine University veterinarian working on wildlife-
livestock disease interactions noticed cattle abortions and sheep deaths, signs
of Rift Valley Fever rather than CCPP. Early detection and action may have
been significant in helping Iringa District limit human cases of Rift Valley Fever
to four, while the adjacent regions of Morogoro and Dodoma endured 50 and
156 cases respectively. WCS and the Danish International Development Agency
(DANIDA) District Agricultural Development Support (DADS) Program have
worked together on water development in places where water shortages force
pastoral livestock into contact with wildlife at shared water sources. This may
help mitigate elephant conflicts, because elephants invade irrigated fields as a
water source, and trample crops.
Another—perhaps the most significant—benefit for pastoralists provided by
protected areas is land-use planning. Tanzania’s Wildlife Management Areas
legislation requires that every village seeking authority to manage wildlife on its
land must complete a land use plan. During the establishment of Pawaga-Idodi
Wildlife Management Area, WCS, WWF, and RUNAPA all contributed to the
land-use planning process. This support sped up the process and significantly
expanded the number of stakeholders that were able to participate, which both
improved the plans’content and increased buy-in from those involved. Land-
use planning is particularly significant for pastoralists because their movements
and absence from some grazing areas during the year makes some non-pastoral
people think that grazing areas are unused or unwanted. By establishing

unequivocal zonation, the land-use planning process has strengthened pastoral
land tenure. Now every village recognizes and designates grazing zones within
its boundaries.
These benefits are not evenly distributed throughout the landscape.
Tungamalenga is the nearest village to Ruaha’s only entry point. By virtue of its
location, it enjoys the lion’s share of tourism benefits and the economic activ-
ity from RUNAPA’s employees. Other villages sit directly on the boundary of
Ruaha, where they endure crop raiding and livestock depredation, but because
there is no entry gate nearby, they capture few of the benefits to offset these
costs. Table 2 summarizes some of the livelihood-related costs and benefits for
pastoral people living in the Ruaha Landscape.
Table 2: Summary of protected areas effects on pastoral livelihoods
Effect Positive Negative

Carnivore Depredation • Assistance in decreasing livestock depredation • Losses to carnivores
Disease • Additional livestock extension available • Some diseases may be present or more prev-
through wildlife conservation efforts alent as a result of wildlife (but overall data
• Water development to increase productivity suggest livestock as the primary reservoir)
and decrease wildlife-livestock interactions
Tourism development • Opportunities for employment (8 lodges) • Possibly more pressure to increase protected
• Opportunities for cultural tourism (Boma visits) land (where no grazing occurs)
• General increases in economic activity
Access to land • Land use planning and land conflict resolution • Land use planning and land conflict resolu-
from conservation NGOs tion from conservation NGOs
Current Relations between the Protected Area and Local

Peoples
Relative to other parts of the world, people-park relations are good in the
Ruaha Landscape. That is not to say that the area is free from conflicts, but
the conflicts are intermittent and are almost never violent. The establishment
of Pawaga-Idodi WMA has essentially given 21 villages their own protected
area. Conflicts centered on PI-WMA generally focus on management deci-
sions or ways to maximize benefits, rather than whether or not it should
exist. Pastoralists do request access to the reserves in difficult dry seasons,
but these are only requests, not calls to dissolve the WMA. RUNAPA, like
all of Tanzania’s national parks, practices “Support for Community-Initiated
Programs” (SCIP). Budgets for SCIP are around $3-400,000/year and many
communities are quick to mention these projects as a benefit of conservation
and protected areas. One benefit of SCIP projects is that they tend to focus
on infrastructure, which remains as testimony of the support. The overseeing
authority for PI-WMA (MBOMIPA) also provides financial support directly to
village governments, but these funds are less than what comes from RUNAPA,
are less visible, and so are easily forgotten.

Conclusions
Generalizations are difficult for a landscape as large and diverse as Ruaha, but
a number of salient points emerge.
Political resettlements and natural migration make the effects of

protected areas difficult to isolate.
Many of the places from which pastoralists emigrated are badly degraded, so
when conversation turns to land degradation, access, or land shortage, few
people mention these other, earlier drivers of change; instead, most mention
protected areas, which are nearby and remain tantalizingly intact. For this
reason, initial impressions suggest that protected areas are the major drivers
of land shortage. But protected area establishment, villagization, resettlement
for a hydropower reservoir, and influxes of pastoralists from other parts of the
country have all affected the patterns of settlement, livestock numbers, and
resource availability in the Ruaha Landscape. Because these processes hap-
pened over decades, and because people continue to move within Tanzania, it is
exceedingly difficult to attribute aspects of current land uses to any one of these
drivers. In examining livelihoods in Ruaha, it is important to go beyond initial
impressions, which might inflate the role of protected areas in shaping current
land uses and current livelihoods.
Perceived lack of “tangible benefits” is actually a lack of visible

benefits.
Another common misperception is that the protected areas of the Ruaha
Landscape “lock up” resources. Closer examination reveals that these areas
hold tremendous economic potential and that the perceived lack of benefits
actually reflects a structural problem: the diversion of conservation revenues
to central government and private entrepreneurs. It is understandable for local
people to think there are no financial benefits from conservation because they
are quickly whisked out of the landscape and disappear into the central treasury
or offshore bank accounts. This is an important distinction because it means
that protected areas and conservation have the potential to contribute to local
livelihoods, but at present they are not doing so.
Extractive uses have significant negative effects on the “engines” of

revenue generation.
The perception that protected areas were not producing anything of economic
value has created pressure for extractive use. For example, Muhezi Game
Reserve was designated a multiple-use reserve, allowing beekeeping and arti-
sanal mining. The revenues from these two enterprises have been small and
erratic, but the ecological costs in terms of fires, illegal hunting, and mercury
pollution from gold mining have been large.
The Muhezi experience suggests that extractive use is not an appropriate
method for integrating communities and protected areas or improving liveli-
hoods. This strategy is akin to the owner of a productive factory choosing not
to pay her workers reasonable salaries, but instead allowing them to take home
pieces of the factory machinery to sell. Bits of machinery are of little value, and
eventually the factory will break down. That breakdown is apparent in Muhezi,
with an overabundance of fire (associated with illegal activities) and the lowest
large mammal biomasses in the landscape.

Villages must be integrated economically, rather than ecologically.
The example from Muhezi highlights the difficulties of integrating communities
ecologically through direct exploitation of resources. A more viable strategy is
economic integration. Tungamalenga village is positioned as the sole gateway to
Ruaha National Park. The village itself is thriving: economic activity is signifi-
cantly greater than in other villages, the village is attracting investment in tourism
enterprises, propogating benefits through the village economy. Tungamalenga
runs the risk of getting too expansive, while other villages are not enjoying these
benefits even though they also sit on the boundary of Ruaha.
An obvious solution is to help other villages become economically integrated
with Ruaha National Park. Simply adding a second gate would decrease the
pressure on Tungamalenga, protect the value of the existing investments there,
and create new potential for investment and economic value in other villages.
Given the difficulties with extractive use, this seems the most appropriate meth-
od for the protected area to integrate communities and improve livelihoods.
The Balance of Costs and Benefits

The costs and benefits of living with wildlife and protected areas are evident in
the Ruaha Landscape, highlighting both the difficulties and the more fruitful
prospects for improving rural livelihoods through conservation. Revenue from
Tanzania’s tourism industry will soon exceed one billion dollars per year, and
local communities that pay the costs of living with wildlife deserve their share
of this national resource. Such a strategy makes sense from ethical as well as
practical points of view.
Academic discourse often presents local communities as passive victims,
impoverished by protected area establishment. A deeper examination of reset-
tlement and the development process in the Ruaha Landscape suggests a much
more complex history and that local people may be poor in spite of protected
area establishment, rather than because of it. Conservation in Tanzania ben-
efits tremendously from the fact that wildlife has enormous economic value.
Conservation managers should address the structural problems that effectively
hide conservation revenues from local people, rather than trying to wring more
benefits from protected areas through extractive use.
1 We only consider local benefits here, but it is worth noting that at the national level, the Great
Ruaha River supports central Tanzania’s most significant fishery, and generates over 70% of
Tanzania’s electricity.
2 An economic analysis of Tungamalenga’s and other villages’ economies is underway by M.

Masozera.

1.3 The Evolution of Management and Impacts on
Communities Adjacent to the Mombasa Marine Protected
Area, Kenya
Nyawira A. Muthiga
Wildlife Conservation Society—Western Indian Ocean Project
Marine protected areas (MPAs) are established for purposes of biodiversity

conservation, fisheries management, and the management of tourism. In many
cases, MPAs are established in areas that were historically utilized by local
communities. Failure to adequately engage these communities at the incep-
tion of the MPA has often resulted in the creation of “paper parks” (Rubens
1996; King 2000). In the last decade, the Kenyan government has come to
recognize the importance of incorporating community interests into natural
resource management. The wildlife, forestry, and the fisheries policies that are
currently at different stages of debate in the Parliament incorporate elements
for encouraging community participation. This report documents the evolution
of the youngest MPA in Kenya—the Mombasa Marine Park and reserve—and
the impact of management on the local community. It discusses the challenges
of implementing community initiatives in this part of Kenya, and the study site
presents some characteristics that can generate useful lessons relevant at the
regional and global levels.
Environmental and Biophysical Characteristics

The Mombasa MPA (Figure 1) is 200 km2 and lies between Tudor Creek to the
south and Mtwapa Creek to the north, in Mombasa District, Coast Province,
Kenya. The climate and oceanographic conditions of the Kenyan coast are
controlled by the northeast and the southeast monsoon winds (Bryceson 1982;
McClanahan 1988). Average annual temperatures range from 26.3oC to 26.6oC
and the long rains (March/April to July) average 100 mm per month while the
short rains (October to November) average 90 mm per month.
Figure 1: The Kenyan coastline showing the Mombasa Marine Park and reserve
and the main fish landing beaches (Marina, Jomo Kenyatta, and Nyali) in the MPA
(Modified from McClanahan et al. 2005)

Coral reefs, seagrass beds, and mangrove forests are the main marine eco-
systems, while sandy beaches and rocky coral cliffs characterize much of the
shoreline. Due to the high tidal range, a large area of sand is exposed along the
shore and serves as an important feeding area for shore birds (Seys et al. 1995).
Shoreward from the high tide mark, patches of riparian vegetation are home to
a wide range of terrestrial fauna.
Monospecific meadows of the seagrasses Thalassodendron ciliatum and
Thalassia hemprichii are associated with reefs growing in the shallows and
serve as important fishing grounds for local communities as well as feeding and
breeding habitats for finfish and sea turtles. The fringing coral reef lies beyond
the lagoon, and stretches almost unbroken from Mtwapa Creek to Tudor
Creek. The inner reef is dominated by the hard coral Porites (McClanahan and
Mutere 1994) and is interspersed by areas of sand, seagrass, and fleshy and
calcareous algae. Many species of coral reef fishes, gastropods, and corals occur
within these reefs. The fore reef has a high percent cover of hard and soft coral
species and is a popular site for dive tourism.
Beyond the reef, large schools of pelagic fishes, whale sharks, and sea
turtles are common, while humpback whales are occasionally sighted on their
southward migrations (Wamukoya et al. 1996). Several species of dolphin,
including the bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the common dol-
phin (Delphinus delphis), occur in Kenyan waters (Wamukoya et al. 1996).
Mangrove forests along the fringes of the Mtwapa and Tudor Creeks are impor-
tant fisheries areas but are also a source of sediments and solid waste pollution
into the MPA (Mwangi et al. 2001).
Social and Cultural Setting

The Mombasa district has ~ 2.5 million inhabitants (1999 census), or 9% of
the national population. The earliest peoples of the Kenyan coast were the
Cushitic speakers (Orma, Boni, Sanye, and Somali) that were later displaced by
Bantu speakers (Mijikenda, Pokomo, Taita) and the Swahili (Middleton 2000).
The coast experienced several colonial regimes—the Portuguese (1500-1700),
the Omani Arab Sultanate of Zanzibar (1700-1895), and the British (1895-
1962)—that all had a distinctive influence on the socio-economic and cultural
character of the province (Cooper 2000). African religious beliefs and practices
existed prior to colonization, Islam existed for centuries, and Christianity was
introduced in more modern times (Sperling 2000). Over time, the socio-cultural
profile has become fairly diverse (Coast Development Authority 1996) and is
composed of ethnic groups from the coast (64.7%), groups from other parts of
Kenya (25%) and immigrants from outside Kenya (3.9%).
The population of the coast has grown rapidly at an average rate of
3.5% between 1962 and 1979, but the growth rate has decreased to 3.1%
(Wakajummah 2000). The fertility rate (5.3 per woman) is slightly below the
national average (5.4) and male to female ratio is skewed towards males in
the districts with large urban areas like Mombasa and towards females in the
more rural districts, such as Kilifi and Kwale. Despite a decrease at the national
level, all categories of mortality remain high in the coast province, compounded
by factors including low levels of education and diseases, especially malaria
(Wakajummah 2000). High birth and high death rates combine to create a
young age structure. Migration to the coast, however, is very high (15% of
national total), leading to a skewed male to female ratio and ethnic disparities.

History of the Protected Area
The Mombasa MPA was gazetted after hoteliers and local expatriate residents
petitioned the government for an MPA along the Bamburi-Shanzu beach. The
first surveys of the reefs indicated a high degree of degradation (McClanahan
and Shafir 1990), but biodiversity conservation was not the main rationale
for creating the MPA: The tourism boom of the 1980s brought more visitors
to the area and security for tourists became a stronger justification for the
establishment of the MPA. The MPA was gazetted in 1986 under the Wildlife
Conservation and Management Act Cap 376 of 1977 and zoned into an area
of 12 km2 designated as a marine park (legal notice 315), a no-take IUCN
Category II area, encompassed within a larger marine reserve (200 km2), IUCN
Category VI.
The fishing community opposed the establishment of the MPA and would
not comply with its regulations to the extent that Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS)
was unable to establish a management base near the MPA for several years.
Sustained dialogue and initiatives targeting the local community, including sup-
port for the Mombasa Boat Operators Association (MBOA) and reducing the
no-take area from 12 km2 to 10 km2 (Glaesel 1997), resulted in KWS being
able to set up a management base in 1991 (McClanahan and Kaunda-Arara
1996). The current management plan was developed through a comprehensive
consultative process in 2000 (Weru et al. 2001).
Resource Use
The marine reserve is an important area for artisanal fishers who land their
catch at three beaches (Nyali, Jomo Kenyatta, and Marina) adjacent to the
MPA (Table 1). Approximately 60 local fishers currently fish in the reserve
(~12 fishers/km2) using dugout canoes and gleaning (McClanahan and Kaunda-
Arara 1996; Muthiga and Ndirangu 2000; Cinner et al. 2007). Finfish catches,
estimated at eight tons/km2/yr, are predominantly rabbitfish, parrotfish, and
octopi (McClanahan and Kaunda-Arara 1996). Fishers make between 9.5
and 11 trips/day/km2 earning an estimated $40 per month using (in order of
importance) gill nets, hand-lines, seine nets, spear guns, longlines, basket traps
(madema) and other nets (McClanahan and Kaunda-Arara 1996; Cinner et al.
2007). The fishers landing their catches at Marina had the highest incidence of
use of illegal nets (beach seines) and nets of restricted mesh sizes. Sports and
aquarium fishing occur in the reserve, but no reliable statistics of these fisheries
are available.
Although the economic benefits of the Mombasa MPA have not been esti-
mated, the direct and indirect benefits of shallow marine ecosystems to tourism
—the main economic sector in the MPA—have previously been reported (Cesar
2000, McClanahan and Pet-Soede 2000). There are 25 hotels (~7,000 beds) and
other tourist establishments and informal sector enterprises along the beaches of
Shanzu, Bamburi, and Nyali that employ approximately 150,000 people (Coast
Development Authority 1996). A recent socio-economic assessment of commu-
nities along the north coast of Kenya indicated that local communities are mainly
involved in the informal tourism sector as “beach operators” and glass bottom-
boat operators (Cinner et al. 2007). The MPA is also an important recreational
area, and the water-sports activities concentrated around the coral reefs of the
Mombasa Marine Park receive approximately 30,000 visitors a year. More than
200 vessels (deep sea fishing vessels, small boats [ngalawa], sailing boats, glass
bottom boats), utilize the MPA (Muthiga 2006). The Mombasa Boat Operators
Association (MBOA), a community association, dominates the glass bottom
boat business with 20-30 boats that earn an estimated $30 per boat per day.
Sailing, goggling, and SCUBA diving are offered by all the hotels.

Table 1: Socio-economic information on various aspects of the Mombasa Marine Park and Reserve as well as com-
munities utilizing the MPA (Modified from Muthiga 2006)
Indicator Factor Comments

Population 207,862 Kisauni division is 32% of the population of Mombasa district and 8.3% of
(Kisauni division) the population of Coast province.
Population density 1650/km2 The MPA straddles Kisauni and Bamburi locations of Kisauni division with a
density of 1087 and 3150 persons/km2 respectively. Mombasa district has a
density of 2896 persons/km2.
Number of hotels 25 The number of hotels increased from 5 with less than 1000 beds in 1971 to
25 with 7000 beds by 1993.
Number of persons 153,000 This number includes persons employed in small-scale tourism sectors. An
employed in tourism estimated 13,000 persons are employed in the hotels (Coast Development
sector Authority 1996).
Number of fishermen Fishers that land their catch at the Jomo Kenyatta landing site use mainly
and CPUE traps, gillnets, and hook and line. Fishers at Nyali and Marina use beach
• Kenyatta 45 (2.5) seines recently banned in Kenya (CRCP unpublished data).
• Nyali 40 (1.5)
• Marina 50 (1.5)
Number of boats based 25-30 This number fluctuates increasing to 30 during the high season (KWS pers.
at hotels comm.).
Number of community 15-20 This number fluctuates depending on the season peaking between Nov. and
boats Jan. (KWS reports).
Number of visitors to ~10,000 residents The number of visitors was impacted by two main events:
the MPA ~30,000 non- resi- 1) Beach Management Program caused an increase by ~ 65%;
dents 2) Likoni clashes caused a reduction by ~ 25% (Muthiga 1998).
Revenue to MPA ~$50,000- The revenue was negatively impacted by the Likoni ethnic clashes in 1997
180,000 per year decreasing by more than 50%.
Community projects • Rehabilitation of • ~3,000 local residents utilize this beach every weekend
Jomo Kenyatta
beach
• Infrastructure for • This consists of a building housing the offices of the Mombasa boat opera-
fishers and boat tors and fisher associations as well as facilities for processing fish
operators
• Moorings and • Moorings and a code of conduct were installed for use by all boats in the
code of conduct MPA (Muthiga 1998)

Although the management plan of the Mombasa MPA does not explicitly
detail conservation targets, these can be derived from the broad objectives that
include: 1) preservation and conservation of marine biodiversity; 2) provision
of ecologically sustainable use of marine resources for cultural and economic
benefits; 3) the promotion of applied research for educational awareness; and
4) community participation and capacity building (Weru et al. 2001). The
main focus of management has been to restrict activities within marine parks
and limit or manage activities within marine reserves that impact marine bio-
diversity and endangered species explicitly protected by law, such as sea turtles
(Muthiga 1998).
In addition, since most of the tourism and fishing activities occur within
the fringing reef of the reserve, the unwritten objective has been restoring the
coral reefs to the “pre-exploitation” condition (Kavu pers. comm.). Fortunately,

data for indicators of coral reef health for Mombasa MPA can be derived from
the Coral Reef Conservation Project’s long-term monitoring of Kenya’s reefs,
which includes older MPAs (Malindi and Watamu), unprotected sites (Diani,
Kanamai, and Vipingo), and the Mombasa MPA.
The reefs of the area were severely degraded prior to MPA establishment.
After protection, coral cover increased from ~8% to ~45%—levels similar
to the older MPAs (Figure 2). Coral cover was adversely affected at all reefs
in Kenya due to bleaching-related mortality during the El Niño of 1997-98
(McClanahan et al. 2001), reduced from ~45% to ~10% in the marine park and
20% to 5% at Ras Iwatine, an area in the marine reserve (McClanahan et al.
1998). The rate of recovery of coral cover after the El Niño is variable amongst
the MPAs with the fully protected Mombasa Park showing relatively faster
recovery than some of the older MPAs, while there are no signs of recovery at
Ras Iwatine in the reserve.
Figure 2: Coral cover in marine parks (Malindi, Mombasa, Watamu; solid circle),
unprotected areas (Kanamai, Vipingo, Diani; open square) and Mombasa MPA (solid
triangle) from 1987 to 2006. (Coral Reef Conservation Project)
Hard coral
50
45
40
35
30
Cover, %
25 P
20 T
15 UP
10
5
0
1987
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Time, years
Protection from fishing had a large positive impact on the finfish density and
biomass in the Mombasa Marine Park, increasing in 2005 from ~145 to ~400
individuals/10 m2 in density and ~180 kg/ha in 1988 to ~1,200 kg/ha in bio-
mass of key coral reef finfish families (Figure 3). (The trend in biomass shows
a decrease in 1995 that was attributed primarily to the reduction in the size of
the park from 12 km2 to 10 km2 [McClanahan et al. 1998].)
The biomass of the redline triggerfish (Balistapus undulatus)—an impor-
tant predator of sea urchins—also showed a recovery in Mombasa MPA
(McClanahan 2000) resulting in decreases in the sea urchin biomass from
more than 6,000 kg/ha in 1987 to ~1,600 kg/ha by 2006 (Figure 4). Sea turtles
are fully protected in the MPA through strict enforcement against poaching
by KWS with the support of the Kenya Sea Turtle Conservation Committee
(KESCOM).
Governance
The MPA is managed by a warden and rangers with support from a regional
KWS office in Mombasa. Moorings have been installed for anchorage and to
demarcate the park boundaries as well as the seaward boundaries of the marine

Figure 3: The a) density (#/10 m2) and b) biomass (kg/ha) of finfish averaged for
Kenyan marine parks (Malindi, Watamu; solid circle) and for the unprotected reefs
(Kanamai, Vipingo and Diani; open square) and the Mombasa marine park (solid
triangle) from 1988 to 2005 (Coral Reef Conservation Project annual monitoring
database)
a) Density
700
600
500
Density, (#/10m2)
400
P
300 T
UP
200
100
0
1988
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2004
2005
Time, years
b) Biomass
2000
1800
1600
1400
Biomass, kg/ha
1200
1000 P
800 T
600 UP
400
200
0
1988
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2004
2005
Time, years
reserve. There are daily sea patrols and periodic beach patrols. The impact of
the patrols can be derived from daily record of incidents and suspects in the
Occurrence Book. Suspects include persons apprehended fishing in the park
and poaching turtles, while incidents are mainly conflicts between MPA staff
and users or between legitimate users and suspects. Between 1988 and 1998,
there was a reduction in the number of suspects and incidents, indicating that
compliance has improved. Whether the improvement in compliance is due to
enforcement or acceptance of the status quo over time by the users of the MPA
is not known. However, a study of perceptions by local communities of MPAs
in Kenya indicated that perceptions generally improve the longer the MPA is in
existence (McClanahan et al. 2005).
The first assessment of management effectiveness of the Mombasa MPA
was conducted in 2003 as part of a regional assessment that included Kenya,
Tanzania, and Seychelles (Wells 2004). Results indicated that the Mombasa
MPA was relatively well-managed with implementation of management strat-
egies that broadly met the requirements of the MPA, including liaison and

Figure 4: The a) biomass of sea urchins (kg/ha) and b) predation index on
Echinometra mathaei averaged for Kenyan marine parks (Malindi, Watamu; solid
circle) and for unprotected reefs (Kanamai, Vipingo and Diani; open square) and for
Mombasa marine park (solid triangle) from 1987 to 2006. (Coral Reef Conservation
Project annual monitoring database)
a) Biomass
7000
6000
5000
Biomass, kg/ha
4000
3000 P
2000 T
UP
1000
Ͳ1000
1987
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Time, years
b) Predation Index
1.2
0.8
0.6 P
T
0.4 UP
0.2
0
1987
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
Time, years
conflict resolution, enforcement, revenue collection, research and monitoring,

awareness, and community projects. The marine park was also meeting the
broad goals of biodiversity conservation based on recovery of key indicators of
coral reef health (Muthiga 2006).
The effectiveness of marine reserve management was more difficult to mea-
sure because the objective of “sustainable fishing in order to improve livelihoods
of local communities” lacked clear indicators. The community in question was
not sufficiently identified at the outset and no socio-economic assessments had
been carried out prior to establishment of the MPA. However, pre-establishment
ecological data were available for Ras Iwatine, an important reef site within the
reserve that lies almost at the center of the main fishing grounds. Ras Iwatine
reef has shown poor signs of recovery with continued low coral cover, low fish
biomass, and high urchin biomass (McClanahan et al. 1998). It is unlikely that
this reef is providing a sustainable source of livelihood for the local fishers.
Apart from continued overfishing of the shallow reefs of the reserve, the use
of illegal gear (beach seines) is a concern. Although there have been meetings
between the fisheries department, the marine reserve fishers, and scientists from
Coral Reef Conservation Project (CRCP) and KWS regarding this problem,
beach seines continue to be used in the reserve. This can be attributed in part to
jurisdictional conflicts between the KWS and the fisheries department.

Displacement of Use
It is difficult to quantify exactly how many local people were displaced by the
MPA, first because no data exists for the various users of the area prior to
gazettement, and secondly because a segment of the users of the MPA are tran-
sient, especially fishers, who have a 60% immigration rate (Cinner et al. 2007).
Nonetheless, the fishers that land their catch at the three landing beaches adja-
cent to the MPA, the community boat operators, and the informal beach traders
are considered as the main groups that were impacted by the MPA. These are
also the groups that interact with KWS on an almost daily basis.
A major change in resource use was the reduction of fishing allowed in the
MPA. An area of 10 km2 is now off limits to local fishing communities (except
for access and anchorage purposes). Given that the reserve is 200 km2, this
reduction in area may not seem large. However, because most of the fishing
was artisanal and concentrated in shallow coral reef and seagrass bed habitats,
making this area off limits may have had a larger impact than expected on the
livelihoods and food security of the local community.
After gazettement, the number of fishers initially decreased from 102 to 33
(McClanahan and Kaunda-Arara 1996). Fishers at Shanzu (opposite the marine
park) were the most negatively impacted and adopted an attitude of defeat.
Marina and Nyali fishers were the least affected as they were fishing on the
outer edges of the MPA, and Kenyatta beach fishers moved to Marina and Nyali
landing beach, retired, or looked for other work (Glaesel 1997).
Currently there are 20-30 community glass bottom boats and an unknown
number of beach traders. The dynamics of these groups was affected by the
establishment of the Beach Management Program (BMP) by KWS in 1998,
which was intended to harmonize MPA management operations while improv-
ing revenue collection (Box 1). The BMP reduced MPA fees, allowing the com-
munity boats to attract more visitors, and increased the number of boat opera-
tors. The number of beach traders decreased because of the requirement for
registration and limits to designated areas of the beach. However, the dynamics
of these groups changed again upon the collapse of the BMP (Mr. Wakaba pers.
comm.) and unfortunately, despite the benefits that the BMP brought to most
of the stakeholders, there is no indication that such a program will be initiated
in the near future.
Box 1: The Beach Management Programme: An alternative concept in

MPA management
The Beach Management Program was initiated as a joint agreement between

KWS and hotels adjacent to the Mombasa MPA. Hotels signed an MOU to collect
US$0.50 per bed night and remit the funds to KWS. In return, KWS maintained
security on the beach and provided beach cleaning services in collaboration with
the Mombasa Boat Operators Association (MBOA) and hotels. MBOA benefited
through help with registration, boat equipment, and reduced annual boat fees.
The hotels benefited through improved security and less harassment of their
guests on the beach, lowered park fees for their guests, and cleaner beaches
adjacent to their hotels. KWS benefited through a timely and less cumbersome
method of revenue collection, thereby releasing their resources to concentrate
on the primary task of protection of biodiversity. A BMP Advisory Committee
was formed to provide oversight for the program. Though initially successful, the
program developed problems when the tourism sector experienced reduced rev-
enues after the Likoni ethnic clashes of 1997, which caused delays and default
in payment of the fees collected. After several unsuccessful attempts to develop
a legal framework to guide the BMP, the program was finally abandoned by KWS
in 1999.

Relations between MPA and Local Community
The stakeholders of the Mombasa MPA are a dynamic group that includes fish-
ers, boat operators, hotels, collaborating institutions and NGOs, and people
employed in the informal sector or utilizing the waters and the beaches for
recreation. It is difficult to clearly differentiate the “local peoples” of the MPA
because the criteria of residency that can be used in terrestrial protected areas
are not valid in the marine realm.
At the inception of the MPA, relations between the local community and the
park service were very poor, to the extent of near violence on the beach (Opiyo
pers. comm.). Fortunately, at the time of MPA establishment, KWS was under-
going a policy change under the Protected Area and Wildlife management pro-
gram (PAWs), steered by the well-known conservationist Dr. Richard Leakey,
which led to a general professionalism and improved management within KWS
as well as the creation of an enabling environment for participation of commu-
nities living adjacent to protected areas (Norton-Griffiths 1998).
Relations between the MPA and stakeholders slowly improved depending
on the particular stakeholder group and the initiation of community projects
(Table 3). The boat operators—who were typically more educated and easier
to organize—were first to improve their relationship with the MPA, probably
due to the fact that they received tangible benefits within a short time (Muthiga
2006).
Table 3: Community initiatives at the Mombasa MPA
Component Activity Comments

Training Basic marine biology; visitor handling; mooring Funded primarily by USAID ICAM
installation; boat maintenance and repair; business project and the KWS/Netherlands
management and code of conduct Wetlands Conservation and training
program
Awareness Marine Environment Day (annual); International In partnership with Wildlife Clubs of
Coastal Clean-up (annual); turtle walks; brochures, Kenya, KESCOM, Baobab trust and
posters, fact-sheets; school programs; periodic other NGOs
beach clean-ups
Vessels Provision of a fibreglass boat to the fisher com- Provided under USAID funding, the
munity boat is intended for fishing
Boat repairs Branding of MBOA; repair of fisher and boat opera- Funded primarily by USAID ICAM
tors vessels; provision of snorkelling and safety project and the KWS/Netherlands
equipment; provision of boat repair tools Wetlands Conservation and training
program
Infrastructure development Public access to the Jomo Kenyatta Public Beach; Funded primarily by USAID ICAM
fishers storage and meeting office; MBOA booking project
office; rehabilitation of ablution block; rehabilita-
tion of portable water facilities
Research and monitoring Fisheries and ecological monitoring In partnership with CRCP/WCS ,
KMFRI and CORDIO

Although relations also improved between the fishers and the MPA, when
interviewed, fishers still express resentment about excision of their fishing
grounds (McClanahan et al. 2005a). Fishers derived benefits from donor proj-
ects, such as the rehabilitation of landing facilities and repair of fishing boats.
Although these facilities improve working conditions, as long as fisher liveli-
hoods stagnate due to depleted fish stocks in the marine reserve, their percep-
tion of the benefits of the MPA will continue to be poor. In 2006, the Coast
Development Authority (CDA) provided a boat to the Shanzu fishers associa-
tion to allow them to fish further off the reef, but it is too early to tell how this
release of fishing pressure will impact fish stocks and livelihoods.
The relationship between the coastal community at large and the govern-
ment has evolved in an atmosphere of marginalization, first by the Arabs and
Europeans and later by people from inland, referred to as “upcountry” people
(Cooper 2000; Wolf 2000) that resulted in the loss of land, and increased
competition for jobs and coastal resources. The continued poor performance
in many social indicators such as health, education, and economy of the coast
province and the amplification of the feeling of marginalization by politi-
cians has led to increasing demands for “Majimbo” (regionalism) as well as
political Islamism. Although there had always been tension between coastal and
upcountry peoples, it had not turned violent until the Likoni riots/raids of 1997
(Wolf 2000). It took the government a month to quell the violence, which left
80 people dead and hundreds maimed and displaced (KHRC 1997). Revenue
from tourism dropped by 40%, and thousands of jobs were lost, all of which
increased the prevailing perception of government neglect. Coastal people had
generally supported the ruling party Kenya African National Union (KANU)
until the 2002 elections when the province voted predominantly for the opposi-
tion. This has created an understanding that the coast province can impact the
general election and there has been intense lobbying to address the perceived
imbalances in this province (Wolf 2000).
Lessons
Improving conservation and management of the MPA – Unfortunately, all
of Kenya’s MPAs were established without the usual management planning
processes: Management plans were only developed in 2000, and management
effectiveness assessments (MEA) were only carried out in 2003 (Wells 2004).
Although the MEA reported the Mombasa MPA as relatively well-managed in
terms of administration, mechanisms for higher-level strategic processes that
support biodiversity conservation were poorly developed. This is due to the
lack of a wildlife policy and regulations specific for MPAs, and a management
plan that lacks endorsement and incorporation into district development plans.
In addition, an advisory committee to improve stakeholder participation in
decision making and conflict resolution was never implemented. Hence activi-
ties such as pollution, fisheries, and tourism that are outside the jurisdiction or
overlapping with the MPA can still potentially impact the MPA.
In the last decade, the KWS has experienced changes in its administrative
and management structure, including the move to three different ministries
(Ministries of Environment and Natural Resources, Office of the President, and
Tourism and Wildlife) and changes in strategic policies implemented by five
different directors. This has had a destabilizing and demoralizing effect on the
institution and on the management of MPAs (Muthiga 2006).
Understanding your target community – One of the major factors limiting the
success of livelihood projects is a lack of understanding of the target commu-
nity. Although a general description of the various stakeholders of the MPA is

available, no in-depth socio-economic assessment has been carried out and only
recently has the fisher community been surveyed in some detail (Cinner et al.
2007).
Improving fishing practices – Improved management of the fishery in the marine

reserve can be achieved primarily by removing the illegal and destructive beach
seines and encouraging the use of traditional gears, such as traps that have been
shown to have a higher catch per fisher while causing little habitat damage
(McClanahan and Mangi 2001). There is also scientific evidence from Diani in
the south coast of Kenya that removal of beach seines results in increased finfish
biomass. Better management of fishing activities in the Mombasa MPA would
improve fisher livelihoods and biodiversity conservation. However, although
Mombasa fishers have been exposed to this evidence at meetings conducted
by CRCP/WCS and the fisheries department, the fishers have not voluntarily
stopped using this destructive gear. The solution requires a joint effort by KWS
and the fisheries department to remove illegal gear, followed by surveillance in
collaboration with the fisher community.
Improving fishing technologies – An understanding of the prevailing social

conditions prior to introducing alternative livelihood mechanisms could help
minimize conflict. A conflict is already emerging between the Shanzu fishers
association and MBOA. The Shanzu fishers plan to use the boat they were
given to fish further out in the reserve, as a tourism vessel during periods of
inclement weather. The MBOA views this as competition from a group that
has not put any investment into the boat operator business (Shanzu Fishers
Association Chairman pers. comm.). Given that tourism activities bring higher
earnings than fishing (Malleret-King 2000), this conflict may intensify. In addi-
tion, evidence indicates that fisher groups in Kenya are not skilled enough to
take up offshore fishing in Kenya. For example, a project initiated by KWS in
the Mpunguti marine reserve in southern Kenya that provided boats, engines,
and nets in exchange for illegal gear failed after a few years, primarily because
of the lack of capacity of the fishers to fish offshore or maintain the large nets
and engines (Warden Kisite-Mpunguti).
Tourism development opportunities – The evolution of the MBOA is one of the

success cases of communities benefiting from MPAs. The MBOA has grown
into a viable community enterprise (Bess 1992) and currently dominates the
glass-bottom boat business in the Mombasa MPA. The key ingredients that led
to success were: 1) the support from KWS on an almost daily basis during the
early days of its growth; 2) the cohesion amongst boat operators that allowed
for ease in registration and management; 3) the ready supply of visitors; and 4)
the early financial returns.
Summary
Successful MPAs are usually characterized by: 1) effective MPA management;
2) viable community organizations; 3) sources of livelihood; and 4) liaison
with government and NGOs. All these factors are present at varying degrees
in the Mombasa MPA. Despite difficulties at inception, the realization of the
relationship between conservation and livelihoods, food security, and ecosystem
services has led to improved collaboration between the management authorities
and stakeholders.

1.4 Opportunities and Constraints for Protected Area
Management through Increased Connectivity to Local
Livelihood Needs in Surrounding Border Areas: Lessons
from Luangwa Valley, Zambia
Dale M. Lewis
Wildlife Conservation Society—Zambia
Protected areas (PAs) in Zambia consist of 18 national parks, 181 national for-
ests, and 304 local forests, representing 19% of the country’s total land area,
and provide the highest level of biodiversity protection by excluding human
settlements and most other forms of human land use. Designated authorities
manage these areas as government properties on behalf and for the benefit of
Zambian citizens to protect selected species and habitats while promoting tour-
ism and healthy watersheds. Performance is tied to laws and policies govern-
ing the use of PAs as well as professional staff capacity and support needed to
implement these laws and policies. To sustain this process for national parks,
the government instituted a semi-autonomous management authority in 2001—
Zambia Wildlife Authority (ZAWA)—to generate its own financing for meeting
PA management costs.
While the Zambian Forestry Department remains funded through govern-
ment, ZAWA offers an interesting model emulated by other countries (Uganda,
Tanzania) that provides a business approach to national park management.
Fulfilling this self-financing directive has necessitated a shift in strategies and
management priorities for ZAWA’s mandate to conserve wildlife species and
habitat. Consideration for how national parks might contribute to rural peo-
ple’s livelihoods in surrounding border areas has received a low priority relative
to more urgent needs of meeting ZAWA’s own operating costs.
ZAWA’s management approach remains largely focused on law enforcement
in terms of keeping people out of national parks, rather than complementary
strategies of keeping people on community land and environmentally accept-
able land use practices. As ZAWA continues to build law enforcement and
self-financing capacity for national parks (NPs), various agents promoting the
commercial use of land outside NPs have attracted growing relevance to the
needs of poor rural people. Agricultural, mining, timber and livestock interests
typically promote land change away from wildlife-compatible uses, which can
have unpredictable and high-cost consequences on wildlife resources, both in
and outside NPs. Legal arrangements for mitigating these conflicts outside NPs
are often unclear and politically unacceptable, making effective deterrents to
these activities difficult.
The assumed solution to this problem is a well-managed park with a high
volume of tourists that will generate enough revenue to promote better coop-
eration and conservation-centric values among surrounding communities.
There are critical conditions to this assumption, and in most cases, including
Luangwa’s five NPs, they are not met: (1) PA commercial benefits are felt at
the household level; (2) tourism benefits reach people in greatest need and thus
most likely to degrade natural resources; (3) the transition to a NP becoming a
successful tourism destination is relatively quick and supersedes competing land
interests around the park; and (4) economic transfers to surrounding communi-
ties from NP-based enterprises are reliable and sufficient to compel households
to abandon practices not compatible with wildlife management.

Current park management strategies in Zambia generally fail to address
these livelihood connections and lack synergy with existing stakeholders. These
strategies also focus almost exclusively on tourism-based markets and ignore
opportunities of supporting non-tourism based markets that are perhaps more
relevant to surrounding communities and their relationship to wildlife resources
NPs seek to conserve.
This paper draws upon four years of field experience testing an approach
in Luangwa Valley that uses markets in a broader context for organizing
rural communities and conservation stakeholders into a stronger alliance to
address both PA management and local livelihood needs. The approach, called
Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO), uses a triple bottom-line
business model that regards food security, household income, and conservation
as inextricably linked and fundamental for sustaining rural development and
cushioning the human “footprint” in a landscape. Results show that integrat-
ing non-tourism markets around critical conservation requirements is a viable
approach to PA management. Results also suggest that the approach becomes
increasingly viable as key PA stakeholders invest in it and secure additional
returns to their tourism-based markets.
Physical and Ecological Setting of Luangwa Valley

Luangwa Valley lies between two escarpments, which delineate the elevational
divide between the valley floor that spans about 10 km in width in most loca-
tions and the surrounding plateau. The valley itself extends for over 795 km.
Luangwa’s watershed is made up of many separate drainages that extend into
the plateau area and feed into the Luangwa River. Across much of the valley
floor, soils are generally clay and unworkable for agriculture, and thus settle-
ments are largely restricted to alluvial soils along the tributaries of the Luangwa
River. In contrast, farming is more evenly dispersed across the plateau where
soils are better drained and more easily plowed.
The Luangwa Valley is an important stronghold for wildlife in part because
chronic episodes of drought and floods have limited agricultural development,
tsetse flies limit livestock, and poor soils constrain farming activities in many
areas. With approximately 23% of the valley floor designated as national park,
and approximately 80% of the surrounding area unsettled, the Luangwa Valley
supports key populations of such charismatic species as elephants, hippos, lion,
leopard, wild dog, buffalo, eland, and roan antelope. Luangwa Valley supports
the largest hippo population in Africa and one of the largest lion and elephant
populations in the region.
Socio-economic and Demographic Setting

Communities in both the valley floor and plateau areas remain traditionally
organized around local chiefs and their respective village headmen. Residents
are largely subsistence farmers with varying degrees of natural resource depen-
dence, generating much of their income from small-scale farming of select cash
crops. Mean family size is 5.5 and annual household income is below $150
(Lewis et al. 2000a).
Over the past decade, cotton and tobacco have gained an increasing share
of farmers’ time, providing on average 93% of household income for families
living in the plateau and 59% for selected communities in the Valley (Lewis and
Travis 2006). Due in part to such factors as soils, unfavorable climate, and crop
damage from wildlife, valley households experience chronic food shortfalls.

Growing evidence suggests that the dependence on cotton as a cash crop does
not improve food security and it may even reduce farming effort to produce
food crops. From a random sample of 73 farmers who did not grow cotton
and 39 who did, levels of food security were 56.2% and 51.2% respectively,
suggesting that added income from cotton farming did not provide improved
food security.
For both NPs and national forests (NFs), village settlements are in close
proximity to protected area boundaries. In such cases, PAs provide important
natural resources that help support the livelihoods for many families, and in
some cases, families shift inside PAs to gain greater access to these resources.
It is estimated that over 400 households currently farm in Lundazi National
Forest, mostly cotton, and in 2005, 47 households farmed tobacco in Lukusuzi
NP (D. Lewis, unpub. data). Illegal hunting, tree cutting, mining, and fishing are
the more common forms of resource extractions practiced in Luangwa’s PAs.
For valley floor communities living close to NP boundaries, population densi-
ties are generally less than 10 people per km2. One key exception is the Mfuwe
region where commercial activities associated with tourism have contributed to
an influx of people and the density exceeds 30 per km2.
Protected Areas and Management Status

Luangwa Valley catchment area contains five NPs and eight national forests
(NFs), which collectively represent approximately 35% of the total watershed
area. Table 1 summarizes their spatial features and current management status.
During much of the 1970s, illegal hunting of elephants and black rhinos erupted
on a commercial scale, resulting in the extinction of the black rhino and a
reduction by more than a third of the valley’s elephant population. An intensive
law enforcement program, Save the Rhino Trust, operated to help contain this
threat. During the 1980s and 1990s, government instituted multiple programs
(LIRDP and ADMADE) to increase community support for wildlife manage-
ment by returning wildlife revenues generated from safari hunting outside the
NPs to local authorities to support community projects and hire community
scouts. These efforts declined during the early 2000s when the wildlife man-
agement authority was restructured and the focus shifted to other priorities of
supporting the operating costs of NPs.
Protected Area Conflicts with Surrounding Land Use Pressures

Both NPs and NFs are relatively effective at conservation because they exclude
the adverse effects of human settlements. Border area disturbances that arise
from increased human activities around PAs undermine this conservation poten-
tial and consequently limit opportunities for building markets that could pay
for PA management costs. Border area disturbances affecting Luangwa’s PAs
include the following and represent real challenges to sustaining biodiversity
conservation:
Wildlife snaring – Food insecure families living in areas where wildlife is an

available resource sometimes compensate for poor farming results by snaring
wildlife and using game meat for barter. This coping strategy is widely practiced
in Luangwa Valley by relatively poor, unsuccessful farmers and in previous
years accounted for annual losses of over 3,000 wild animals (Lewis and Travis
2006). Among those species affected are those with high aesthetic appeal for
game viewing and trophy hunting (carnivores and large-bodied horned animals).
Wire snares are typically set along game trails or at water holes, are difficult to
detect by wildlife police officers, and do not require much skill to use.

Table 1: Status of protected areas in Luangwa Catchment
National Parks in Luangwa Valley Catchment

Name Hectares Date Status
South Luangwa 858,777 Stable
North Luangwa 466,420 Stable
Lukusuzi 261,516 Declining
Luambe 35,623 Declining
Nyika 1,1414 Stable
National Forests in Luangwa Valley Catchment

Name Hectares Date
Chire 2,765 1979
Fibale 1,720 1977
Lundazi 374,800 1978
Makutu 38,849 1953
Machinje Hills 5,581 1978
Machinje 67,380 1970
Wildlife poaching – Traditionally, local hunters in Luangwa Valley were con-

trolled by their local chiefs, who accessed much of the meat. Today, hunting
is less traditional, and hunters utilize the meat in various ways: for personal
consumption, to barter for farm labor, or for sale. Valley hunters kill on aver-
age over seven animals annually, and prefer to hunt larger-bodied animals for
more meat. Despite a relatively high risk of being apprehended by ZAWA scouts
(52% of 25 hunters interviewed had previous arrest records), hunters continued
to poach as they earn three times more than non-hunters, with approximately
60% attributed to the sale of illegal game meat (Lewis et al. 2001).
Fires – Fires are caused by local residents to clear agricultural fields, remove
wild honey, clear cover along roads, etc. They sometimes spread across large
areas, removing significant portions of groundcover and often killing trees
weakened by the effects of bark browsing by elephants.
Tree-cutting and habitat loss – For families living near major roads, the conver-
sion of trees into charcoal for quick cash has become a growing cause of tree
loss in parts of Luangwa’s watersheds. A more serious loss of trees comes from
the need to clear new farmland as a result of poor farming practices that leave
soils exhausted after three or four years, especially when planted with cotton. In
the plateau area where cotton farming is more widespread, the need for fertile
soils have pushed farmers to till crops on hill-sides where soil and rainwater
run-off has likely contributed to a growing incidence of down-river flashfloods
and crop loss on alluvial soils (Heatwole pers. comm.). The same demand for
fertile soils contributes to encroachment into PAs.
Over-fishing and depletion of native fisheries – The Luangwa River is a bound-

ary for three of Luangwa’s NPs. It is also a common source of fish protein for
household consumption and local markets. The river is an open-access resource
with minimal controls on fishing practices, putting these native fisheries, which

support other key food chains associated with PAs, under increasing threat.
Fishing activities are often in areas where wildlife is found. As fishing success
declines, the opportunity of disguising fishing activities as a cover for wildlife
snaring becomes more likely. Moreover, the mere presence of large numbers of
fishermen in wildlife sensitive areas has potential negative effects for both game
viewing and trophy hunting.
The COMACO Model: Adapting Market Incentives and Market

Alternatives to Conservation
As illustrated from the examples above, conservation challenges facing
Luangwa Valley are diverse, complex, and often rooted in basic livelihood needs
of food security and income. Far too many people are engaged in destructive
land use practices for government authorities to effectively regulate through
conventional law enforcement. As these conservation-mandated authorities
utilize their limited budgets to reduce illegal incursions into Luangwa’s PAs,
proactive efforts to address land use pressures outside PAs become constrained
by cost and scale.
Many of the threats affecting Luangwa Valley involve tens of thousands of
families across large landscapes. With limited road access, the potential cost of
seeking out individual households to influence a change in land use behavior is
high if not prohibitive. Moreover, the high level of illiteracy and lack of skills
among many residents would challenge almost any effort to change livelihoods.
The one unifying and overwhelming factor currently shaping land use practices
around Luangwa’s PAs are markets, driven by either illegal pursuits or external
interests motivated by cheap labor and cheap land.
The key question that arises from this is whether this same market influence
can be reconfigured to build positive synergies between farm-based commodi-
ties and conservation in ways that would lead to reduced threats around PAs.
PAs will not provide sufficient inducement for communities to give up farming
and ties to agri-business, whose production practices generally do not help con-
serve wildlife and watersheds. Therefore a reconfiguration of rural markets will
need to be systemic, competitive, and conservation-based.
To meet these criteria, the Community Markets for Conservation (COMACO)
business model was designed with the following key operational components:
• Promote commodities that minimize conflicts with wildlife habitat.
• Focus on commodities most all households can produce, especially unskilled
producers.
• Give preference to commodities and production practices that also contrib-
ute to food security.
• Emphasize production practices that build soils, protect trees, and conserve
water.
• Add value to desired commodities by processing raw commodities into fin-
ished, packaged, consumer-popular products.
• Pass on increased product value to producers as an incentive to remain com-
pliant to better production practices while maintaining sustainability of the
process itself.
• Target selected households with added incentives for achieving specific con-
servation results.
• Increase purchasing capacity through stakeholder alliances to leverage con-
tinued compliance to land use plan.
• Out-compete commodities or markets that threaten PAs and associated natu-
ral resources.

The model was built around a limited-by-guarantee, non-profit company
registered in Zambia with liability shares held by participating communities and
their implementing partners, namely the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).
Called the Conservation Farmer Wildlife Producer Trading Centre (CTC), the
company operates a franchise of regional trading centers, each of which are
linked to a set of local trading depots that provide trade and extension support
to over 30,000 farmers organized as registered producer groups in six districts
and two provinces.
COMACO offers increased producer prices and improved production prac-
tices for groundnuts, rice, and soybeans to its producer group members. Parallel
support in the form of extension training is also provided to improve produc-
tion of key food crops, particularly maize and sorghum, through a combination
of zero-tillage, composting, and crop rotation with legume cash crops, as well
as through the introduction of other food crops, such as cassava. Further diver-
sification of markets includes poultry, non-timber forest products like honey,
and farmed fish.
In exchange for improved market benefits and extension services, producers
are asked to abandon snaring, illegal hunting, and burning of crop residues and
remain compliant to desired farm production practices. Access to improved
prices offered by the CTC also requires participating communities to develop
land use plans that work toward reducing threats to the PA. Initial start-up
investments in this model came from relatively small grants with an annual
operating budget of about $110,000 per CTC and from in-kind assistance of
donated maize provided by World Food Program (WFP) to enable food inse-
cure families to take the necessary time and effort to learn improved farming
practices. From 2001 to 2006, WFP provided 11,399 tons of food to 46,973
households to help COMACO establish farmer-based producer organizations
to trade farm surplus with COMACO CTCs.
Results: Business Performance, Conservation Gains,

Sustainability
COMACO has operated since 2002, initially with the support of the WFP to
help develop farmer producer groups increase crop yields to where commod-
ity surpluses could support the business model. In 2004 the first trading center
began operating, and in 2006 and 2007 two more were established with sup-
port from the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
Business performance – The COMACO business model employs key strategies

for enhancing revenue growth to sustain trade incentives necessary to attract
more rural producers to comply with COMACO-based conservation guidelines
on a scale that will achieve a significant impact. These are:
• High quality, safe products1 with a unique and well-advertised brandname,
It’s Wild! that consumers recognize are good for Zambians, help the rural
poor, and promote conservation.
• Sufficient commodity volume to reduce transaction costs, making products
competitively priced.
• Producer loyalty by promoting a diverse and environmentally safe set of
commodities that producers can sell through their local depots at competi-
tive producer prices.
• Sustainable extension services financed from commissions paid for transac-
tions at depots.

• Accurate public updates through various media on COMACO’s impact on
food security, rural income, and conservation to leverage consumer support
for It’s Wild! Products.
• Strict operational controls and internal audits to reduce waste and risk of
fraud.
Based on these principles, COMACO operates each of its CTC franchises

with business management teams that coordinate commodity purchasing, stor-
age, shipment, processing, inventory, accounts, and product distribution. The
first CTC was in Lundazi in 2004 and Mfuwe and Fiera CTCs began operating
in 2006 and 2007, respectively. Three years of business activity for Lundazi and
early trends at the other two CTCs suggest net revenue gains are achievable in
about three years. Further, start-up costs for new CTCs decline as cost-sharing
opportunities increase as more CTCs are established. This can be seen in:
• Growth in volume of commodities traded at Lundazi CTC, which grew from
168 tons in 2004 to 486 tons in 2006,2 when the Lundazi franchise made its
first net revenue gain.
• Pricing of commodities against the US dollar has increased from between
100% and 300% for the different commodities traded versus prices offered
to producers before COMACO.
• Urban market penetration of COMACO products has increased 20-fold in
2006 with a 30% price increase for It’s Wild! rice.
• Product quality has increased appreciably based on an over 50-fold increase
in retail shop requests for It’s Wild! products in 2006.
• Increased production of certain grain commodities has made it cost-effective
to recover and transport desirable seed varieties from Lundazi CTC to farm-
ers at the other two CTCs.
• Transport coordination between the CTCs has reduced the cost of input
deliveries for farmers and output deliveries to market distribution centers.
Conservation gains for PA management and species protection – COMACO

actively trades with over 10,000 producers, of which 52% are women. Its
policy of ensuring all transactions are done within the community at local trad-
ing depots has enabled women as well as men to access fair market prices not
previously available. In addition to paying optimum prices for locally-produced
commodities, COMACO offers bonus prices to producers when their respective
producer groups demonstrate compliance to production practices that promote
conservation, such as zero-tillage farming with compost or maintaining an api-
ary with a required-size firebreak. Because of COMACO’s high visibility in the
community as a friend and partner for trade, the program is able to more eas-
ily identify people who represent threats to selected resources. One such group
includes local poachers who hunt without licenses. Another is farmers who
depend on snaring to make up for food-shortfalls.
The combination of high volume trade, incentives to sustain producer com-
mitment to improved production practices, and an effective outreach to pro-
ducers has enabled COMACO to leverage significant conservation gains for
both PA management and species protection. While some of these results were
facilitated initially with the use of WFP maize, data suggest these results persist
when market incentives replaced the WFP maize. Results describing conserva-
tion gains include:

• Significant reduction in local hunters actively poaching based on 317 hunters
who surrendered their firearms, joined a producer group, and received train-
ing and inputs to derive alternative income. Only eight returned to poaching
and total income from legal sources for those benefiting from COMACO has
increased on average by more than 100% (Banda unpub. data).
• Over 40,000 snares were surrendered by farmer group members in compli-
ance to conservation guidelines to abandon snaring in exchange for adopting
better farming practices. Independent assessments show a significant reduc-
tion in use of snares was maintained when COMACO markets replaced the
WFP maize (see Figure 1).
• Increased reliability and pricing of COMACO markets in compliance with
conservation guidelines has contributed to growing numbers of farmers
abandoning cotton and charcoal-making in preference to COMACO com-
modities. In the valley floor areas, 574 farmers have abandoned cotton farm-
ing in preference to rice, and on the plateau approximately 560 farmers have
stopped making charcoal in preference to bee-farming and fish-farming.
• Incidence of fires originating from local burning of crop residues has declined
in the valley floor areas as farmer groups remained compliant to farming
guidelines in response to increased crop yields and bonus incentives.3
• Positive population growth trends for wildlife species monitored has occurred
in COMACO areas adjacent to South Luangwa and North Luangwa NPs
with significant increases for groups representing large-bodied, low-density
species (Lewis and Travis 2006).
• Survey data suggest a reduced snare-related mortality of carnivores.4
• In the initial COMACO areas (four chiefdoms), the program has trans-
formed 96% of all illegal hunters in these areas, essentially removing the
local poaching threat from these areas.5
• Where COMACO does not exist, wildlife census results reveal greatly
reduced and near depleted populations for most species (Lewis and Travis
2006)
. Figure 1: Law enforcement trends from COMACO areas collected by ZAWA
250
(51.9% )
200
150
2004
2006
100
50
(35.8% ) (47.0% )
(73.5% )
0
N um ber of poachers N um ber of G uns N um ber of snares C arcasses
apprehended confiscated encountered encountered

Sustainability
There are two levels of sustainability relevant to this paper: actual financial
sustainability of the COMACO model as a rural trading scheme and rela-
tive sustainability of COMACO’s influence on conservation as compared to
conventional management approaches. With regard to financial sustainabil-
ity, COMACO has realized a slightly better than break-even sustainability
at Lundazi in 2006 by increasing volume of sales, improving product value,
improving consumer product brand appeal, and keeping transaction costs low.6
Issues regarding costs related to insurance against crop failure during a natural
disaster, property loss, capital replacement, or unexpected surges in commodity
purchases remain problematic for planning future growth and sustainability.
By showing fairness in pricing and offering continued extension support
in training for new life skills, producer loyalty is high and provides increased
assurance that COMACO will maintain the critical volume of commodities
needed to sustain CTC operating costs. Moreover, when snaring and poach-
ing are reduced, it can increase community income derived from the legal
sale of wildlife as wildlife numbers increase.7 These win-win situations have
further motivated community leaders to contribute substantial cost-savings to
COMACO by allowing free access to community storage sheds and increased
commitment to promote COMACO within their community.
As a by-product of its business model, COMACO contributes a significant
cost-saving to conservation relative to more conventional ways of address-
ing conservation threats. COMACO targets potential producers who are low
income and prone to being food insecure, who live in remote areas, and who
are most likely to rely on destructive uses of natural resources as a coping
strategy. By providing them with alternatives to poaching, snaring, over-fishing,
or wasteful tree-cutting, the cost of mitigating these threats becomes converted
into a net revenue gain as these producers pursue COMACO market incentives
and add to the volume of COMACO sales.
In the case of local hunters, COMACO spends more to reduce their depen-
dence on particularly destructive livelihoods and seeks grants to cover these
costs. For example, converting a poacher to an alternative livelihood requires
training and inputs, which costs approximately $600 per poacher. By having
access to trade benefits from a CTC, the hunter has a greater than 90% chance
of abandoning hunting. To arrest the same person by employing wildlife scouts
and bringing him to court costs up to $3,500 per poacher. This illustrates the
added value of how the COMACO model can make conservation more sustain-
able.
The COMACO process has proven flexible enough to adjust to newly emerg-
ing land use threats at varying scales. In addition, if one individual household
is doing something unsustainable and contrary to the COMACO agreements,
such as vandalizing bee hives, all the residents of that village can be denied
incentives. Using this approach, the families and local leaders spend their own
time and energy to resolve the problem to regain access to trade benefits, thus
reducing the need for more costly external interventions.
Improved Stakeholder Relationships for Building Strategic

Partnerships
As data suggest, COMACO contributes to the security of PAs and commercial
interests associated with these PAs. Ironically, COMACO is not a direct ben-
eficiary of commercial interests associated with PAs, though it contributes to

their economic success. The primary beneficiaries for wildlife-based tourism,
for example, include ZAWA, tourism and safari operators, and community
authorities who derive a share of license sales. None of these entities have the
infrastructure, mandate, or means to sustain the scale of rural markets as prac-
ticed by COMACO. Innovative alliances and support among these stakeholders
in promoting COMACO’s success will strengthen its advantage over harmful,
competing land uses.
With the addition of relatively minor financial capital to COMACO, CTCs
could sustain well-targeted bonus incentives to enhance financial returns, off-
set potential threats, and give increased value to growing a desired commodity.
For example, a safari operator could be facing a serious problem when a prime
hunting area is disturbed by fishermen who are unwilling to shift. If the safari
operator were to contribute an additional 20% mark-up to the price paid by
COMACO for rice grown by these fishermen, the economic returns to growing
rice would far exceed fishing and the net potential gains for all parties would
include: 1) COMACO gains more rice for sales; 2) the safari operator has a less
disturbed hunting area with more successful hunts at a small investment cost;
and 3) fishermen become more prosperous rice farmers and agreeable to reduc-
ing wildlife disturbances. COMACO is negotiating such arrangements with
three safari operators.
Increased trade drives COMACO’s competitive strength in resolving conser-
vation challenges around PAs and its ability to do this is based on CTC’s capac-
ity to center livelihoods around markets that lessen the risks to a selected PA.
ZAWA is potentially the most important stakeholder in this regard and could
serve its own interests by supporting COMACO in this task. Discussions have
begun that explore the development of a wildlife scout food pack (Matokwani,
pers. com.) assembled from various COMACO food products (soybean meat
analogues, peanut butter, rice, and honey) that would sustain scouts on multiple
day patrols. By reinvesting wildlife revenues back into conservation-compliant
communities by buying commodities that go into the food packs, ZAWA helps
reduce the pressure on the PAs to improve the PAs.
Expanding the Model for Broader Ecosystem Management

Applications
As the initial CTC franchises provide data on the exact cost of replicating new
CTCs and ways to build a shared and growing market for COMACO products,
the COMACO model provides a strong foundation for an investment sce-
nario that could expand its network to strategic locations throughout the entire
Luangwa Valley ecosystem. Through such an expansion and by tailoring sup-
port for production practices and commodities, the expanded model becomes
in effect a “firewall” against illegal or inappropriate market influences on the
Luangwa Valley ecosystem. Moreover, the model supports a long term process
for replacing household coping strategies that rely on local extraction of natural
resources with a business approach that invests in developing household skills
among poor families to foster food self-reliance and enabling them to become
reliable producers for COMACO markets. This expanded vision will embrace
a broader set of ecosystem interests, among them the rate of tree destruction
now affecting the Luangwa watershed from growing commercial pressures to
convert forests to cotton fields or to convert the free, open access supply of
carbon by converting trees into charcoal.

Conclusion
The social and economic complexities of addressing livelihood needs around
PAs have elevated the challenges for conserving natural resources in Zambia,
particularly when so many rural people live with annual incomes below $100
and fail to grow enough food to support their year-round needs. Current PA
management strategies place an increased emphasis on law enforcement and
financial independence for responsible management authorities, leaving limited
resources to support a more accommodating approach that makes a direct link
between PA benefits and surrounding community needs. In reality, however,
financial returns from PA-based income sources are in most cases not sufficient
to support community development and it could be argued that private sector
agents, such as agribusiness interests, operating outside PAs are better placed
to fulfill this need. Unfortunately, recent history suggests these agents are also
responsible for growing land use conflicts that can drive up the costs of manag-
ing PAs.
COMACO has demonstrated how a business model predicated on promot-
ing food security and income among the rural poor can mobilize these same
people into a critical mass of producers who respond to market incentives that
drive land use practices on a scale capable of enhancing the conservation value
of PAs. Conventional efforts that employ law enforcement are unsuitable for
addressing many of the environmental threats that operate across the large
landscapes bordering PAs. Results from the COMACO experience thus far
show that an alternative approach need not be costly, politically unacceptable,
or constrained by lack of human capacity. High quality, competitive products,
as manufactured and sold by COMACO, can attract the interest of the urban
buying public, and with sufficient sales, can shift sufficient monetary resources
from urban consumers to rural producers to influence widespread compliance
of conservation practices. The stronger this trade relationship develops, the
more impact COMACO can have on PA management and biodiversity conser-
vation.
Acknowledgements
Wildlife Conservation Society acknowledges the support by the Royal Norwegian
Embassy and World Food Program for their support of the COMACO model.
Additional sources of help have come from CARE International, Japanese
Embassy, Wallace Foundation and private individuals who have provided their
expertise and financial support along the way. Key among these individuals
are William Lloyd, Harvey Bookman, Micou Browne, and Surry Roberts.
Appreciation is also extended to the many partners who have worked with
Wildlife Conservation Society in strengthening COMACO’s impact in Zambia:
Cornell University, Berkeley University, Virginia Tech University, Heifer
International, International Rural Poultry Centre, BIO-Hub, Organic Producers
Association of Zambia, Programme Against Malnutrition, District Government
authorities, Community Resources Boards, and Zambia Wildlife Authority.
Special thanks and credit is given to the exceptional dedication of the Zambian
staff who have built the COMACO model to its current level of achievement.

1 Processing of COMACO products are reviewed by national health inspectors. External profes-
sional consultants from Cornell University provide additional technical guidance on food safety
and processing standards.
2 Business year for COMACO extends from 1 June to 31 May, when farm sales of the current
year begin.
3 In the valley floor areas where bonus incentives were paid, compliance to preferred farming
practices exceeded 80% in most areas.
4 5% of all questionnaire respondents (600) who admitted to using snares prior to COMACO
conceded they had accidentally snared a lion at least once.
5 Based on detailed interviews with knowledgeable local leaders who know existing gun-owners
who continue to hunt without hunting licenses (Banda unpub. data).
6 This financial analysis is based on 2006 profit/loss projections with the inclusion of soybean
processing. Delays in the installation of soybean processed left significant soybean stocks
unprocessed during the 2006 fiscal year. The break-even assertion is based on the value of
products tied up in inventory.
7 Communities living in PA border areas derive a share of all revenues earned from the sale of
hunting licenses for their area. Hunting quotas allow for increased revenues if population cen-
sus data justify an increased quota.

PART 2
wcs case studies – aSIA
2.1 Batang Ai National Park: The Different Conditions
under which Local People Benefit or Do Not Benefit from
Protected Areas in Malaysia
Melvin Gumal
Wildlife Conservation Society—Malaysia Program
Protected Areas in Malaysia

There are at least 65 Totally Protected Areas (TPAs) listed in Peninsular
Malaysia by the Department of Wildlife and National Parks and in Sarawak
by the Sarawak Forest Department/Sarawak Forestry Corporation (hereafter
known as the SFC). In Peninsular Malaysia, although legally gazetted TPAs
exist—such as the federally listed Taman Negara and the state parks of Endau
Rompin and Royal Belum—there is major overlap between areas listed as
protected areas at the Federal level and the actual classification on the ground.
For example, the Federal government lists the forest concessions around Endau
Rompin State Park as wildlife reserves, but they are actually logging concessions
disbursed by the Johor State Government. In Sarawak, the number of officially
listed TPAs is also often a gross overestimate as logging concessions still exist
in “preliminary proclaimed” TPAs. As such, the actual numbers of PAs listed in
Malaysia cannot be taken at face value.
Complicating the issue in P. Malaysia and Sarawak is that different laws
exist for the creation of TPAs in each area. Within P. Malaysia, each state is now
also creating its “state PA” laws with the objective of making sure that the TPA
does not fall into the hands of the federal government.
Culturally, P. Malaysia is very different from Sarawak, with the former
dominated by Malays. The main “forest-based indigenous group” in P.
Malaysia is the Orang Asli, which is a collective term for 18 sub-ethnic groups
generally classified for official purposes under Negrito, Senoi, and Proto-Malay.
In Sarawak, there are at least 26 sub-races that can be classed as indigenous.
Sarawak also recognizes Native Customary Law, e.g., Adat Iban Order (1993),
Adat Bidayuh Order (1994) and Adet Kayan-Kenyah Order (1994). According
to these laws, the indigenous groups have customary rights over land, to either
farm, collect jungle produce, or fish. It is often assumed that the written laws
of the state take precedence over the native customs if land claims cannot be
substantiated or if the state government deems it necessary to take the land for
development. In the latter case, compensation is often given. In other instances
however, Native Customary Rights land is excluded from development or land-
reclassification. Since 1999, however, due to increased pressure to develop rural
land for agricultural plantations, there has been a surge of indigenous groups
taking both the land developer and the government to court. By 2004, over 50
land disputes have appeared in Sarawak courts, with indigenous group plain-
tiffs (Thien 2004). In 2007, court cases exceeded 100 (Saccess et al. 2007).

In Sarawak’s Batang Ai National Park (NP), Native Customary Rights land
is excluded from the park. As a precondition to the local communities accepting
the creation of the PA, they are allowed to hunt certain non-protected species
within the park.
The reasons for creating TPAs differ, ranging from the need to protect orang
utans (Batang Ai and Lanjak-Entimau), to giant caves and protection of bats
(Mulu), and protecting tigers and elephants from logging in the Johor Sultan’s
ex-hunting grounds (Endau Rompin State Park). Table 1 is a snapshot of some
of the TPAs in Malaysia and apparent benefits and reasons for their creation.
Meanwhile, threats range from legal overhunting of non-protected species
(Batang Ai NP) to poaching (Taman Negara and Endau Rompin) and even
illegal logging on a very large, uncontrolled scale (Maludam NP, Samunsam
Wildlife Sanctuary) (Gumal and Rubis in press; Borneo Post Online 2007; The
New Straits Times Online 2007), and lack of management due to understaffing
at various TPAs (Maludam NP, Samunsam WS) (Gumal et al. 2007; Gumal and
Rubis in press).
Table 1: Some TPAs in Malaysia: The legal status, benefits, and biological reasons for creating these areas
Protected Indigenous Status of Benefits: Monetary Threats to wildlife and Biological

Areas communities TPA and in-kind integrity of the park reasons for TPA
Batang Ai Iban – 7 long- National Park Money from working Shifting cultivation, erosion; Orang utans
houses1 in tourism; Community overhunting; overfishing;
Education Trust Fund poaching;
from tourism; hunting of lack of mangement and
non-protected wildlife; enforcement staff
intangible benefits
Lanjak Iban – over 33 Wildlife Hunting of non- protect- Overhunting; some shifting Orang utans
Entimau longhouses Sanctuary ed wildlife; intangible cultivation; poaching; lack of
benefits management and enforce-
ment staff
Mulu Berawan and National Park Money from working in Overhunting; poaching; Bats, caves
Penan long- tourism, but not every- tourism; unlicensed/illegal
houses one in the longhouses collection of bird nests
benefits directly from it;
hunting of non-protect-
ed wildlife; intangible
benefits
Bako 1-2 Malay com- National Park Money from working in Some poaching; landscape Proboscis
munities tourism, but not every- changes around the park monkeys and 7
one in the longhouses different floral
benefits directly from it habitats in 270
km2
Krau Malay and Orang Wildlife Money from working on Some poaching; hunting of Elephant tourism,
Asli Communi- Reserve the research projects; protected species by com- bat and primate
ties intangible benefits munities research
Endau Orang Asli State Park Money from working in Poaching; legal collection of Tigers, elephants,
Rompin tourism; collection of NTFP and wildlife for sale arowana fish,
wildlife for sale and forests

Batang Ai National Park
Physical/Ecological Setting
Batang Ai NP lies in the southwest of Sarawak, covering 24,040 ha in the head-
waters of the Batang Ai River, upstream of the Batang Ai Hydroelectric Scheme.
The dam is 250 km by road from Kuching, and from there access to the park is
by outboard-powered longboat.
The terrain is extremely steep but with an altitude range of only 100 m to
760 m over most of the Park, rising to 820 m at Bukit Nimong in the east and
to 975 m at Puncak Ensanga on the western boundary. Almost the whole area is
forest covered, though a high proportion is old secondary forest or abandoned
rubber gardens.
The park was constituted largely because of the need to protect orang utans.
This area was recognized to be of major importance to these animals since
George Schaller’s work here in the 1960s. Other important totally protected and
protected wildlife (Wild Life Protection Ordinance 1998) in this area included
hornbills, gibbons, langurs, giant squirrels, argus pheasants, langurs, and sun
bears (Bennett 1992; Meredith 1993).
Productivity of the systems in terms of goods and services used by humans
has not been documented thoroughly. The park, together with the adjoining
Lanjak-Entimau Wildlife Sanctuary, should have among the highest diversity
and density of wildlife in Sarawak. However, due to excessive hunting, large
mammals are deemed below carrying capacity (Bennett 1992). If we use the
argument that tropical forests can only sustainably supply protein to commu-
nities dependent on wild meat at a rate of 1 person/km2/year (Robinson and
Bennett 2000), then wildlife within Batang Ai NP clearly would not provide
this sustainable protein supply (592 people within an area of 240 km2, i.e., 2.47
persons/km2).
Cultural Setting
There are seven communities with rights and privileges within the park (here-
after known as local communities), as opposed to outsiders, which do not
have such rights. The head of the community is usually a respected elder. To
be legally recognized as the head, the elder has to be accepted for that position
by the district office. Once legally recognized, the whole community is referred
to as the “House” (in Iban language, Rumah or Rh) of the nominated elder:
e.g., Rh Rimong refers to the “House of Rimong.” The full list of communities
is as follows: Rh Rimong, Rh Rimong, Rh Endan, Rh Griffin, Rh Ayum, Rh
Changging, Rh Kasi, and Rh Ngumbang.
The communities are predominantly Iban although mixed marriages with
other races such as Bidayuh do occur. In the larger watershed of Lubok Antu
District, which Batang Ai NP comes under, the government of Sarawak esti-
mated that 85% of the population is Iban.
In 2003, 592 people with rights and privileges lived in these seven long-
houses (Braken 2004), whereas in 1992 it was estimated that there were only
350 people with such rights. The local livelihoods of these communities range
from working as park staff, serving as tourist guides, tourist boat operators,
waiters, farmers, fishermen with fish farms, wild-game hunters, primary school
teachers, laborers on oil palm plantations, local business people, and also local
politicians (Horowitz 1998; Braken 2004; Nyaoi and Bennett 2001, unpub-
lished). There is also a rural-urban drift of local people moving to work in the
petroleum, plantation, and timber industries. However, these people do return
to their communities annually to celebrate festivals such as the “Gawai Dayak”
(Rice Harvest Festival) (Horowitz 1998).

In interviews with 152 people at Batang Ai NP in 2003, Braken (2004)
grouped the respondents into the following occupations: farmer, park staff, civil
servant, self-employed, others, and not working (see Table 2).
Table 2: Occupation of respondents (Source: Braken 2004)
Frequency %
Farmer 129 84.8
Park staff 8 5.3
Civil servant 7 4.6
Self employed 4 2.6
Others 3 2.0
Not working 1 0.7
Total 152 100.0
A government supported primary school for students aged seven to 12 years, is

a 20-30 minute boat ride from the boundary of the park. Braken (2004) carried
out a survey of the education level of local people and the breakdown of their
schooling is shown in Table 3. There is a government dispensary or clinic next
to the school.
Table 3: Level of education of adult respondents
Frequency %
No formal education 84 55.2
Primary education (Year 1 to Year 6; 7 to 12 year olds) 26 17.1
Secondary education (Form 1 to Form 6; 13 to 18 41 27.0

year olds)
Tertiary Education 1 0.7
Total 152 100.0
There is no complete documentation of the income of these local people,

but a survey of respondents’ income was also carried out by Braken (2004).
Incomes of respondents varied considerably, ranging from less than $28/month
to above $429/month. The full breakdown of the income is shown in Table 4.

Table 4: Income of adult respondents/month in 2003
Income scales. US$1 = RM3.5 Frequency

RM100 (US$28) and below 84
RM101 – RM300 (US$ 86) 17
RM301 – RM500 (US$143) 33
RM501 – RM1,000 (US$286) 14

RM1,001 – RM1,500 (US$429) 1
RM1,501 and above 3
Total 152
Bennett and Nayoi (unpublished) found that tourism revenue can be quite sub-
stantial for those communities engaged in the tourism industry around Batang
Ai NP. In Rh Ngumbang, the total annual revenue from tourism was $24,000,
or an average of $857 per family. The revenue was generated from direct pay-
ment per tourist from a tourism company to the community, hire of boats, sale
of handicraft, and salaries for guiding and boat driving (Nyaoi and Bennett
2001, unpublished).
Legislation
The park was legally established in 1991 after long and difficult negotiations
with the seven communities. The inhabitants of these communities have wide
privileges to hunt, fish, gather jungle produce, and take timber in the park. All
land subject to Native Customary Rights is excluded from the park, even when
it lies inside the boundary. This was estimated to affect as much as half the total
area of the park (Lands and Survey Department, unpublished). Under the 1994
Guidelines for Protected Area Management Categories, Batang Ai NP would be
classed as IUCN Category II.
The park was legally managed by the Sarawak Forest Department’s National
Parks and Wildlife Division from 1991 to 2003. After 2003, the park was
legally managed by the Sarawak Forestry Corporation’s (SFC) Protected Areas
and Biodiversity Conservation Unit (PABC). The difference is that Sarawak
Forest Department is a government department, whereas the SFC is a corporate
entity.
Resource Use by the Communities

The natural resources used by the Iban communities range from wild meat
(including fish), forest products such as Engkabang Jantong (Shorea macro-
phylla) fruits for the production of edible fats and oils known as illipe butter,
and farmed products such as rice, pepper, bananas, and vegetables (Meredith
1993; Horowitz 1998; Braken 2004). According to Horowitz (1998), the com-
munities use wild produce according to its availability. Braken (2004) further
showed that 152 respondents carried out farming, 70% of them collected forest
produce, and 65% stated that they do not hunt. (The hunting data has to be
interpreted with caution as Braken is actually a park staff member, and respon-
dents may be censoring their answers). In previous surveys, Nyaoi and Bennett
found that hunting is predominantly carried out by men; this seems to be sup-

ported by Braken (2004) as he found that 43% (n = 41) of male respondents
hunted, whereas only 16% of female respondents reportedly hunt. Most of the
respondents hunted less than 1 day/week. (See Table 3 for the breakdown by
respondents; Braken 2004.)
Table 5: Time spent hunting (Source: Braken 2004)
Frequency %
Not at all 99 65.1
< 1 day per week 34 22.4
1 to 2 days per week 16 10.5
2 to 3 days per week 3 2.0
Total 152 100.0
Prior to 1998, sale of wildlife was commonly seen in the nearest market to
the park, Lubok Antu. Bearded pigs were a regular item and sometimes large
snakes such as pythons were seen. After the legislative change in 1998 banning
commercial wildlife sale, wild meat was only sometimes seen in the Lubok Antu
market (J. Rubis, personal observation).
Hunting non-protected wildlife still occurs in the park and it is not just for
subsistence use (Gumal and Rubis, in press). Civil servants, plantation work-
ers, and outsiders are sometimes seen “piggy-backing” on the locals who have
rights, joining them on hunting excursions. The meat tends not to be sold, but
is consumed by these outsiders. Some of these outsiders come from as far as
50-100 km away from the park (N. Ukur, pers. comm.). They tend to appear
on the weekends as enforcement is weak and there are no forest guards or
even administration staff at the park on weekends (J. Rubis, pers. comm.).
Subsistence hunting within the park by the locals themselves is a common
occurrence and is carried out at all times of the week. The frequency/week of
hunting by locals and outsiders is not known.

The management plan for the site has one main conservation target, the orang
utan. However, the plan has been purportedly superseded after the change in
administration from the Sarawak Forest Department to the SFC, which brought
with it a business philosophy with performance indicators. Not all the perfor-
mance indicators appear to have been achieved, except for the large visible
indicators such as Special Park Committee meetings. The last meeting was held
in August/September 2006, and the meetings are supposed to be a bi-annual
event. Apart from the orang utan, there is no other official conservation target
set by the park authorities.
Unfortunately, there is a definite negative impact of human hunting on the
orang utan. In 2004, four orang utans were killed. The carcasses of two of
these animals were seen by the WCS orang utan survey team, and another two
were reported close to a longhouse, but the remains of the animals could not
be verified. In 2005, animals were killed supposedly by Indonesians crossing
the border from Kalimantan on a poaching expedition (anecdotal information
from headmen). Several hunting camps were found littered with Indonesian
products.
The main animals hunted by the Iban are ungulates, with bearded pigs being
the main prey (Bennett 1992).

The hunting surveys by Bennett (1992) have not been repeated. It is uncertain
how the resource use is spread across the park and the areas outside the park.
As there is a ban on commercial wildlife trade, data from the sale of wild
meat is not available. The visible commercial wildlife trade sale in markets has
largely disappeared. The disappearance of market trade is the result of roaming
enforcement teams (1997-2003, from Sarawak Forest Department; 2003-2006
by the SFC). The roaming enforcement teams also respond to reports by the
WCS orang utan survey teams on encroachment into the park and illegal sale
of wildlife in Lubok Antu (The Star Online 2005).
This situation has resulted in the local people and outsiders exhibiting anger
towards the park and the orang utans. As mentioned earlier, four orang utans
were killed in 2004, and two of them were left directly on the river bank, so as
to openly show the anger felt by the killers. These people expressed such emo-
tions largely because they have not accepted the ownership change of the park
from the Sarawak Forest Department to the SFC. Among the reasons mentioned
by the communities were (J. Rubis pers. comm. and pers. obs.):
• They dislike the idea that the park is now perceived to be owned by a private
corporation, as opposed to being owned by the government. Unfortunately,
they associate management by the SFC as ownership, even though the SFC
is just mandated to manage, whereas the park still legally belongs to the
government.
• As the SFC is a corporate entity, it has greater emphasis on reducing losses,
profit making, and increasing staff/work efficiency. With this business
philosophy, they reduced the numbers of park staff throughout Sarawak,
including at Batang Ai NP (Gumal, in press), and hired less permanent staff
from the communities. There was also a reduction of community conserva-
tion and communications work at Batang Ai NP.
• Profits made at Batang Ai NP were seen to be only benefiting a corporate
entity as opposed to benefiting the Government (based on an assumption
that all Sarawakians would benefit if the park management remained with
the government).
The combined reasons above led to general unhappiness among the privileged
communities, and, for some of them, resulted in the killing of the orang utans.
Displacement of Use
There is no displacement of subsistence use of natural resources as locals can
still hunt non-protected wildlife for their own consumption, though they cannot
sell the meat. It is unclear how much money they made from sale of wild meat
prior to this ban.
There have been several efforts to promote alternative resource use and to
raise funds for the local communities, among them:
• Fish cage culture by ITTO and the State Agriculture Department (1997-
2006).
• Growing of loofah for sale to BodyShop in their ‘Trade Not Aid’ program
(1996-1999). These have largely not succeeded as there is minimal mainte-
nance by park managers and local communities.
Eco-tourism activities also commenced in 1993 (Sochaczewski 1993; Nyaoi

and Bennett 2001, unpublished), but this substantially benefited only one com-
munity at Rh Ngumbang. In fact, the ecotourism activities were awarded the
internationally acclaimed British Airways, Tourism for Tomorrow Award in

1995. A cooperative society (Kooperative Sebaguna Ulu Batang Ai) was set up
by the seven communities as a means to help bulk-purchase petrol and grocer-
ies with the aim of passing on the savings to the communities. This cooperative
made a profit of $12,000 in 1995 (Gumal 1995, unpublished) but it is uncertain
whether the profits were disbursed to all the shareholders, i.e., the villagers in
the communities.
Current Relations between the Protected Area and Local Peoples

Prior to 2003, relations between the park management and the communities
were good. By late 2005, however, there appeared to be a certain level of ani-
mosity between the two entities, hence the agreement by WCS Malaysia and
the SFC to embark on a conservation education program with the communities.
Meanwhile, the relations between the local people and the federal government
are fine. The local people are also supportive of the state government.
Lessons Learned
• There is a need for the SFC to increase its public relations, conservation
education, and enforcement activities. Prior to the SFC, the Sarawak Forest
Department had greatly emphasized communicating with the communities
and had a constant presence on site. This led to greater trust between the
communities and the Forest Department, so much so that other communi-
ties (apart from the seven privilege longhouses) wanted to extend the park
so that they could also be incorporated into the park and reap the perceived
benefits.
• The level of commitment by the SFC is poor both in terms of staff and
money. If the protection of orang utans is to be improved, this level of com-
mitment has to increase. The park has one of the lowest ratios of staff/area
of TPAs in Sarawak.
• There is still illegal hunting by outsiders and probably unsustainable hunt-
ing by the locals. Alternative livelihood projects should only commence after
addressing this resource leakage, i.e., illegal hunting. Installing an alternative
livelihood project at this stage could be perceived as, “The government still
rewards us when we are breaking the law so why should we adhere to the
law?”
• There is also a need to document the performance of the alternative liveli-
hood projects. To date, there has been no systematic and useful documenta-
tion of successes or failures of alternative livelihood projects either qualita-
tively or quantitatively.
• The sustained tourism success at Rh Ngumbang by Borneo Adventure Plc (a
travel agency) is probably due to the great effort to ensure buy-in from the
communities and by the travel agency’s sustained presence since 1988. To
promote greater buy-in, Borneo Adventure helped set up businesses for the
locals, a Community Education Trust Fund (at least two of the locals have
completed their university education), and co-sharing of profits from their
joint tourism endeavor. It is uncertain as to whether this joint effort has
saved orang utans, as other wildlife species are still consumed by the inhab-
itants of Rh Ngumbang. However, it has certainly sustained the alternative
livelihood project of tourism.
• There is also a need to ascertain whether the past alternative livelihood
approaches by ITTO, Agriculture Department, Sarawak Forest Department,
and even tourist agencies actually promoted protection of the conservation
targets.

2.2 Conservation, Wildlife, and Security: Afghanistan Case
Study
Alex Dehgan, Peter Zahler, Jim Wingard, and Lisa Yook
Wildlife Conservation Society—Afghanistan Biodiversity Conservation
Program
Environmental degradation, wildlife declines, and poverty are locked together

in Afghanistan in a vortex that threatens both wildlife and human communi-
ties. The collapse of Afghanistan’s economy and the failure of the international
development community to address basic issues of poverty have exacerbated
environmental degradation in a country impacted by nearly 30 years of conflict
and war. The absence of the rule of law, the dearth of effective measures of
monitoring the state of the environment, challenging security, and the low level
of capacity make it difficult to determine the rate or extent of environmental
degradation in Afghanistan. Further, Afghanistan’s wildlife and wildlands
are strongly affected by outside countries and groups that take advantage of
Afghanistan’s instability to exploit its natural resources.
Afghanistan’s harsh environment provides only a narrow band for human
and wildlife survival. With over 80% of Afghans dependent on the country’s
natural resource base, long-term stability and security will be directly depen-
dent on sustainable management of natural resources and provision of eco-
nomic opportunities to the rural sector. If not, the continuing degradation of
environmental conditions will contribute to growing poverty, the dissolution
of communities and cultural practices, increased rural migrations, and further
instability. This will worsen stability and security not only in Afghanistan, but
also in neighboring countries.
Physical and Ecological Setting

Afghanistan’s wildlife is spectacular, unique in its assemblage, and under threat.
Afghanistan’s flora and fauna highlight the presence of a major biological
crossroads. These different ecological worlds include the Paleoartic (Europe/
North Asia, represented by brown bears, Asiatic black bears, lynx, and wolf),
Afrotropic (gazelle, hyena), and Inodmalayan (leopard cats, and giant flying
squirrels). In this way, Afghanistan’s biodiversity mirrors the diversity of its
ethnicity and reflects a history that has brought together different civilizations,
and representing a human and biological crossroads between major empires
and realms.
Afghanistan’s ecological setting is also distinguished by its topography,
which has created a disjointed diversity in one of the last great isolated and
wild places on earth. Afghanistan contains some of the most dramatic and dis-
tinctive mountain ranges in the world. These ranges punch into the center of
the country, shattering the landscape into faults and uplifts. In the northeast,
Afghanistan’s Wakhan region forms a “knot” of mountains that brings together
the western Himalayas, the Hindu Kush, the Karakorams, the Pamirs, the Tien
Shans, and the Kunluns, creating unique habitats and biological barriers that
favor allopatric speciation. Those areas that are free from the push of geology
provide very different niches, including semi-arid steppe.
Afghanistan contains a unique variety of habitats and microclimates. These
include deciduous and coniferous forests on its eastern borders, the vast dry
grasslands of the central plateau region, and the sand deserts of the southwest,
which hold gazelles, bustards, and a great variety of bird and small mammal

Figure 1: Proposed protected areas in Afghanistan
species. Extensive wild pistachio woodlands once stretched across much of the
middle of the country, but have largely disappeared. The steppe habitat of the
northwest along the Iranian border once supported herds of gazelle and chee-
tah. Huge shallow wetlands (Dashte-Nawar, Abi-Estada) recently supported
enormous numbers of waterfowl, pelicans, and breeding flamingos, although
the wetlands have suffered from drought and overuse of water for agricul-
ture (much like the Aral Sea north of Afghanistan’s border). Afghanistan’s
mountains—the Pamirs in the Wakhan, the rugged Hindu Kush across much
of the east-central region, and a number of smaller ranges and isolated peaks
throughout the rest of the country—provide habitat and protection to snow
leopards, Marco Polo sheep, markhor goats, ibex, golden eagles, snowcocks,
snow finches, and other animals.
This diverse habitat has allowed for a diversity of species, including car-
nivores. In Felidae, Afghanistan is home not only to snow leopards, but also
to Persian leopards, Himalayan lynx, caracals, jungle cats, wild cats, leopard
cats, Pallas’ cats, and probably sand cats. The United States and Canada com-
bined only has three cat species, compared to Afghanistan’s nine. There used
to be even more: The Asiatic cheetah once ranged over the entire western part
of Afghanistan, but there have been no sightings since the 1970s, although it
is presumed that individuals may be crossing into Afghanistan from Iran or
may be resident at very low levels. The Caspian tiger has been extinct since

the 1970s, with the last siting in Afghanistan along the Darquad River in
Takhar Province near the Tajik border in 1967. This population represented
the western-most distribution of the tiger, and was isolated from other tigers
by the Himalayas. The same diversity holds true for other groups of animals,
with two bear species, five canids or wild dogs, and a huge variety of smaller
mammals and birds.
WCS is working in three important habitats in Afghanistan under its USAID
grant: the Wakhan District of NE Afghanistan, Hazarajat encompassing the
central plateau of the Hindu Khush and the provinces of Ghor and Bamiyan,
and the Eastern Forests Complex, particularly in Nuristan. These areas are
described individually:
Wakhan
Wakhan has some of the last relatively pristine wildlife habitats and populations
left in Afghanistan. It is a strategic location, bordering Tajikistan to the north,
Pakistan to the south, and China to the east, and will form the basis for WCS’
efforts at creating a transboundary protected area between the four countries.
The Wakhan can be divided into three important regions for biodiversity con-
servation. These are the Big and Little Pamir Mountain ranges, and the Waghjir
Valley. The Big Pamir Range extends over about 5,500 km2 and contains peaks
rising up to 6,900 m. The Wakhi (who are Ismaeli, the second biggest Shi’a
group) occupy the western Big Pamir, a considerable part of which was once
included in the so-called Big Pamir Wildlife Reserve encompassing about 679
km2, while the Kyrgyz (Turkish speaking nomads) occupy the eastern part of
the Big Pamir Range.
The Little Pamir occupies the eastern-most region of the Wakhan district. At
present, this area may not be used by the Kyrgyz, and thus the habitat is pur-
portedly in excellent condition and does not conflict with human use. There is
also no geographical barrier between it and the proposed Shaymak Reserve in
Tajikistan, enabling Marco Polo sheep to move freely back and forth. Finally,
the eastern tip of the Waghjir Valley (about 300 km2) is uninhabited and used
only for yak grazing in winter. Marco Polo sheep cross the Yuli Pass between
China and Afghanistan here in winter. WCS is seeking to preserve all three areas
as part of its biodiversity conservation project, as well as to provide benefits
from this conservation to the entire Wakhan region.
Hazarajat
The Hazarajat Plateau holds some of the most important existing natural and
cultural protected areas in Afghanistan (where the giant Buddha statues were
destroyed) and two important proposed protected areas: the Ajar Valley Wildlife
Reserve and Band-e-Amir National Park. Band-e-Amir is often described as one
of the great wonders of the world. Consisting of six crystal blue lakes separated
by a series of natural white travertine dams in a unique step-like lock system,
Band-e-Amir deserves protection as a major source of future revenue from inter-
national ecotourism. WCS has been leading the effort to list Band-e-Amir as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site. While Band-e-Amir was identified as a national
park in 1973, it still has no formal legal status for protection.
Ajar Valley is a spectacular gorge created by the Ajar River and the Jawzari
Canyon. The surrounding area was once home to robust populations of ibex,
urial, Bactrian deer and other wildlife, and for many years it was a royal hunting
reserve. Although Ajar was gazetted as a wildlife reserve in 1977, there is only a
preliminary management plan that has never been implemented. Unfortunately,

recent conflict-related events have resulted in a lack of protection for the area,
and wildlife populations have suffered dramatically—Bactrian deer are now
locally extinct, while ibex and urial numbers have declined. WCS found a 98%
decline in the Ajar ibex population between 1977 and 2006.
Eastern Forest Complex

The Eastern Forest Complex in Afghanistan contains some of the last remaining
deciduous and arid conifer forest in the Greater Himalayan mountain chain. The
Complex runs from the border of Badakhshan in the north to Paktika in the
southeast and contains mixed oak, juniper, and coniferous forests. Tree cover
tends naturally to be more continuous in this region where precipitation is far
higher and less erratic than elsewhere. This habitat, a Global 2000 Ecoregion
(Western Himalayan Temperate Forest), is rich in biodiversity, including histori-
cal populations of snow leopards, leopards, jungle cats, Himalayan lynx, leop-
ard cats, wild cats, Pallas’ cats, jackals, striped hyenas, martens, Asiatic black
bears, Siberian ibex, markhor, urial sheep, and wild boar. It is under tremendous
deforestation pressure, particularly from outsiders seeking to get access to tim-
ber that is illegal to harvest from Pakistan’s forests across the border. Further, its
location in the conflict-prone border region between Afghanistan and Pakistan
also makes monitoring of deforestation difficult. WCS surveys in 2006 indicate
that the forests still contain important key species, including Persian leopard,
snow leopard, ibex, and markhor.
Productivity of Ecosystem Services

Initial WCS surveys of Afghanistan suggest that natural resources in the coun-
try are fragile and overexploited. Afghans are directly dependent on three
types of natural resources (although there are many indirect ways that they
are dependent on ecosystem services, such as protection against desertification:
1) rangelands, while necessary for ungulates and carnivores, are also essential
to the maintenance of large livestock herds, an important source of livelihood
and wealth in Afghanistan; 2) wildlife provides a source of income through
wildlife trade, including furs and hunting birds used by Saudi Arabians; and 3)
the Eastern Forests provide extensive timber resources for cross border trade,
although much of it does not financially benefit local people.
Rangelands
The extreme climatic and geomorphological conditions of the area create condi-
tions where soil and vegetation are very vulnerable to human impacts. These
extreme conditions have likely reduced past human pressures by keeping both
the humans and livestock low. This situation may no longer hold true due to the
recent return of refugees and changes in local economies. Livestock populations
are susceptible to large winter losses and likely these occur during winters with
greater snow cover or ice as herders keep little reserve forage (hay). WCS sur-
veys in 2006 indicate that rangeland degradation may be associated with over-
grazing and use of shrubs for fuel. The ecosystem health team found that the
principal cause of recorded mortality in ruminants was poor nutrition, which
affected all species during winter. Infectious diseases were the second cause of
death, especially gastrointestinal and respiratory tract disorders. It is difficult to
ascertain whether the majority of use is unsustainable and to quantify impacts
of grazing on vegetation and wildlife, but the mortalities from malnutrition
provide circumstantial evidence that it is indeed unsustainable.

The WCS rangelands team also saw a number of other livestock impacts
on the rangelands. These include trailing on slopes, grasses “hiding” in shrubs,
low vegetation cover and production at sites away from camps, and little or
no litter biomass. Likewise, impacts on riparian areas and meadows are often
very noticeable. These include low vegetation height (from grazing), low species
diversity, low litter biomass, increased weeds, and often increased soil cover.
However, for all these “signs” of degradation, it is difficult to speculate how
bad the degradation is because there is no benchmark for comparison (no sites
that have not been impacted). As such, it is also difficult to speculate on the
potential impacts on wildlife.
Hunting and Wildlife Trade

Hunting appears to be both an opportunistic and a determinative source of
pressure on species. There is unregulated sport hunting in Afghanistan due to
the high number of weapons remaining in the country from decades of civil
war. There is retaliatory persecution of carnivores that prey on livestock in the
winter, a result of declines in their prey base. Hunting may have already had a
significant impact in some parts of Afghanistan, either alone or in parallel with
other factors such as overgrazing.
Wildlife trade may also be a second source of direct pressure on wildlife pop-
ulations. Birds of prey are a continued source of illegal trade from Afghanistan
to other parts of the Middle East. Animal components—such as snow leopard
and wolf skins—are sold in large numbers to westerners in Kabul. There is also
a potentially extensive fur trade within Afghanistan, and across the border to
China and Pakistan. The bird market facilitates trade in certain avian species for
ornamentation or fighting. Particularly, there is trade in Saker falcons—CITES
recorded nearly 30 forged permits in 2006, but it is clear that the trade is more
extensive. These hunting falcons are illegally smuggled to the nations of the
Arabian Peninsula, where wild-caught females from Afghanistan are preferred
to hand-reared falcons. Further, Saudis and Emirates come to Afghanistan for
falconry, using tens of Saker falcons and other birds of prey to hunt the threat-
ened population of Houbara bustards.
Deforestation
Afghanistan also has some of the highest rates of deforestation in the world.
In the Eastern Forests Complex, extensive logging is quickly reducing the for-
est cover wherever deodar cedar, pine, spruce, or juniper still exists. A UNEP
(2003) Landsat analysis found that forest cover in Nuristan has decreased by
53% and in Kunar by 29%. Residents predict similar losses for the forested
regions in the provinces of Paktia, Khost, and Paktika. If this rate of deforesta-
tion continues, estimates suggest that most of the remaining forested valleys
could be completely stripped of trees within five to ten years. This has already
occurred in the western dry forests, which have disappeared from more than
95% of their range.
Cultural Setting
Afghanistan is ethnically diverse, and this is also true for the protected areas.
Wakhan is characterized by two main populations: the Wakhi and the Kyrgyz.
The Wakhi are listed as Tajiks, but have their own language (a dialect of farsi)
and religion (Ismaeli, followers of the Agha Khan), and are heavily depen-
dent on livestock. The Kyrgyz are Turkic-speaking nomadic herders who live
in remote regions of Wakhan and are entirely dependent on their livestock.

The Kyrgyz are split into two distinct populations. The first resides in the Big
Pamir (they emigrated to Turkey during the Soviet invasion, but have partially
returned). The second group has lived somewhat continually in the Little Pamir.
Although traditionally the Wakhi were poorer than the Kyrgyz, this relationship
(represented by livestock and the number of grazing areas under their control)
reversed after the end of the US invasion.
Poverty, coupled with opium addiction, is a major issue for both communi-
ties. Although the total number of livestock grazing in the Big Pamir appears to
have changed very little in the last 30 years, the number of Wakhi households
using the Big Pamir has risen significantly. Maternal and child health are dismal.
Badakhshan Province, in which the Wakhan district is located, has the world’s
highest recorded maternal mortality. In Wakhan, the death rate of children
five years and younger was 52% (low when compared to Badakshan province,
which was 70%).
The Eastern Forests area is divided between the Nuristani and the Pashtuns.
Nuristan, the “land of the enlightened,” was as recently as 100 years ago distin-
guished by its own religion, and still maintains its own languages and culture.
This sense of identity may be the reason behind lower deforestation rates as
compared to areas with Pashtun populations. The people of Nuristan closely
identify with the forests and their products.
The Hazara, who inhabit the Hazarajat plateau, which includes proposed
protected areas in Band-e-Amir and Ajar, are remnants of Mongolian invaders
and are predominantly Shi’a. They were heavily prosecuted by the Taliban.
The nearly three decades of warfare has resulted in the mass migration of
much of Afghanistan’s populations to neighboring countries. A new generation
has grown up in Pakistan and Iran, and traditional systems of management have
been lost. The population increased by 5.4 million people between 2000-2006,
mainly due to returning migrants. Although this return is disproportionate to
the cities, there is renewed pressure on Afghanistan’s natural resources.
The economic status of Afghan populations is desperate. Although life
expectancy has increased from 39 to 46.2 years between 1970 and 2003, it is
still low by international standards and reflects the challenges of this environ-
ment. Adult literacy is only 28%, 13% among women. There is little access to
medical care. Much of the land adjacent to roads and villages has been rendered
unproductive by landmines; Afghanistan remains the third most heavily mined
country in the world.
History of Protected Areas

There are no protected areas in Afghanistan. Historically, King Zaher Shah
established game reserves in Ajar Valley, Nuristan, and the Big Pamir regions
that currently form the basis for Afghanistan’s proposed protected areas. Most
of Afghanistan’s proposed protected areas will displace individuals, particularly
with respect to grazing rights.
Resource Use
Rangelands
Afghanistan’s most crucial resources are its rangelands, which are used by all
groups across the country, and its forests, which are predominantly used by the
Nuristanis and the Pashtuns. The issue of who has access to the rangelands is
highly contentious since ownership is an unsettled issue, especially after years
of migration and warfare. Traditionally, there was a complicated system of
grazing rights (passed by descent) for the rangelands, where ownership was less

important than access and use. This issue is important to economic success of
the Wakhi, where malnutrition and disease account for up to 50% mortality
of livestock. WCS’ efforts at rewriting the rangeland and forestry laws have
avoided ownership and focused on protection.
Timber Trade
Similar issues exist with the forests of Afghanistan. Communities have agree-
ments as to their use, but the lack of security in the east has led to the wholesale
stripping of forests of their wood, with the most valuable product—the deodar
cedar—going directly to Pakistan. Much of the recent impact may be due to
Pakistani involvement in cross-border smuggling of timber. Timber trade data
analyzed thus far provides a strong indication that timber harvests are con-
tinuing at a rate that exceeds the capacity of the forests to recover from past
abuses.
Over a three month period in early 2007, WCS conducted an extensive survey
of the timber trade market in Kabul and gathered additional anecdotal informa-
tion specific to timber trade in the eastern forest region. We assume that as the
largest city in the country, the Kabul market is the largest timber and firewood
market in the country; it draws upon forest resources from at least 13 provinces
(including the eastern forests) and two other countries (Russia and Pakistan).
There are a minimum of at least 1,500 individual woodlots throughout the city,
operating as stand alone lots or combined into one of the many larger wood
bazaars. These woodlots are split into construction and firewood. As many as
100–150 trucks loaded with wood arrive into the city on a daily basis.
Based on data collected and analyzied during the study, we estimate a total
timber trade volume exceeding 230,000–250,000 m3 per annum for Kabul,
with trade values of more than $15 million. This is a very conservative estimate
and does not focus on trade in cedar, which bypasses Kabul. This amount does
not approximate the total trade for the country, including amounts that may
have been sold to other countries. An estimated 32% of the total volume comes
from agro-forestry, but the majority (63%) is comprised of oak and juniper spe-
cies (41% and 22%, respectively) primarily from the Eastern Forest Complex.
Assuming 5–7 m3 per hectare for juniper and 25–40 m3 per hectare for oak, we
estimate the current rate of harvest is affecting more than 11,000 ha of forest
per annum. This is particularly troubling as these species are slow growing and
difficult to regenerate. This will be compared against satellite imagery for more
precise estimates.
Initial survey results indicate that construction wood has the highest eco-
nomic value and that lombardy and himalayan poplar species (Populus pyra-
midalis and P. ciliata), both prevalent in Afghanistan’s agro-forest system, are
the most common. However, additional analysis revealed that firewood, in
particular oak (Quercus dilata) and Greek juniper (Juniperus excelsa), has the
largest trade volumes.
The absence of cedar products in the Kabul markets, despite its high value,
suggests that the Afghan market cannot compete with prices commanded in
Pakistan or elsewhere (possibly the United Arab Emirates). Interviews with US
military personnel operating in the region and security incident data describe
a highly visible and continuing trimber trade moving east across the border.
Our own survey staff have observed trucks loaded with deodar cedar from
the Kunar province, eastern Afghanistan. From their observations we tenta-
tively estimate a trade volume of as much as 55,000 m3 of cedar per annum.
According to interviews, the cedar observed in transit is heading for sale at
timber markets in Dubai.

Two eastern provinces, Khost and Paktiya, figure prominently in our esti-
mates for Kabul timber trade volumes, with a market share of 25% and 22%
respectively. Surprisingly, timber originating from Nuristan and Kunar (two of
the most timber rich Provinces) were not found in the Kabul markets. WCS
satellite analysis looking at forest cover changes from 1992-2002 indicates
minimal changes in Nuristan’s forests, mostly at lower elevations. This may be
due to a combination of community forestry practices, Nuristan’s strong sense
of community identity, and mistrust (ranging to xenophobia) of outsiders.
Given the area and security constraints, it is unlikely that anyone will be able
to accurately measure the volume of this trade in the near term. The long years
of conflict have effectively prevented the Afghan government from exercising
any real control over harvest levels or trade routes. Although there is currently
a ban on all logging, our survey, interviews, and other reports all indicated that
timber trade continues.
© Lisa Yook
Afghan carrying a stuffed

Persian leopard in Kabul that
he bought to decorate his
house.
Hunting and Wildlife Trade

Furs are collected by traders in Afghanistan who resell the furs to “factories”
in Afghanistan. Birds and mammals come to Kabul from a variety of regions,
including the provinces of Badakshan, Panjsher, Nuristan, and Herat. Porous
borders with Pakistan also facilitate wildlife trade—furs are exported and
treated and brought into Afghanistan from Pakistani factories, and birds are
trapped in Pakistan and India and brought all the way to the Kabul Bird Market
(“Ka Farushi”). Further analysis of other international trade routes needs to be
conducted to determine if species are being sent to China, Tajikistan, and other
neighboring countries.
There is a new major market for furs in Afghanistan created by the presence
of international military forces and the international development community.
WCS studies found that members of the military may be having a tremendous
impact on furs. One order by a member of the US military involved the cull-
ing of 10,000 lynx for the production of comforters that would be mailed and
potentially sold in the US.

The trade in Saker falcons goes via Pakistan to Saudi and UAE. WCS field
teams are trying to help establish population data for Saker falcons in the
Wakhan. This species is endangered and is of high concern to CITES as there
has been heavy export from all around Asia to the United Arab Emirates and
Saudi Arabia for use in falconry.
Conservation Targets
Although Afghanistan has no established protected areas beyond the former
hunting reserves (which have only minimal protection if any), resource uses
described above would have a significant impact on any proposed protected
areas. Predation on livestock has led to retaliatory persecution and increasingly
opportunistic hunting of predator species. Overgrazing, which WCS studies
have indicated exists throughout much of the Wakhan, would decrease avail-
able resources necessary to local populations of ungulates: It already reduces the
area available to Marco Polo sheep. It is possible that wolves and snow leopards
will continue to be forced to shift to attacking livestock in the winter.

Although Afghanistan suffers from the absence of data collected after 1977
(which forms our baseline), WCS research indicates that those resources are
degraded, in some cases dramatically. In Ajar Valley, ibex populations have
crashed from 5,000 in 1977 to only 100 in 2006. Nearly all of the proposed
protected areas contain coveted resources that are currently heavily used. The
absence of the rule of law due to 30 years of conflict and mass migration,
and the lack of established protected areas and an antiquated environmental
legal infrastructure, has made the enforcement of any existing rules difficult.
Although President Karzai has banned hunting through a presidential procla-
mation, and the recent environmental law limits wildlife trade, these laws are
routinely ignored, or are unknown by local populations. Moreover, the lan-
guage of the proclamation is not imperative.
There are two government agencies in charge of enforcement: the National
Environmental Protection Agency (NEPA), headed by the grandson of former
King Zaher Shah, and the Ministry of Agriculture Department of Natural
Resources (DNR). Although NEPA has focused more on “brown” regulations
and DNR has focused on “green” regulations, neither agency has sufficient
capacity to enforce regulations, even within Kabul. The situation outside of the
capital is even less impressive. The focus of the Ministry of Agriculture is on
agriculture and replanting trees, rather than on monitoring, enforcement, and
management of natural resources. NEPA has few resources outside of the capi-
tal with the exception of its main hub in Herat. The district offices in Badakshan
—which encompasses the Wakhan region—had only a single staff member.
Protected areas, in conjunction with the development of a legal framework,
education of local communities, and development of governance structures in
communities that may better manage natural resources, may potentially reduce
the rapid degradation of Afghanistan’s natural resources. Afghans are a diverse
and independent people; therefore, the success of future protected areas will
require substantial community involvement and consultation. Recent projects
instituted by the Asian Development Bank in Band-e-Amir National Park have
been heavily looted by local communities who were not closely consulted in
the process. WCS has sought to avoid this by involving the community at every
step.

Displacement of Use
Outside of the King’s hunting reserves, there has been little displacement of
resource use. Nuristanis around forested areas have stated that they are willing
to restrict hunting if they are provided with alternatives. However, there is great
suspicion of any program that could threaten the ability to survive, particularly
if it is imposed by the outside. The question is what alternatives would provide
a workable solution? WCS is looking at ecotourism, trophy hunting, wildlife
loss compensation schemes, and more effective management of grazing/forests
as alternatives. Ecosystem health—essentially assisting locals in increasing
survival of their herds—could also reduce the need for larger herds, but may
contribute to overly successful herds, causing more overgrazing. An increased
number of livestock in Big Pamir could be damaging to a land already signifi-
cantly degraded.
Protected Areas and Local People

The national government operates frequently in isolation from any consultative
process with local people. Although the National Solidarity Program (NSP)
has sought to set up consultative bodies (shuras) in local communities as gov-
ernance structures, and some ministries have regional offices, many times these
offices are ignored and underfunded. The lack of consultation may be due to
insufficient resources and control over the regions by the central government,
rather than an attempt by the government to exclude local people. The result
is that power is dispersed among different sources (such as former muhajadeen
commanders), but still not effectively transferred to the people.
WCS is working on two levels to permit a transfer of some power from the
central government to the provinces by setting up (through the NSP) community
conservation committees to strengthen their abilities and authority over natural
resources, and in parallel, developing national legislation and policy that will
support the devolution of power over natural resources to local communities.
Successful biodiversity conservation requires that local communities benefit
from conservation. Revenues that may be generated from tourism or tourism-
related activities (entry fees, conservation fees, and hunting fees) can contribute
to community funds on an equal sharing basis. These funds can be initially
established through donor contributions and sustained through shared rev-
enues. National laws, however, mandate that all revenues must go directly to
the Ministry of Finance. One key success for WCS has been getting agreements
to permit the finances from protected areas to return to local communities.
Addressing Livelihoods
Wakhan has immense potential for adventure, culture, and eco-tourism, but the
region is impoverished. WCS must ensure that the benefits of our conservation
efforts flow directly to local communities. To diversify and broaden the region’s
economic base away from activities that negatively impact the landscape and
its wildlife, WCS will work with local communities to develop, guide, and man-
age tourism growth. WCS will encourage and facilitate responsible tourism to
Wakhan by coordinating with Afghan governmental institutions, NGOs, and
donors. Particularly essential is the Afghan Tourism Organization, which seeks
to develop ecotourism activities without harming the local environment and
overwhelming traditional communities. In particular, WCS will develop volun-
tary guidelines and codes of conduct for all tourism stakeholders (communities,
visitors, the government, and private operators) which may serve as a model

for other tourism sites in Afghanistan. WCS will work to develop marketing
products, such as posters, maps, and a guidebook, identify trekking sites with
opportunities to view wildlife, inventory cultural sites, and provide extensive
training. Finally, WCS is creating a transboundary peace park that encompasses
Afghanistan, China, Pakistan, and Tajikistan, which will permit better manage-
ment of transboundary migration of wildlife as well as support the regional
promotion of ecotourism and cross-border trekking.
Ecotourism itself, however, will not be sufficient to maintain local commu-
nities. WCS must facilitate the improvement of natural resource management
in Afghanistan and help restore traditional methods of management that have
previously allowed Afghanistan to live in accord with its wildlife. This requires
a long-term commitment to building capacity both at the government level and
with the local people.

2.3 Are Efforts to Conserve Biodiversity in Conflict with
Those to Reduce Poverty? A Case Study from Bukit Barisan
Selatan National Park, Sumatra
David L.A. Gaveau and Noviar Andayani
Wildlife Conservation Society—Indonesia Program
After de-colonization, industrialized nations advocated forest conversion and

industrial timber extraction to promote development (Pretzsch 2005) without
paying attention to the environmental impacts (Adams et al. 2004). Indonesia
followed this model and, by 1979, became the world’s leading producer of
tropical logs (FWI/GFW 2002). In the 1970s-80s, a conservation and human
rights global movement appeared on the international scene and the 1982 Bali
World Parks Congress prompted Indonesia to promote forest conservation by
expanding its network of protected areas (PAs).
In this study, we investigate how the shift of attitude by the Indonesian
government from pro-forest conversion in the 1970s to pro-forest conservation
in the 1980s and 1990s has affected livelihoods of smallholder farming com-
munities surrounding PAs and whether PAs have benefited from this shift. We
chose the World Heritage Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BBSNP) because
BBSNP was the site of large-scale mechanized logging during the 1970s and
of tough pro-conservation law enforcement interventions during the 1980s. In
addition, BBSNP protects southwest Sumatra’s last lowland forests; it is buff-
ered by high-conservation-value traditionally managed agro-forests, and lies
within Indonesia’s main robusta coffee producing region. We carried out an
analysis of incentives and disincentives for smallholder coffee growers around
BBSNP to either promote forest conversion or forest conservation during times
when the Indonesian government advocated forest conversion (1972-1982) or
forest conservation (1982-2004).
Our approach employs high-quality satellite-based data and extensive field
and socio-economic surveys (Gaveau et al. 2005, 2007). First, we provide an
accurate picture of deforestation patterns in and around BBSNP, across a wider
landscape of 1.17 million ha in southwest Sumatra, for the period 1972-2004
to quantify the impact. Second, we identify spatial drivers of deforestation in
the wider landscape for the period 1972-1982 and for the period 1982-2004
to test whether in-park logging activities of the 1970s benefited smallholders
by granting them easy access. Third, we measure the rates of deforestation and
of re-growth inside BBSNP for the period 1972-1982 and for the period 1982-
2004 to test whether law enforcement efforts of the 1980s benefited BBSNP by
halting forest loss and depriving evicted households of their livelihoods. Fourth,
we sample in-park deforestation rates over 10, almost equally spaced time
intervals for the period 1972 to 2004 to test whether smallholder coffee farmers
have responded to coffee prices and whether they benefited economically. Fifth,
we investigate whether illegal (in-park) farmers are investment-poor, i.e., lack
capital to invest in out-park land resources, and whether this condition drives
farmers into the national park.
Study Area
Our study area extends for 220 km along the South Barisan Mountains in
southwest Sumatra, and encompasses 1.17 million ha of land stretching across
Sumatra’s southern provinces of Lampung, Bengkulu, and South Sumatra.
Southwest Sumatra contains one of the largest remaining tracts of lowland
and hill rainforests, home to at least 118 species of mammal, 425 species of

bird, 45 amphibian and reptile species, and 649 species of higher plant. These
include large threatened mammals, such as Sumatran tigers (Panthera tigris),
Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), and Sumatran rhinoceroses (Dicerorhinus
sumatrensis) (O’Brien and Kinnaird 1996). In 1934, the Dutch colonial power
established three reserves there to conserve the fauna, flora, and hydrologi-
cal functions of southwest Sumatra. These comprised: the 324,494 ha South
Sumatra I Nature Reserve (SSINR); a 47,782 ha wildlife sanctuary (WS); and
a 256,620 ha network of hydrological reserves (HR). In 1982-84, the govern-
ment of Indonesia declared the SSINR as the Bukit Barisan Selatan National
Park (BBSNP). In 2004, UNESCO declared the BBSNP a biodiversity World
Heritage Site.
An estimated 1.2 million people live around the border of BBSNP and adja-
cent PAs representing a human population density of 100 inhabitants per km2
(Indonesian Bureau of Statistics 2000). These comprise indigenous communities
and migrant groups from nearby Java. The population is predominantly rural,
with 82% working in farming (Indonesian Bureau of Statistics 2003). Since
the late 1970s, coffee growing has represented the dominant economic activity
for indigenous and migrant groups, with an estimated 350,000 tons produced
annually in southwest Sumatra and exported to 52 countries (Danzer 2006;
WWF 2007). However, in the Krui region, to the west of BBSNP, indigenous
groups plant coffee only as the first stage of an agro-forest. They intercrop cof-
fee with young dipterocarp tree seedlings, which soon mimic natural forests.
Locally known as Damar, the Krui agro-forests (50,000 ha) buffer the natural
forests of BBSNP, provide a habitat for some of Indonesia’s most endangered
species, including Sumatran tigers and rhinos (Michon and de Foresta 1992;
Thiollay 1995), and produce a resin which is commercialized to create incense,
varnish, paint, and cosmetics (Kusters et al. 2007).
Methods
We produced satellite- and field-based maps of deforestation and of re-growth
rates from 1972 to 2004. A GIS map was created to overlay road, logging trail,
and river networks, topography, and park boundary onto the maps of forest
and of deforestation. Logistic regression modeling was applied to identify spa-
tial drivers of deforestation for 1972-1982 and for 1982-2004.
We assembled local price statistics for robusta coffee from the local southern
Sumatra Indonesian Bureau of Statistics. We deflated the local price time-series
by the southern Sumatra’s Consumer Price Index (CPI, 1998=100) to account
for the growth of local consumer goods and input agricultural costs over time.
We gathered socio-economic information on out-park land assets for a total
of 1,173 households interviewed in 2006 in five locations inside and outside
BBSNP.
Results
Deforestation Statistics (1972-2004) Across the Study Area
Of the 1.17 million ha study area, over half (692,850 ha) was covered in natural
forest in 1972. This forest area constituted one large contiguous area of forest
that included lowland forests and hill forests. By 2004, the overall size of the
forest had been reduced by nearly half at an average rate per original forest
cover of 1.69% y-1.
In 1972, the combined area of PAs made up by the former SSINR, the wild-
life sanctuary, and hydro reserve protected 75% of the forest. In the subsequent
32-year period, unprotected forests were reduced by 145,264 ha, representing

an 84% loss of original forest cover, at an average rate of 2.86% y-1. In the
wildlife sanctuary, forests shrank by 28,696 ha, representing an 81% loss of
forest cover, at an average rate of 2.74% y-1, while forests in hydro reserve were
reduced by 113,105 ha, representing a 62% loss of forest cover, at an average
rate of 2.13% y-1. The forest area of the current BBSNP was reduced by 60,500
ha, representing a 19% loss of forest cover, at an average rate of 0.64% y-1.
Spatial Drivers of Deforestation for the Pro-forest Conversion Period

(1972-1982) and the Pro-forest Conservation Period (1982-2004)
The logistic regression model for 1972-1982 (R2=0.60) shows that smallholder
farmers cleared forest areas preferably near abandoned logging trails, near
roads, and the forest edge, outside of BBSNP and on flatter areas of land (Table
1). The logistic regression model for 1982-2004 (R2=0.38) shows that small-
holder farmers cleared forest areas preferably near roads, outside of BBSNP, and
on flatter areas of land (Table 2).
Table 1: Results of logistic regression models for N=200 points randomly dispersed
on maps of forest cover and of deforestation.
1972-1982 B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)

Slope -.093 .030 9.706 1 .002 .911
Distance to forest edge .000 .000 10.743 1 .001 1.000
Distance to logging trails .000 .000 14.768 1 .000 1.000
Presence of BBSNP 2.298 .534 18.543 1 .000 9.955
Distance to main roads .000 .000 12.425 1 .000 1.000
Table 2: Logistic regression for the period 1982-2004. A total of N=200 points were
randomly dispersed on maps of forest.
1982-2004 B S.E. Wald df Sig. Exp(B)

Slope .097 .028 11.672 1 .001 1.101
Distance to roads .000 .000 9.474 1 .002 1.000
Presence of BBSNP -.849 .140 37.018 1 .000 .428
Deforestation and Re-growth Statistics inside BBSNP for the Period

1972-1982 and the Period 1982-2004
During the pro-forest conservation period (1982-2004), in-park deforestation
rates were reduced by 40% compared with deforestation rates during the earlier
pro-forest conversion period (1972-2004), while re-growth rates increased from
0 to 530 ha y-1 (Figure 1).
Time Series Deforestation Rates inside BBSNP and Coffee Prices

(1972-2004)
Annual international and local coffee prices have been inter-correlated (Figure
2), but in 1998 the effect of the exchange rate outweighed the influence of inter-
national coffee prices on local coffee prices. Following the 1997-98 Asian eco-
nomic crisis, the sharp devaluation of the Indonesian Rupiah against the US dol-
lar raised the local price of coffee to a record high in 1998, while international
coffee prices remained low. Therefore, we only tested the relationship between
in-park deforestation rates and the local coffee prices because farmers are more

In-park average deforestation and re-growth
Figure 1: Deforestation and re-growth rates inside the park for two distinct periods.
rates for two distinct periods
Rate of change (ha y )

-1
3000
2500 -1 Deforestation
2795 ha y
2000 Re-growth
1500 -1
1677 ha y
1000
500 -1
530 ha y
0
Pro-forest Pro-forest
conversion period conservation period
(1972-1982) (1982-2004)
Figure 2: Fluctuations in international and local coffee prices over time.
Figure 3: Fluctuations of in-park deforestation rates and maximum local coffee

prices over time.
6000.0 14,000
n
In-park deforestation rates
Deflated local coffee price

n 12,000
5000.0 n
n 10,000
(Rupiah kg )
4000.0 n
-1
(ha year )
-1
8,000
3000.0
C 6,000
2000.0 n n n
4,000
1000.0
n
n 2,000
l n
0.0 -
72-76 76-78 78-82 82-85 85-89 89-94 94-97 97-00 00-02 02-04
time intervals

likely to respond to changes in local currency than to changes in international
currency. The Spearman’s correlation test suggest that in-park deforestation
rates very likely correlated with local coffee prices (rho=0.588, p=0.074).
Out-park Land Ownership Characteristics for Illegal and Legal Farmers

We subdivided our sample farmer household population (N=1,173) into three
groups:
1. Legal households (N=303) who own and cultivate farmland outside the
park;
2. Illegal households (N=255) who own farmland outside the park, but culti-
vate inside the park;
3. Illegal households (N=615) who are landless outside the park, but cultivate
inside the park.
Legal households own more out-park land surface area than illegal house-
holds (Figure 4); 71% of illegal households are out-park landless while 29%
own out-park farmland, but have abandoned out-park cultivation because
out-park land is no longer productive or too small to provide sufficient income
(Figure 5). Illegal households claim that they lack capital to invest in out-park
farmland resources, and so have little option but to resort to extensive farming
inside the park where land is considered open access. In 2006, illegal farmers
generated on average an annual income of $400 while farmland (1 ha) outside
the park costs between $500 and $1,000, and fertilizers and herbicides cost
$80-90 per year.
Figure 4: Surface area of land owned legally outside the park for three categories of
farmers
4
Land surface area (ha)
0
Illegal farmers Illegal farmers Legal farmers
– landless – own land – own land
outside park – outside park – outside park –
N=615 N=255 N=303
Figure 5: Reasons stated by illegal farmers for abandoning cultivation in the land
Reasons stated by illegal farmers for abandoning
they own legally outside the park
cultivation in the land they own legally outside the park
50
Percentage of answers
40% N=255
40
31%
30
19%
20
10 7%
3%
0
Land area land no Unclear Beyond Land too
too small longer respondent isolated
productive will

Discussion
Coffee price reached an all-time high on the international market in 1977,
following heavy frost during the 1975 Brazilian winter that caused a national
harvest failure (ICO). This record high price triggered mass spontaneous migra-
tion to southern Sumatra during late 1970s (Benoit et al. 1989; Verbist et al.
2005). At the same time, government-owned logging companies extracted tim-
ber inside BBSNP. In 1978, logging companies ceased to operate, leaving a 123
km network of logging trails unattended in the south-eastern portion of BBSNP.
High coffee prices combined with greater accessibility by abandoned logging
trails provided strong incentives for farmers to expand coffee inside the park.
BBSNP experienced record deforestation rates (4,834 ha y-1) during the period
1978-1982 while coffee production in southern Sumatra underwent a boom in
late 1970s. Therefore in-park selective logging activities of the 1970s benefited
smallholders from 1978 to 1982 but at the expense of biodiversity.
The 1982 Bali World Parks Congress was a decisive moment for conser-
vation in BBSNP. The Indonesian government declared the former SSINR a
national park (BBSNP) in 1982-1984 and banned commercial logging within all
Indonesian PAs. In the early 1980s, the newly founded BBSNP office established
an inventory of illicit occupation, following which officials carried out evictions
of pioneer farmers, in particular of Javanese migrant communities who had
settled in the former logging concessions. Likewise, an inventory of illicit occu-
pation was established in the hydrological reserves adjacent to BBSNP, and this
led to the relocation of over 65,000 families to a transmigration site in North
Lampung between 1989 and 1995 (Benoit et al. 1989).
These law enforcement measures successfully enabled forest re-growth in the
former logging concessions of BBSNP and reduced in-park deforestation rates
for the period 1982-2004. But these measures also generated conflicts between
rural communities and the government and this has had severe consequences
for the livelihood of evicted populations (Kusworo 2000). Therefore, law
enforcement efforts of the 1980s benefited in-park biodiversity at the expense of
people’s livelihood. Since President Suharto fell from power in 1998, Indonesia
has entered a new era of reforms, and the resentment of farmers towards the
Suharto regime saw them claim new-found rights inside BBSNP (Suyanto et al.
2004).
Despite law enforcement, coffee prices remained a powerful incentive for
in-park deforestation. However, illegal farmers did not benefit from peak local
coffee prices. The highly volatile market increased the likelihood that farmers
who planted during peak price times would then sell their coffee during a low
price time, three to five years later. In addition, illegal farmers did not maintain
in-park coffee plantations for more than five years (Levang pers. comm.) and so
could not reap the benefits of subsequent rises in the coffee price. Today, illegal
farmers are investment-poor, which limits their ability to diversify into off-farm
activities or to intensify out-park farming. The household is then left to resort
to extensive farming, implying the need to push into the national park (Reardon
and Vosti 1995).

Table 3: Summary of incentives and disincentives for smallholder coffee growers around BBSNP to either promote
forest conversion or forest conservation in southwest Sumatra during times when the Indonesian government advo-
cated forest conversion (1972-1982) or forest conservation (1982-2004).
In-park Pro-forest conversion period Pro-forest conservation period

(1972-1982) (1982-2004)
Incentives to convert Accessibility from logging trails Peak coffee prices of 1986, 1994-95 and 1998
Peak coffee prices of late 1970s

Disincentives to Accessibility (slope, dist. Roads) Law enforcement
convert
Accessibility (slope, dist. Roads)
Incentives to conserve None None
Disincentives to unknown Lack of investment capacity (investment-poor)
conserve
Conflict-related new-found rights since 1997-1998
economic crisis
Conclusion
This study has added to the body of evidence that increasing efforts to maintain
biodiversity are in conflict with those to reduce poverty in southern Sumatra.
The question is whether it is possible to combine poverty elimination and
biodiversity conservation. A strong body of opinion maintains that poverty
elimination and conservation can happen together. The term “pro-poor con-
servation” has been used to identify conservation strategies that are designed
to deliver both poverty reduction and biodiversity protection (IUCN 2002).
However, lasting positive outcomes of pro-poor conservation projects are elu-
sive (Hulme and Murphree 2001). Projects that seek to integrate conservation
and development have tended to be overambitious and underachieving (Adams
et al. 2004). Different agencies are likely to wish to adopt different positions.
For the special case of BBSNP, we recommend that WCS promotes projects
that provide financial incentives for in-park households to gain access to out-
park farmland resources or to diversify into off-farm activities, for example,
by providing access to micro-credits and to community-based law enforcement
around the park.

PART 3
wcs case studies –
LATIN AMERICA
3.1 The Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park, Bolivia
Andrew J. Noss and Oscar Castillo
Wildlife Conservation Society—Bolivia Program
The Kaa-Iya landscape in Bolivia encompasses the northern sector of the Gran
Chaco ecoregion. The 34,400 km2 Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park
(KINP) was created in 1995, and contains the largest area of dry tropical forest
under protection in the world (Taber et al. 1997). The second key element of the
landscape is the 19,000 km2 Isoso TCO (indigenous communal land), neighbor-
ing the protected area. This communal land includes private properties owned
by ranchers and Mennonite farmers. A second TCO, Santa Teresita, encom-
passes 140,000 ha to the northeast of the KINP, and is titled to the Ayoreo
community of the same name. There are Chiquitano communities to the north
of the protected area, and additional ranch properties to the east in Bolivia and
to the south in Paraguay.
Physical Setting
The Gran Chaco is a tropical dry forest with relatively low primary productiv-
ity and slow recovery following disturbance. Chaco forests are generally short
(4-15 m with emergents to 20 m) but dense and thorny with an abundance of
Cactaceae and Bromelia. In areas of sandy soils, for example in the southwest
where sands were deposited over geological time by the Parapetí River, Chaco
grasslands were created and/or maintained by anthropogenic and natural fire.
To the east and northeast with higher rainfall, forests transition into Chiquitano
dry forest (12-20 m of relatively continuous canopy) and Cerrado vegetation
types. Annual rainfall ranges from under 400 mm in the southwestern section
of the KINP to 850 mm in the northeastern section (Kaa-Iya Project 2001; WCS
et al. 2005).
Resource Use
Rainfed commercial agriculture at the edges of the landscape is practiced by
Mennonite colonists in the west (cotton, sorghum) and industrial-scale soybean
farmers in the northwest. However, the latter also utilize borehole irrigation.
Subsistence agriculture in the Isoso communities along the Parapetí River also
depends on irrigation, using traditional canal systems to draw water off the
river during the six months (January-June) when the river is flowing. The river
dries up completely during the dry season, when rainfall is also minimal. A
single commercial rice farmer also depends on river irrigation in the Bañados
de Isoso inland delta of the Parapetí. Extensive livestock ranching is the princi-
pal economic activity throughout the landscape, practiced by private ranchers
as well as by indigenous communities. Only about half of private properties

are fenced, boreholes are drilled but very little artificial pasture is planted, and
instead cattle are set loose in the native vegetation, depending considerably on
browse during the dry season.
Hunting produces 25-40% of the meat consumed by Isoseño communities,
principally from ungulates (gray brocket deer, tapir, white-lipped peccary, col-
lared peccary), armadillos (nine-banded, three-banded, yellow, large hairy, and
small hairy), the Chaco chachalaca, and various Columbidae. Standing biomass
of mammals is estimated to be as high as 500 kg/km2 in non-hunted areas,
and several species (brocket deer, collared peccary, armadillos) are resilient to
current hunting pressure. Game meat is complemented by domestic livestock,
while fish represent a seasonal resource during the months that the Parapetí
River flows. In the Bañados de Isoso, some seasonal lagoons permit fishing in
other months by communities in the northern end of the Isoso. The Chiquitano
and Ayoreo indigenous communities also hunt for subsistence purposes, as do
ranch hands.
Cultural Setting
Three indigenous peoples live in the landscape: the Guaraní-Isoseños, the
Ayoreo, and the Chiquitano. They benefit from the on-going land reform
process that is consolidating land claims into indigenous communal lands or
peasant communities. Although colonization by highland groups moving to the
lowlands is significant, the Chaco region has not been a preferred destination.
Nevertheless, one or two colonization attempts have been made in the north-
ern portion of the Isoso TCO and have been successfully blocked by collective
action by the Isoseños and local ranchers.
The Guaraní-Isoseños have occupied communities along the Parapetí River
since the late 1400s-early 1500s, following general migrations induced by the
colonization of Brazil and Uruguay. The Guaraní’s search for the “land without
evil” brought some groups to the Isoso where they absorbed the resident Chané
and adopted their system of irrigated agriculture along the river (Beneria-Surkin
2003; Combès 1999). In addition, they keep livestock (6,000 cattle, 26,000
goats, pigs, chickens) loose in the communities for subsistence and for sale.
Externally-funded projects have established eight community cattle ranches
(2,200 cattle) that replicate the scale and practices of private ranch proper-
ties in the area (Barahona et al. 2005). The Isoseños also hunt for subsistence
purposes and for sale when markets are available: spotted cat (jaguar, ocelot,
Geoffroy’s cat) and fox (pampas fox) skins through the 1980s, parrots (blue-
fronted Amazon, monk parakeet). Seasonal labor is a major economic activity
as well, involving emigration of large portions of some communities for six to
eight months of the year to participate in the industrial sugar cane harvest north
of the city of Santa Cruz. Other wage labor opportunities closer by include har-
vesting crops for the Mennonites and year-round work as ranch hands (Beneria-
Surkin 1998, 2003).
The current population of Isoseños is estimated at 12,000, distributed in 27
communities of the Isoso TCO along the Parapetí River and roughly 30 km to
the west of the KINP boundary. In 1996 the Isoseño organization Capitanía
de Alto y Bajo Isoso (CABI) demanded indigenous communal land (“Tierra
Comunitaria de Orígen” or TCO) of 1.9 million ha that is contiguous with, but
does not overlap, the KINP. The on-going review and titling process has so far
titled 560,000 ha to CABI.
Most communities have elementary schools, or share one with a neighboring
community, while the central community of La Brecha has a high school with
dormitory facilities, graduating its first class in 1998. Education is bilingual

Spanish and Guaraní, and most teachers are Guaraní speakers from Isoso or
nearby areas. La Brecha also has a hospital. Several communities have clinics
or health posts, though attention and supplies are not dependable. Traditional
healers have been incorporated into the medical system and attend urgent
cases.
The Ayoreo population includes one group of approximately 50 who remain
in voluntary isolation within the park, migrating periodically back and forth to
northern Paraguay. The vast size of the KINP was in part justified as a means
to provide them with space so they could maintain their hunting-gathering and
nomadic lifestyle. Another group of Ayoreos within what is now the KINP
was contacted by missionaries in 1962, and settled in the community of Santa
Teresita, to the northeast of the park. In the land reform process, this community
requested a TCO of 78,000 ha, which was titled in 2002, for its current popula-
tion of roughly 230 residents. The community practices minimal agriculture and
livestock raising, hunts for subsistence, and has logged some of their valuable
timber (Martínez 1998; Nostas 1998; Testino and Linzer 1998). Their activities
are concentrated within the TCO and they do not currently exploit resources in
the KINP itself. A small school operates in the community, but the community
relies principally on health and education facilities in the nearby municipal seat
of San José de Chiquitos (30 km away). Santa Teresita is represented politically
by Centro Ayoreo Nativo del Oriente Boliviano (CANOB).
The Chiquitanos were “created” beginning in 1692 through an amalgama-
tion of over 30 indigenous groups under the “reduction” process of the Jesuit
missions, and currently occupy numerous communities across a large area north
of the KINP. Only two communities, Natividad (in its current location since
1935) and San Juan del Norte (founded 1968), with a total population under
250 persons, are within 25 km of the KINP boundaries. These communities
depend principally on agriculture for subsistence, with a little family livestock
and some hunting, but they do not currently exploit resources within the KINP
itself. Natividad received title to 4,000 ha in 2002. These communities also
rely principally on health and education facilities in the nearby San José de
Chiquitos (30 km away). Both communities are represented politically by the
Chiquitano organization Turubó.
The Mennonites began moving to the Isoso TCO in 1990, and their popu-
lation now numbers some 8,000 in five colonies to the west of the Parapetí
River. They practice intensive commercial agriculture requiring clear-cutting
of over 16,000 ha of forest to date for some 21,000 head of cattle (Barahona
et al. 2005; Linzer 1998; Nostas 1998). Though they are located outside the
KINP, the complete replacement of native forests with crops affects wildlife
over extensive areas—driving ungulates such as tapirs and white-lipped pec-
caries into hunting areas, attracting Psittacids and Columbids to cultivated
areas, etc. Additional negative environmental impacts may come from use of
pesticides and fertilizers, overuse of soils, diversion of river water for irrigation,
and deforestation of riverine forest right up to the river bank. The Mennonites
operate their own schools and health care system. In addition, they support
the clinic in the Isoseño community of Isiporenda. Business relations with the
Isoseños include commerce, seasonal labor, and recently, rental of Isoseño land
for cultivation.
Some 300 ranch properties are located within the Isoso TCO itself (with
over 80,000 head of cattle), eight within the KINP, and others along the eastern
boundaries of the park. While land clearing is minimal, overgrazing by cattle in
native forests and grasslands has severely degraded these habitats, and the lack
of fencing on many properties means that livestock ranges into the KINP itself

and onto communal Isoso lands. To date, as part of the land reform process,
160,000 ha of private properties have been titled within the Isoso TCO. The
ranches that existed within the KINP boundaries when it was created are also
recognized and allowed to consolidate their land rights, though the land titling
process has not yet addressed their cases. The ranchers are organized into asso-
ciations (in each of the municipal headquarters Charagua, San José, Roboré,
and in Santa Cruz).

History of Protected Area Establishment
The Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park and Integrated Management Areas
was created in 1995 by presidential decree. The original core area (IUCN
Categories I and II) and multiple use areas (IUCN Category VI) were subse-
quently modified by the protected area management plan (Kaa-Iya Project
2001) which integrated biological information with socio-economic informa-
tion to zone the protected area into the following use categories: fully protected
(IUCN Categories I and II), extensive non-consumptive use (IUCN Category
II), extensive consumptive use (hunting, fishing, and gathering, IUCN Category
VI), intensive consumptive use (livestock ranching areas, IUCN Category VI),
special use (gas pipeline right of way, IUCN Category VI), and recovery (IUCN
Categories II and IV). In 2001 two Ramsar sites were declared—the 615,882
ha Río Parapetí and Bañados de Isoso site includes portions of both the KINP
and the TCO Isoso, and the 670,000 ha Palmar de las Islas y las Salinas de San
José site entirely within the KINP. No specific management activities have been
implemented for these sites.
The park’s management committee includes representatives of the three
indigenous groups (Isoseño-Guaraní, Chiquitano, Ayoreo), the three munici-
palities whose jurisdictions overlap the protected area (Charagua, Pailón, San
José), and the Department of Santa Cruz.
Kaa-Iya is the first national park in the Americas created at the request of
an indigenous organization. The proposal for the creation of the protected area
was in fact part of CABI’s two-pronged territorial strategy: 1) the 3.44 million
ha Kaa-Iya protected area, and 2) the 1.9 million ha Isoso TCO. The protected
area serves in part as buffer against the expanding agricultural frontier, guaran-
teeing the physical and cultural integrity of the Isoseños’ resource base, which
are threatened by the environmental, socio-economic, and cultural consequences
associated with regional commercial ranching and farming practices (Redford
and Painter 2006; Winer 2003a). Indeed, the single largest benefit of the KINP
is the placing of 3.44 million ha of traditionally claimed land beyond the reach
of ranchers and the agro-industrial sector. Together, the KINP under CABI
administration and the titling of the 1.9 million hectare TCO create a coherent
territory recognized both traditionally and in terms of local governance at the
municipal level. This forms the basis upon which the Guaraní Izoceños intend
to develop their capacity to both retain their identity as an indigenous tribe
while building stronger and more equitable economic links with the expanding
market driven economy of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Winer 2003b).
“Kaa-Iya” means “spirit guardians of the forest” in Guaraní, while the
Bañados de Isoso inland delta of the Parapetí is known as “Yande yari,” or “our
grandmother,” illustrating the importance of the protected area as a source that
generates wildlife, fish, and other resources which are exploited in the neigh-
boring Isoso TCO by Isoseño communities (Combès et al. 1998; Oehrlich et al.
2002). In the creation and management of the KINP, the Isoseños also empha-
size that environmental conservation is essential to their quality of life, and to
their identity as a people (Redford and Painter 2006).

No indigenous communities were affected by the creation of the park in the
sense that all are located at least 20 km from the park’s boundaries, and none
of the communities were or are actively exploiting wildlife or other resources
inside the park’s boundaries, with the exception of the uncontacted Ayoreos who
maintain a nomadic hunting-gathering existence between portions of Kaa-Iya
and Paraguay. The park proposal also sought to minimize overlap with existing
private properties, and less than a dozen remained within the park’s boundaries
or overlapping its borders. These landowners were allowed to remain and to
consolidate their land rights, though formal titling has not yet taken place.
Resource Use
Resource use within the Kaa-Iya National Park is limited to the uncontacted
Ayoreo group of hunter-gatherers, the above-mentioned ranch properties which
pre-dated the park’s creation, and the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline right-of-way.
The gas pipeline was constructed in 1998-2000, following the creation of the
park, but its construction was anticipated and has subsequently been managed
and monitored so that indirect effects such as colonization or hunting have not
occurred within the park’s boundaries. On ranches, in addition to grazing by
cattle, the ranch hands also hunt for subsistence needs.
Within the Isoso TCO, resource use includes farming, cattle ranching, small
livestock (goats, pigs, chicken), firewood gathering, timber for local construc-
tion, hunting, and fishing. Women are involved in all these activities except cat-
tle ranching, hunting, and construction timber, though their access is limited to
resources near the communities and near the river. The Isoseño women’s orga-
nization, Central Indígena de Mujeres de las Comunidades de Isoso (CIMCI),
is developing projects that promote traditional knowledge and the sustainable
use of natural resources for sale locally and in the city of Santa Cruz: fish meal,
coffee from “cupesí” (Prosopis chilensis or mesquite, Leguminosae) fruits,
shampoo from “timboi” (Enterolobium contortisiliquum, Leguminosae) fruits,
and honey from native stingless bees (Melipona).
Access to farm land is divided by community and by household, with mul-
tiple families sharing irrigation canals and dividing time for water. Access to
livestock grazing land is common, except in the case of community-scale donor-
financed projects which emulate private ranches by building fences and bore-
hole infrastructure, though multiple households contribute stock and commit
time/money to these projects (Barahona et al. 2005; Villaseñor 2007). Access
to wildlife, firewood, and fish is common, with no divisions within the Isoso
by community.
At this time with a land reform and land titling process underway, land is the
principal resource, including deals with private landowners regarding the size
of properties to be titled privately versus communally, and lease arrangements
allowing the Mennonites to cultivate communal lands.
Within the Chiquitano communities and the Ayoreo TCO of Santa Teresita,
resource use similarly focuses on small-scale agriculture for subsistence use
and local sale, family livestock, hunting, and gathering (Linzer 1998; Martínez
1998; Nostas 1998). Santa Teresita also has sold some timber. San José de
Chiquitos, the municipal center 30 km away from these communities, is the
principal market for agricultural and timber products.
A number of hydrocarbon exploration concessions have been granted in the
KINP and Isoso TCO, leading to exploratory wells in both areas. Although they
were subsequently dismantled because they are not economically viable under
current conditions, they could be exploited in the future. A private individual
has also solicited a mining concession to extract minerals from the salt pans in

the KINP, without success to date. Spotted cat and fox skins were extremely
valuable in the past, fueling hunting across the current KINP where oil compa-
nies had opened road grids for seismic testing. Should another wild animal or
plant product become valuable in the future, pressure would increase quickly
among local and non-local collectors. Finally, the land colonization pressure
which currently focuses on other lowland areas could shift to the Chaco when
other lands are occupied, conflicts elsewhere intensify, or when technological
changes facilitate agricultural production in the dry Chaco conditions.

Conservation targets for the Kaa-Iya landscape are: 1) viable populations of
species important for communities (ungulates, armadillos, tegu lizards) and
threatened species (jaguars, Chacoan peccaries, Chacoan guanacos, blue-front-
ed Amazons); 2) to maintain the structure and functionality of representative
habitats; and 3) to maintain the integrity of the protected area and improve the
connectivity with other ecosystems. Given the minimal use of resources within
the protected area, combined with its vast size, viable populations of most
species of wildlife appear likely to persist over the long term inside the KINP.
The principal exception is the Chacoan guanaco with less than 200 individu-
als remaining, concentrated on private ranch lands outside the KINP. The gas
pipeline through the KINP and the bi-oceanic highway corridor north of the
KINP linking Santa Cruz to Puerto Suárez both threaten connectivity between
KINP and other ecosystems, though mitigation measures along the gas pipeline
have minimized its actual effects. Ranching activities threaten the structure and
functionality of native forests and grasslands at the small number of ranches
inside the KINP, and on virtually all lands outside the KINP, because livestock
is everywhere. In contrast, subsistence hunting of wildlife is for the most part
sustainable, with the exception of tapir and white-lipped peccary which have
disappeared from portions of the Isoso TCO.

As described above, resource use within the protected area is virtually nil.
Commercial hunting for spotted cat, fox skins, and parrots that occurred across
much of the current park ended by 1990. Thus the creation of the park did not
curtail resource use by any indigenous communities or other local residents. No
indigenous communities or private landowners were displaced by the creation
of the park. Although indigenous communities were not and are not utiliz-
ing resources from the park—with the occasional exception of fishing in the
Bañados de Isoso—the park management zonification plan permits utilization,
including hunting, fishing, and gathering in appropriate areas and according
to a specific management plan. Should such use take place in the future, park
guards will be responsible for monitoring and enforcement.
The principal change in resource use in the landscape has been associated
with the land reform process and the titling of private and communal lands
within the Isoso and Santa Teresita TCOs, and to the Chiquitano communi-
ties. Subsistence use of wildlife and other natural resources by indigenous
and local communities was already permitted, but formal land titling clearly
defines the area where each landowner (private or communal) can conduct his/
her respective activities. In the case of private ranchers, this has encouraged
them to fence their properties and thereby restrict the effects of grazing. In the
case of the Santa Teresita and Isoso indigenous groups, land titling has signifi-
cantly increased the area of land that they respectively own and manage—from
1,500 to 78,000 ha in the case of Santa Teresita, and from 67,000 to 560,000

ha in the case of the Isoso (Castillo 2007). While these lands are outside the
KINP, the protected area contributed to their formal titling via funds gener-
ated through negotiations with the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline sponsors in the
measures designed to respond to environmental and socio-economic impacts of
the pipeline’s construction and operation. The government requires each indig-
enous organization owner to develop a management plan for its TCO. In the
case of the Isoso TCO, this management plan is currently being designed, and
will include a zonification into areas for settlement, for livestock, for hunting,
and for conservation. Specific wildlife management plans are being prepared by
Isoseño technicians, including quotas by species, which in turn will be reviewed
by the council of community “capitanes” or leaders, and approved by the Isoso
General Assembly. Enforcement will in turn be ensured by these same commu-
nity leaders.
With respect to alternative economic activities, CIMCI seeks to promote
activities within the Isoso TCO to increase household incomes while promoting
the conservation of riverine forest. WCS and the national bio-commerce pro-
gram are also supporting pilot commercial wildlife use programs to add value to
animals hunted for subsistence purposes and/or to benefit from resilient species,
such as collared peccaries and tegu lizards. Finally, the Kaa-Iya Foundation is
promoting pilot tourism projects in the KINP that link to visitors from Santa
Cruz, San José, and Roboré (Testino and Linzer 1998; Winer 2003a, 2003b).
Relations are generally positive between local peoples—indigenous groups,
ranchers, Mennonites—and the protected area. Not only did CABI propose
the creation of the protected area, but the Isoseño organization also assumed
responsibility for co-administering the KINP from its creation to the present.
For over a decade now this has generated direct economic benefits in the form
of full-time employment as park guards for 20 Isoseños, four Chiquitanos, and
two Ayoreos. Its role in the administration of the protected area has also allowed
CABI to generate and benefit from large-scale projects including a USAID-
funded biodiversity conservation program that employed Isoseño technicians
and coordinators involved in management planning, applied research, and envi-
ronmental education, in addition to supporting the institutional strengthening
of CABI itself (Winer 2003a, 2003b). CABI’s role and vision in the protected
area also made possible the successful negotiation with the sponsors of the
Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline of a $3.7 million Indigenous Peoples’ Development
Program that included important resources for institutional strengthening, land
titling (43 Chiquitano communities, 273,000 ha of Ayoreo TCOs, and 560,000
ha to date of the Isoso TCO), and productive activities (revolving credit sys-
tems to provide hand pumps for household water supply) (Redford and Painter
2006; Winer 2003a, 2003b).
The current political context in Bolivia has complicated relations at several
levels. Although the presidential discourse is in favor of indigenous peoples,
and in favor of local control over protected areas, CABI’s shining example of
successful administration of a national protected area (including the administra-
tion of public funds confirmed by independent annual audits) is being ignored
because the governing party does not control CABI. Political instability has
delayed the renewal of CABI’s co-administration agreement, which expired in
early 2006. The municipality of San José has also reinvigorated its claims on
the protected area, demanding a major redrawing of municipal boundaries that
would extend its control to the Paraguay border, and pushing to re-open a road
(unused in over a decade) through the KINP to the Paraguayan border purport-
edly to promote tourism and international commerce.

Conclusions
The Kaa-Iya landscape program, and the CABI-WCS partnership, is based on
the explicit recognition of complementary interests in promoting conservation
through the creation of the Kaa-Iya National Park and its subsequent admin-
istration by CABI, and in consolidating CABI’s institutional structure and land
rights to a neighboring indigenous territory (Castillo et al. 2006; Redford and
Painter 2006; Winer 2003a, 2003b). The protected area has generated certain
direct economic benefits in the form of employment, while the zoning allows for
increased future utilization of natural resources. Currently, tourism potential
on behalf of local communities and the park is being explored through pilot
projects. More importantly, CABI has successfully used the park to leverage
additional resources for projects in the Isoso TCO, of which the most important
by far has been the formal land titling of 560,000 ha to CABI. This land area
represents an enormous economic value in assuring the long-term persistence
of the Isoseño people, though again the land must be effectively utilized to
leverage investments that promote appropriate economic development. Future
development options on Isoso TCO lands include large-scale agriculture, live-
stock production, oil/gas exploitation, and environmental services associated
with carbon sequestration, biodiversity conservation, soil conservation, and
protection of water resources (Testino and Linzer 1998; Winer 2003a, 2003b).
CABI has the necessary political and administrative capacity to develop and
manage these projects, with continued technical assistance from WCS. In addi-
tion to the TCO Isoso and KINP management plans, WCS is also contributing
to land-use planning at the municipal level, with the expectation of promoting
conservation-friendly development across the entire municipality. Land tenure
continues to represent the most fundamental guarantee for long-term liveli-
hoods at the site.
Livelihoods, in this case and in general, cannot be reduced to mere econom-
ics. The concept itself of the TCO as indigenous territory provides indigenous
peoples with the space they require to develop at their own pace and according
to their cultural traditions and social systems, without being forced to adopt
strict external economic development models. Though the KINP is not part of
the Isoso TCO itself, the Isoseños conceive of it as a complementary part of
their ethnic identity. While narrow economic benefits (income, employment,
commodities, services) are being derived from conservation in the Kaa-Iya
landscape, multiple actors in the landscape recognize additional social and
cultural benefits, and this is the guarantee of effective long-term conservation.
Conservation will never win, in the long term, the economic argument because
at any given scale, an alternative use for wildlife and wild areas can be found
that will generate greater short-term economic benefits to at least some local
beneficiaries. If we enter this argument—whose derivative is that protected
areas must pay for themselves—we will be trapped and doomed to failure.
We are on the defensive, we are exclusive, we are negative and reactive, boxed
inside park boundaries. Instead we must argue that wildlife and wild places are
treasures that are not for sale (because they have no price), and that conserva-
tion is an essential part of any livelihood strategy. In turn, all relevant actors
for any given landscape are responsible for generating the resources required to
conserve it. Some degree of utilization may be possible, but all must recognize
that any use has limits. Our goal is to promote a common conservation vision
among these actors. We must go on the offensive, be inclusive, be positive and
proactive, and extend outwards to connect parks with surrounding areas.

3.2 Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves – Involvement of
Social Actors, Participation of Locals and Conservation
Benefit Sharing in Two Protected Areas in Central Amazon,
Brazil
Helder L. Queiroz
Wildlife Conservation Society—Latin America and Caribbean Program
Mamirauá and Amanã are two Sustainable Development Reserves (SDRs) in

the Brazilian Amazon where biodiversity conservation has been carried out by
local environmentalists supported by WCS for the last 17 years. A Sustainable
Development Reserve is a new Brazilian category of protected area, correspond-
ing to IUCN Category VI. Mamirauá and Amanã are both located in the flood-
plains of Central Amazon, alongside the Solimões (Amazon) River.
Environmental Aspects
Mamirauá Sustainable Development Reserve (MSDR) is located at the conflu-
ence of the Solimões and Japurá Rivers and the Auatí-Paranã, a branch of the
Solimões draining into the middle course of the Japurá. The seasonal flooding
of the Solimões River raises the water level 10 to 12 m above the low water
season levels. When floodwaters are at their highest point, virtually all lands
at Mamirauá Reserve (1,124,000 ha) are completely submerged, and only the
highest parts of the forest canopy can be seen above the water line.
This flooding pulse, typical of Central Amazon, defines large portions of
seasonally flooded terrestrial habitats, locally called várzeas. MSDR is the larg-
est Brazilian protected area devoted to the conservation of the biodiversity of
flooded forests of any kind, and the only area conserving the várzea flooded
forests, which are present along many Amazon white water rivers.
The geomorphology of Mamirauá Reserve provides a large number of
aquatic habitats inside this protected area. They vary from open water habitats
such as rivers, river branches, or paranãs, streams (or channels), and lakes, to
other perennial habitats such as backwater areas, or temporary ones such as
water holes (pools of water in the forest floor, or in the sands or mud of the
beaches).
The differences in the height and duration of the flooding produces distinct
terrestrial habitats with different vegetation structures and compositions in the
várzea ecosystem. Approximately 10.2% of the area of Mamirauá Reserve is
covered by permanent water bodies, and out of the remaining 89.8%, 44.3%
comprises restingas (flooded forests located in higher levees); 31.3% is made
of chavascal (flooded shrubby vegetation located in lower areas), and 14.2%
is formed by other plant communities (palm groves, grasslands, beaches, and
cleared lands and gardens).
The fauna found in Mamirauá show a high degree of endemism. There is
also high biodiversity in fish fauna, which is more diverse than in the adjacent
black or white water river sections. Mamirauá Reserve was created especially
to protect the famous white uakari (Cacajao calvus calvus), the only neotropical
primate. Almost the entire range of this primate is located inside the reserve.
Another endemic and important primate species from Mamirauá is Saimiri
vanzolinii, the black-headed squirrel monkey. Other threatened species are also
present, like the black giant caiman (Melanosuchus niger), the Amazon manatee
(Trichechus inunguis), the jaguar (Panthera onca), and the giant bony tongue
fish (Arapaima gigas).

The mid- to large-sized vertebrate fauna of Mamirauá is basically identical
to that found in the surrounding terra firme forests, although less diverse, since
only tree-dwelling animals, or those that swim with some expertise, are able to
survive in the várzea during the long periods of flooding (as long as five to six
months in some years). Mammals such as tapir (Tapirus terrestris), white-col-
lared peccary (Tayassu tajacu), paca (Agouti paca), cotias (Dasyprocta sp.) and
armadillos (tatus) (Dasypus sp. and other genera) do not occur in Mamirauá
(or are very rare) due to seasonal floods. However, animals that are markedly
terrestrial in other localities, such as the tortoise (Geochelone denticulata),
apparently find favorable habitat in the várzea, and can be found in Mamirauá
throughout the year. Depending on the characteristics of the annual flooding,
large animals can enter the area to take advantage of its food resources. Among
these we find the white-lipped peccary (Tayassu pecari) and, probably, the
brocket deer (Mazama sp.). These species are effectively found in the dry tall
forests (terra firme) of the Amanã Reserve and in the vicinity of Mamirauá.
In total, about 340 species of birds are found in Mamirauá. The avian fauna
are found within the High Amazon Province, in forest environments with an
aquatic influence. To date, about 340 species of fish have been recorded in the
reserve and in the immediately adjacent bodies of water, the greatest number of
fish ever registered for a várzea environment. This diversity is likely due to the
range of aquatic habitats available and the wide environmental fluctuations that
characterise the hydrologic regime.
So far, almost 300 species of trees and lianas have been identified in
Mamirauá, mainly inventoried in five independent studies which covered a total
of 20 hectares. Nearly 60 species of submerged or true floating aquatic macro-
phytes have been recorded. The most significant macrophytes in Mamirauá are
Paspalum sp., Eichnochola sp., Salvinia sp., Pistia sp., Azola sp., Eichornia sp.,
and Utricularia sp.
Amanã Sustainable Development Reserve (ASDR) is contiguous or adjacent
to Mamirauá Reserve, and also protects large extensions of flooded environ-
ments. Located in the middle of two enormously important river basins—the
Japurá and Negro Rivers—Amanã Reserve holds many of the aquatic and
terrestrial habitats present in the most significant Amazonian ecosystems,
such as the várzea and the igapó flooded forests (16% and 9% of the total
protected area, respectively) and the non-flooded terra firme forest, covering
69% of the surface. Other environments, like campinas (shrub woodlands and
grasslands) or cocais (palm trees groves), may represent about 5% of the area.
Anthropogenic environments, like villages and gardens, are smaller than 1% of
the total area of Amanã Reserve. The single most relevant morphological trait
of Amanã Reserve is the Amanã Lake, the fourth largest ria lake of the Amazon,
at 42 km long and 3 km wide. Amanã Lake, together with Urini Lake, another
ria lake, form a watershed that receives small tributaries (igarapés) from the
Japurá and Negro River basins, creating a very large and complex set of aquatic
habitats.
Amanã Reserve is one of the largest Brazilian protected areas, comprising
2,350,000 ha of land and water bodies with little human intervention and
almost no anthropogenic disturbance. Most importantly, Amanã links together
two other extremely important protected areas: Mamirauá Reserve to the
west and Jau Park to the east. In doing so, Amanã Reserve enables gentic flow
through large extents of the Central Brazilian Amazon. Together, these three
protected areas comprise one of the largest blocks of contiguous protected
tropical rain forests on the planet (about 6 million ha). This is the core of the
Brazilian Central Amazon Ecological Corridor, made of protected areas, Indian
territories, and other territories forming a total of almost 24 million ha.

First-hand research of the Amanã SDR has indicated the presence of many
rare and endangered species whose populations have been drastically reduced
elsewhere in the Amazon. These include the black uakari (Cacajao melanoceph-
alus), black caiman (Melanosuchus niger), yellow caiman (Caiman crocodilus),
Amazonian manatee (Trichechus inunguis), red river dolphin (Inia geoffrensis)
and river dolphin (Sotalia fluviatilis), jaguar (Panthera onca), harpy eagle
(Harpia harpya), and pirarucu (Arapaima gigas). Other endangered species on
the IUCN Red List may also occur, including giant otter (Pteronura brasilien-
sis), wattled curassow (Crax globulosa), black and white hawk eagle (Spizastur
melanoleucus), horned screamer (Anhima cornuta), Orinoco goose (Neochen
jubata), yellow-footed tortoise (Geochelone denticulata), yellow-spotted river
turtle (Podocnemis unifilis), and six-tubercled river turtle (Podocnemis sextu-
berculata).
In Amanã Reserve a large number of vertebrate species can be found. Due
to the fact that the major ecosystems of the Amazon are present, the diversity
of Amanã Reserve is particularly high. More than 450 fish species have been
recorded to date, and approximately 200 bird species were found only in the
portions of igapó and terra firme forests. Mammalian diversity is also much
higher than that recorded for Mamirauá Reserve.
Both Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves are tremendously important to the
Central Brazilian Amazon, and perhaps for the entire Amazonian Region. These
two protected areas provide local towns (and distant Amazon cities) with rel-
evant ecosystem services: large portions of pristine habitat and intact vegetation
cover are important for carbon sequestration and climate regulation, and the
flooded areas are vital for the control of the flooding pulse and fertilization of
most of the agricultural land of the Amazon. Flooded areas in Central Amazon
are also nursery grounds for most of the wildlife: Economically important fish
species, caimans, and other game species are particularly abundant in flooded
forests and other flooded environments; these areas act as a source for popula-
tions under constant removal for use elsewhere in the region. This high local
productivity is a result of the high abundance of nutrients in the water, combined
with a diverse forest, high temperatures, and humidity. This is most likley the
reason why the flooded habitats have come under such intense human pressure,
and have the highest human densities since pre-historical times. The Amazonian
flooded forests are the most threatened ecosystem of this entire biome.
Social Aspects
Contemporary human settlements in the Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves date
from the first half of the 20th century. Prior to this, the entire region was inhab-
ited by various Amerindian groups, among which the Omágua super-group
predominated. The Amerindian population was decimated by war and dis-
eases introduced during European colonization, and the remaining indigenous
peoples were incorporated into colonial society by means of miscegenation
instigated by the Portuguese. At present, even the few remaining indigenous
communities living in the region (two located inside Mamirauá Reserve and
three near Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves) have a high degree of miscegena-
tion, both cultural as well as biological. The dominant ethnic group in the area
is the Caboclo, resulting from the miscegenation that took place from the 16th
century on. The American Indian ethnic groups present in the reserves today
represent less than 10% of the population.
About 26,500 people live inside Mamirauá Reserve or immediately outside
its limits. These people are grouped in about 125 small villages, ranging from 35
to 560 inhabitants each. At Amanã Reserve there are about 2,400 people in 38

small villages, most of them located in the várzea forests (16% of the reserve).
Consequently, most of the Amanã Reserve is completely free from human inter-
vention. In both reserves, traditional populations are deeply involved in the
management of the protected areas and in the conservation of local biodiversity
by the sustainable use of local natural resources.
The human factor in Amanã did not imprint the landscape, but new archaeo-
logical information indicates that Amanã Lake, one of the largest Amazonian
lakes existing today, supported a much larger human population in pre-Co-
lumbian times. Some evidence suggests that eight centuries ago, a large human
population lived at the banks of the lake.
In Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves, most of the populations are linked with
the flooded environments. A small part of the population is associated with the
terra firme forest, where a specific set of subsistence activities are linked more
with agriculture and exploitation of non-timber forest products (NTFPs). In the
flooded environments, subsistence is based on a multi-task seasonal calendar,
where activities linked with fisheries, hunting, and gathering of aquatic game
species, timber extraction, and agriculture are mixed in accordance with the
seasonal inundation. People living in the flooded forests are involved in a large
number of traditional management systems and have a diverse knowledge of
traditional techniques for sustainable use of natural resources.
Despite the abundance of natural resources and the expertise in the technolo-
gies of exploitation, income is on average very low for local households. Due to
the unfair insertion of these populations to the regional and national markets,
extractive products never pay a fair amount to the local traditional producers
because a share of the value is retained by the economic links of the market in
the local towns and by middlemen. Consequently, poverty is common, material
goods are scarce, and local access to public services is almost non-existent.
Local people are faced with difficult relationships with the market as they
have limited buying power. Invariably all villages in the area have very limited
resources and personnel for education and health care. Consequently, there is an
elevated rate of displacement of the local work force from these small villages to
regional town centers and to large cities in the Brazilian Amazon. On the other
hand, the two reserves are also very influential on the lives of four small towns
(total population of more than 120,000 people).
The Creation of Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves: Some Historical

Remarks
Mamirauá Reserve was created in 1984 as an ecological station of the fed-
eral government to protect white uakaris, one of the most threatened primate
species in the Amazon. This was a result of a proposal made by José Márcio
Ayres, a WCS biologist, to the Brazilian environmental authorities. However,
this protected area had a short life, was lost in the middle of big administrative
changes at the end of the 1980s, and in 1990 was turned into an Amazonas
State ecological station. Ecological stations are protected areas devoted solely
to protection, environmental education, and scientific research. This was not
compatible with the traditional occupation of the area and the economic activi-
ties of its inhabitants. To bring the management of the protected area to a more
realistic level, it was proposed to transform it into a new category created by the
Amazonas State government, the Sustainable Development Reserve, of which
Mamirauá Reserve was the first attempt. In this new category, the presence of
traditional human population is allowed in accordance with a system of zones
of sustainable use and zones of total protection. This allows only the sustain-
able removal of natural resources from the local biodiversity, and all human

activity falls under a management plan approved by locals and by the state
environmental authorities.
When this category was first created in 1996, it was seen as one of the new
solutions to the problem of traditional human populations inside protected
areas. The category puts a larger emphasis on the scientific bases for the estab-
lishment of management plans and plans for sustainable use. The emphasis on
the involvement and participation of local people in the process of conservation
was very strong and informed the decision making for the protected area. As the
experiences of Mamirauá Reserve proved successful, Amanã Reserve was creat-
ed as a Sustainable Development Reserve at the request of the local inhabitants
in 1997. The decree for the creation of Amanã Reserve was signed in 1998.
The impact of this new category of protected area in Brazil was consider-
able, and Márcio Ayres and his group had a very positive impact in the national
system of protected areas. This system, approved by the Brazilian Congress in
2000, brought the category of Sustainable Development Reserve—where the
presence of human settlements and the maintenance of traditional activities
under the regulation of management plans are allowed—to the federal level.
Now SDRs occur all over the Amazon, in the Atlantic Forest and the coast.
The SDRs created more recently by all levels of governmental administration
(federal, state, and municipalities governments) suggest that it is considered a
valid and effective form of protected area in Brazil.
Resource Use and Management

Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves provided adequate (or improved) levels of
protection to local biodiversity associated with a strong alliance with the local
human population. This alliance was based on the empowerment of locals (by
their involvement and participation in all levels of decision making) and the
assumption that adequate management of sustainable use of biodiversity could
promote a better quality of life.
At present, the human settlements or villages (known as comunidades) in
both reserves are organized into political sectors of neighbor communities. This
organization was strongly supported by the Catholic Church in the mid 1970s
and early 1980s in many parts of the Amazon, and provided a base for the cur-
rent system of representation. Those villages and sectors have representatives
that organize and participate in bimonthly meetings for each sector, and annual
assemblies for each reserve.
The representatives discuss and decide on the most important management
actions for that particular sector, and provide a very effective means of local
community participation. Until 2005, the annual assemblies were organized
by the leadership and representatives, and constituted the most comprehensive
forum for discussion and decision making concerning the whole reserve. After
2005, in accordance with the new Brazilian environmental legislation, a man-
agement council with about 20 seats was established to make decisions regard-
ing the reserve. While in the previous decision making system of assemblies,
decisions were reached by vote of the village representatives, in the current
system, decisions are reached by the vote of representatives of the villages and
representatives of other social groups (such as the government, universities, and
research institutions).
The definition and regulation of the zoning system or of the management
rules for a particular natural resource have to be discussed, voted, and decided
on by this management council. Involvement and participation are also impor-
tant in other levels. There is always the need for approval by the local represen-
tatives for any activity carried out in a particular village or group of villages.

Scientific research, visitation, guarding, and management in itself have to be
approved by locals or their representatives. This system of involvement and
participation, together with a continued service of environmental education and
circulation of relevant information, translate to improved representation over
time, and a good level of commitment to conservation of the protected areas.
Reserve governance is based on an alliance with locals. This alliance assumes
that the involvement of village members can be assured if those members have
a clear understanding of the benefits derived from the protection of the areas,
the conservation of local biodiversity, and the sustainable use of local natural
resources. This raises more constituencies among local villages in both reserves,
gathers local political support, and ensures that a large part of the local popula-
tion will contribute to the enforcement of rules and regulations.
The definition of which natural resource is to be managed is based on a few
principles. First, an economic survey identifying components of biodiversity
important for livelihoods identified certain species of fish, trees, and game
animals as targets for sustainable management. Second, an evaluation of tech-
niques or management systems is applied to the traditional use of a particular
resource. If those techniques could cause harm to local biodiversity, they have to
undergo review, usually converting or adapting to more sustainable techniques
and systems. Finally, the ecological role of the species and its relevance to the
maintenance of the ecological and evolutionary processes in the protected areas
are crucial to defining it as a target for sustainable use. But in all cases, man-
aged species are also conservation targets. They were selected as conservation
targets exactly because they were important components of local biodiversity
threatened by unsustainable use.
Nowadays many species are part of the portfolio of managed natural
resources. Although Mamirauá and Amanã are known for the management of
pirarucus, a large Amazonian fish, more than 10 species of fish are managed in
a sustainable way. All of them are fish species used as food by locals, but they
reach especially high market values in the Amazon and other parts of the coun-
try. In the same way, locally managed timber comes from more than 30 species,
valued both locally and regionally.
More recently new management systems have been built. The first is the
management of ornamental fish species that are highly valued internationally,
but for which removal is not sustainable in many parts of the Amazon. The first
experimental sustainable removal will take place in the second half of 2007.
The second is the management of game species. This is difficult to implement,
since the Brazilian legislation still forbids the management of wildlife. But there
is a large possibility for changes in the laws, so the experimental management
of reptiles (river turtles and caimans) has been implemented.
The management systems implemented so far in Mamirauá-Amanã do
not differ according to the ethnic background of the villages. Caboclos and
Native Americans, or Amerindians, both may take part in all management sys-
tems as long as they agree with the basic regulations proposed. Nevertheless,
Amerindians have sought a more independent path in the last two years, as part
of a process of empowerment which is becoming important in the Brazilian
Amazon. This reduced the participation of members of Native American vil-
lages, and it is not certain that these groups will continue to support participa-
tory management systems.
There is also a great incentive for the involvement of women and teenagers in
the sustainable use of natural resources. Traditionally, those activities are more
associated with men and are still very unbalanced. Women have been supported
to get involved mainly on other related tasks in the formal associations of man-

agers (fishers, timber extractors, service providers, etc.) that act as partners of
the management systems.
The many actions for sustainable use provide opportunities for the involve-
ment of locals that do not have expertise in the production or extraction of
a particular natural resource. Teaching, capacity building, bookkeeping and
accounting, administration, and monitoring are among those opportunities that
are open to all members of the local villages. Local producers and members of
the management associations use the managed natural resources themselves for
consumption, but most of the production is directed to the market (to small
towns in the vicinity of the reserves, and to large cities in the Brazilian Amazon
and other parts of Brazil). Currently there are about 40 formal associations
in Mamirauá and Amanã, all of them registered to work legally and trade the
natural resources exploited in the protected areas.
When the management programs were first planned as a conservation strat-
egy in 1995-1996, it was considered that local production inside the reserve
would be greatly reduced if the management plan were to be enforced. Local
producers would have to reduce their off-take to sustainable levels and the
economic impact would be high. But, if the sustainable use were implemented,
the access to a new market and new prices would be possible, offsetting this
negative impact.
As proved to be the case, the market for natural products managed ade-
quately in protected areas is increasing in Brazil. It is already a large market
and evidence suggests it will expand even more in the coming years. This can
produce a negative effect on protected areas, if production is not under strict
control. To avoid this risk, one alternative is to multiply management systems,
replicating the management regulations.
In Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves, the access to the management systems
of natural resources is restricted to local inhabitants, organized in associations.
These associations receive technical advice and counselling, and have their
formal organization and operational arrangements provided by the staff of
Mamirauá Institute. During the last few years, these pilot systems have led to
the creation of similar systems in the vicinity of the reserve. So far, some of these
new experiences have failed to produce adequate regulation and control, but
they can be improved if properly conducted. As this successful system grants
access to other groups, benefits can be more widely distributed among other
social actors.
The Development of Management Systems Implemented

As mentioned earlier, conservation targets were under intense pressure from
unsustainable use. For some natural resources the levels and intensity of tradi-
tional use of natural resources were carefully monitored. The need to implement
sustainable ways was made clear to all social actors involved. The kills of game
animals, the catch of most important fish species, and all timber extraction in
the area are examples of time series data built with the participation or col-
laboration of local residents. Figure 1 presents an example of the monitoring of
pirarucu fisheries from 1993 to 1998, before sustainable use was established.

Figure 1: Average size (total length in cm) of pirarucus caught from 1993 to 1998 at
Jarauá Sector, Mamirauá Reserve, represented by the open circles. The red line rep-
resents the minimum size of catch established in the current legislation.
180
170
Average size of catch (cm)
160
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
From this time series data it was possible to demonstrate that more than
70% of all pirarucus produced in the monitored part of Mamirauá Reserve
were below the minimum size of catch established at the time by the Brazilian
environmental authority (IBAMA): 150 cm. This evidence of bad traditional
management galvanized the attention of local social actors, especially the fisher-
men inside the reserve, and led the way to the agreements about new regulations
and modifications in the behavior of local fishermen.
The need for large-scale change was obvious, and the best way to promote
this was from the inside out. Following the publication of the Mamirauá
Reserve Management Plan, best practices of sustainable use was promoted in
pilot management systems. Consequently, in 1998, the most important pilots
were put in place, including the promotion of sustainable fisheries of pirarucus
and the sustainable extraction of timber.
It has been a success so far. The populations of managed resources present
good demographic parameters, production has been increasing, and the produc-
ers were able to reach better markets and get better prices for their products.
After a few years it was clear to all local associations that those involved in
management systems were better off. It should be noted that the pattern of
natural resource use did not change immediately after the implementation of
public awareness and environmental education (1992-1993), nor after the dis-
cussions with local leadership on new regulations for protected area use and
publication of the management plan. Change occurred immediately after the
beginning of productive management and when financial results of the new
trade were obtained (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Average size (total length in cm) of pirarucus caught from 1993 to 2006 at
Jarauá Sector, Mamirauá Reserve, represented by the open circles. The red line rep-
resents the minimum size of catch established in the current legislation. Red stars
represent important moments in management history. Moment A (1993) is the start
of campaigns of public awareness and environmental education. Moment B (1996)
is the publication of the management plan with the agreed, voted, and approved
regulation for sustainable use of pirarucus. Moment C (1998) is the beginning of the
productive management system of pirarucus fisheries at the reserve.
200
Average size of catch (cm)

190
180
170
160
150
140
130
120
110
100
90
80
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Something similar happened to the management system of timber extraction.
Besides the fact that a program of awareness and environmental education took
place since 1993, and that the local producers agreed on the need to stop unsus-
tainable off-take of many species of trees (including threatened or rare species),
and voted in agreement with the new regulations of the management plan in
1996, it was only when the productive management of logging started, in 1998,
that the illegal timber extraction was really reduced inside the protected area
(Figure 3).
Figure 3: Number of logs illegally removed from Mamirauá from 1993 to 2006. Red
stars represent important moments in management history. Moment A (1993) is the
start of campaigns of public awareness and environmental education regarding ille-
gal timber extraction. Moment B (1996) is the publication of the management plan
with the agreed, voted, and approved regulation about logging inside the protected
area. Moment C (1998) is the beginning of the productive management system of
timber extraction at the reserve.
10000
9000 A B C
8000
N u m b er o f lo g s
7000
6000
5000
4000
3000
2000
1000
0
199 2
199 3
199 4
199 5
199 6
199 7
199 8
199 9
200 0
200 1
200 2
200 3
200 4
200 5
200 6
200 7

In the case of timber management, effective protection was realized after
two major measures. At first, awareness and education proved to be very effec-
tive, but a high number of illegal loggers were still operating inside the area.
Secondly, when the productive management was put in place, almost all the
illegal logging was abolished inside the protected areas. It is expected that the
same effect will be accomplished in relation to non-timber forest products, to
ornamental fish, and to game animals when the respective management systems
are put in place in the near future.
Livelihoods and Quality of Human Life: Achievements and

Challenges
Access to the natural resources of Mamirauá and Amanã Reserves has been
granted only to the local associations. As these management systems prove to
be successful, and the widespread demand to join the systems increases, it will
create a pressure difficult to restrain. Most locals living outside these protected
areas want to move inside it to take part in the sustainable use of the resources.
Migration pressure to the reserves is strong.
So, after less than two decades, the protected areas, once seen locally as
a problem and as something negative that would make livelihoods difficult,
became centers of attraction. They are perceived as places to have a better life.
There are many different ways to represent the improvement of the quality
of life in these areas of natural resource management. The idea itself of “quality
of life” is enormously difficult to precisely quantify, and a great deal of indexes
and indicators have been created to describe it. In general terms, households
inside the protected area improved their income by almost 110% in only a
decade (1994-2004). For those households directly involved in the managed
fisheries of pirarucus, this improvement reached much more than that (Figure
4).
Figure 4: Income (in US dollars) per capita per month of fishermen involved in the
management systems of pirarucu fisheries at Mamirauá and Amanã, from 1999 to
2006.
400
Income per month (USD)
350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
1998 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008

Pirarucus are managed in Mamirauá-Amanã only for about two months
every year (October-December). More than 400 fishermen participate. Despite
the fact that “quality of life” can be measured by many other points of view,
this improvement in income has impacted other aspects of social life, like heath
and education of the villages.
Replication of these management systems is in demand all over the region.
Nowadays, most of the local associations outside the protected areas ask for
replication and expansion of the system, and most communities in the vicinity
of the reserves are also interested in implementing such systems. It is a large
improvement in the relationships with the people of the reserves and the people
living around them. These relations went from suspicion and disagreement in
the first year after the creation, to involvement, agreement, and attraction in
the last years. This sort of improvement in public relations is yet to be achieved
by the national environmental authority, IBAMA. Despite the fact that manage-
ment of timber extraction and pirarucu fisheries is legal, most of the other uses
of natural resources are not yet regulated. Nevertheless, all these uses continue
to be carried out without regard for the current regulations and the efforts of
IBAMA, worsening this difficult relationship.
Replication of Management Systems: Possibilities and

Difficulties
For some time, these replications of the management systems were carried out
by Mamirauá Institute, by building capacity among the local villages and asso-
ciations, investing in basic infrastructure, and promoting a link between local
producer and other market components to aim for “fair trade.” But there are
limits to Mamirauá Institute’s capacity to fund all needed replication and to
provide appropriate advice to the many associations in the entire region. Local
leadership and other institutions could be involved in the efforts. Two of the
new activities of Mamirauá Institute are to build the capacity of other institu-
tions and train personnel to fulfil the needed roles.
It is vital that all new systems implemented consider the technical criteria
developed so far. The clear identification of the stock to be exploited, the con-
stant monitoring of this stock, the definition of sustainable rate for removal,
and a very effective participatory system (to ensure equal/fair distribution of
benefits, and to grant means of governance for regulation enforcement and
control) are crucial aspects if the system is to be successful. Recent experiences
of replication of pirarucu management in nearby areas suggest that the risk
of failure is great when stock assessment and involvement of locals are not
adequate.
Another important aspect to consider regarding the replication of manage-
ment systems is that one of the consequences is the increase in the availability of
managed products in the markets. This could depress values and prices. Despite
the fact that the demand is very high in the region and in other parts of the
country, if the distribution or transportation of the product is in the hands of
few, they will be able to control the strategic parts of the market, and therefore
control prices, possibly lowering them.
Experience on the marketing and trade of managed pirarucus since 2003-
2004 showed that market issues are relevant and have to be put in the hands of
experts. In one instance, the associations decided to sell their entire production
to a single person, based on a higher proposal. After many months waiting for
payment, producers got only 65% of the value. This induced the associations
to have a more mature attitude towards negotiations, and implement more
business-like tools, like adequate contracts.

Other market problems were also identified in these last years. Potential
buyers are acting together to offer the same prices that are lower than prices
obtained by the local producers in the past. Other social actors, including the
government and other links in the chain of production and trade, have to be
involved in the management systems as soon as possible. This expansion could
reveal other business opportunities, introduce new buyers, and achieve better
prices. People with experience and knowledge on the market can offer impor-
tant contributions to the conservation of these components of biodiversity.
Social Benefits and Future Perspectives

Maybe one of the more important impacts of the income improvement in the
protected areas is that infant mortality was was reduced by more than four
times in the last 15 years (Figure 5). The implications of that in the improve-
ment of health conditions and education levels are obvious.
Figure 5: Infant mortality (measured as the number of deaths for each thousand
born alive, DETBA) at Mamirauá and in the country.
100
Mamirauá
DETBA
80 Brazil
60
40
20
0
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
However, it also implies another problem. Compounded by the influx of

others to the protected areas, the population growth rate recorded in the last
decade is higher than the rate recorded before the implementation of manage-
ment and sustainable use. In 1994 the population living in the focal area of
Mamirauá was growing at a rate of 2% a year, and in 2005 it grew at an annual
rate of 3.2%. In only 11 years the population increased by 37%.
Based on these numbers, different scenarios can be built. If it were possible
to keep the population growth rate constant, increasing at an annual rate of
3.2%, the population would double in 24 years (1994-2018).
If we were able to reduce growth rate to the 1994 levels and after 10 years,
population growth was back to a 2% annual rate, population size would
increase less rapidly, and double after 28 years (1994-2022). But if the popula-
tion growth rate continues to increase at the same rate as it has so far, it would
double in only 20 years (1992-2014).
In all cases, population growth is a reality. It means, among many other
things, that the amount of humans using components of the local biodiversity
will increase. If carrying capacity of the reserve was increased when manage-
ment systems were implemented, it is unknown if it will be able to sustain twice
the human population. Public services, mainly in health services and education,
which are not offered in adequate levels now, could represent a big challenge
for this future scenario.

One potential solution is to encourage other people and institutions to act as
promoters of management systems outside protected areas. Conservation action
directed to such areas would provide better levels of biodiversity conservation
in general, and expand benefits for a larger group. In doing so, new areas of
attraction would be available, importantly, outside protected areas. This could
also provide higher levels of governance, and government agencies could share
good positive support to manage larger portions of the region.
This could help to decrease new pressures and ensure a good perspective for
the protected areas now under threat as consequence of their success. This illus-
trates how protected areas are only one of the strategies to provide good levels
of biodiversity protection and conservation in tropical environments.

3.3 Costs and Benefits of Madidi Protected Area for
Local Human Livelihoods
Lilian Painter
Wildlife Conservation Society—Bolivia Program
Physical Description of Madidi Protected Area

Madidi is recognized as one of the most biodiverse protected areas in the world:
Globally Outstanding according to the World Wildlife Fund Conservation
Assessment of Terrestrial Ecoregions of Latin America, Global 200 (Olson and
Dinerstein 1998); and Biodiversity Hotspots (Mittermeier et al. 1999). This
diversity is the result of an amazing altitudinal gradient from majestic snowed
mountain tops at 6,000 m, where you find condors (Rios-Uzeda and Wallace
2007), vizcachas, and pumas; down to the paramo through globally endangered
patches of Polylepis forest and cloud forests with spectacled bear (Rios-Uzeda
et al. 2006), through the most biodiverse vegetation type of the world; tropical
montane and piedmont forests and the lowland Beni alluvial plain, home of jag-
uars (Wallace et al. 2003; Silver et al. 2004), spider monkeys, tapir, and white
lipped peccary. Furthermore, there is a swath of dry forests around the area of
Apolo (Hennessey 2007) formed by a “rain shadow” caused by the Andes. In
the northernmost tip, large areas of pristine grasslands are surrounded by gal-
lery forests with important populations of maned wolves and marsh deer (Boris
Rios pers. comm.).
Madidi Protected Area fulfills several ecological functions, for example soil
and watershed protection, rain and moisture capture by cloud forests, and local
climate regulation. It is also part of a bi-national protected area conservation
corridor running from the Bolivian Andes to southern Peru which is part of an
important bird migration route along the Andes.
In terms of goods used by local populations, the Puna and high Andes are
centers of origin and diversification of Andean tubers and grains such as oca
(Oxalis tuberosa), papalisa (Ullucus tuberosum), potato (Solanum tubero-
sum), quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), and canihua (Ch. pallidicaule). In the
montane forests people depend on native species such as Caccharis, Fabiana,
and Parastrephia for firewood and on several species for medicinal purposes
based on ancient Kallawaya knowledge (SERNAP, WCS 2005). In the pied-
mont and lowland forests, the Tacana and Quechua-Tacana people hold an
impressive traditional knowledge of hundreds of species which can be used
as food, handicrafts, building materials, and medicinal purposes, including
several palms. These habitats are also particularly rich in precious woods such
as cedar (Cedrela odorata), mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla), sandbox tree
or possumwood (Hura crepitans), South American oak (Amburana cearensis),
rosewood (Aniba canelilla), goncalo alves (Astronyum graveolens) and others
(CIPTA, WCS 2001).
In terms of wildlife use, fish such as the Pseudoplatystoma, Zungaro, and
Phractocephalus cat fish, the tambaqui or pacu (Colossoma macroponum),
and the bocachico or sabalo (Prochilodus nigricans) are important for subsis-
tence and commercial purposes, particularly in the lowlands. The Podocnemis
expansa and P. unifilis turtles are hunted for meat and their eggs, sold com-
mercially. Peccaries, agoutis, deer, monkeys, and armadillos are used mainly for
subsistence but some local trade exists (SERNAP, WCS 2005).

Historical Changes in Natural Resource Use
This area has been inhabited by several ethnic groups since pre-Hispanic times
by some of the Arawak linguistic families such as the Tacana and Araona (Silva
et al. 2002). This area had important economic and cultural exchanges between
the lowland and highland indigenous cultures and also was accessed by several
Inca and pre-Incan trails, linking Cuzco with Pelechuco, Moxos, Pata, Santa
Cruz del Valle Ameno, and Apolo. During the expansion of the Inca Tupac
Yupanqui in the last third of the fifteenth century, coca production and gold
mining took place around the head waters of the Tuichi, Amantala, Queara, and
Camata rivers (Saignes 1985).
In 1536 the Spanish colonization of this area began in search of El Dorado
or Paititi using the same routes that the Incas had previously used, and 12
missions were established. This had huge impacts on the spatial, social, and
productive organization of the indigenous population and on natural resources
as agricultural production of coca, tobacco, cacao, peanuts, quinine, incense,
vanilla, feathers, wildlife skins, and monkeys intensified. At the beginning of the
republican era (1825-1880) there was another extractive boom linked to the use
of the quinine bark (Cinchona officinalis), which resulted in the disappearance
of the species from extensive areas and overhunting and fishing in the area to
which many people had migrated. Additionally, areas for intensive agricultural
production were established to supply the quinine collectors with grains, meat,
and cane alcohol (Soux et al. 1991).
Rubber replaced quinine bark as the next best natural resource, fueling an
economic boom that resulted in the establishment of rubber concessions in over
1.5 million ha, as well as private “haciendas” producing goods for the rubber
concessions. The “haciendas” continued to proliferate from 1917-1964 and
specialized in coca, sugar cane, and cattle production for the markets in Peru
and the mining areas in Larecaja. Later, in the mid-sixties, wildlife in the region
(in particular affecting caimans, peccaries, cats, otters, macaws, and parrots)
suffered the effects of a quarter century of commercial trade in live animals and
skins. In the 1970s a development policy called “March to the North” began;
it focused on developing an agricultural center based on cane sugar production
around San Buenaventura, the construction of a hydroelectric dam, and hydro-
carbon exploitation. In order to facilitate exploitation of these three natural
resources, an aggressive campaign of new roads and colonization resulted in a
large influx of Quechua and Aymara people, the establishment of forestry con-
cessions, cattle ranches, land speculation, and a large informal trade in precious
woods such as mahogany and South American oak (Silva et al. 2002).
All these historical processes resulted in indigenous groups of the lowlands
gradually losing ancestral land and natural resources, and only since the state
reforms of 1994—such as the agrarian reform, forestry, environmental, and
popular participation laws—have the indigenous people been able to demand
actions to build a more just and equitable society, respectful of the environmen-
tal and cultural characteristics of the region. In particular the recognition of
their rights over their natural resources and territories are a result of the efforts
of the indigenous movement which culminated in their historical national level
march for “Territory and Dignity” in 1996.
Cultural Setting
This area holds great cultural diversity because of the historical processes
described above: There are Tacanas in the east, Lecos in the south, traditional
Quechua settlements in the Apolo and Pelechuco region, and colonists along the
San Buenaventura to the Ixiamas axis. The urban centers of Apolo, Pelechuco,

San Buenaventura, Guanay, and Ixiamas are made up of people who identify
themselves largely as “mestizo” (Lehm et al. 2002).
Within Madidi protected area there are nine communities in the national
park and 22 communities in the integrated management area, totaling close to
4,000 people. Additionally, the protected area overlaps with four indigenous
territories which are in different degrees of consolidation (Figure 1). Around
11,500 indigenous people are within these territories, whereas the Mestizo,
Quechua, and Aymara population is twice that (National Population Census
2001, INE National Institute of Statistics).
Figure 1: Greater Madidi landscape.

All municipalities overlapping the protected area had positive growth rates
between 1992 and 2001, particularly Ixiamas and San Buenaventura. These
increases in population result in a growing demand for land and natural
resources and increasing social conflicts (Table 1 and 2).
Table 1: Inter census population increase rates in Municipalities of Madidi Protected

Area. (Source: INE National Statistics Institute, Bolivia)
Municipality 1992 2001 Inter census Annual Growth

growth rate Rate
Ixiamas 3.618 5.625 55% 5%
S. Buenaventura 4.608 6.203 35% 3.3%
Apolo 12.877 13.271 3% .3%
Pelechuco 4.742 5.115 8% .8%
Guanay 27.319 28.365 4% .4%
Total 53.164 58.579 21% 1%
Increases in provincial populations since 1950 shows the same tendency, in

particular in Abel Iturralde and Larecaja, where the population tripled in half
a century. Though population density is low, clearly there is growing pressure
on resources.
Table 2: Provincial population increase. (Source: INE National Statistics Institute, Bolivia)
Province Extension in Census Population Census Census Census Population

Km2 1950 Density 1976 1992 2001 Density
Franz Tamayo 15.900 13.666 0.9 16.437 17.619 18.386 1.2
Abel Iturralde 42.815 3.076 0.07 5.132 8.226 11.828 0.28
Larecaja 8.110 30.684 3.8 46.269 68.762 68.026 8.4
Social Services
The communities within Madidi protected area do not have good access to
health services. Only some communities have small health posts and most of
these do not operate because of lack of medicines or trained personnel. Access
to basic sanitation has improved via investments by development organizations
such as CARE in integrated conservation and development projects. Currently,
37% of communities within the protected area have drinking water and 30%
have latrines. Only the urban centers have constant electric supply, those com-
munities (53%) which have solar panels only have it in the schools. Only 20%
of all communities have communication radios and only 10% have telephone
coverage. Most communities only have primary schools (73%), some go up to
middle school (23%), and 4% have no school (SERNAP, WCS 2005).
Establishment of the Protected Area

Madidi National Park and Natural Area of Integrated Management was estab-
lished on September 21, 1995, by Supreme Decree No. 24123. It was created
for the conservation of biological diversity, natural landscapes, archaeological
sites, geomorphological formations, ecological processes and services, indig-
enous knowledge, and also to respect the rights of traditional communities over
their natural resources and to promote sustainable natural resource use, envi-
ronmental education, research, ecological monitoring, and ecotourism.

The protected area includes two categories: National Park, corresponding to
IUCN Category II, and Natural Area of Integrated Management, corresponding
to Category VI. The national park covers 1,271,500 ha and prohibits extractive
use of renewable or non-renewable resources but permits scientific research,
ecotourism, environmental education, and subsistence activities of traditional
populations, dependent on recommendations in the zonification manage-
ment plan and specific regulations of the protected area. The Natural Area of
Integrated Management covers 624,250 ha and aims to balance the develop-
ment needs of the local population with conservation objectives.
When the protected area was established, some intensive use areas of tra-
ditional communities and even whole communities where erroneously placed
within the national park area. Furthermore, certain areas without any human
population and important biological attributes where placed within the inte-
grated management category. Because of this there is a proposal to re-categorize
the protected area.
Current Resource Use and Tendencies

In the high valleys the main economic activities are ranching cattle, llamas,
and sheep, and on average each family manages around 700 ha of communal
lands. Small animals such as chickens, pigs, and guinea pigs are raised for sub-
sistence purposes and occasionally wildlife is hunted to supplement the family
diet. Small agricultural plots are placed next to streams and rivers where the
best soil accumulates. The most important agricultural product is potatoes,
followed by other Andean tubers and broad beans; in the lower valleys maize,
manioc, beans, and rice are also planted. Accessible precious woods such as
Junglans australis and Podocarpus cf. oleifolius have been extracted, and cur-
rently species such as Inga sp. and Cedrela odorata are only used for furniture
and as building materials. The highest forests of Buddleia sp., Polylepis sp., and
Baccharis sp. have disappeared from the most accessible areas because of over
harvest for firewood. Gold panning is a traditional activity and mercury pollu-
tion associated with it affects the Tuichi River. A modest flow of 100 tourists
a year walking the pre-Columbian routes linking Pelechuco to Apolo generates
ready cash to buy school materials and attend medical emergencies (SERNAP,
WCS 2005).
Most of the communities are found in the lower montane valleys, some in
areas which have suffered the results of inappropriate resource use and are on
severely degraded soils and hence have limited options. In these areas people
survive on marginal agricultural production based on coffee, sugar cane, beans,
bananas, maize, yucca, rice, coca, and citrus fruits. Every family works on 0.5
to 1 ha per year. Some families have cows that are managed very extensively
because of the historical soil degradation. Small animals such as sheep, guinea
pigs, and pigs are raised for domestic use and some local trade. There are some
conflicts with wildlife such as foxes, spectacled bear, pumas, and peccaries that
predate on crops or domestic animals. Fishing of Prochilodus nigricans is an
important activity during the dry season.
In the better conserved areas of the lower moist and dry montane forests, the
sale of firewood to merchants who transport it to Apolo, illegal timber extrac-
tion, and collection of incense broadens the economic options for local people.
Shade-grown coffee production has also been successful for these communities
on soil which is still fertile. In the better conserved areas, people focus more on
small animal production than on cattle. Their access to palm fruits and medici-
nal plants as well as abundant fish increases their well-being.

In the piedmont and Beni alluvial plains along the San Buenaventura and
Ixiamas road, the colonist communities depend on agricultural production
of rice, maize, banana, and manioc. This is complemented by small animal
production and, to a lesser degree, cattle production. Some communities have
participated in programs to promote agro-forestry, and there is interest in
changing to these systems because of the limited economic benefit of traditional
agriculture. Additionally, a large portion of the population works in sawmills
or in illicit timber operations.
In contrast, the Tacana communities are also settled outside the protected
area, but have important hunting, palm, and medicinal plant use areas, as well
as sacred grounds within the protected area. Agriculture is the main activity
for the Tacana families, followed by hunting, fishing, small animal rearing,
and forestry activities, mostly legal and under management plans. The Tacanas
have a wide and varied use of forest resources for food, building materials,
medicinal purposes, dyes, ceremonial uses, and handicrafts. Organic and native
cacao groves are also being managed and sold to certified markets. Finally
tourism is an important activity for the communities of San Miguel and Villa
Alcira, close to San Buenaventura. The Quechua-Tacana community of San Jose
de Uchupiamonas also relies heavily on tourism and manages the world class
Chalalan lodge. The Tacana communities in the north of Ixiamas municipality
rely mostly on Brazil nut harvest and gold mining in the dry season. The moni-
toring efforts WCS has supported in Tacana communities have shown that wild-
life represents a subsidy from nature of $100,000 a year from fishing (100-200
tons) and $35-97/month per family from game (calculated by the replacement
cost of beef). The protected area is an important source of game and fish for the
neighboring indigenous territories (CIPTA, WCS 2001).

History shows that different economic booms based on natural resource extrac-
tion have benefited very few, have marginalized and displaced indigenous popu-
lations, and caused habitat and soil degradation. Because of its topography,
the Madidi area does not favor productive activities which maintain forest
cover: Only 37% of the area is found in areas of gradients of less than 15%.
Additionally, most of the valuable timber has already been extracted from
accessible areas and current remaining stocks are in isolated areas. Furthermore,
the socioeconomic conditions of the local population do not present a favor-
able scenario for traditional local economic development as their capacity
for capital investments and a significant labor force is low. Hence impacts on
conservation from traditional small scale agriculture, hunting, and fishing are
localized. However, increasing demand for valuable timber and political inter-
ests are fueling demand for several roads crossing the protected area. These
roads would open up the protected area to greater illegal extraction of timber
and colonization, particularly in the Apolo region. Should this occur it would
cut the conservation corridor for spectacled bears and the altitudinal corridor
for plants and wildlife, a corridor that is incresingly important as the climate
warms. Illegal timber extraction particularly affects the dry forests of Azariamas
which is a specific conservation objective of the protected area. Park guards
were able to control most of the illegal timber extraction by establishing con-
trol and vigilance posts, resulting in important recuperation of wildlife after the
removal of more than 40 logging camps in the Tuichi and Quendeque valleys.
Also, important alliances have been developed with the local indigenous popu-
lations for joint patrolling of common critical areas.

The most worrying trend is the alignment of individual economic timber
interests with local and regional political interests. For example, regional and
local political figures have used the demand for large scale development projects
as a way to gain the support of the population and develop their political pro-
file by questioning the protected area. Parallel to this, people involved in illegal
timber trade take the opportunity to promote raids on the protected area and
illegally open new roads to facilitate access to precious timber clusters.
An important activity that has been promoted by the protected area ser-
vice and their partners is ecotourism, for which there is a specific regulation.
However, in particular in the Iturralde region, private tourism interests have
also fueled conflicts against indigenous territorial demands overlapping areas
of tourism interest (Salinas 2007).
Conclusions
Nationally, the main challenge is establishing institutional alliances based on
respect of the rights of different stakeholders at all levels: community, grass-
roots organizations, local, regional and national government, and civil society.
In order to achieve this there must be clarity in rights over different resources
established through a transparent land titling process and long term institu-
tional strengthening in order to build a solid foundation for promoting activities
that improve local people’s living conditions.
This region is characterized by many of Bolivia’s social and environmental
conflicts and amongst the most serious are those related to establishing clar-
ity in land tenure, in particular over indigenous territorial demands: conflicts
over legitimate representation of different local actors; jurisdictional problems
between neighboring municipalities; illegal extraction of valuable woods; distri-
bution of benefits arising from the protected area; political party issues; illegal
tourism operations; and demands for the construction of large scale infrastruc-
ture (Salinas 2007).
The consolidation of Madidi as a protected area will only be possible if the
different local actors become involved in its management. Community and
municipal authorities, and the population as a whole, must be better informed.
However, environmental education must focus on promoting debate and analy-
sis of local development options through institutions with local legitimacy—a
process to be supported by outside institutions (such as international NGOs)
providing technical and logistical assistance while building local capacity.
There must be a legitimate consensus building mechanism that allows for
interaction and consultation between the protected area administration and
local actors. Those local actors with established or traditional rights over natu-
ral resources and land within the protected area should have co-management.
There should be differentiated participation by other actors in the establish-
ment of protected area management strategies and plans. This is stated in the
Bolivian constitution, environment law, forestry law, popular participation law,
land reform law, and the Bolivian adherence to the 169 International Labor
Organization treaty.
Once clear land tenure rights are established and a basic institutional struc-
ture exists with clear rules for consensus-building and conflict resolution, there
are several productive options available for the region that are compatible with
the proposed zoning for the protected area. But this must be limited to those
local actors with established or traditional rights over natural resources to avoid
an open access scenario.

Conservation organizations can also help increase benefits. An often over-
looked economic benefit comes from the direct purchase of goods and services
in the northern La Paz region for protected area management activities. Park
related spending contributed $1.21 million per year over the period 1999-2004,
with an additional $1.38 million from tourism (Fleck et al. 2006). These figures
represent a significant underestimate because they do not include other invest-
ments in surrounding communities or personnel working in La Paz and outside
of Bolivia. Increasing local capacity for natural resource management and
conservation is a priority. This will capture benefits arising locally from con-
servation by allowing a greater percentage of conservation funds to purchase
goods and services locally, where most of the costs of conservation are borne.
Nevertheless, even today these costs are only short term and, in the medium
and long term, the presence of the protected area is in fact an opportunity to
improve the local livelihood alternatives of the poorest and more marginalized
populations.
International Multilateral Organizations have a role to play because there
are geopolitical obstacles to increasing the benefits of conservation for local
livelihoods. There are insufficient mechanisms in international markets to value
public goods, so that the benefits of conservation can be distributed in a more
just and equitable way to compensate for the local opportunity costs (Kremen
et al. 2000). For example, though the deforestation of tropical forests repre-
sents 25% of carbon emissions to the world’s atmosphere, most of the costs
of protecting these forests are paid by the local forest people. One obstacle for
the development of different market mechanisms is the absence of democratic
participation in international debate. This participation is even less in multi-
national corporations where only majority stockholders have a voice, though
their impacts are global. It seems that market mechanisms working through
incentives and disincentives have the greatest possibility of success in promoting
conservation while benefiting local livelihoods.

PART 4
wcs case studies –
north AMERICA
4.1 How Landscape and Socio-economic Transitions
Impact Human Livelihoods within a Mosaic of Wilderness
and Communities1
Heidi Kretser
Wildlife Conservation Society—Adirondack Communities and Conservation
Program
The 24,000 km2 Adirondack Park in northern New York is a mosaic of public
and private lands, wilderness and communities, and wildlife and people. During
the last 200 years the areas encompassed by the Adirondack Park boundary—
the blue line—have experienced numerous transformations. The land itself has
evolved from virgin forests to clearcuts and exposed mountain slopes and then
back to managed and protected forests with intermittent human settlements. It
has transformed from a landscape home to the full suite of mammals native to
the northeastern United States, to a landscape devoid of some critical members
that once were there: wolf, cougar, golden eagle, and wolverine. The transitions
have been integrally related to socio-economic changes: from a landscape with
minimal human intrusions to one in which humans play a central and defining
role; from an economy of resource-based extraction to an economy driven by
amenity-based use; and, finally, from a forbidden wilderness to an accessible
frontier with complex state protections in place. These transitions have had
both positive and negative repercussions on the livelihoods of those living inside
the blue line. Although the Adirondack Park was created in 1892, its designa-
tion as a protected area has created sustained and ever-changing impacts on
human livelihoods that continue to evolve today.
Background
The Adirondack Park is part of the Champlain Adirondack Biosphere Reserve
and a critical component of the Northern Forest in the northern regions of New
York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. It is one of the best examples of
northern temperate forest globally, and the largest protected area in the lower
48 states—larger than Yellowstone, Yosemite, and Glacier National Parks
combined. It is ecologically diverse, with rugged mountains of spruce-fir forest,
rolling hills, hardwood forests, lakes, bogs, vast freshwater wetlands complexes,
and open agricultural lands mostly adjacent to Lake Champlain. The park has
more than 40 peaks over 1,200 m, 48,000 km of streams and rivers, and 11,000
lakes and ponds. It is home to 90% of the species that exist in the Northern
Forest, including many species of boreal birds, many birds that require exten-
sive areas of interior forest, and a host of large mammals such as black bear and
moose, which are returning on their own from New England and Canada after
having been extirpated at the turn of the century.

Prior to the 1800s, the majority of the Adirondack region was largely
devoid of permanent human settlements; however, members of the Iroquois and
Algonquin nations regularly passed through and used the region as a hunting
ground (Terrie 1994). During the early 1800s, Europeans began clearing the
land for agriculture and creating small settlements based on traditional resource
extraction. Extensive railroad systems enabled the proliferation of logging and
mining operations as well as the development of stately hotels to serve the
urban elite who summered on the lakes. Today, the human population of the
park is approximately 135,000 full-time residents and over 200,000 seasonal
residents, located primarily in small hamlets and around waterways. Nine to 12
million people visit the Adirondacks each year, and the park is within a day’s
drive of over 90 million people, making the potential for increased demands
from the resources in the Adirondacks quite large. The park is becoming a
popular retirement locale, as well as a place from which many people choose
to telecommute.
During the first century of its existence, the Adirondack Park was touted
as a conservation success model of humans and wilderness coexisting. Due to
the extent of the public lands and restrictions on the private lands within the
Adirondacks, some wonder why the park even needs additional protection.
However, the Adirondack Park is an oasis of wildlands within the rapidly
urbanizing northeastern United States. Pressures from development, tourism,
and pollution threaten to alter the park dramatically. If the Adirondack Park
model is to have another 100 years of conservation success, then more work is
needed to protect the area’s natural and cultural resources.
Socio-Economic Characteristics
The socio-economic characteristics of the park are fairly similar to those of other
rural areas in the US. Culturally, the Adirondacks is relatively homogenous—
roughly 96% Caucasian. What ethnic diversity the area has is largely attribut-
able to Native Americans residing on the Mohawk reservation located in the
northern Adirondacks and state and federal prisons located in the Adirondack
Park. Today, economic class rather than ethnic background is the defining mark
for park residents. The extremes of US economic stratification extend inside
the park, with significant implications for educational access, health care, and
access to amenities from neighboring urban areas. In general, park residents
have adequate access to schools, and the percentage of residents who achieve a
high school degree is only slightly lower than the national average (US Census
Bureau 2000). Access to adequate health insurance and proximity of medical
facilities varies for park residents. Northern New York has a higher number of
uninsured residents compared to the nation as a whole due to the prevalence
of small business and service sector employment related to tourism. However,
those employed by the government receive full health insurance. Basic medical
care is readily available in all areas of the park but access to special units such
as dialysis, cardiology, or oncology often requires patients to travel one to two
hours by car to larger facilities. Economically, the average per capita income for
all 13 counties in the park is lower than both the average per capita income for
New York State and the United States as a whole. Currently, government (local,
state, and federal) is the largest employer in the park, followed by the tourism
and services sector. Many of the government positions are directly related to
maintaining the Park’s natural resources or providing services to visitors. Other
government jobs are in state and federal prisons and in the public sector, includ-
ing schools and local government.

A Wilderness Protected
Prolonged clear-cutting in the Adirondacks in the 1800s had a profoundly nega-
tive impact on the waterways providing drinking water to residents in southern
New York, including Albany and New York City. The state first purchased
lands and designated a “Forest Preserve” in the Adirondack region in 1884,
just 12 years after President Grant designated Yellowstone National Park. This
was an effort to protect the watershed and downstream trade and transporta-
tion, with a stipulation that allowed timber harvest to support a newly formed
Forest Commission. In 1892, the New York State Legislature designated the
Adirondack Park as a 12,000 km2 region within which eventually all private
lands would be purchased as Forest Preserve (Terrie 1994). Between the acri-
monious response from local communities and the economic impossibility of
this plan in part due to issues of eminent domain, the state resigned to a park
with a checkerboard of public and private lands. In 1894, the public lands of
the Adirondack Park were afforded constitutional protection to be “forever
kept as wild lands,” effectively prohibiting the harvest or sale of timber from
these lands. Today, the Adirondack Park is a 24,000 km2 mosaic of public and
private lands. Hunting and other forms of recreation are allowed on the pub-
lic lands, but resource extraction such as logging or mining is not. Activities
on private lands include logging, hunting, mining, recreation, and residential
development.
In 1968, a state government-led study found that increased residential
development and over-use of recreational resources was threatening the park.
Starting in 1973, the newly formed Adirondack Park Agency (APA) began over-
seeing land-use and development on all private lands within the Adirondack
Park boundary and created a State Land Master Plan to guide recreational use
on public lands. The new Adirondack Land-use and Development Plan divided
the private lands into six density-based development zone types and required
landowners obtain a permit if they wished to subdivide land, build principle
dwellings, or make substantial additions to an existing structure (Table 1).
These regulations were intended to keep higher density development concen-
trated near hamlet areas and already existing development. Lower density areas
were placed adjacent to the Forest Preserve with the idea that lands in resource
management and rural use protection would remain as working lands in for-
estry and agriculture. The State Land Master Plan, which is now administered
by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC),
designated seven management categories based on characteristics of the Forest
Preserve lands: motorized use was restricted in some areas (Wilderness) and
permitted in other areas (Wild Forest) and intensive use such as campground
facilities were a separate designation (Table 2).

Table 1: APA Land Use Classifications: Private Land Use and Development Plan (Adapted from Adirondack Park
Agency 1982)
Classification Appropriate Uses Intensity Guidelines

Hamlet Growth and service centers of the Park. The No limit
Plan permits all uses within hamlet areas
Moderate Intensity Most uses are permitted, but relatively 500 principle buildings per 2.59 square
concentrated residential development is most kilometers.
appropriate. .53 hectare average lot size
Low Intensity Most uses are permitted, but residential 200 principle buildings per 2.59 square
development at a lower intensity than above is kilometers.
most appropriate 1.29 hectare average lot size
Rural Use Most uses are permitted, but rural uses are 75 principle buildings per 2.59 square kilo-
most appropriate. Low intensity residential meters.
development is also suitable. 3.44 hectare average lot size
Resource Management Suitable uses include agriculture and forestry, 15 principle buildings per 2.59 square kilo-
game preserves and recreation. Residential meters.
development at a very low density is permitted 17.28 hectare average lot size.
Industrial Use Existing industrial uses and future industrial No limit
sites.
Table 2: APA Land Use Classifications: State Land Use Master Plan (Adapted from Adirondack Park Agency 1989)
Classification Definition/Appropriate Uses Management Guidelines

Wilderness Areas where earth and its community of No additions or expansions of non-conforming
life are untrammeled by humans. Hiking, uses, i.e. roads, buildings. Use of motorized ve-
XC skiing, snowshoeing, back country hicles and off-road bicycles strictly prohibited.
camping, etc.
Canoe Area Like Wilderness only dominated by water. Same as Wilderness designation
Canoeing, hiking, XC Skiing, back-country
camping, etc.
Primitive Essentially wilderness, but contains Motorized vehicles and bicycles allowed. Additional
structures and other improvements. All structures and expansions prohibited.
forms of recreation permitted.
Wild Forest Similar to wilderness or primitive area Motorized vehicles and bicycles allowed. Additional
only frequently lacks the sense of remote- structures and expansions prohibited unless a
ness. All forms of recreation permitted. formally adopted unit management plan exists.
Intensive Use Areas where the State provides facilities: Motorized vehicles and bicycles allowed. Areas
campgrounds and day use areas include boat lunches, visitor centers, campgrounds.
Unit Management Plans required for all improve-
ments.
State Administrative Areas where the State provides facilities. Provide administrative facilities on a scale which
Administrative, Scientific, and Visitor is in harmony with surrounding setting. Adhere to
information related. wetland regulations.
Historic Buildings or structures with historical Preserve the character of the site. Adhere to wet-
significance owned by the tate. land regulations.

When the state formed the Adirondack Park Agency, the local residents per-
ceived the implementation of the regulations as a “takings” of their property
rights (Kenney 1985). From the park residents’ perspective, the state authority
decided what was “best” for the Adirondacks and imposed the regulations
without much input from the local residents, who were struggling to make a liv-
ing. The implementation process did not include education efforts, outreach, or
work with the local communities. The new regulation process, coupled with a
struggling US economy, globalization, and loss of industry from the Adirondacks
left the perception that the government had ended the Adirondacks’ last hope
for economic autonomy: development (Keller 1980).
The APA zoning regulations have generated resentment from local town
governments. Although towns have the option to adopt their own land use
plans with APA approval, many towns still do not have plans in place. As a
result, local towns are often at odds with the APA regarding building permits.
Since the 1970s, all large developments, many smaller scale developments, state
land purchases, and management designations for state land have endured close
scrutiny from local watchdog groups concerned about human livelihoods in the
park. In response to these groups and to the existing development threats from
continued building along shorelines and in the backcountry, more conservation
organizations were formed.
Today, numerous non-governmental organizations have fulfilled niche
roles in advocacy, economic development, and community issues. In 1994, the
Wildlife Conservation Society started a program to focus on wildlife research
and community-based conservation. Our conservation targets are to:
• Maintain connections with other northern forest landscapes;
• Maintain continuous area and distribution of native habitats on private
lands;
• Maintain the wild experience of the Adirondacks;
• Improve the ecological integrity in human dominated landscapes;
• Minimize human-wildlife conflicts and restore wild behavior of wildlife;
• Maintain ecosystem services and ecological integrity in wild areas.
Our specific species targets include maintaining viable populations of black

bear, marten, moose, boreal birds, and common loons. To achieve these targets,
we must understand how resource use influences our targets as well as how
conservation activities impact human livelihoods.
Resource Use, Governance, and Conservation Impacts

The Adirondack Park encompasses a multitude of resources with varying own-
ership and extent of restrictions. We grouped the resources into seven categories
and detail the issues related to their use, how governance shapes their use, and
how their use impacts conservation targets (Table 3). The resources include
timber, non-timber forest goods, wildlife, land, water, wind, and air.

Table 3: Summary of resource use, governance, and impacts to conservation targets
Resource User Market Governance Access Conservation

Impacts
Air Local residents and Common pool Federal and State No restrictions Yes
visitors resource Governments
Land Local residents, Local and commer- NYS DEC, Adiron- Development restricted on Yes
NYS residents, out- cial use dack Park Agency, private lands, prohibited
of-state residents Local Town Govern- on public lands.
ments Restrictions exist for ac-
cess to public and private
land for recreation.
Non-timber Local residents Local and commer- NYS DEC Illegal on all public lands. No
forest cial use Legal on private lands.
goods
Timber Local landowners Local, national, and NYS DEC, Adiron- Illegal on all public lands. Minimal
and timber compa- international com- dack Park Agency Legal on private lands.
nies mercial markets Restrictions apply.
Water Local residents, Subsistence and State Health De- Legal on public and pri- Yes
municipalities, and local use partment, vate lands. Some restric-
some businesses NYS DEC tions on surface water.
Wildlife Local residents, Generally subsis- NYS DEC, Migra- Legal on all public lands Minimal
NYS residents, tence, some com- tory Bird Treaty Act, and some private lands. (Unknown)
and out-of-state mercial use, and Endangered Spe- Some restrictions apply.
residents other illegal uses. cies Act
Wind Local residents, and Subsistence, local, Adirondack Park Illegal on public lands. Unknown
limited commercial and commercial use Agency Legal on private lands
use subject to regulations.
Timber
Access to timber resources within the Adirondack Park depends on land owner-
ship. Timber harvest is explicitly prohibited on all public lands inside the blue
line. However, harvesting is allowed on private lands, with a number of restric-
tions. Many local people, including small family-owned logging companies
and residents working for large multi-national companies, work in the forestry
industry in the Adirondacks. Many thousands of hectares have been harvested
for commercial use. However, numerous logging operations in the park are
closing down due to globalization of the industry. Since 2000, the four largest
forest land owners have either sold or announced the sale of their properties.
In the past decade, over one million acres (405,000 ha) of land has changed
ownership. Some of these lands will stay in forestry through state conservation
easements that allow investment companies or small private timber companies
to manage the land. The rest may be used for other purposes such as develop-
ment. Non-industrial private landowners also engage in small-scale forestry.
Most of the wood harvested from these lands is milled locally, creating added
value. In 2000, the forestry industry provided around 500 of the 35,000 jobs
in the Adirondacks (50 years ago the forestry industry along with agriculture
and mining were the largest employers). The market for construction of high
end homes is booming, while the pulp and paper markets have declined signifi-
cantly with only one paper mill left inside the park (compared to 10 in 1920).
The extent of violations related to forestry is uncertain given the vast size of the

park and the small number of enforcement officers: Fewer than 150 DEC forest
rangers, DEC environmental conservation officers, and APA enforcement offi-
cers are responsible for enforcing local regulations and guidelines for resource
use on public and private lands in the park.
Habitat loss is one of the key threats to conservation targets in the
Adirondack Park. Although timber harvesting on the private lands does disturb
habitats, the regulations and best management practices often adhered to by
local foresters minimize the impacts to local fauna. Timber harvest poses the
greatest threat to birds that rely on intact interior forests but probably also has
significant impacts on the American marten, as well as reptile and amphibian
species in some areas. Given the extent of land protected from timber harvest
in the Forest Preserve, the negative impacts are generally localized and do
not result in population-level impacts. However, the changing nature of land
ownership may pose more serious threats; when companies who have owned
Adirondack lands for 50 to 100 years sell to timberland investment manage-
ment organizations (TIMOs) and/or other industrial timber companies, the
management priorities shift. These groups may manage the forests for a short
period and then, to maximize financial return, sell within 10 years. This transi-
tion may be detrimental to conservation and local people who rely on sustain-
able resource extraction for long-term employment.
Non-timber forest goods

The harvest of tangible non-timber forest goods is explicitly prohibited from all
public lands inside the blue line. Non-timber forest goods can be taken from
private lands, so access depends on land ownership. No rules or regulations
apply to non-timber forest goods on private lands. Given the extent of the for-
est preserve, enforcement for collecting on state lands is minimal. Examples of
direct uses include berry picking for personal or commercial use and collection
of wood and bark products for use by local artisans who design “Adirondack”
furniture or use the “Adirondack” style for interior decorating. Artisans sell
their products commercially at craft fairs, local businesses, and via the internet.
Contractors who build Adirondack “great camp” style homes often hire artists
to create custom pieces for their clients. To date, there are no known negative
impacts of harvesting non-timber forest goods on our conservation targets.
The market for intangible forest products is also booming. Local artists and
photographers use the Adirondack landscape as their subject and they sell their
products locally, regionally, and sometimes internationally. Many Adirondack
artists maintain galleries in local communities and support a vibrant arts econ-
omy. Future demand for these goods is likely to increase.
Wildlife
Use of wildlife in the Adirondack Park is fully governed by the DEC under
NYS Environmental Conservation Law and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
Hunting, fishing, and trapping may occur with a valid license on public and
private lands during open seasons for white-tailed deer, black bear, fisher, mink,
weasel, skunk, bobcat, marten, beaver, raccoon, fox, coyote, fish, turkey, and
many species of migratory waterfowl. These activities are mostly limited to rec-
reation and subsistence; however, some resources end up in wildlife trade, e.g.,
black bears’ gall bladders sold to China. and turtles in the pet trade. Furs and
taxidermy animal products may be sold commercially.

While the number of animals taken has remained steady or slightly increased
for all species, the demand for hunting, fishing, and trapping has declined sub-
stantially during the last 25 years due to cultural change. The pelt market has
been depressed since the mid-1980s. If the trends continue, demand for wildlife-
related products will decline in the future. Even so, there is evidence of on-
going poaching—not only for the regulated species but also for species whose
collection at anytime is strictly prohibited. While detection of violations may
be difficult, the DEC does levy fines for illegal animal collectors or poachers.
Aggregate impacts of wildlife use on conservation targets is considered minimal,
but data is scarce. Population estimates based on hunting records indicate that
most game populations are increasing; however, no independent assessments
have been conducted to confirm these trends. Martens may be more negatively
affected by trapping compared to other animals. We suspect that a variety of
turtles and other herptile populations are especially susceptible to animal col-
lectors, e.g., wood turtles.
Land
Access to land for development and recreation creates the most contention for
human livelihoods in the Adirondack Park. Development, except for state facili-
ties such as campgrounds, ski centers, or administrative buildings, is explicitly
prohibited on public lands in the Adirondack Park. Development on the private
land is governed by the APA. Depending on where the land is located within
the park, it can be used for private or commercial venues. In hamlets, land
is used for typical commercial and community venues including restaurants,
motels, companies, schools, shops, galleries, libraries, and housing. Areas where
hamlet-intensity development can occur are extremely limited to <10% of the
park. Outside the hamlets, the uses become more residential mixed with some
farming and small scale forestry. Areas where low-density rural development
can occur are extensive, roughly 35% of the park. All of these uses are legal
and regional and local land use plans direct and limit where and what types of
development can occur. As the park and its resources have gained popularity,
demand for these lands has increased dramatically, and low-density rural devel-
opment is expanding.
Land values inside the park and even in individual towns vary widely. In the
same town, a prime waterfront residence may be worth $2 million compared
to a river front residence on a larger parcel that is worth $96,000. This value
discrepancy highlights socio-economical and cultural disparities associated with
the Adirondack Park community. In some ways, it represents the traditional
class and spatial divide between seasonal and permanent residents: Seasonal
residents live, relatively isolated, along lakeshores, and permanent residents
reside in hamlet neighborhoods, rural upland areas, or on marginal waterfronts.
While the park has always attracted seasonal residents, its lands and communi-
ties are becoming increasingly attractive to second-home and investment home
owners as well as retirees and those wishing for a change of lifestyle. As water-
front properties become expensive, affordable only to the wealthiest people,
interest in buying properties in the hamlets and in rural uplands has increased.
Permanent residents cannot compete with second home and investment home
buyers in part because employment inside the park typically pays much less
compared to that outside the park. Since 2000 the cost of housing has continued
to rise, posing challenges for middle income families to find affordable housing
(Kretser, unpublished data). The cost of housing and rents is too high for those

of the lowest income to find adequate and affordable housing (Kretser 2005).
The pace of low-density residential development also has a negative impact on
conservation targets (Glennon and Kretser 2005).
Access to recreational amenities complicates the issue of land use. Recreational
activities are marketed for tourism but are also important quality of life resourc-
es. Access to recreation on public lands is governed by the DEC via the State
Land Master Plan. All types of recreation are permissible on private lands;
however, access for recreation on private lands is restricted based on landowner
preferences. The DEC governs what uses are permitted as well as which areas
are open to the public, what signage to post for promoting visitation and
informing visitors, and what facilities to maintain for visitors.
Under the State Land Master Plan, all state lands within the park are subject
to Unit Management Plans (UMP). The UMP process allows for residents and
communities to review and make recommendations on how the DEC should
manage the state lands for recreation. Tourism and recreation support the local
economy and sustain human livelihoods. The UMP process clarifies which
types of recreation are allowed on which state lands, and, in theory, serves as
a method by which communities can help shape conservation to their benefit.
Many local residents perceive restrictions of motorized use as negative and
limiting, yet studies have documented substantial economic returns of both
motorized and non-motorized recreation (Merwin Rural Services Institute
1998; Omonhundro 2002).
Motorized and non-motorized recreation negatively impact our conservation
targets by disrupting breeding and nesting of loons, habituating bears and mar-
tens to human food, and in general creating over-crowding that spoils the wild
characteristics of the area. If use is concentrated in high use areas, it allows for
better enforcement of recreation activities. However, the vast amount of land
compared to the number of personnel patrolling makes adequate enforcement
impossible.
Water
Without the water resources of the Adirondack Mountains, the park would not
exist. The aesthetic, recreational, and consumptive value of water is immeasur-
able. As a common pool resource, it requires complex management. Access to
surface waters in the Adirondack Park is regulated by the DEC and the NYS
Department of Health (DOH). Surface waters are used for drinking water in
local camps and some municipalities. Access to surface waters for recreation is
controlled by land ownership; state access is needed for the general public to use
a waterway, otherwise only those who own shoreline have access. The types of
recreation permitted on waterways are governed by the APA and the DEC.
Recently, access to groundwater in the Adirondack Park has gained much
attention. With most of the population growth in the United States occurring
in urban areas and the arid west, the bottled water industry is booming. The
demand for bottled water is expected to increase dramatically in the future. The
DOH has issued bottled water permits for areas at the fringe of the Adirondack
Park for corporations such as Coca Cola, Pepsi Cola, and Nestle, including busi-
nesses from Iceland, Italy, Canada, and the United Kingdom (NYSDOH 2007).
However, no regulations govern the extraction of groundwater for commercial
use. Selling Adirondack water has the potential to improve the local economy
if local people become involved in the process. However, the trend appears to
be that corporations secure permits, but conservation groups and state regula-
tors have not formed policies to address the issues of groundwater extraction

by outside corporations. Without proper regulations governing groundwater
extraction, the impacts to conservation targets could be substantial. Moreover,
the region’s water resources may be increasingly valuable and contentious under
climate change, and this issue has the potential to play a large and politically-
loaded role in the future of the region’s conservation.
Air
At the turn of the 20th century, people sought a summer in the fresh air of the
Adirondacks to escape urban pollution. Today, the same holds true. Between
nine and 12 million people visit the Adirondack Park each year and part of
their journey is to enjoy the fresh mountain air. However, acid rain and mercury
pollution from power plants, and recent accounts of ozone at high elevations,
make this resource particularly complex in terms of governance and conserva-
tion target impacts (Appalachian Mountain Club 2007). In some places in New
Hampshire, with similar mountains and wind patterns, the ozone is compa-
rable, if not worse than urban pollution levels. These impacts negatively affect
human and wildlife health, and have the potential to harm human livelihoods.
Wind
Wind as a resource has gained attention with several recent proposals for com-
mercial energy production in and around the Adirondack Park. Building wind
turbines on the protected lands of the Adirondack Park is strictly prohibited.
However, wind turbines may be located on private lands inside and adjacent
to the park. Locations of wind turbines are governed by the APA. Currently
a height restriction limits most locations but small scale turbines are actively
being used for subsistence in several areas of the park. Proposals for commercial
wind farms are growing in number, and the demand for wind resources will
likely increase given the rising costs of fuel oil. Their contribution to the energy
grid could reduce energy costs to families facing very high oil costs throughout
the winter. Outside the park two major wind farms are in operation. Little is
known about the specific impacts that wind turbines will have on our conserva-
tion targets but data from other parts of the country demonstrated the negative
effects wind turbines have on birds and mammals (Johnson et al. 2002; Rabin
et al. 2006). However, compared to the damaging impacts of energy generation
from oil, gas, or coal on our conservation targets, the negative impacts from
wind energy generation is relative.
Protected Area Impacts to Human Livelihoods

When the Adirondack Park Agency was formed in the 1970s, death threats,
arson attempts, and protests ensued. These types of activities, mostly conducted
by property rights activists and local town government leaders, continued at a
lower rate through the 1980s and escalated again during the early 1990s fol-
lowing attempts to strengthen the restrictions on private land development. The
relationship between the protected area and local people varies. There is a great
deal of suspicion of the state (and federal) government. Some local people wel-
come restrictions by the state for the wilderness, wildlife, and water quality that
have been protected, and the resulting economic benefits related to tourism and
second home development. Others view the protected area as a hindrance to
economic development, especially to job creation and affordable housing. The
restrictions on land and timber resources are most contentious. While recreation
on public lands has the potential to be an alternative resource use, management
of state land is also contentious, and the economic benefits of recreation have
not been fully realized.

In general, where public lands dominate townscapes, locals view the public
land as prohibiting development of local businesses and affordable housing. Yet
there is no direct relationship between the amount of Forest Preserve and key
economic indicators such as the poverty rate or unemployment rate (Keal and
Wilkie 2003). Some local leaders have even suggested land swaps to allow for
developable state lands within townships to be traded with non-developable,
and perhaps more ecologically interesting, private lands. Many officials see this
option as too complicated given the amendments that would be necessary to the
State Constitutional protection of the Forest Preserve.
The creation of the Adirondack Park Agency created severe animosity
toward conservation efforts. Since that time, many conservation actions that
have excluded local residents’ perspectives have proved unsuccessful, such as
the proposal for a Bob Marshall Wilderness and the proposal to reintroduce
wolves. State officials, conservation groups, and local residents continue to have
strained relations, especially as the amount of protected lands increases each
year. However, much progress has been made in addressing the needs of local
people with relation to the park during the last 10 to15 years.
Conservation Approaches Must Include Community

Numerous state and local government and non-governmental organizations
in the Adirondack Park address concerns relating to human livelihoods, while
many non-governmental organizations address conservation issues. However,
only the Wildlife Conservation Society has successfully integrated conserva-
tion concerns and human livelihoods. Because we engage communities, we
are changing the way other conservation groups approach problems. We are
working with people to manage their natural resources by providing science,
engaging and empowering communities, and developing community conser-
vation stewards. By partnering with communities, we help them to see the
importance of the protected areas and work with them to identify sustainable
economic activities. For example, we host Community Exchange Days which
bring together regional leaders to discuss ideas for development compatible
with the natural resources such as the arts and green technology. We have been
able to engage local communities by positioning ourselves as non-advocacy
information brokers and have become a go-to resource for communities, pro-
viding salient data on a variety of topics and working with local communities
on different issues in which we incorporate conservation principles.
We have not found solutions for—nor is it our intention to find solutions for
—all of the human livelihood issues in the Adirondacks, but we have bridged a
divide in a way that no other group has: We approach conservation with a will-
ingness to consider the impacts it may have on human livelihoods. Two specific
steps that may be taken in the Adirondacks to improve human livelihoods: 1)
developing a comprehensive economic plan for the entire park that specifically
identifies successful models of economic development within the constraints of
a protected area; and 2) building the capacity for as many communities as pos-
sible to engage in visioning and planning for their future.
Conclusion
The transitions that have taken place within the Adirondack landscape have
shaped human livelihoods. The issue of resource use and human livelihoods
in the Adirondacks really is a story about disparities and the growing differ-
ences between the haves and the have-nots. This trend holds true across North
America, where high demand for attractive places with abundant natural
amenities has increased the value of areas near nature and protected areas.

Wealthy people can buy experiences afforded by and the resources provided by
these protected lands. The power of the purse is, more often than not, held by
in-migrants, seasonal residents, second home owners, corporations, and invest-
ment companies, rather than permanent residents. Those who are willing to
move to or remain living in the Adirondacks and sacrifice economic prosperity
do so because of the quality of life afforded by the natural resources and quaint
communities. Our challenge is pursuing conservation without creating a place
where only the wealthy can access resources afforded by more than a century
of protection.
1 Much of the information presented here, unless otherwise noted, can be found in more detail
in Jenkins and Keal (2004).

PART 5
wcs cross-regional thematic
perspective
5.1 Paying for Results: The WCS Experience with Direct
Incentives for Conservation
Karin Svadlenak-Gomez+, Tom Clements*, Charles Foley*, Nikolai Kazakov*,
Dale Miquelle*, and Renae Stenhouse*
+Consultant to the Wildlife Conservation Society Translinks project, *Wildlife
Conservation Society
Introduction
Biodiversity continues to be lost at alarming rates, despite decades of conserva-
tion efforts. The causes of the current biodiversity crisis are clearly anthropo-
genic, the over-use of nature for human consumption, globally and locally. Our
best hope for conservation rests in steering people towards less environmentally
destructive, resource-intensive land uses and activities.
Conservation approaches nowadays often combine the establishment and
management of protected areas with landscape-scale approaches that try to
affect human activities in the wider landscape surrounding protected areas.
Regardless of which conservation paradigm is employed in a particular setting,
decisions have to be made about where and how best to allocate conservation
funds. Often faced with tight budgets, conservation practitioners have to ensure
that their resources achieve conservation outcomes as efficiently as possible, in
other words to get the greatest conservation benefits at the least cost.
This paper explores the concept of direct incentives for conservation, and
summarizes current discussion on their benefits and potential drawbacks. It
then highlights the current experience at the Wildlife Conservation Society
(WCS) with various forms of more or less direct incentives for wildlife conser-
vation.
Paying for the Invaluable

People’s land use decisions are largely driven by economics. Because biodiversity
is a public good, the benefits that conservation provides accrue to everyone, but
private users often benefit more from the destruction or overuse of biodiversity
than from its conservation. Economists would say that the public benefits (or
the public costs) need to be internalized to arrive at the real economic value of
biodiversity for the private user. For example, if a farmer could earn US$100 by
cutting down a section of rainforest to plant a cash crop, then in order to entice
him/her to set aside that land instead, s/he has to perceive that conserving the
rainforest is worth at least that much.
Although many conservationists do not like to think of biodiversity as an
economic good—preferring instead to emphasize the intrinsic worth of nature
—most recognize that economic incentives for people living adjacent to or in
areas of high conservation value can be useful for achieving the needed behavior

change. The non-economic values of biodiversity often appear insufficient to
overcome the economic forces that drive its destruction. The question then is
how best to make the link between conservation and economic value—or the
link between conservation and livelihood security—explicit in people’s minds.
To date, at the local level, most attempts to ensure an economic benefit for
people that will result in biodiversity conservation have been project-based.
In developing countries such initiatives tend to be grouped under the mantle
of “community-based conservation,” “sustainable forest management,” or
“integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs),” and rely mainly
on fairly indirect incentives to affect people’s behavior. Typically these involve
alternative income-generation projects in cases where people’s traditional liveli-
hood strategies lead to biodiversity loss, and attempt to get people to utilize
natural resources sustainably. Examples commonly include support for the
establishment of “biodiversity enterprises” such as collection and selling of non-
timber forest products (NTFP) or ecotourism ventures, or quotas on hunting or
collection of biodiversity products, such as turtle egg collection limits. The track
record of such initiatives in achieving conservation is, however, checkered, often
neither achieving the desired results for people or for conservation (Newmark
and Hough 2000; Ferraro 2001; Agrawal and Redford 2006).
One of the principal problems of ICDPs and other indirect approaches
appears to be that the desired results (simultaneous achievement of biodiver-
sity conservation and development) are often not achieved. One of the main
concerns is that people may welcome the new income-generation activities
promoted by projects as complementary, providing additional income, but not
substituting for activities that destroy or over-use biodiversity (Ferraro and
Kiss 2002). In other words, if people can derive additional income from, say,
ecotourism and still hunt threatened wildlife in the forest, they may choose to
do both, since it will improve their livelihoods. If, however, income is provided
for not hunting threatened wildlife, and this income is sufficiently attractive,
then the hunting should stop. Therefore, in recent years, some economists have
argued that direct incentives for conservation are likely to be superior in terms
of efficiency and effectiveness (Ferraro and Kiss 2002).
What are Direct Incentives, and Why use Them?

Direct incentives for biodiversity protection can range from conservation land
purchases, leases, and conservation easements (retirement of biodiversity use
rights), to performance payments (for example, paying for successfully hatched
turtle eggs) and tax incentives. A hybrid form between direct and indirect
methods are payments for environmental (or ecosystem) services. They may be
deemed less direct than strict performance payments because typically one is not
paying for outcomes, but rather for services which, it is hoped, will lead to the
desired outcomes (Ferraro and Simpson 2002).
All of these are increasingly being employed in the United States, Europe, and
Australia through a myriad of different schemes. Direct incentive approaches
to conservation are still in their infancy in the biodiversity-rich tropics. Most of
the pioneer experiences written up in published literature are from Costa Rica
and other Latin American countries.

Figure 1: Comparing different conservation approaches in terms of “directness” and
level of use of economic incentives (Source: Wunder 2005)
"Economic
incentive
vital"
"No economic
incentives"
"Integrated "Direct
conservation" conservation"
Figure 1 illustrates that different conservation approaches tend to rely on the

use of economic incentives to varying degrees and may seek to achieve conser-
vation results relatively indirectly (for example ICDPs) or directly (for example
through land acquisition), or via an array of intermediate approaches. Payment
for environmental services is one of the most direct approaches that also relies
heavily on economic incentives. Missing from the figure are performance pay-
ments, which would feature in the upper right hand corner of the graph, being
the most direct and economically driven approach to conservation.
The key to direct incentives such as performance payments and payments for
ecological services (PES) is that they are conditional, i.e., they are only made
if a certain action is undertaken or, as the case may be, avoided. For example,
land owners may be paid for watershed protection services that they provide
through avoided deforestation and afforestation on their lands. Direct payments
can be seen as a form of compensation for forgone land uses, where destructive
actions are not undertaken based on a contractual obligation, or as a payment
for services rendered, the service here being biodiversity conservation, where
people actively engage in agreed-upon pro-biodiversity activities. Most usefully,
such conditionality emphasizes the link between biodiversity and the benefits it
provides to people if it is conserved.
Proponents argue that direct payment approaches are also likely to be more
cost-efficient than indirect approaches because conservation is being paid for
directly (Ferraro and Simpson 2002) rather than within the framework of a
complex conservation and development project. This does not mean, however,
that direct payments do not also yield development benefits, or that they should
be employed in a vacuum without ancillary activities. It could be argued that
direct payments provide multiple development choices for the payees in that
they usually get to decide for themselves how to use this income, whereas in
ICDPs and similar initiatives the types of economic activities people undertake
is sometimes pre-determined or recommended by the project (Ferraro and Kiss
2002).

Critics of the direct payments approach contend that it does not work well
under all circumstances, especially because it requires fairly sophisticated con-
tractual frameworks and monitoring capacity to maintain the crucial element of
conditionality. It may also be that political or cultural barriers exist to receiv-
ing payments for environmental services. Evidence from initial lessons learned
indicates that PES systems work best (are most cost-efficient) when the services
provided are visible and beneficiaries are well organized, and when secure prop-
erty rights are accompanied by strong legal frameworks, and relatively wealthy
and well structured land user communities (Mayrand and Paquin 2004). These
conditions often do not exist in some of the most biodiversity-rich countries.
Payments for Environmental Services (PES)
PES are based on the principle that people who provide environmental services
should be compensated for their efforts, while those who benefit from such
services should pay, or, in economic terms, “internalize the benefits” (Mayrand
and Paquin 2004).
Typically, environmental services providers are compensated for one or more of

the following:
• Biodiversity protection (both in and outside protected areas, including in agri-
cultural landscapes)
• Watershed protection
• Protection of landscape beauty
• Carbon sequestration
Direct Incentives in Practice: The WCS Experience

WCS staff have been experimenting with a number of direct incentive
approaches, although for most of these the experience is too recent to allow
an assessment of long-term results. Nevertheless, there are some preliminary
findings and lessons from cases in Cambodia, Lao PDR, Tanzania, and Russia,
discussed in this section, and the excellent example of Community Markets for
Conservation (COMACO) in the Luanga Valley in Zambia, addressed later in
this Working Paper. These cases all employ one or the other type of economic
incentive designed to stimulate a conservation response, but the degree of
directness varies. It should also be pointed out that none of these initiatives are
stand-alone. Rather, they all were/are being implemented as part of broader
site-based conservation programs. As such, it is sometimes difficult to judge
whether results achieved are due mainly due to the economic incentives pro-
vided, or influenced by some of the other project activities, such as education
and outreach.
Cambodia: Paying Local People to Protect Crane Nests and

Paying Not to Convert Wetlands into Flooded Rice Paddies
Case study details provided by Tom Clements, WCS, 2005 and 2007
An experiment with direct incentives for conservation hails from Preah Vihear,
Cambodia. This project is an integral part of the overall conservation program
of WCS Cambodia, which includes other components such as environmental
education, protected area establishment and management, and support for
ecotourism ventures, such as the Tmatboey Ibis Ecotourism Project. (Although
the ecotourism project has resulted in income generation for local families and

conservation of ibis and their wetland habitat, it is not reported here because it
belongs to the class of initiatives typically undertaken by traditional ICDPs.)
Preah Vihear is important for its populations of at least six globally threat-
ened large waterbirds: two ibis species (Pseudibis gigantea and Pseudibis davi-
soni), rare greater adjutant storks (Leptoptilos dubius) in addition to colonies
of lesser adjutants (Leptoptilos javanicus), black-necked (Ephippiorhynchus
asiaticus) and woolly-necked storks (Ciconia episcopus), and sarus cranes (Grus
antigone).
All these large waterbirds are threatened by human disturbance and col-
lection at nesting sites. Sarus cranes, for example, are known to fetch a high
market price (more than the equivalent of US$100 per bird in Thailand). The
collection is mostly done by local communities who sell the chicks to cross-
border traders.
Since 2003 WCS has been working to locate and protect the nesting water-
birds. Initially the research, protection, and monitoring was undertaken by
WCS staff and rangers. However, a much greater number of nests can be found
and successfully protected by working in cooperation with the local communi-
ties. Under a direct payment scheme, local people are now offered a reward for
reporting nests, and for monitoring and protecting the birds until the chicks suc-
cessfully fledge. To administer the scheme, WCS staff issue standard contracts
to protectors, which include rules and a code of conduct.
In 2003 and 2004 nest protectors were paid $60 at the end of the month,
assuming that the nest went undisturbed during that period. In 2005 the pay-
ment system was changed, following community consultations, to $1/day for
protecting the nest with a bonus $1/day provided if the chick(s) successfully
fledged. The value of a nest thus increases with time: after two months of guard-
ing a nest, if the chicks do not fledge, a protector stands to lose $60.
The monitoring system for this project is quite rigorous, involving regular
visits of protection teams by Wildlife Sanctuary or Protected Forest staff to
check on the status of the nests (and to collect research data), and monthly
visits by WCS monitoring staff. In addition, local rangers locate the nests and
are responsible for weekly monitoring of the nest protectors in their immediate
vicinity.
The total cost of the program was US$25,000 for 2005-6, of which 80%
was direct payments to 115 local people. The average income of a typical house-
hold in the target population is $300-400/household annually, while the average
amount paid to nest protectors annually can reach $400 per individual. Funding
comes from WCS and a UNDP/GEF project that ends in 2013.
The scheme has been very successful, protecting 74 and 170 nests of globally
threatened species in 2003 and 2004 respectively. The payment scheme fulfills
other functions as well. It is a good demonstration to villagers and authorities
in these remote places that there are benefits from species protection. Wildlife
Sanctuary and Protected Forest staff also conduct awareness-raising activities in
local villages to inform people about the nest protection scheme and the impor-
tance of conserving these species, as well as enforcing the law against wildlife
traders and monitoring local and border markets.
The value of the direct payment was initially set based on knowledge of
the local economy (e.g., $2/day is a suitable minimum wage; $100 is the value
of a crane chick). WCS Cambodia staff feel that for future projects it would
be advisable to use standard economic valuation techniques to determine the
correct payment value, i.e., the actual opportunity cost for involvement in the
scheme.

Lao PDR: Incentive Payments for Eld’s Deer Conservation in
Savannakhet Province
Case study details provided by: Renae Stenhouse, WCS Lao PDR, based
on inputs from Souvanny Ounmany, Arlyne Johnson, Christopher Hallam,
Dominic Cooper, Somsanouk Nouansyvong (WCS Laos staff), Chanthavy
Vongkhamheng (WCS Laos staff and PhD student), and William McShea
(Smithsonian Institute)
Rare Eld’s deer (Cervus eldi siamensis), recently discovered to still inhabit the
open dipterocarp forest in Savannakhet Province of Lao PDR, are under threat
from the activities of villagers living close by. The species has already vanished
from neighboring Thailand, but persists in very low numbers in Myanmar and
southern Laos. Its habitat consists of large expanses of lowland areas of dry
forest, patches of evergreens, streams, and seasonal pools. This habitat also
supports an assemblage of other rare and unusual species such as Asiatic jackal,
silver langur, barking deer, and wild pig, many of which have been eradicated
from other areas of Laos due to overhunting. Villagers were initially unaware of
the conservation importance of this deer and its habitat, and although the deer
has been legally protected since 1995 under a wildlife conservation law, some
villagers have hunted the deer and cleared its habitat.
WCS, together with the Smithsonian National Zoo’s Conservation and
Research Center [Smithsonian Institution (SI)], initiated a “payments for con-
servation” scheme in 2003 with the aim of reducing threats to the deer and
increasing the size of the deer population. Villagers were asked to: (1) reduce or
stop hunting, (2) maintain habitat, and (3) be involved in the conservation of
Eld’s deer. Under this project, WCS Laos paid an annual cash incentive (initially
US$300, increased to US$450 in the second and third years) to each of three
villages located near a population of Eld’s deer in central-southern Laos.
The original agreement was a verbal one: WCS/SI would pay the incentives
fund in return for a reduction in threats to the deer. The villagers and WCS did
a threats analysis and it was agreed that if the threats did not decline, then the
full incentives fund may not be paid out, but no criteria for how performance
would be measured were set.
Villagers decided that the money would be divided into two uses: (1) a village
development fund to benefit the entire village and (2) costs (per diems, amount-
ing to around US$2/person/day of activity) for meetings, monthly patrolling,
and education extension work by the Village Conservation Team (VCT). Thus
payment is split between communal benefits and individual benefits. Additional
per diems are paid to the team to assist WCS and the government in setting up
biannual line transects for monitoring deer presence. Payments were comple-
mented with education, protection/enforcement, and government capacity
building. In 2004 the Eld’s Deer Sanctuary was designated as a provincial pro-
tected area, and the three target villages developed rules and regulations for the
sanctuary together with the district authorities.
The Village Conservation Team is made up of 15 people per village. The vil-
lagers decided on the composition of the VCT, resulting in representation from
the Youth Union, militia, police, agriculture, and the headman. The remaining
members were chosen by the villages’ headmen, who favored friends and fam-
ily members. There was some effort made to ensure inclusion of some poorer
families, but no women were included.

Monitoring of the deer population is undertaken through formal surveys
and reported sightings. WCS-SI-government staff and villagers monitor the deer
population size by transect lines twice per year to see whether the number of
deer signs is increasing, decreasing, or staying the same. WCS also asked the
villagers to report all sightings of the deer to one literate person in their village,
who then records the data. Shortage of funds and WCS staff resources did not
allow for the more rigorous methodology required to accurately measure yearly
conservation performance.
Pricing of the payment was not the result of an analysis of potential costs,
but rather determined by the limited funds available to WCS for this project.
The amount paid was increased after the first year so that villagers could
finance complete village development projects, such as building a meeting house
or fixing a bridge, and be able to say “that came from the Eld’s deer incentives
money.”
Overall the project has had some successes. The deer population appears to
be stable and slightly increasing, village-level awareness on the importance of
the deer has increased, and the villagers have contributed valuable data on deer
demography.
However, the WCS team also reported some weaknesses relating to inequity
of villager participation (especially gender inequity). Another problem was that
the payment was not conditional on performance and full cash payments were
still made in the year when WCS learned of two deer killings (2005). The WCS
team feared that reducing the cash payment would dissuade villagers from
reporting to WCS if deer were poached.
In addition, and perhaps most significantly, the government counterparts
(the Department of Forestry) asked that WCS pay the full amount even though
deer were poached, as it would be unfair to penalize the entire village for
one person’s transgression, and because reducing the payments would lead to
reduced cooperation from villagers in the future. WCS agreed to follow the
government’s advice. Thus in this situation, payments are in fact made for
services rendered (the villagers’ patrols and education activities), and not for
performance. Rather than linking reduced populations to reduced payments (a
disincentive), it might have been better to link payments to an increase in deer
numbers. But even then, there would be opportunity for data to be falsified.
Long-term sustainability is also in question, as funding is no longer available
to continue the cash payments, and it is uncertain whether hunting will resume
if funding stops, or whether local “ownership” of the deer can be expected to
develop to such an extent that direct incentives are no longer needed to ensure
protection. It has been hard to measure success or the cost effectiveness of the
incentives project.
Results cannot be clearly attributed to the cash payments: WCS conducts
education and awareness-raising, and there is a law against poaching deer, so
any desired conservation outcome may be due to a number of factors. The main
successes in the overall project have been indirectly related to the incentives
payments. The creation of the Eld’s Deer Sanctuary was agreed to and then
formally requested by the villages involved in the project. The project has also
received very good government support, including a pledge of co-financing for
the future.

Tanzania: Paying Local Communities Not to Convert Grasslands
to Crops
Case study details provided by Charles Foley, WCS, 2007
An interesting case of a direct incentive comes from Tanzania, where villages

are receiving communal economic benefits for maintaining traditional pastoral
activities on grazing lands rather than converting these grasslands to agriculture.
The Tarangire ecosystem supports one of the highest densities of large ungu-
lates in East Africa, including the largest population of elephants in northern
Tanzania, now numbering close to 2,500 individuals. The Simanjiro Plains are
the calving grounds for the majority of large ungulate species in this ecosystem,
including wildebeest, zebra, eland, and hartebeest. The wildlife in Tarangire
migrates seasonally. Because the soil in the park is deficient in phosphorus, the
wildlife must leave the safety of the national park and disperse onto neighbor-
ing village lands in search of mineral-rich forage. The majority of the land in
these dispersal areas belongs to the pastoral Maasai communities, who do not
traditionally hunt wild animals and have therefore coexisted with the migrating
herds. The continued tolerance of the local communities towards wildlife on
their land is therefore essential for long-term conservation.
During the past two decades there has also been a steady change in land
use outside the park. Rapid immigration and a growing human population
have placed increasing strain on traditional pastoral activities and encouraged
a shift to agriculture. Four of the nine main wildlife migration routes from
Tarangire have disappeared entirely, and those remaining are all threatened to
some degree.
The Tarangire Elephant Project is working with local communities and tour
operators to protect the main dispersal area of the northern sub-population of
elephants. Under an agreement with the local villagers, the area is to be used for
livestock grazing, thus protecting both ungulate habitat and traditional grazing
areas while supplying revenue to the village.
A direct payment scheme was set up by which the village council of one of
the three villages (representing 2,500 to 3,000 people) in the Plains receives
an annual cash payment conditional on the easement area remaining free of
agriculture. The program was established through a long and elaborate buy-in
process that involved input from the majority of villagers via village meetings.
The payment, supplied by photo-tourism companies, is $5,000 annually for
a land easement of approximately 120 km2. In addition, WCS provides sala-
ries and equipment for four game scouts (from a local village), amounting to
another $3,000 per year. The rules and conditions were negotiated between the
business coalition and the village council and written up as a contract.
The money is paid through a local NGO set up by one of the tour operators
rather than directly by WCS because it was important that the scheme be seen as
a business endeavor and not a charitable donation. There has been considerable
suspicion of the motives of wildlife NGOs in past years and some local people
believe wildlife NGOs are seeking to expand the national park. They are there-
fore more willing to enter into agreements with businesses that they feel have
a more transparent agenda. Instead, WCS provides technical support, such as
training and finance for the game scouts. The villagers are eager to reduce illegal
hunting in the area (for safety and other reasons) and have therefore welcomed
the activities of the game scouts.

Payment is stipulated to continue as long as there is no agricultural activity
within the easement area. It is expected that the contracts will not be broken, as
it is in the villagers’ interest to maintain the highly productive short grass area
for cattle grazing. The easement therefore mostly represents added value to their
cattle grazing activities.
In its first year of operation the program has been well received by the villag-
ers, who see the payment as added value to their traditional pastoral activities.
Protecting the land from agricultural activity is good both for their cattle and
for wildlife, and therefore a powerful incentive. Other areas within the village
less suitable for pastoralism have been zoned for agriculture instead.
The photo-tourism companies that operate in the Tarangire ecosystem fund-
ing this project do not actually operate in the easement area, but are funding it
because of its value to the wider ecosystem. WCS only provides the game scout
salaries (from donor funding). Currently funding is committed for a period of
five years at $5,000 annually (plus $3,000 a year for game scouts). However,
tourism revenues fluctuate and can be negatively impacted by any drop in visi-
tors. A desired expansion of the scheme to include two other villages would
require additional sources of finance. WCS staff expect that a trust fund will
ultimately have to be set up for the area.
Problems other than financial sustainability could arise if a significant num-
ber of villagers decided that they would make a better living from cultivation
than from pastoralism. Therefore, WCS feels that improving profits from pas-
toralism should also be a long-term project goal.
Russia: Linking Community Development and Biodiversity

Conservation in the Russian Far East
Case study data provided by Dale Miquelle and Nikolai Kazakov, WCS
An example from the WCS Russia office uses a relatively indirect market-based
incentive strategy to achieve conservation goals by developing a certification
scheme for tiger-friendly non-timber forest products (NTFPs).
The Russian Far East provides habitat for the world’s only viable population
of Siberian, or Amur tigers (Panthera tigris altaica). Approximately 330-370
adult Siberian or Amur tigers are left in the wild, with 95% of these animals
in the Russian Far East. The area has a unique assemblage of large carnivores,
including tigers, brown bears, Asiatic black bears, wolves, wolverine, and
Eurasian lynx. Living in northern temperate forests of low productivity, and
hence low prey density, these tigers require large tracts of land to survive. Even
under the most optimistic scenarios for habitat protection, it is unlikely that
sufficient area will be protected to ensure conservation of Amur tigers in the
long term. Therefore, managing habitat outside protected areas (in multiple-use
areas) is a key issue in Amur tiger conservation.
Primary threats to tigers are: (1) habitat loss from intensive logging and
development; (2) depletion of the prey base; and (3) poaching of tigers. Tigers
are most commonly poached for their fur and for their body parts that are
used in Traditional Chinese Medicine, but they are also perceived as a threat
to domestic livestock and dogs and as competitors to hunters. Human-caused
deaths are by far the largest mortality factor for Amur tigers, and poaching by
hunters is its most common form.

The WCS team in Russia felt that the key to effective natural resource man-
agement and conservation on unprotected lands would be effective partnerships
with local stakeholders. One of the potentially most influential and effective
means of managing wildlife on unprotected lands is working with hunters and
the hunting management structure. In 1995, new legislature provided oppor-
tunities for local people to create non-governmental “societies” (NGOs) that
could obtain hunting lands. In lieu of the former large state-controlled hunt-
ing operations, today 67% of all leases are managed by NGOs. In Primorskiy
Krai, 80% of hunting leases are on unprotected lands. This implies that local
people are now for the first time allowed to manage wildlife populations and
have a vested interest in proper natural resource management. Hunters have
also traditionally been involved in other extractive activities in the forest, often
having worked for the Soviet-era state agency GosPromKhoz in the collection
of non-timber forest products.
WCS began working with hunting associations and hunting leases through-
out Primorskiy and southern Khabarovskiy Krai in the Russian Far East to
develop effective management regimes on unprotected lands. Key to success is
resolving the perceived conflict between tigers and hunters for prey resources
and establishing direct links between tiger conservation and economic improve-
ment in local economies. The project goal is therefore to protect tiger habitat by
supporting newly-established hunting leases. The aim is to increase the hunting
associations’ capacity for self-management and financial independence, and to
undertake anti-poaching activities and habitat and population management for
tiger prey species.
One of the key interventions within this framework is the increase of har-
vesting and sales of certified “tiger friendly” non-timber forest products with a
focus on increasing capacity of forest communities and hunting associations to
produce products marketable at either the national or international level. The
“tiger friendly” certification provides value-added for NTFPs linked to tiger
conservation for the hunting associations marketing the product.
Although the sale of NTFPs is, by itself, not a direct conservation incentive,
the “tiger friendly” certification process establishes direct linkages between
income from NTFPs and land and wildlife management. Income from these
NTFPs is conditional in the sense that WCS will only grant certification if moni-
toring shows that the requirements have been met. Thus, by making this direct
linkage, conservation objectives and improved livelihoods can be achieved
through a market-based mechanism.
There are several problems that are prohibiting more rapid development of
the NTFP business in the Russian Far East. They include, but are not limited
to, multiple taxations on small businesses and on exports; illegal NTFP trading
by Chinese merchants; massive smuggling of NTFP goods across the border to
China; and a strong logging lobby. Data are not available on the costs of set-
ting up a certification scheme, including the required monitoring, and how this
would compare to setting up a more direct performance-based direct payment
scheme.

Discussion
Although the above initiatives are still young, several have shown promising
preliminary results and indeed appear to support the view that direct incen-
tives, in addition to other market-based approaches, can be a good tool to
achieve wildlife conservation results. As all of these activities were part of larger
conservation programs, it is not entirely clear how much of the early successes
in these projects is attributable to the direct payments (except perhaps in the
Cambodian nest protection case), and how much is due to other activities simul-
taneously undertaken by the projects.
Critics of the direct incentive approach argue that uncertain or inequitable
land tenure, limited experience with legal contracts and their enforcement, and
limited prospects for investment or employment outside the agriculture sector
make such approaches difficult to implement in developing countries (Ferraro
and Kiss 2002). These concerns are valid, but also apply to indirect approaches.
More important, perhaps, may be political or cultural barriers to performance-
based payments, particularly to withholding payments in response to poor
performance.
In the Cambodia case, an unforeseen cultural issue was that Cambodians
had trouble with the concept of payments for results rather than for time
worked. Another issue of philosophical dimensions is whether it is actually
morally justifiable, in the case where a destructive activity is actually illegal (like
crane egg collection in Cambodia), to pay people not to do it. Pragmatically,
however, where law enforcement is not effective enough to prevent illegal acts,
it may still be the simplest way to achieve the desired results.
Since economic efficiency is one of the arguments used to advocate for the
direct payments approach, an important question is how much to pay, when to
pay, and whom to pay. Services to be provided and results to be achieved need
to be well defined and, theoretically, a price should be negotiated based on an
assessment of their true value based on local market conditions. Economic valu-
ation of ecosystem services is notoriously difficult, but various methodologies
have been tried. The key here is that, for people to choose conservation over
alternative land uses, the benefits of conservation have to be at least marginally
greater than those which they feel they could derive from other (more destruc-
tive) land uses. In practice, all of the WCS experiments with direct payments
relied on subjective estimates of the “right price” based on factors such as avail-
ability of funds and willingness to accept the payment.
Conditions and timing of payments are also important considerations. In the
Cambodia nest protection example, initially the scheme was based upon “pay-
ments for work” (i.e., $2/day) rather than “payments for success.” This led to
perverse situations where WCS was perceived as an employer with responsibil-
ity for protectors’ well-being, whilst the protectors shared little of the risk. In
addition, the loss of benefit to a protector for collecting a mature chick (a few
days at $2/day) was less than the trade value (although no cases of a protector
actually selling chicks were reported). Subsequently WCS decided to increase
the risk shared by the protectors by paying them $1/day for their work and
$1/day for results upon successful fledging. This reinforces the point that it is
essential to establish a link in people’s minds between benefits and conserva-
tion outcomes. In the case of the less-direct payment for services rendered, it
is possible that people may not assume responsibility for conservation results,
whereas linking payment directly to conservation success ensures that this is
the case.

The issue of timing of payments is also exemplified by the Cambodia cases.
Cambodians value immediate benefits much higher than long-term benefits, and
local discount rates may be very high. In such situations, an up-front or regular
payment scheme will probably be more effective than those that promise future
benefits. Similarly, long-term sanctions, if they are at all desirable, may not be
effective.
Whom to pay can be a dilemma fraught with difficulties. It is relatively easy
to determine in the case of well-defined individual property rights. However,
where land tenure is insecure or lands are held in common (as is often the case
in indigenous territories) or state-owned (for example in Laos), the payee may
have to be a community organization or another body designated by the state.
In the example from Cambodia above, control of land lies with the state, and
marginalized rural communities living in close proximity to significant biodi-
versity have limited capacity to assert or achieve recognition of land rights.
Securing their land rights and empowering local enforcement to protect these
rights are crucial to any incentive scheme that seeks to affect land use decisions
and are therefore one of the primary focuses of the WCS conservation program.
Whether communal payments or individual payments are more appropriate can
also be an issue of culture and local perceptions. In Cambodia, for example,
individual benefits seem to be valued much higher than communal ones, per-
haps because of its conflict-ridden history, which suggests that individual pay-
ments should be pursued where possible. In Laos, on the other hand, a mix of
payments to individual members of the VCT for actual services rendered and
to the village at large as a communal benefit was chosen. One problem that
emerged from the communal payment approach was that withholding payment
because of non-performance by one person (e.g., a poacher) would penalize an
entire village, even if all other villagers hold up their end of the bargain.
Equity issues may arise, particularly when target communities are strati-
fied along a gradient of income and land ownership patterns from landless to
relatively well-off land owners. The Laos case shows how resentment can arise
when certain members of a village are selected over others to receive benefits,
or even when certain villages are selected as target villages over others. Another
flaw of the Laos initiative was that gender issues were not dealt with and deci-
sions on whom to include on the VCTs were left entirely up to the villages. WCS
might have had an opportunity to involve women in the project and thereby
promote objectives beyond wildlife conservation. In general, care should be
taken so that inequitable power structures are not inadvertently exacerbated
through direct payment schemes, if not for equity reasons, then at least because
the wealthier individuals will also tend to be those with the power to make
land use decisions. A stakeholder analysis to consider who owns or has access
to biodiversity and who has the potential to protect or harm it should be a
prerequisite to such schemes.
Another question is what form payments should take. Compensation does
not always have to be in cash—it may be in kind (e.g., help to increase land ten-
ure security or help to strengthen internal organization of community groups),
or a combination of the two, depending on local preference. On the other
hand, the more in kind assistance has to be provided, the more the initiative
begins to resemble traditional ICDPs, and the more transaction costs will tend
to increase, because of the likely need for consultants, community development
specialists, lawyers, etc. (although some of these may also be needed for the
establishment of any direct payment scheme). For projects to work, building
up a relationship of trust with a potential community of service providers is an
important first step in all cases.

Lastly, as in all conservation and development projects, sustainability is a key
issue. If conservation outcomes are to last, a constant source of financing for
payments will most likely be necessary. In that sense, market-based approaches,
such as the COMACO model in Zambia (in this Working Paper) or the Amur
tiger NTFP scheme, may offer some advantage, as they can become self-sustain-
ing if the business model is successful. When payments stop, as is currently the
case in Lao PDR, there is a risk that previous destructive activities may resume,
although it is too early to judge whether awareness raising and a sense of own-
ership over the natural resources may mitigate this.
Conclusion
There is cause for cautious optimism from the preliminary findings by WCS
field staff that support the utility of direct incentives and, more generally, mar-
ket-based mechanisms. Hope for conservation results does indeed spring from
making the link between conservation and livelihoods as explicit as possible.
If a direct approach based on economic incentives is felt to be appropriate in a
given context, the implementation details (such as whom to pay, when, and how
much, from what funds, and through what mechanism) depend on factors such
as local laws, preferences, capacities, and infrastructure, as well as the availabil-
ity of funding. A direct payment to individuals (e.g., nest protectors) or groups
(e.g., the village council) may be the best way to proceed where external factors
such as political, legal, and cultural frameworks favor this kind of approach.
The most important advantage of direct incentives is, however, the condi-
tionality of benefits. Even if direct cash payments prove too difficult to imple-
ment in a given situation, receipt of any type of benefit by a community could
be made contingent on “biodiversity-friendly” behavior, thus increasing the
likelihood of positive outcomes for biodiversity.
Finally, although the principal advantage of using direct incentives pointed
out by economists is cost-efficiency, it may be worthwhile for conservation orga-
nizations working in developing countries that lack the requisite structures to
help set these up or strengthen them. In such cases, they can be implemented as
components of more traditional conservation projects. This of course increases
the transaction costs of a project, but it serves the vital purpose of introducing
conditionality as a motivator for conservation, and thereby leads people to bet-
ter understand the links between conservation and their livelihoods.

PART 6
perspectives from outside WCS
6.1 Reframing the Protected Areas-Livelihood Debate:
Conserving Biodiversity in Populated Agricultural
Landscapes
Louise E. Buck+, Seth Shames*, and Sara J. Scherr*

+Cornell University, *Ecoagriculture Partners
Protected Areas and Ecoagriculture

Many of the strict protection regimes in protected areas (PAs) in the world’s
highest biodiversity areas are not working. Population growth in the last
remaining wilderness areas is booming at twice the world’s average (Cincotta
and Engleman 2000). Inhibiting local people’s access can be impractical, unaf-
fordable, and ethically questionable. The international community is beginning
to understand this: The recent Durban Accord from the World Parks Congress
endorses an approach to conserving biodiversity that moves beyond PAs and
seeks to address root causes of biodiversity loss and promote biodiversity at
a landscape scale. The Accord also recognizes the sovereignty of local people
over forest areas considered part of the public domain and their potential role
in determining management regimes.
However, current proposals for expanding PAs often continue to be made
without appreciation of impacts on local people or consideration of alterna-
tives. PAs must provide livelihood opportunities for the people living in and
around them. If designed and managed properly, these opportunities can be
compatible with goals of environmental services protection and biodiversity
conservation.
Communities need more than conventional extraction agreements—they
need agriculture. Given the proper institutional environment and market access,
it is possible and profitable to manage biodiversity-friendly agricultural systems
in PAs. These systems have enormous potential for conservation and liveli-
hoods. However, agriculture has historically been viewed by conservationists
as the main threat to biodiversity. Animosity between conservation and agri-
culture has led to academic and institutional cultures of compartmentalization,
distrust, and closed-mindedness to the potential for the co-existence, and indeed
mutual benefit, between agriculture and biodiversity. In reality, the Millennium
Assessment (Hassan 2005) calculated that more than 45% of the world’s
100,000 protected areas had more than 30% of their land area under crops.
The emerging paradigm of ecoagriculture is focused on the potential of PAs
to contain agricultural areas, and the potential of agriculturally-dominated
landscapes that provide ecosystem services to include biodiversity conservation.
Ecoagriculture is a landscape planning approach which aims to achieve agri-
cultural production and sustain rural livelihoods in ways that also protect wild
plant and animal species and the natural ecosystem services upon which both
humans and wildlife depend (McNeely and Scherr 2003).

From a landscapes planning and agricultural production perspective, eco-
agriculture requires an appreciation for local knowledge and sustainable agri-
cultural practices. Ecoagriculture management also requires multi-stakeholder
landscape planning processes and access to supportive product and ecosystem
service markets.
Implicit in the design of ecoagriculture landscapes in PAs is the consider-
ation of equity and access for the people who live there. While there are, of
course, real trade-offs between conservation and development as the Global
Environmental Agenda meets Local Agents (Pfeffer et al. 2001), a well-function-
ing ecoagriculture system can provide livelihood opportunities for people in PAs
that are compatible with conservation goals. But until people get the access and
rights to take advantage of these opportunities, the chasm between these values
will continue and the conservation agenda will continue to be undermined by
local peoples’ aspirations (Pfeffer et al. 2006).
Although experience documenting and analyzing ecoagriculture in PAs is
fairly new, many successful examples have been identified throughout the world
and efforts are being made to scale them up and support enabling environments
to create more.
This paper aims to reframe the topic of “Parks and Livelihoods” to consider
the role of ecoagriculture as an approach that simultaneously conserves bio-
diversity and supports local livelihoods in and around PAs. It focuses on five
key topics: 1) landscape management strategies for agricultural production and
biodiversity conservation; 2) the potential of community managed lands for
conservation; 3) the need for flexible management and regulation of resource
access within PAs to enhance livelihood options; 4) methods of financing con-
servation in agriculture landscapes; and finally 5) the role of conservationists in
ecoagriculture management.
Agriculture Landscape Design for Conservation

Agriculturally-dominated landscapes have tremendous potential as biodiversity
habitat, but they must be managed for this purpose. For an ecoagriculture
approach, farmers must ensure protection of wildlife: i.e., protection of nesting
areas; diverse perennial cover to serve as protection from predators; adequate
access to clean water throughout the year; territorial access between dispersed
population groups to ensure genetically and demographically viable popula-
tions; all-season access to food from diverse sources; viable populations of
predators and prey; healthy populations of other species with which they are
interdependent (such as their pollinators); and biologically active soils (Scherr
and McNeely 2007).
Although many ecosystem service and conservation functions can be pro-
vided by a network of healthy patches of natural habitat within agriculture-
dominated landscapes, agricultural land itself can also play an important role.
Towards this end, agricultural and conservation innovators are pursuing strate-
gies such as minimizing agricultural pollution of natural habitats, managing
conventional cropping systems in ways that enhance habitat quality, and design-
ing farming systems to mimic the structure and function of natural ecosystems
(Scherr and McNeely 2007).
Principles and strategies to synergistically link agriculture and conservation
in mosaic landscapes exist and are available to farmers and land managers, but
ecoagriculture planning can succeed only if there is a supportive management
structure. In many cases, this is not based on traditional notions of a PA, but
rather is led by local farming communities with incentives to manage their agri-
cultural systems to maximize conservation.

Community-led Conservation
Documented experience with community-led conservation (Molnar et al. 2004,
2007) demonstrates that effective conservation is possible without strict PA
regulations. In fact, much of the world’s forest areas are already under local
community control. Community conserved forest landscapes identified in
Africa, Asia, and Latin America total at least 370 million ha, a greater area than
the world’s public protected areas (Molnar et al. 2004.) The management issues
in these arrangements take different forms depending on the context. Molnar et
al. (2004, 2007) identifies four general types of community conservation areas
and the biodiversity conservation potential in each:
1. Indigenous and traditional stewards of large areas of natural habitat achiev-

ing conservation similar to that of public protected areas – These communi-
ty-managed areas may support both resource and biodiversity conservation
and local income and livelihoods. This category of community-conserved
areas has important advantages for conservation, including large, nonfrag-
mented areas able to support large species often protected by their religious
value. Many livelihoods in these areas are selected by communities for their
long-term relationship with natural resources and adaptability to ecologi-
cal changes. An example includes part of the 30 million ha of indigenous
reserves or territorial lands in the Brazilian, Peruvian, and Bolivian Amazon.
These areas are effective in conserving biodiversity (Nepstad et al. 2006).
2. Communities managing working landscape mosaics compatible with biodi-

versity conservation – These situations are found in more intensively utilized
spaces where people have longstanding relationships with their surrounding
ecosystems and have developed extractive, cropping, grazing, and water and
forest management practices over a long adaptive process. In some situations
the communities’ management of nature is central to the composition and
range of biodiversity, and local ecological knowledge and practice are crucial
to that biodiversity’s continuance. Certain sections of these areas are allocat-
ed for more strict conservation; in others, biodiversity values are conserved
by complementary management of the resource for multiple purposes. The
forest landscapes are fragmented but provide effective corridors as links to
adjacent spaces. An example of this is the 20 million ha of complex agrofor-
estry livelihood systems in South and Southeast Asia, including traditional
and tribal peoples (Colfer and Byron 2001; Poffenberger 2000).
3. Community-driven conservation on the agricultural frontier – This category

includes agricultural frontier zones where settlers are relatively recent arriv-
als in regions with important biodiversity values. They adapt or are willing
to adapt their economic activities if they secure adequate livelihood returns
through sustainable management. Generally, the positive examples have
emerged as a result of partnerships between settlers and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) or government programs that let settlers organize
themselves to protect their interests and find ways to adapt to the current
policy and market environment. Some shifting cultivators are switching to
perennial species of economic value and conserving secondary forests to
reduce the use of fallows and fire. Upland migrants who have maintained
forested landscapes in some regions of the Philippines are an example (Barry
et al. 2003).

4. Community-driven conservation and restoration in intensively managed
landscapes – This is perhaps the most widespread type of community con-
servation. Biodiversity is found in critical habitat niches that supply food
and water sources, pollinator habitats, and other similar resources of value
to local people. Some communities have organized land use to provide key
connectivity among habitats. This type is exemplified by community wind-
breaks that protect crops and livestock and provide ecological connectivity
between forest remnants in Costa Rica.
Community-led conservation is not a solution everywhere, and is often not

politically possible. Local people in and around PAs struggle for the rights nec-
essary for community conservation, in part because many of these groups are
among the poorest and most politically marginalized on earth. PAs tend to be
in low productivity rain-fed areas, where land values and productive potential
are relatively low. These are the types of areas where parks can be established
with little objection from governments or commercial interests, and local people
are often not consulted when the park’s boundaries and regulations are estab-
lished.
Nonetheless, numerous documented examples of the success of community
conservation demonstrate its potential (Molnar et al. 2004, 2007). But for these
regimes to continue to be effective, and for them to be scaled up, they need to
be supported with key enabling elements, including:
• Securing tenure rights and resource access;
• Adequate institutional, regulatory, and policy support and the flexibility to
grow local community institutions;
• Access to markets, including markets for environmental services, that value
community products and their multiple benefits;
• Finance channeled in a flexible way to complement local initiatives, rather
than planning or designing models from outside or governing from above;
• Engaging communities in conservation science as research partners.
Need for More Flexible Management within Protected Areas

In the cases where community conservation is not appropriate or is impractical,
and where more conventional public PA management regimes are in place, local
people should still be engaged in access agreements and play a role in manage-
ment. PA managers should re-examine how much area to strictly protect and
consider how more could be managed under restricted use. In some cases, strict
prohibitions on resource access inside parks is appropriate and effective, but
clearly sometimes it is not. When local communities are consulted, they may
advocate to site PAs in areas that maximize local agricultural benefits, such
as important pollinator habitat and water recharge areas. This protection can
enable other livelihood options, such as fishing or tourism.
Communities should be allowed to negotiate access agreements that provide
for some harvesting and use of PA land. While these agreements should be nego-
tiated based on evidence of ecological disturbance, certainly some sustainable
use is possible.
Financing Conservation in Ecoagriculture Landscapes

A core challenge for conservation is financing. Traditional PAs are expensive
and create financial losses for people who once relied on their resources. Public
sources of financing, overseas development assistance, and foundation support
for protected areas, particularly in developing countries, are declining (Molnar

et al. 2004), and the conservation community estimates a gap of $27-$30 billion
annually of finance required to manage and expand existing protected areas
(Conservation International 2004). To make up this gap there need to be new
sources of financing. A part of the solution is for communities to develop more
economic opportunities outside of PAs. While there are promising signs in eco-
tourism and private philanthropy, agriculture presents the largest opportunity
by far. There is room for agriculture to be intensified and income dramatically
increased in and around PAs. Agriculture also has a high multiplier effect on
employment generation.
Along with shifting to view community-led ecoagriculture management as a
potential ally of conservation, conservationists must also fundamentally rethink
ways of organizing public support for the private entrepreneurial activities of
farmers that produce environmental benefits. Ecoagriculture systems need to be
incentivized by more than traditional agricultural product markets. Particularly
in PAs, farmers need incentives to produce and steward environmental services.
As previously discussed, if local farmers have more control in the siting of PAs,
they will tend to select areas that conserve agriculturally beneficial resources
such as pollinator habitat and water sources. But in the case of environmen-
tal services that do not directly benefit local farmers’ agricultural production,
such as non-agricultural biodiversity or carbon sequestration, farmers need
to be connected to markets that pay them for these global “products.” Agro-
certification schemes have the potential to capture some of these environmental
values, and these markets will be critical to create the necessary incentives for
farmers to develop and maintain ecoagriculture landscapes.
The Role of Conservationists in Ecoagriculture

In community managed lands and in conventional PAs, ecoagriculture man-
agement will require more sophisticated institution-building beyond what is
required for traditional PA management. Therefore, an ecoagriculture approach
could fundamentally redefine the role of conservationists. For market support,
PA managers could play an intermediary role with communities to lower mar-
keting costs and provide expertise and assistance linking to warehouses, trans-
portation, loans, and any other market bottlenecks (see Lewis in this Working
Paper). Conservationists can also help to convene multi-stakeholder landscape
planning exercises and community-led research to support ecoagriculture plan-
ning. They can engage in national policy processes on agriculture, agitate for
ecologically sensitive approaches, and advocate for environmental ministries to
see agriculture as a potential ally.
Conservation organizations should take a proactive role in promoting eco-
agriculture in and around PAs and should invest in developing the capacity in
this realm. This shift for conservationists will help validate the conservation
agenda locally and more clearly identify roles for local people in biodiversity
conservation.

6.2 Protected Areas, Poverty, and Policy: A Review of
Biodiversity and Protected Areas within National Poverty
Reduction Strategies
Dilys Roe
International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)
In recent years there has been a somewhat heated debate on the links between
biodiversity conservation and poverty reduction. One thread of this argu-
ment has been concerned with the current focus of international development
assistance policy on poverty reduction as its major priority and, as a result, an
apparent “downgrading” of other aspects of a broader sustainable development
agenda—including biodiversity conservation (Lapham and Livermore 2003;
Sanderson and Redford 2003; Sanderson 2005) Although poverty reduction
had been a recurring theme on the international development agenda, it was not
until the late 1990s that it became the priority focus of development assistance
policy.
In 1996 the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) of the Organisation
for Economic Cooperation and Development published seven international
development targets (IDTs)—the predecessors of the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs)—with an overarching emphasis on poverty reduction. Many
bilateral aid agencies shifted their policies in line with these targets—for
example, the UK Department for International Development (DFID) published
a White Paper on poverty reduction in response to this (DFID 1997). The
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) launched by the United Nations in
2000 repackaged the IDTs and gained an unprecedented level of international
commitment to poverty reduction (Satterthwaite 2003).
Recognizing the failure of two decades of structural adjustment programs
to produce significant gains in the economic status of developing countries,
the World Bank launched a new framework for development assistance—the
Comprehensive Development Framework—emphasizing developing country
ownership and direction of the development agenda (Stiglitz 1998).
Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) were introduced in 1999 and
were initially designed as the mechanism for those countries who qualified for
debt relief under the World Bank’s and International Monetary Fund’s (IMF)
Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiatives to account for the alloca-
tion of funds that they would previously have used to service debt repayments.
PRSPs were subsequently extended beyond HIPC countries to all countries seek-
ing World Bank and IMF concessional lending and are now the main vehicle
by which bilateral donors coordinate their support: “The objectives of PRSPs
include improving donor coordination and ensuring that governments and civil
society groups take a lead in defining policies. PRSPs aim to put poverty allevia-
tion at the core of national spending priorities by integrating macroeconomic,
social, and sectoral policies” (Hewitt and Gillson 2003).
The dual focus of development assistance policy on poverty reduction and
on “country-led” development has changed the way many bilateral donor agen-
cies channel their financial assistance to developing countries. One noticeable
change has been a shift from project support to direct budget support (DBS),
where aid money is paid directly to the treasury of the recipient country and is
then allocated by its government according to priorities identified in its PRSP
(ODI 2006). As a consequence, unless biodiversity conservation was a priority
identified by recipient countries, development assistance funding that had pre-
viously been available for biodiversity conservation projects was significantly
reduced (Lapham and Livermore 2003; Roe 2004).1

Recognizing this new policy context, recent discussions on financing for
biodiversity conservation in general—and protected areas in particular—have
been couched in terms of their contribution to poverty reduction objectives
(Emerton et al. 2006). Conservation organizations have urged the main-
streaming of protected areas into poverty reduction strategy papers and other
national development plans in order that they can be better supported. For
example, Recommendation 5.29 from the 2003 IUCN World Parks Congress
recommends “mainstreaming protected areas into national and international
development planning and policy, particularly poverty reduction strategies and
the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals” (IUCN 2005).
The Conclusions produced by Council of the European Union in response to
the Message from Paris—the main outcome of the 2006 IUCN Conference on
Biodiversity in European Development Cooperation—emphasizes that this is
the correct approach, reiterating that any financial support for biodiversity
within development cooperation programs must be “founded on national and
regional ownership that is reflected by the integration and mainstreaming of
biodiversity into development strategies and plans.”
This paper explores the extent to which biodiversity and protected areas
have been integrated into PRSPs. The paper reflects work in progress and pres-
ents the preliminary findings of an analysis of 60 full or interim PRSPs2 (the
total number produced and made available on the World Bank website as of
May 2007).
The PRSP Sample

PRSPs are not homogeneous, formulaic documents. A number of issues are
worth noting here to illustrate the diversity of material:
• A number of PRSPs are known domestically as socio-economic development
plans, growth and development strategies, and so on. In some cases, these
are rolling plans that are produced on a routine basis but that have recently
been adapted to incorporate poverty reduction in response to World Bank
requirements.
• Different countries have reached different stages of development of their
PRSPs. To date, 53 countries have prepared full PRSPs while a further 12
are still at the interim stage.
PRSPs are intended to be rolling documents that are responsive to changing

national conditions and priorities. Of the 53 full strategies, 46 have already had
at least one previous iteration.
Given that PRSPs were originally developed as part of the HIPC process, it
is perhaps not surprising that the majority of countries covered are from the
poorest continent—Africa, with 28 Full PRSPs and six Interim PRSPs. This is
followed by Eastern Europe and Central Asia, with a total of nine PRSPs.
Results of the Review of PRSP Biodiversity and Protected Area

Content
Biodiversity
The majority of PRSPs include some mention of biodiversity. Of the 60 PRSPs
reviewed, in only five cases was there no mention and three of these (Central
African Republic, Indonesia, Macedonia) were very un-developed interim
PRSPs which did not include any in-depth analysis of any issue. The remaining
two—Gambia and Haiti—make reference to the links between environment and
poverty but do not specifically consider biodiversity.

Of the 55 PRSPs that do address biodiversity, just under 50% (26) simply
make a passing reference to it, with no elaboration of its importance to poor
people or its role in poverty reduction. Examples of this kind of treatment
include Cape Verde—which highlights biodiversity loss as an environmental
problem but makes no further analysis; Guyana—which highlights the pro-
poor tourism potential of biodiversity assets but doesn’t elaborate further; and
Vietnam—which notes a target to increase forest coverage.
Conversely, nine countries provide a detailed analysis of the contribution of
biodiversity to poverty reduction. A recurring theme is the recognition of the
dependence of poor people on natural resources and the links between poverty
and resource degradation—poverty being both a cause and a result of degrada-
tion. Linked to this is the role that biodiversity plays in underpinning ecosystem
services that are important to poor people. Soil quality and water regulation
are highlighted as key services affected by biodiversity loss—particularly forest
degradation—which have important implications for poor people in terms of
food and fuel security. Availability of medicinal plants is a third key service for
poor people. In a number of cases, biodiversity is highly valued as a driver of
tourism, one of the main pillars of some national economies. But in other cases
emphasis is placed on the fact that biodiversity resources have not been suffi-
ciently valued to date and there is significant unrealized potential for enterprise
development, job creation, and GDP contributions. Table 1 summarizes the key
issues raised in the nine PRSPs that pay particular attention to biodiversity.
Protected Areas
The treatment of protected areas in PRSPs is as varied in breadth and depth as
the treatment of biodiversity. Just over 20% (12) of the 55 PRSPs that men-
tioned biodiversity included little, if any, analysis of the role of protected areas.
For some, this is not surprising given the small size of the protected area estate
(Guinea-Bissau, Afghanistan, Cape Verde), the undeveloped nature of the PRSP
(Macedonia, Indonesia, Central African Republic), or the fact that the coun-
tries are embroiled in, or emerging from, conflict (Sierra Leone, Liberia, Chad,
Cote d’Ivoire). For others, however, the lack of attention to protected areas is
surprising. Bhutan, with 30% of its land protected, highlights the dilemma of
balancing its strong conservation record—of which it is proud—with the need
to provide for socio-economic needs. Its conservation ethic is cited as a con-
straint to some traditional poverty reduction strategies such as road building,
but there is no discussion as to the impacts—positive and negative—of this at
the local level.
The Congo Basin is the world’s second largest rainforest after the Amazon.
WWF notes that the “Yaounde Declaration [on the conservation of the Congo
Basin] committed [Central African] leaders to creating protected areas covering
at least 10% of the Congo Basin Forest, eliminating illegal logging and halt-
ing the bushmeat trade” (WWF undated). However, the PRSPs of the Congo
Basin countries pay surprisingly little attention to this commitment and to the
implications this may bring. Congo, for example, notes the huge potential of,
but currently little benefits from, forestry and biodiversity. It notes the impact
of poor people on forest resources and bushmeat in particular, but includes no
elaboration of strategies to address this and no mention of protected areas.
A further 16 PRSPs mentioned the need for protected areas as a strategy to
tackle biodiversity loss—either establishing them from scratch or expanding the
existing coverage—but with no analysis of what this would actually mean in
terms of poverty reduction goals or local livelihoods. In many cases the PRSPs
simply articulated a target land area to be protected, or expressed a need to cre-
ate or expand the protected areas network.

Table 1: Biodiversity issues in selected PRSPs
Country Key Issues

Bangladesh Highlights current levels of biodiversity loss and causal factors including population pressure, land conversion,
and over-exploitation. It recognizes the fact that the poor are forced to “mine” natural resources for survival
but that the resulting loss in biodiversity aggravates poverty. While conservation needs to be ensured through
“appropriate intervention, investment, and management,” it is recognized that the participation of the poor at
community level is essential. Key benefits from biodiversity conservation are noted particularly with respect to
fisheries – given the number of people dependent on this for income and food.
Bolivia Highlights the great potential of its biodiversity resources but the current lack of sustainable management of
those resources. It estimates if appropriate activities were developed in ecotourism, bio-prospecting, and so
on, biodiversity could contribute an additional 10% of GDP within 15 years or so. Furthermore, well-managed
sustainable use projects associated with high value species, e.g., vicuna, could have specific advantages for
indigenous and local communities.
Ghana Sees environmental degradation as the key constraint to agriculture – on which the country’s economy is
based. In relation to this it advocates “human-centred biodiversity conservation initiatives” – entailing local
participation and equitable benefit sharing. Tourism is identified as a key potential growth area – with associ-
ated local benefits including jobs and small enterprises.
Kenya Tourism is highlighted as one of the main drivers of the economy. Community-based tourism and wildlife
conservation are seen as key to expanding the tourism sector bringing, in turn, more benefits for poor people
through jobs and small enterprises. Human-wildlife conflict is also identified as a specific issue which requires
particular attention.
Mozambique Clear that achieving the objectives of the PRSP depends on the relationship between natural resource use and
benefits for the poor and emphasizes the need for community participation in – and benefits from – conserva-
tion as a mechanism to drive the fledgling tourism industry.
Nicaragua Makes a clear link between resource degradation and ecosystem services that have an impact on poor people
and poverty. In particular it highlights the links between forest loss, soil degradation (with an associated
knock-on effect on agricultural productivity), and flooding. It articulates a number of market-based strategies
capturing biodiversity value including debt-for-nature swaps and payments for environmental services.
Sri Lanka Estimates that unsustainable resource use comes at a cost to the national economy of around 2.5% of GDP.
Highlights the link between forest loss, water flows, and soil conservation, and the effects these have on food
and fuel security for poor people. Community involvement in natural resource management is seen to be key
to reducing poverty including “empowering the poor to serve as custodians of the nation’s precious wildlife
heritage.”
Uganda Highlights value of forests, fisheries, and wetlands for export products but also emphasizes the need for com-
munity management and local benefits – especially through wildlife-based tourism. Community management
outside of protected areas is recognized as critical to effective conservation and the need for local benefits
and addressing issues of human-wildlife conflict is recognized in this context.
Zambia Emphasizes the value of biodiversity in terms of the contribution of wildlife-based tourism to both national
economic growth and local development processes.

Nevertheless, nearly half (27) of the 60 PRSPs reviewed had given some
consideration to the role of protected areas in poverty reduction. In the majority
of cases the PRSPs focused on national level benefits from protected areas. In
particular, tourism stands out as the key mechanism by which countries expect
to benefit from investments in a protected area network. National level benefits
from tourism include foreign exchange earnings, GDP contributions, and so on.
As well as national benefits, a number of PRSPs pay attention to the “pro-poor”
potential of tourism—especially as a strategy for job creation and small enter-
prise development in rural areas, where few other development opportunities
exist (although often the local benefits of tourism development are assumed,
little attention is paid to the strategies necessary to enable poor people to take
advantage of such opportunities—for example, access to credit and training).
Beyond the economic opportunities provided by tourism, the role of pro-
tected areas in supporting the delivery of ecosystem services—including climate
regulation, soil conservation and fertility, and water supply is well recognized.
Of the 27 PRSPs that consider the poverty reduction potential of protected
areas in some detail, nine provide some insightful analyses of the local level
impacts—considering not just potential benefits but also possible costs that
may need to be taken into account (Table 2). They also include some analysis
of strategies for maximizing benefits and minimizing costs. Seven of these iden-
tify local benefits from tourism as the key contribution of protected areas to
local livelihoods, and in Kenya, considerable detail is provided on strategies to
enhance the pro-poor potential of tourism to maximize local benefits, including
government/private/community partnerships, credit for enterprise development,
and community conserved areas. Economic opportunities are also available in
the form of jobs and training in conservation (Sri Lanka) and revenue from
park entry fees (Uganda). Other livelihood benefits include ecosystem services
associated with the improved status of biodiversity resources as a result of the
protected areas, particularly food security.
Six PRSPs explore local costs associated with protected areas. These include
increased human-wildlife conflict (for example in Mozambique, a ban on hunt-
ing in protected areas has meant that communities are less able to deal with
problem animals that are raiding their crops, and this is seen as contributing
to poverty) and loss of access to resources (Bangladesh, Georgia, Ghana). In
other cases, however (Bolivia, Nicaragua), clear demarcation of protected area
boundaries has been seen as a mechanism for strengthening traditional resource
rights and enabling resident communities to prevent incursions by migrants.
Where land and resource rights are an issue, all PRSPs noted the need to
involve local communities in protected areas planning. Uganda, for example,
notes the government has a commitment to local consultation before allocat-
ing land for protection, while in Ghana, it is suggested that “fair and adequate
compensation” be provided when land is acquired by government for protec-
tion. Where land issues cannot be resolved through consultation or where com-
pensation is not an option, other strategies mentioned include the development
of alternative livelihood strategies (Georgia), co-management (Bolivia), more
secure access to common property resources (Bangladesh), and revenue sharing
(Bolivia, Ghana, Mozambique, Sri Lanka, Uganda).

Table 2: Livelihood costs and benefits of protected areas in PRSPs
Country Livelihood benefits Livelihood costs Strategies to maximize benefits/

minimize costs
Bangladesh Benefits associated with in- Reduced access to resources Community involvement in PA ma-
creased resources – particularly resulting in conflict and social nagement; regulatory framework
fisheries unrest to recognise rights of vulnerable
groups to local common property
resources.
Bolivia Overlap of protected areas with Co-management – particularly
indigenous territories means that with those representing indi-
securing the financial and ecologi- genous communities; revenue
cal sustainability of PAs will, by sharing with local communities.
default, help secure indigenous
livelihoods. Income benefits from
commercialization of NTFPs.
Burkina Faso Local benefits from tourism,
income from sustainable wildlife
use
Georgia Local benefits from tourism Loss of access to resources Develop alternative livelihood
strategies; participatory spatial
planning
Ghana Local benefits from tourism Inequality of benefit sharing; lack Promoting equitable benefit sha-
of compensation for land acquired ring schemes; ensuring fair and
by government adequate compensation; maximi-
zing community involvement
Kenya Local benefits from tourism Human-wildlife conflict Govt-private-community partner-
ships to extend reserves around
national parks; community con-
served areas; community based
tourism; review entry fees to en-
courage tourism to less-visited pa-
rks; credit for SME development;
compensation for human-wildlife
conflict; community involvement
in land use planning
Mozambique Local benefits from tourism Crop losses from problem animals Community participation, benefit
sharing
Nicaragua Local benefits from tourism; local Recognition and definition of
benefits from improved ecosystem property rights for indigenous
service delivery; enforcement of communities
local land rights (ability to prevent
incursions)
Sri Lanka Local benefits from tourism; train- Community buffer zones around
ing and employment in protected areas; revenue sharing;
conservation jobs long-term forest use leases
Uganda Revenue sharing (20% park entry Human wildlife conflict Problem animal and vermin
fees); local benefits from tourism; control to minimize crop losses;
improved ecosystem service commitment to local consulta-
delivery tion before allocating land for
protection

There appears to be little correlation between those countries that include
a reasonably substantive analysis of protected area contributions to poverty
reduction in their PRSPs and those countries with a high percentage of land
area under protection. Tanzania, for example, has nearly 40% of its land area
under protection. Reducing land degradation and biodiversity loss are key tar-
gets within Tanzania’s PRSP, and the integrity of protected areas is seen as one
mechanism to contribute to these. However, there is no analysis of the costs and
benefits the protected area network might bring at the local level. Conversely,
Bangladesh, Georgia, and Mozambique have all given serious consideration to
the costs and benefits of protected areas and yet only have small areas currently
under protection (Table 3).
Table 3: Attention to protected areas in PRSPs of countries with high PA coverage
Country PA coverage Analysis of PA issues in PRSP

(%)
Senegal 11 Management of natural resources is one goal of the PRSP but recognizes the need to strike
a balance between satisfying the needs of the population and biodiversity conservation.
Community based management of PAs seen as one strategy to address this but not specific
analysis as to how this might contribute to poverty reduction or local livelihoods.
Kenya 12.3 Benefits of PAs include tourism, but there is a recognized need to spread the benefits of tour-
ism widely. Human wildlife conflict is a negative consequence that requires serious attention.
Strategies for maximizing the contribution of PAs include: govt-private-community partner-
ships to extend reserves around national parks; community conserved areas; community
based tourism; review entry fees to encourage tourism to less-visited parks; credit for SME
development; compensation for human-wildlife conflict; community involvement in land use
planning.
Indonesia 13.6 Interim PRSP not fully developed
Mongolia 14 Dependence of population on natural resources is noted and incentivizing community conser-
vation through employment is advocated but no specific analysis of the role of PAs.
Burkina Faso 15.4 Wildlife conservation is seen as part of the rural development strategy within the PRSP and
local benefits are anticipated through jobs and enterprise opportunities. PAs are mentioned
in this context but with no analysis of strategies to ensure the flow of these benefits at the
local rather than national level.
Ghana 15.4 There are significant local benefits that could be derived from PA-based tourism but strate-
gies are needed to deal with the negative aspects including inequality of benefit sharing and
lack of compensation for land acquired by government.
Liberia 15.8 Improved natural resources management is one policy within the IPRSP. However, immediate
focus is on revitalizing the forestry sector with less attention to biodiversity conservation and
the role of PAs.
Lao PDR 16.2 Unable to access PRSP document
Malawi 16.3 Wildlife and PA management are recognized as key to grow the tourism industry but little
analysis of the links to poverty reduction and livelihood benefits other than PAs being seen as
a means to reduce human wildlife conflict (though relocation of problem animals).
Ethiopia 16.4 Three priority actions are identified to link environment and development, of which one is to
“strengthen measures to preserve, develop, manage, and sustainably use biodiversity resour-
ces.” This is seen as contributing towards the tourism industry which then has the potential to
generate foreign exchange earnings. There is, however, no analysis of the local level benefits
from this.
Central Afri- 16.6 Interim PRSP not fully developed
can Republic
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(%)
Cote d’Ivoire 16.9 Notes the tourism potential of PAs and sees restoring forest resources as a key component
of rural development strategy. No specific mention of benefits of PAs, simply a note that they
need to be better managed.
Congo 17.7 Notes the huge potential of, but currently little benefits from, forestry and biodiversity. It
notes the impact of poor people of forest resources and bushmeat in particular but includes
no elaboration of strategies to address this and no mention of PAs.
Nepal 18.1 PAs are seen as important for developing the country’s tourism potential and there is a policy
object to distribute tourism earnings widely in rural areas – but no indication of mechanism to
do this, e.g., revenue sharing, community tourism, etc.
Tajikistan 18.3 A PAs programme has just been started to address environmental degradation but little
consideration to date as to how this might impact at the local level. Environmental protection
is also considered crucial to encourage tourism with associated employment benefits.
Bolivia 19.4 If properly developed – e.g., through co-management arrangements –the overlap of PAs with
indigenous territories means that securing the financial and ecological sustainability of PAs
will, by default, help secure indigenous livelihoods. Income benefits from commercialization
of NTFPs.
Honduras 20.8 Notes the degradation caused by slash and burn agriculture but links this to the lack of secure
land title. Notes the need to provide incentives for forest-resident communities to practice
sustainable forest management including land title. Payments for environmental services
seen as a key incentive mechanism for PA management.
Nicaragua 21.9 Local benefits from PAs include those associated with tourism as well as local benefits from
improved ecosystem service delivery. However, enforcement of local land rights is essential in
order to empower resident communities to prevent incursions.
Benin 22.6 Notes role of forest resources as a source of food and income but sees lack of community
participation in forest management as a constraint to sustainable resource use. Has an ongo-
ing programme intended to help build capacity to better manage forest reserves and adjacent
lands – including through community managed and co-managed PAs.
Cambodia 22.7 Discusses a draft law intended to improve management of PAs including respect for indig-
enous peoples’ rights. Also emphasizes role of community conserved areas. But no further
articulation of potential costs and benefits.
Dominica 25.6 Tourism seen as a major element of growth strategy and includes a focus on biodiversity and
community participation. PAs are noted for their role as tourism attractions but with no analy-
sis of their potential costs and benefits at local level.
Uganda 26.4 The government is committed to sharing the financial benefits of PAs with local communities
(20% park entry fees). Local benefits are also derived from tourism and improved ecosystem
service delivery. Nevertheless, human-wildlife conflict remains a key issue, as does the issue
of land use planning and decision making.
Sri Lanka 26.5 Local benefits from protected areas include jobs from tourism as well as training and employ-
ment in conservation jobs. Strategies necessary to maximize local benefits will include com-
munity buffer zones around PAs; revenue sharing; long-term forest use leases.
Bhutan 30.2 Notes the challenge of balancing its proud conservation record – and associated PA estate
– with socio-economic needs but does not suggest any strategies to address this challenge
beyond the use of environmentally friendly technologies where development does occur –
such as road building.
continued on next page

continued from previous page

(%)
Tanzania 39.6 Reducing land degradation and biodiversity loss are PRSP targets. Maintaining the integrity
of the PA network seen as one mechanism to contribute to this (along with a clamp down in
illegal harvesting and promotion of CBNRM) but no analysis of likely costs and benefits.
Zambia 41.4 Emphasizes the role of tourism in national economic growth and in rural development. A
number of PAs are key to the tourism industry including national parks and game manage-
ment areas (GMAs). It is noted that within GMAs, communities can earn revenue from tourism
licenses and hunting concessions but not analysis of impacts of other PAs.
Conclusions
In 2002 the World Bank carried out an analysis of the extent to which environ-
mental issues had been mainstreamed into PRSPs. This included a review of 40
interim and full strategies. One of the main findings of the review was that the
average score for addressing environmental issues was low and that there was
considerable room for improvement: “The fact that many PRSPs pay so little
attention to basic issues of environmental health, natural resource degradation,
and vulnerability to hazards is a cause for concern” (Bojo and Reddy 2002).
This preliminary, brief analysis is encouraging as it shows the progress that
has been made since then—at least as far as biodiversity issues are concerned.
The fact that nearly all countries that have produced PRSPs make some refer-
ence to biodiversity and to protected areas is an achievement in itself. While it
is clear that for some this is clearly an issue that is noted but with no analysis
of its links with poverty reduction, others have provided some sophisticated
analysis of its importance.
The fact that biodiversity is addressed within the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) will have helped its integration into country poverty reduc-
tion strategies—in many cases PRSPs and national MDG strategies are closely
linked if not the same document. The biodiversity indicator within the MDG
framework is the “the ratio of area protected to maintain biological diversity
to surface area.” As noted, a number of PRSPs simply use this kind of indica-
tor to deal with the issue of protected areas. The danger here is that a narrow
focus on the quantity of land area ignores the quality of the natural resources
contained within these areas, their management, and governance regimes, and
the land and resource rights of people living in and around them. It is therefore
encouraging that a number of PRSPs have not just paid cursory attention to
this issue, but have thought through in some detail issues of benefits—and how;
who are rights holders and how this is enforced; who bears the costs, and how
can these be mitigated or compensated.
Another encouraging sign is the degree to which PRSPs have evolved over
time. As mentioned earlier, PRSPs are not intended to be static documents that
once completed are left on the shelf to collect dust. A number of countries have
already gone through iterations of their strategies and changes can be seen in the
way in which biodiversity and protected area issues are analysed and addressed
over time. In Bangladesh, for example, the interim PRSP—prepared in 2003,
two years before the full PRSP—includes attention to the links between environ-
ment and development but makes no specific mention of the role of biodiversity
and protected areas in poverty reduction. The same is true for earlier versions

of the Bolivia, Georgia, and Kenya strategies—just highlighting a few which are
now very strong on their analysis of protected area issues.
In Ghana, the interim PRSP (2000) does mention the need for a “sustained
supply of forest and wildlife products” and notes the need for community
involvement in natural resource management. There is no mention of protected
areas. Protected areas are also not mentioned in the first version of Ghana’s full
PRSP (2003), although it does announce an ambitious plan to generate income
for local communities from wildlife and other natural resources.
So, PRSPs evolve and will continue to evolve over time. A challenge for
conservation organizations will be to engage with the process to ensure that
biodiversity and protected area issues are given the full attention they deserve—
but without glossing over the sometimes negative impacts of conservation inter-
ventions and the need to address these as well. As Bojo and Reddy note, what
matters overall is not so much what is in the PRSP—for it is only a statement of
intent—but what is happening on the ground. However good the policy is, the
outstanding challenge is to turn it into good practice.
1 Although it should be noted that this mainly applies to funds available through bilateral pro-
grammes.Funding that is channelled though multilateral agencies – for example the GEF – has
been steadily increasing in recent years.
2 At the time of writing 65 full or interim PRSPs were posted on the World Bank website, but it
was not possible to access five of those documents.

6.3 Hard Choices: Understanding the Trade-offs between
Conservation and Development
Thomas O. McShane and Sheila O’Connor
Global Institute of Sustainability, Arizona State University
Protecting and sustaining the earth’s natural heritage over time presents an
enormous challenge for the global community. Species and habitats continue to
disappear and the ecosystem services vital to the health of animal, plant, and
human communities alike are increasingly disturbed. While the loss of global
biodiversity is well documented, there is considerable debate within the conser-
vation field about how to respond most effectively (Wells and McShane 2004;
Agrawal and Redford 2006; Brockington et al. 2006; Wilke et al. 2006). The
problem is that many people living in areas of high biodiversity in the tropics
have been marginalized and their livelihoods are made even more precarious
by ongoing environmental degradation. The growing international concern for
biodiversity conservation that emerged in the late 1970s concentrated on areas
where the coincidence of poverty and natural resources is most pronounced,
which has further intensified debate about how much biodiversity can be saved
in the face of the suffering of local people. Human rights campaigners have
taken up this issue and have accused park authorities and their supporters in the
conservation community of illegal imprisonment, eviction, and even genocide of
local peoples (Chatty and Colchester 2002; Brockington et al. 2006). The dis-
agreements are typical of an increasing polarization of positions—it is not just
indigenous people versus conservationists, but protection versus people, and
parks versus development. This acrimony and conflict is taking place against a
backdrop of massive loss of ecosystems and species populations and a history
of disenfranchisement and increasing levels of rural poverty.
Given the juxtaposition of human poverty and biological wealth, there is a
need to enhance the well-being of local people while slowing ecosystem destruc-
tion. Faced with the ethical imperative to conserve the earth’s natural systems
and address human poverty, the reigning conservation paradigm—which seg-
regates islands of relatively untouched nature from their disadvantaged human
neighbors—began to erode in the early 1980s (Wells and McShane 2004). As a
result, the dominant approach within the international conservation community
shifted toward so-called win-win approaches, which sought to conserve biodi-
versity while simultaneously furthering local social and economic development.
Unfortunately, the record of such approaches is decidedly mixed and the need
to make trade-offs between human livelihoods, biodiversity, and ecosystem ser-
vices is the rule rather than the exception. This implies that informed and pos-
sibly hard choices will have to be made to achieve the best possible outcomes.
The False Promises of Win-Win Scenarios

The term “win-win” has been widely used in a number of disciplines, most nota-
bly marketing and communications, as a way of generating positive thinking
and results towards a variety of different goals—usually economic. Its promise
of “no losses” makes it popular political discourse at the higher levels of govern-
ment as well. It is a common term applied by international organizations (multi-
lateral and bilateral aid agencies, development and conservation organizations)
to describe achieving both conservation and development simultaneously. The
use of this language has been most pronounced in the policy discourse about the
environment and poverty reduction, which is acknowleged today as the primary

goal of most development efforts (e.g., Millennium Development Goals, UNDP-
EC Poverty and Environment Initiative, Convention on Biological Diversity,
etc.) (OECD 1996; Ambler 1999; GEF 2005). Most development assistance
agencies will not support conservation unless links to reducing poverty can be
demonstrated. Meanwhile, conservation organizations have increasingly built
poverty reduction into their conservation initiatives. All imply that natural
resources can be managed in ways that achieve benefits for local people while
sustaining local and global biodiversity.
After more than 20 years of international conservation experience under
this paradigm, initiatives that produce win-win outcomes appear to be rare
(Christensen 2004). Nevertheless, a win-win approach to projects, often referred
to as “Integrated Conservation and Development” or “Community-Based
Conservation,” is now accepted wisdom. In practice, however, many attempts
to simultaneously meet the twin goals of biodiversity conservation and human
development have fallen short of expectations (Robinson 1993; McShane and
Wells 2004). Frustrated expectations, in turn, have led to a backlash against
conservation from some human development and rights groups, and fueled
sentiment within certain corners of the conservation field to turn away from
the plight of communities adjacent to protected areas. Parts of the practitioner
and academic communities are beginning to call into question the assumptions
underlying this because they increasingly recognize that many situations on the
ground involve competing rather than complementary social, economic, and
ecological goals (Barrett and Arcese 1995; Robinson and Redford 2004).
The idea of integrating conservation and development has been enormously
attractive to national and international donor agencies, foundations, and
NGOs. However, relatively few attempts at integration have demonstrated
durable significant improvements in either conservation or human well-being.
Skeptics argue that the idea of integrated conservation and development is
conceptually flawed, and that many of the practical difficulties experienced by
such approaches are the result of unrealistic assumptions about this integration
(McShane and Newby 2004). Ecologists have warned that some integrated con-
servation and development initiatives based on extraction and use of the natural
resource base are unsound. Other analysts point out that such initiatives may
actually exacerbate negative ecological impacts by acting as growth magnets
that encourage people to migrate into project areas (Kramer et al. 1997; Oates
1999; Terborgh 1999). The economic benefits generated by conservation and
development initiatives have not usually been great enough or quick enough
in arriving—either as an incentive or an alternative—to prevent the human
activities that threaten biodiversity. Few initiatives have been able to provide the
range of income-generating, labor intensive activities that satisfy the livelihood
needs of local people. Project activities have not been able to distribute benefits
effectively, with benefits disproportionately received by more powerful interests,
rather than the poorest groups or others that are actually using the resource. As
a result, such efforts have not had the anticipated effect on desired biodiversity
conservation or development outcomes.
The difficulty in addressing linked conservation and development goals is in
part due to a limited understanding of the complexity of choices that need to be
made and their short- and long-term implications. This is especially true when
biodiversity conservation goals appear to be in conflict with human well-being
goals. Many of the problems with implementation of these dual efforts have the
following characteristics:

• Planning from afar – project designs that aim to satisfy the hopes of inter-
national donor agencies for rapid win-win resolution without sufficient
knowledge and understanding of local cultural, social, economic, and politi-
cal circumstances;
• Lack of accountability – external actors rarely are accountable to the com-
munities that are impacted by the conservation efforts;
• Lack of capacity and legitimacy – conservation organizations rarely are
internally equipped to weigh different choices nor do they have legitimate
rights to do so;
• False assumptions about local communities – frequently conservation prac-
titioners consider all rural human communities alike: as those which are
homogeneous, conservation-minded, highly integrated coalitions that share
benefits freely and equally;
• Underestimation of the challenges of working with multiple stakeholders
– every stakeholder comes with different interests and status, and with the
intense pressure on landscapes from land clearing for agriculture, logging,
and commercial enterprises, if often supported by powerful economic and
political interests;
• Lack of specifically identified measurable conservation targets, goals, and
objectives – frequently conservation efforts have weak designs lacking direc-
tion and the incentives to reach goals; and
• Focus on local ecosystems rather than the complete system – there is often
too narrow a view of the system, leaving incomplete understanding of the
wider physical, political, economic, and social landscape.
It is now acknowledged by some of the strongest proponents of “win-win”

approaches that outcomes have proven unrealistic in many cases (see Box), and
that greater understanding of the relationships between political, economic,
social, and ecological factors is required.
Resolving the trade-offs between conservation and development are diffi-
cult because the relationship (or the views people hold about this relationship)
between people and nature is so strongly influenced by where they are raised,
how they are educated, their life experiences, and the survival conditions and
options they have faced. Though not necessarily fixed over time, in the face of
catalytic events, evolving normative frameworks, or other factors, these dif-
ferent beliefs exert a strong influence on behavior. Moreover, they are often
contested and typically underlie difficulties in integrating conservation and
development aims. In addition, lack of conceptual clarity about terms such as
“biodiversity” and “poverty” inhibits systematic analysis. Assumptions based
on inadequate evidence often obscure legitimate differences in preferences and
limit the effectiveness of policy and programmatic interventions. A better under-
standing is needed about how groups with different values, points-of-view, and
backgrounds formulate their approaches to conservation and development chal-
lenges and how this, in turn, affects responses.
Constraints to Understanding Trade-offs

The term “trade-off” used in this paper does not describe a binary system of
winners and losers, but management choices that intentionally or otherwise
change the diversity, functioning, and services provided by ecosystems over
space and time (the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment [2005] provides a good
discussion of the services provided by ecosystems). Trade-offs are made as a
result of the interests, actions, and ideas between different stakeholders or users,

Trade-offs and the Global Environment Facility
A recent review of projects supported by the Global Environment Facility (GEF)

found that expectations of win-win situations for global and local benefits proved
unrealistic in most cases. It has been difficult to attain in practice win-win situa-
tions that are sustainable and replicable partly because of insufficient attention
to the development of alternative courses of action and trade-offs, the potential
for negative impacts, and the need to develop mitigation strategies. Many GEF
interventions require trade-offs to be made between environmental conservation
or restoration and existing local or national resource uses.
Most GEF projects in the biodiversity portfolio and many in international waters
involve some form of restriction of existing patterns of resource exploitation,
which will lead to a loss of livelihood to communities or sections of communities.
Indeed, the provision of alternative income-generating activities and ecotourism
incentives in many projects implicitly acknowledged trade-off relationships, but
such interventions often lacked analyses.
The result of the GEF review is a recommendation that GEF activities should
include processes for dealing with trade-offs between global and local benefits in
situations where win-win results do not materialize.
Source: GEF 2005
and between different geographic and social scales. Trade-offs exist among
different interests and priorities, particularly among economic development,
social welfare, and conservation goals (Brown 2004; Winter 2005). Trade-offs
also exist between long-term and short-term time horizons, where typically bio-
diversity conservation, as a long-term objective (such as through the creation
of national parks), is traded off against short-term economic benefits (such as
conversion to agricultural land).
The spatial and temporal scales over which conservation and development
benefits are realized—as an outcome of the trade-offs—are rarely commensurate
with the scales over which costs are borne. In particular, the benefits may derive
regionally or globally while costs are borne locally, and costs may be imposed
today while benefits are deferred to the future. Other situations may also hold
true. For example, increased local genetic and species diversity in agricultural
systems often leads to better control of pests and diseases, but this does not nec-
essarily result in incentives for local protection of biodiversity and also may not
link to any important global values (Sayer and Campbell 2004). Moreover, the
current mechanisms (market or otherwise) for redistributing costs and benefits
in space and time are often inadequate where they exist at all.
While acknowledging that accomplishing either conservation or develop-
ment objectives is extremely difficult, there continues to be a general poor
understanding among practitioners, in both theory and practice, of the ecologi-
cal and social complexities within which conservation interventions are carried
out (Brechin et al. 2003). This incomplete theoretical understanding, traceable
in part to limited social science expertise in many conservation organizations
and to the urgency with which organizations approach the problem (thus lack-
ing proper studies or research), is exacerbated by the rhetorical elegance of the
win-win paradigm, which appeals to donors and avoids the potentially divisive
political requirements of calculating explicit trade-offs (Wells and McShane
2004). In addition, there is little direct pressure for self-correction in the face
of disappointing outcomes because conservation actors are not typically held

accountable to those who are sometimes negatively impacted by their decisions
(Jepson 2005).
The theoretical weakness, internal rules, financial constraints, and external
competition between organizations has compounded the reluctance to report
mixed results. This, in turn, has limited learning and development of alternative
approaches. Moreover, because so much funding has been predicated on produc-
ing win-win outcomes, acknowledgement of problems with project implementa-
tion poses certain organizational risks. External social, political, and economic
forces often undercut local conservation responses, and most actors in the field
have not developed the tools required to anticipate and address these larger,
conflicting factors, such as a failure or lack of markets. Finally, there are few
institutions able to adequately assess and distribute costs and benefits between
competing interests once trade-offs are identified (Barrett et al. 2001).
An imperative to consider wider societal needs has become a generally
accepted, if somewhat ill-defined, norm within the conservation community
over the last decade (Wright in litt.). This has provided the impetus for the
emergence of the win-win paradigm. But the existence of such a general norm
is not likely to alter practice unless it is supported by procedural norms that
establish how a party might comply to do this. A procedural norm might go
beyond acknowledgement of social impact to an affirmative responsibility to
address some, but not necessarily all, social impacts from conservation actions.
This might include responsibilities to investigate social consequences of conser-
vation, to avoid them if possible, and offer compensation when they cannot be
avoided.
Would such a norm apply even if it meant accepting less than optimal bio-
diversity conservation outcomes in cases where the social cost is too high? Or,
conversely, are there some social costs that must be borne by an individual or
segment of a population for the greater social good?1 And, even if such a norm
existed, could it be adhered to as a practical matter (e.g., are there practical
methods and incentives by which conservation actors can navigate between
these competing objectives)? In light of such questions, “trade-offs” provide a
useful conceptual prism through which to explore how conservation may more
effectively proceed in a more socially sensitive—or less socially costly—way.
Trade-offs are tangible and require deeper insights into the social context within
which conservation is practiced. Understanding how to resolve trade-offs may
lead to new policies, practices, or institutional arrangements through which
social norms can be adhered to at acceptable cost and risk to different, some-
times competing, values.
The emergence of a new paradigm and altered practice will require con-
servation actors to grapple with the need to negotiate with unfamiliar interest
groups and perhaps compromise on deeply held values if they are to succeed
in a complex world of contradictory perspectives. Such a shift will not be easy.
It will require a more nuanced understanding of the political, social, and eco-
nomic landscape than has characterized conservation program development
and implementation in the past.
Advancing Conservation in a Social Context

Advancing Conservation in a Social Context (ACSC) is a research initiative
based on the recognition that conservation and development are integrally
related and that their linked trajectories have varying implications for biodiver-
sity, livelihoods, and human well-being. While conservation and development
can be mutually supportive, under many conditions in time and space they can
be discordant, entail trade-offs, and require contestation and negotiation.

The ACSC research initiative proposes to identify and investigate conserva-
tion and development trade-offs in all their complexity in diverse real-world
settings. The initiative examines these diverse trade-off issues in comparative
national contexts as well as at a global scale. In this way, ACSC aims to iden-
tify the most promising means to enhance the capacity of key actors to address
challenges and opportunities for sustainable conservation and improved human
well-being (Figure 1).
Figure 1: ACSC
Figure Conceptual
1: ACSC Framework
Conceptual Framework
Global
Policy Discourse Nation State
Emphasis on win- Factors influencing

win conservation trade-off choices:
and development Why are win-win
outcomes (CBD, conservation and Political Nation-state
GEF, World Bank, development outcomes Economic case studies
UNDP, EU, Bilateral difficult to realize? Social Vietnam, Peru
donor community, Ecological Tanzania
foundations, national
governments NGOs,
etc.)
Global trade-
off review &
investigation
How do changes in spatial and temporal

scales impact conservation and
development trade-off choices? What
mechanisms are required to realize
positive outcomes?
What practical steps might key actors – including

governments, multi- and bilateral development
agencies, private sector, foundations, NGOs,
communities – take to explicitly account for trade-
offs in conservation and development initiatives?
Typology of conservation and

development trade-off choices
Win-win Win-neutral Win-lose
Neutral-win Neutral-neutral Neutral-lose
Lose-win Lose Neutral Lose-lose

Responses: Influencing Key Actors
Knowledge on trade-offs developed.

• Methodologies identified, developed
and disseminated.
• Norms or sets of principles identified.
• Partnerships with organizations
established.
• Learning and networking opportunities
developed.
191

Research will be grounded in three case study countries: Peru, Tanzania,
and Vietnam. The nation-state remains the most important political unit for
decision-making and negotiation of trade-offs between biodiversity and human
well-being goals. However, recent conservation priority-setting approaches,
such as hotspots or ecoregions, cut across national boundaries, deemphasizing
the political and institutional structures of the nation-state. Thus, conservation
actions and priorities have often become disconnected from the institutions
necessary to resolve tensions and trade-offs over competing goals. The country-
level emphasis addresses the political and power issues that lie at the core of
conservation and development choices while engaging key actors who must
ultimately participate in any resolution. Focusing on three countries enables a
depth and rigor of analysis of concrete social-ecological realities not possible at
a global scale. However, this national-scale analysis will be enriched by a corol-
lary global survey of academic and practitioner understanding of trade-offs and
various mechanisms and norms that have been developed in arenas outside the
conservation field.
Research will analyze how trade-offs have been negotiated at different scales
within the three national contexts; what level of biodiversity loss, if any, is
considered acceptable by different stakeholder groups; how human costs have
been or might be mitigated; and who has participated in the decision-making
process in different situations. The temporal aspects of conservation will also
be investigated, including how succeeding political regimes have resolved trade-
offs and how future trends, such as climate change, may portend the need to
alter previously negotiated arrangements. Particular attention will be placed on
understanding the different perspectives, values, needs, and capacities of key
decision makers, and on the interplay between the limits or opportunities for
human benefit that flow from different biological resources. The strategy for
ACSC to bring about changes in policy and practice in the conservation sector
is comprised of five steps.
First, the ACSC will produce, publish, and disseminate research findings
that describe the state of trade-off understanding and experience at a country
and global scale. At present, the difficulties in altering practice and policy are
exacerbated by the lack of solid evidence. Instead, promotional anecdotes or
ideologically-driven critiques tend to dominate.2 The country case studies will
be the first systematic analysis of this topic, supported by specific evidence from
the field. They will document the process by which conservation trade-offs have
been negotiated, identifying the role of various political, economic, social, and
ecological factors, and evaluating the resulting impacts on various groups. It is
from this body of knowledge that more generalized norms and values will be
derived. This, we believe, has the potential to fundamentally change the terms
of the debate.
Second, this systematic national analysis will be complemented by a broader
global survey of academic and practitioner understanding of trade-offs and the
various mechanisms and norms that have been developed within and outside
of the conservation arena. It will monitor, collect, and synthesize a broad range
of literature relevant to the trade-off issue and track and document emerging
trends and critiques on cross-cutting aspects such as values, rights and ethics,
and spatial and temporal scale relationships. It will also focus on the global
policy aspects of the research by looking at inter-organizational interactions.
The third step will be issuing a blue ribbon panel report on the country-level
and global findings. This will help solidify norms implicit in past trade-offs or
articulate emerging norms and will include recommendations for the adoption,

adaptation, and implementation of the research findings. The goal of the report
is to have an impact on global policy discourse and give rise to processes of
trade-off resolution.
The fourth product of the ACSC research will be the development or
identification of tools, institutional arrangements, techniques, and training to
enable key actors to more effectively address trade-offs. Where gaps are identi-
fied, new methods will be created, and existing approaches refined to improve
understanding of when trade-offs are important and especially, how they can
be calculated and negotiated. Decision support tools, successful case examples,
and training tools and techniques will be developed, or those in existence will
be marketed. These include exploration and testing of mediation, adjudication,
market, and other mechanisms and institutional arrangements for distributing
the costs and benefits of conservation in space and time and across affected
groups. We will explore how conservation actors can engage with atypical part-
ners, such as those dealing with social justice issues.
The ultimate result of the research, to be accomplished during the subse-
quent two-year diffusion phase, will be actual changes in conservation policy
and practice and an increased desire and ability of conservation actors to
address trade-offs. This phase will focus on wider diffusion and dissemination
to conservation decision-makers of the initiative’s experience and approaches. It
will include support for first adopters that apply the recommendations. ACSC
will use a two-track diffusion strategy to accelerate the pace at which the find-
ings are adopted by the key actors: first, through communication of influence,
and second, through communication of knowledge. Influence leaders on the
blue ribbon panel and others involved with ACSC will establish a broad norm
that impacts actors’ attitudes about the importance of trade-offs.
Conclusion
Win-win scenarios, where both natural resources are conserved and human
well-being is improved in specific places over time, have been difficult, if not
impossible, to realize. Compromise, contestation, and even conflict are more
often the norm. Conservation might be accomplished with no or minimal
impact on human well-being or improvements on development at negligible cost
to biodiversity. The challenge for conservationists is to explicitly acknowledge
the need to share risks and costs and to find a balance between improving liveli-
hoods and biodiversity conservation. Important issues include how to negoti-
ate these trade-offs, what level of biodiversity loss is acceptable, how human
costs might be mitigated, and who takes part in the decision-making process.
While conservation cannot ignore the needs of human beings, development that
runs roughshod over the environment will eventually be unsustainable (or col-
lapse).
1 An example of weighing of public good against private costs can be found in various Supreme
Court rulings interpreting the Fifth Amendment of the US Constitution’s prohibition against
“taking of private property without just compensation.” How is such a balance be adjudicated
in other legal and political settings and who bears the responsibility for determining the out-
come when, for example, the balance to be struck is between a global good and local cost?
2 This challenge is articulated in a 2004 paper by Sutherland et al., The Need for Evidence-Based
Conservation, that called for a reform of how conservation practices are assessed similar to the
revolution in medical practice that resulted from the formalization of a systematic analysis of
past experience and accepted practice.

6.4 Deforestation vs. Poverty at Kibale National Park,
Uganda: A Ten-year Perspective
Lisa Naughton-Treves
Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Center for
Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International
Parts of this paper are excerpted from Naughton-Treves et al. 2006. Burning
biodiversity: Woody biomass use by commercial and subsistence groups in
western Uganda’s forests. Biological Conservation 134(2): 232-241. See
also Naughton-Treves ( www.geography.wisc.edu, “Deforestation in Western
Uganda: Biodiversity and Poverty Concerns”).
Physical and Ecological Characteristics

Kibale National Park (795 km2) is located in Kabarole District in western
Uganda, lying immediately northeast of the Rwenzori Mountains. Kibale
National Park holds the last substantial tract of premontane forest in East
Africa (Chapman and Chapman 1996) (Figure 1). Surrounding Kibale National
Park is a mosaic of grasslands, smallholder agriculture, papyrus swamps, tea,
eucalyptus plantations, and patches of natural forests. These forest patches
average 32 ha in size (range 3 to 350 ha) and are located almost entirely in wet
lowlands or steep slopes.
Figure 1: (Colin Chapman, McGill University)
The forest in this region is classified as a Parinari forest, distinguished on

photo aspect maps by large spreading crowns of Parinari excelsa (Skorupa
1988; Kingston 1967). At this elevation (1370 m to 1525 m), the presence of
P. excelsa and the subdominants (Pouteria altissima, Olea capensis, Newtonia
buchananii, and Chrysophyllum gorungosanum) is associated with old-growth
forest (Osmaston 1959). As is typical of many tropical tree communities, tree
growth rates in the region are highly variable among species (Chapman 2004).
Species typically found in old-growth or mature trees have growth rates of
between 1 and 3 cm Diameter at Breast Height (DBH) per year, while species
colonizing gaps or disturbed areas can have growth rates exceeding 10 cm
DBH/year and can reach >15 m in height and >10 cm DBH in just five years
(Chapman, unpublished data). While rates of seed dispersal into areas of dis-
turbed forest are not reduced, recruitment of seedlings and saplings is very poor,

due to competition with grasses and an aggressive herbaceous layer. Areas of
mature forest are not typically susceptible to fire, while areas of degraded forest
are (Chapman et al. 1999; Lwanga 2003 ).
Cultural and Social Context and Rules of Forest Resource

Access
The dominant ethnic group in the area is the Batoro people. Since their arrival
in Kabarole District during the 19th century (Naughton-Treves 1999), the
Batoro have developed a local system of ownership and forest use, incorporat-
ing both spatially explicit resource domains (e.g., royal and village forests) and
user rights to specific tree species (Kapiriri 1997). (Prior to independence, the
region was known as the Toro Kingdom.) Royal forests are managed similarly
to village forests except that a special tax, which is collected by a representa-
tive of the Omukama (king), is levied on any commercial users (J. Kasenene,
pers. comm.). As is common in East Africa, forest access rules are complex and
include overlapping tenure claims (Rocheleau and Edmunds 1997). Most forest
patches and swamp forests are considered village property that is subdivided
into individually-managed parcels. Few individuals have legal title to their land;
they claim it instead under customary rules. Some elements of communal own-
ership persist. Individual owners are typically obligated to give kin and neigh-
bors permission to use natural forests and old fallows for fuelwood, medicinals,
drinking water, and other subsistence purposes.
Traditional forest property regimes were undermined by state-imposed
regulations and commercial timber markets during and immediately after the
colonial period. During this time, the Ugandan Forest Department assumed
ownership of all large blocks of forests (including Kibale Forest in 1932) and
managed them for timber extraction. Local people were prohibited from har-
vesting resources in state forests and were expected to rely instead on surround-
ing forest patches. Two to three communities of roughly 12 households each
were displaced from the reserve at this time. Following independence, between
1971 and 1986 Uganda experienced war, severe economic recession, and the
disintegration of the state. The Forest Department lost control of Kibale and
other forest reserves (Hamilton 1984), and during this turbulent period, the
population density in Kabarole District tripled (from 27 to 97 people per km2)
due to high fertility rates and the immigration of tens of thousands of Bakiga
people from southwestern Uganda (World Bank 1993).
Recent History of the Protected Area

In 1990, the post-war Ugandan government “upgraded” Kibale from a reserve
to a national park and used force to control illicit use of park resources (Feeny
1998). It was during this period that the EU funded an eviction of ~30,000
illegal settlers from the Kibale Corridor connecting Kibale National Park with
Queen Elizabeth Park. This eviction was carried out by the Ugandan Forest
Department staff with support from the Ugandan police and district staff (Feeny
1998). Oxfam and other observers sharply criticized Uganda Wildlife Authority
(UWA) for the violence associated with the eviction and the failure to provide
resettlement or compensation for those evicted. Years later, an inter-ministerial
task force investigated the eviction and condemned the manner in which it was
implemented. Some of those evicted eventually received land in Bugangaizi, but
there they suffer far poorer infrastructure and soil fertility (Feeny 1998). The
following study is from a culturally and ecologically distinct region roughly 30
km north of the corridor.

Ugandan environmental agencies have gradually shifted toward more partic-
ipatory approaches and, in recent years, park managers and local leaders have
begun to discuss collaborative management at Kibale. They now allow some
neighboring communities to use non-timber forest products within specified
zones provided they prepare formal contracts delineating rights and responsili-
ties (KNP General Management Plan 2005). Outside the park, the continued
rapid population growth (3.4%, among the fastest in Uganda) and high demand
for fuelwood and charcoal has intensified pressure on forests (Government of
Uganda 2002).
Resource Use, Sustainability, and Patterns of Deforestation

Over 95% of Kabarole’s people rely exclusively on wood for energy (Government
of Uganda 2002). Charcoal production for regional and national urban markets
is expanding (Chapman and Chapman 1996). Brick production is also increas-
ing to meet construction demands of growing urban and semi-urban areas. The
area devoted to tea cultivation in Kabarole has expanded by 2,000 ha (~10%)
in the past 40 years (Mulley and Unruh 2004), much of this within 10 km of
Kibale Park, where tea production expanded six fold between 1955 and 1988
(S. Mugisha, unpublished data). Mulley and Unruh (2004) explain that this
expansion intensifies pressure on forests in two ways: First, tea companies
require significant amounts of eucalyptus to dry their tea (roughly one hectare
of eucalyptus is needed per every three hectares of tea), and second, they import
laborers from outside Kabarole, many of whom eventually leave the tea com-
panies and establish homesteads on land near the park boundary. Roughly half
of the local tea labor force is recruited from areas beyond Kabarole District (K.
Lameck, J. Manager, Finlay Tea Ltd., pers. comm. 2006).
Amidst growing demands for forest resources and uncertain access rules,
deforestation in Kabarole has continued apace. According to remote sensing
analysis by Mulley and Unruh (2004), between 1955 and 2001 forest declined
by 7,967 ha outside of Kibale National Park, while increasing by 10,823 ha
within the park due to forest regrowth in formerly cultivated areas. A similar
analysis along the western boundary of Kibale showed that closed canopy for-
est loss inside the park within 500 m of the boundary proceeded at 0.2% per
year between 1995 and 2001. During this same period, closed canopy forest
declined outside the park by 3 to 4% per year, with the fastest rates occurring
within 1 km of the park boundary (Table 1). This peak in deforestation rates
near the park was similarly observed for other forest reserves of the Albertine
Rift (Plumptre 2002). The accelerated deforestation near the park boundary is
cause for concern given the deleterious effects of isolation on biodiversity con-
servation (Balmford et al. 2001). As in the case of other African forest parks,
the pattern of deforestation portends future pressure on Kibale, particularly if
surrounding forests are exhausted (Struhsaker et al. 2002).

Table 1: Deforestation within and outside Kibale park boundary1
Forest loss 0-5 km from park, Forest loss 0-1 km inside park,
annual % (error) annual % (error)
1995-2001 3.5 (.77) 0.2 (.1)
2001-2005 4 (1) 0.3 (.2)
A survey of 160 residents neighboring Kibale found that all respondents rely
on firewood for cooking. Charcoal production was the second most frequent
use (17.8%), but this was confined largely to natural forest edges and prevalent
around village-managed forest patches. Banana gin distillers (14.4% of the total
respondents) resided mainly along the edge of forest remnants and Kibale Park.
Only 2.5% of respondents baked bricks. Overall the amount of biomass har-
vested per combustion episode differed significantly amongst the different users
(Kruskall Wallis = 68.01, P<0.001), with charcoal using more biomass than any
other group (Mann-Whitney tests between pairs P<0.02 or less). Brick-making
used more woody biomass than stills (P=0.003), and biomass collection for stills
was more than collection of cooking firewood (P<0.001).
As a group, women gathering firewood for cooking (“domestic consumers”)
used the greatest number of woody species (50). At the other extreme was the tea
processing plant, which relied entirely on one species of eucalyptus (Eucalyptus
grandis) to fuel its tea leaf driers. Brick makers, gin distillers, and charcoal pro-
ducers all used a comparable number of species (~26). The number of woody
species used during each combustion episode also differed significantly among
the five user groups (Kruskall Wallis = 9.264, P=0.026). The number of species
burned during an average brick-making project was less than that taken to fuel
stills (pairwise comparison using Mann-Whitney, Z=3.1, P=0.008), produce
charcoal (Z=3.3, P=0.002), and cook food (Z=3.4, P<0.002). Fueling stills typi-
cally involved a species harvest that was comparable to charcoal production
and used marginally more species than the average used during a day’s cooking
(Z=1.98, P=0.054). Finally, the number of species used in charcoal production
was similar to that collected for fuelwood. The major difference seems to be
that in producing bricks people are more selective and only use trees found near
roads (e.g., Eucalyptus sp. and other exotic species).
More important than a simple tally of the average number of species used
per combustion episode is the type of species harvested by the different groups
(Figure 2). Women relied mainly on fast-growing early successional species like
Vernonia sp. for cooking. In previous research (Naughton-Treves and Chapman
2002), we calculated that each household in the study area would require
roughly 0.5 ha of land fallowed for ~4 years to meet their fuelwood needs for
cooking (8.4 kg per day). Brick makers meanwhile primarily harvested eucalyp-
tus trees. By contrast, gin distillers and charcoal producers burned slow-grow-
ing hardwood species such as Parinari excelsa, Newtonia buchananii, and Olea
welwitschii. These species are rapidly disappearing from forests outside the
park and provide important food resources for frugivores in the region. During
interviews, respondents ranked these three old-growth species as “most scarce”
along with two early successional species: Bridelia micrantha and Prunus afri-
cana. Prunus africana is listed on Appendix II of CITES and is highly valued for
its medicinal properties (Anonymous 2005).

Figure 2: Type of species harvested and percentage of use
Old growth
Mid Successional
Early Successional
Exotic
100%
80%
60%
% used
40%
20%
0%
Cooking Distilling Making Making Curing tea
food gin charcoal bricks leaves
Resource Use, Access Rules, and Governance

On average, women collect just over half their firewood for cooking from fal-
low land and woodlots on their own property. Their second major source is
woody species growing on their neighbors’ land. During interviews, women
explained that this is customary and that it would be rude for their neighbor to
refuse them “small sticks” for cooking. Women also collected fallen branches
of hardwoods from forest remnants. Average time spent searching for and col-
lecting firewood was 1.1 hours/day (range 0.5 to 3), relatively low compared
to the travel and collection times of nearly 5 hours/day recorded in some other
parts of Africa (Kammen 1995).
Charcoal production is officially regulated by a license system where individ-
uals pay the equivalent of ~US $14.60 ($8.70 transport fee and $5.88 burn fee)
per month to produce as much as they can from anywhere in the district. There
is an active, illicit trade in sharing and duplicating these licenses. Individuals
living in remote forested areas do not buy licenses; rather, it is the intermedi-
ary who buys and transports the charcoal to town that must have the license.
Certain individuals (often Kiga immigrants) specialize in manufacturing char-
coal, an arduous job commonly referred to as “poor man’s work.” The access
rules for charcoal producers are often unclear. In fact, during several interviews,
landowners asked us to explain to them who had the right to produce charcoal.
Most typically, landowners who agree to have charcoal produced from a por-
tion of their territory of village forest receive one or two sacks of charcoal (each
worth ~2500/= or ~$1.40) as payment (average yield per “heap” is 17 sacks).
Individuals residing on Royal forested land have no right to demand payment
or to deny permission to charcoal producers. In such cases, the King’s represen-
tative collects one or two sacks of charcoal per heap. Some individuals, single
women in particular, complained that they could not refuse “men who come
with papers” (i.e., licenses). Evidently, customary norms of access do not govern
the charcoal business, and neither do legal codes. For example, it is illegal to
clear forest alongside streams, yet the majority of charcoal production occurred
close to water given that this is where the last natural forest grows.
Unlike the other fuelwood uses described so far, tea is part of the formal
national and international economy. Tea processing factories in Kabarole
appear to abide by environmental laws. Most keep careful records of their
fuelwood use. Some publicly post rules for environmental stewardship, and one

company, J. Findlay (U), attained accreditation for Environmental Management
under the ISO 14001 system. The tea factory in the study area now burns only
eucalyptus trees grown on their private property. But some other factories
continue to buy eucalyptus from local farmers. Moreover, as tea production
continues to expand in Kabarole, more land for raising eucalyptus is required,
which the tea companies acquire by buying land from local people. Under this
practice, eucalyptus is often planted in wetlands, although this practice is illegal
(Mulley and Unruh 2004).
Current Relations between the Protected Area and Local

Peoples
Using survey data from 1996, 1998, 2005, and 2006 (n=224 households), I
tested poverty (various welfare indicators: roof material, water source, live-
stock ownership, woodlot size) vs. proximity of landholding to Kibale Park.
Some indicators suggested that there is a disproportionate presence of very
poor households on Kibale’s edge. For example, one is more likely to encounter
homes with grass thatch roofs near the park edge, and households neighboring
the park have fewer employees and smaller woodlots.
These data reveal that most households are far better off than they were
eight years ago, including those at Kibale’s edge. But over 30 households were
missing from the original set of 243 when we attempted to interview them in
2006. They had sold off all their land and moved to Kasese (a much poorer
district) or to Kampala. Their neighbors described these “missing” households
in regretful tones. Most Ugandans consider losing all claims to a piece of land
a dire scenario. To predict who was most likely to sell off their land, I used
a multivariate analysis. Some variables were too strongly correlated to enter
the same analysis (e.g., distance to road and distance to park, in which case I
selected the stronger variable). Preliminary results indicate that the most vulner-
able households were those living on small farms, far from Kibale, at sites where
the forest patch was severely reduced or eliminated. These households account
for the bottom quintile of rural population and are the only group that showed
impoverishment during the study period in parallel with declining forests. This
result accords with research elsewhere indicating that the poorest households
rely on communal access forests during times of crisis (health problems or
injury, or loss of income) (Vedeld et al. 2004).
Conclusions
Kibale National Park is becoming isolated due to rapid deforestation on adja-
cent land. The fact that forest loss was much slower within the park during the
past decade is a signal of effective conservation in the short term. In the future,
the park’s forest resources will be under increasing pressure as natural forest is
eliminated from the surrounding area.
• Local people are clearing forest in response to extralocal forces, such as
urban charcoal demand, uncertain forest access rules, population growth,
and tea expansion.
• Overall, during the past decade forests have declined rapidly, and human
welfare has improved significantly.
• The poorest of the poor (bottom quintile) have not enjoyed consistent
improvements in livelihood as have the rest of the population. As communal
forest patches are privatized or eliminated, these very poor are forced to sell
off all their land and move to cities or regions with cheaper land.

• The disproportionate presence of poor households at the edge of Kibale does
not signal that the park is acting as a “poverty trap.” Rather, the park allows
some poor to persist because it offers a source of “emergency” resources.
But complicating the causal relationship is the fact that land markets are not
as well developed at the park edge.
1 Results from ASTER & LandSat image analysis of 15 km2 of closed canopy forest along west-
ern boundary. Full results available in Naughton-Treves (www.geography.wisc.edu).

6.5 Transfrontier Conservation Areas, Animal Diseases,
and Human Livelihoods: Issues of System Health and
Sustainability
David H.M. Cumming
University of Cape Town, and Animal Health for Environment And
Development (AHEAD)—Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area
(GLTFCA) Programme
This paper draws heavily on two AHEAD-GLTCA documents, namely,

Cumming (2004b), and Cumming et al (2007) and on work by Cumming in
the South East Lowveld of Zimbabwe, partially supported by the Resilience
Alliance and by CESVI (Cooperazione e Sviluppo).
The primary purpose of protected areas in southern Africa has shifted during
the last 100 years from “protecting the game” and the establishment of game
reserves to protecting biodiversity and, increasingly, to generating economic
returns to support park operations and surrounding communities (Cumming
1999a, 2004a; Walker 1999; NPWMA 2007). Most of the larger southern
African national parks (i.e., fully protected areas) are situated on national
boundaries and fall within planned or developing Transfrontier Conservation
Areas (TFCAs); many TFCAs contain land tenure regimes other than protected
areas.
A central assumption underlying the creation of TFCAs is that both wildlife
and tourists will be able to move more freely across international boundaries
and across a range of land use regimes within these larger landscapes. Since
many of these areas include small scale farming areas (i.e., traditional or com-
munal farming lands), the frequency of contact between wildlife, domestic
animals, and people is expected to rise and thus increase the risks of zoonotic
disease transmission, with potentially adverse impacts on the health of wild and
domestic animals and on human livelihoods.
Some standard approaches to controlling animal diseases entail fences and a
strict seperation between wildlife and livestock, and between differing land uses.
These are likely to pose a major obstacle to the ecological and conservation
objectives of many of the larger TFCAs. Control measures that target a spe-
cific disease in an effort to protect a particular agriculture sector—for example
Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and beef exports—can have major effects on
wildlife-based enterprises, the extension of wildlife conservation areas, and
on livelihoods (Child and Riney 1987; Taylor and Martin 1987; Child 1988).
These single-resource decisions with multiple-resource consequences are usually
reinforced by a “command and control” management culture and policy—an
approach that is increasingly failing within the region. The “pathology” that
characterizes so much of natural resource management (Holling and Meffe
1996) is apparent in disease management in southern Africa, if not in much of
the world.
This essay examines issues involved in establishing TFCAs and the informa-
tion, research, and conceptual approaches needed to inform the development
of sustainable social-ecological systems over large landscapes that encompass
a mosaic of land uses and enterprise systems. The approach draws on the
Animal Health for Environment And Development (AHEAD)—Great Limpopo
Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) work and on ideas about manag-
ing complex adaptive systems and the importance of resilience and adaptability

in sustaining regional social-ecological systems (Gunderson and Holling 2002;
Walker et al. 2006).
Context
Transfrontier national parks and associated transfrontier conservation areas
are a recent development in southern Africa. Three transfrontier national
parks have been established in southern Africa by international treaty (Ais-Ais
—Richtersveld, Kgalagadi, and the Great Limpopo), and memoranda of under-
standing have been signed to develop several transfrontier conservation areas
which include national parks within their still tentative boundaries. TFCAs vary
in area from ~200 km2 to >100,000 km2 and typically include a mix of land
tenure regimes ranging from national parks to private conservancies, hunting
areas, and communal farming areas. In most cases the precise boundaries of
TFCAs have still to be defined.
Potential economic benefits from wildlife-based tourism in marginal lands
have been a primary driver of TFCAs, and expectations in rural communi-
ties are high (Cunliffe 2003). Conservation arguments include the need to
re-establish ecological connectivity and historical migration routes of large
wild mammals. This entails opening corridors between protected areas and the
removal of boundary fences that may constrain animal movement (Timberlake
and Childes 2004).
However, most TFCAs include subsistence farming areas and livestock. One
of the greatest threats to the creation and sustainability of TFCAs—and the
protected areas embedded within them—is zoonotic disease risk resulting from
increased contact between wildlife, domestic animals, and humans. The interac-
tions at the interface between animal health, human livelihoods and health, and
ecosystem services are poorly understood, resulting in policy and development
that are compromised by a lack of appropriate information and understanding
of the complex systems involved.
Over the last four years, the development of a conceptual framework and
approach to facilitate “development and conservation success… through inte-
grated understanding based on innovative inter-disciplinary applied research,
monitoring, and surveillance at the interface between wild and domestic ani-
mal health, ecosystem goods and services, and human livelihoods and well-
being”(the overall objective of the AHEAD-GLTFCA programme, Cumming
2004) in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area (GLTFCA) pro-
vides a model that may be more widely applicable to achieving conservation
and protected area goals, while also meeting the livelihood needs of communi-
ties within the TFCAs. Key issues and questions relating to the development of
TFCAs in southern Africa are covered briefly below, followed by an outline of
the conceptual framework developed for the AHEAD-GLTFCA program.
Key Issues and Questions

Livelihoods in marginal lands in southern Africa
Between 1961 and 1994, cereal production per person declined by nearly
30% while protein (meat and milk) production declined by more than 50% in
southern Africa (Cumming 1999b), resulting in much of the region becoming
net importers of food. Livestock populations reached a ceiling in about 1987,
by which time the number of humans surpassed the number of livestock units.
Meat and milk production per animal and per person for the region are about
1/25th of the production levels in Europe (Cumming 1999b). In many com-
munal lands, high populations and low levels of agricultural inputs result in

food deficits in most years, with rural populations being increasingly supported
by remittances from off-farm wage labor and food aid programs (Eilerts and
Vhurumuka 1997; Campbell et al. 2002; Cumming 2005).
Given the alarming trends and comparisons in regional food production, the
need to produce greater wealth from marginal lands through alternative enter-
prises, such as high valued wildlife-based tourism, is clear. Furthermore, such
service-orientated generation of wealth, which is also partly decoupled from pri-
mary production and drought, is likely to generate greater employment oppor-
tunities in marginal lands. However, because the tourism sector is also subject
to the vagaries of world markets, the need to maintain a diversity of production
systems (i.e., irrigated agriculture, wildlife, and livestock) in arid lands is likely
to remain paramount (Cumming 2005; Cumming and Lynam 1997).

Biodiversity and livelihoods
The central importance of conserving biodiversity and natural capital as a
cornerstone to sustaining ecosystem goods and services, animal health, and
ultimately human health and livelihoods in marginal lands is an underlying
assumption of sustainable development. This raises questions about how much
biodiversity and natural capital may need to be foregone to realize peoples’
aspirations for development within TFCAs. It also raises difficult questions
about carrying capacity and population-to-resource ratios (Cumming and
Lynam 1997; Cumming 2005). However, TFCAs may be comprised of a full
range of land uses—from strict protected areas to zones of intensive agriculture
and urban development—without compromising biodiversity, ecosystem goods
and services, and system health in general.
Disease and system health

Where and how do diseases, particularly zoonotic diseases, fit into the picture?
How many are there and how serious are they? From the perspective of the wild-
life/domestic animal/human interface, there are at least 15 diseases of concern
in the GLTFCA (Table 1). Some of these (e.g., FMD, Bovine Pleuropneumonia,
East Coast Fever, Trypanosomiasis) can have very serious economic conse-
quences if not contained (Windsor and Wood 1998; Dolan 1999). Others,
such as Bovine Tuberculosis (BTB), apart from their impacts on wildlife and
livestock, also potentially threaten human health, particularly in HIV/AIDS
compromised communities. Similar concerns and considerations apply to most
of the other large TFCAs in the region where there are complex mixes of land
tenure and land use and several important zoonotic diseases (Table 2).

Table 1: Animal diseases of concern in the Great Limpopo Transfrontier Conservation Area. The origin of diseases is
indicated as either indigenous (indig.) or introduced (alien). (Cumming 2004)
Mode of Disease Origin Wildlife Domestic Human Comments

Transmission Animal
Contagious Rinderpest Alien + + - Last outbreak in 1896
Foot and Mouth Disease Alien + + - New strain introduced from
Zambezi Valley in 2000
Malignant catarrhal fever Indig. + + -
Brucellosis Alien + + +
Bovine tuberculosis Alien + + +
Anthrax Indig. + + +
Rabies Indig. + + + European street virus introduced
to SA in 1892
Canine distemper Alien + + -
Toxoplasmosis Indig. + + +
Sarcoptic mange Indig. + + +
Vector borne Trypanosomiasis Indig. + + - No human cases south of the
Zambezi Valley
African Swine fever Indig. + + -
African horse sickness Indig. + + -
East Coast Fever Alien + + -
(Theileriosis)
Heartwater (Cowdriosis) Indig. + + -
Endoparasite Echinococcosis Indig. + + +
Cystercercosis Indig. + + +
The interaction between the state of ecosystem services, land use, and dis-
ease in wildlife, livestock, and humans is poorly understood (Figure 2) with
the result that policy relating to disease control and management is poorly
developed or non-existent. As indicated earlier, the paradigm governing disease
management remains, for the most part, fixed in a command-and-control mode
that was applied when livestock was seen as the most productive and important
use of rangelands. Examples include the massive efforts to eliminate game ani-
mals in an effort to control tsetse flies and trypanosomiasis (Child and Riney
1987) and the enormous investment in game fencing across the region (Taylor
and Martin 1987; Cumming 1999b). The development of TFCAs thus provides
a challenge and an opportunity to develop a more comprehensive, balanced
approach to disease management that might be summarized under the rubric of
“One Health” (Osofsky et al. 2005).

164
Table 2: Summary of (a) the major land tenure categories; (b) land uses within each Transfrontier Conservation Area (TFCA) outside of protected areas; and (c) the
more important diseases in 13 TFCAs, in Southern Africa. The number of discrete units within each land tenure type and the proportion of each TFCA covered by
state protected areas (SPAs) are shown for each TFCA. Abbreviations for land tenure categories and diseases are given below. For land use outside protected areas
Irriga refers to small and large irrigation schemes, Wildl refers to wildlife as a formal land use in areas outside state protected areas but within the TFCA. The percent-
age area of SPAs are rough estimates.
No TFCA Area km2 Major land tenure categories (No of units) Land use outside SPAs % SPA Important diseases
NP SA FR GMA PC PF CC CF Crops Stock Irriga Wild FMD BTB ECF Tryps BPP ASF
1 Kavango-Zambezi 220,000 10 2 32 3 1 3 - 20+ ✓ ✓ ? ✓ 30% + + + + + ?
3 Niassa –Selous 110,000 2 - - - ✓ ✓ 75% + ? + + - +
3 Great Limpopo 100,000 5 1 - - 6+ 3 10+ ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 45% + ++ + - - +
4 Kgalagadi TFNP 37,256 3 `- - - - 100% - - - - - -
5 Iona—Skeleton Coast 32,000 2 ✓ 100% + - - - - -
6 Mana – Lower Zambezi 25,000 4 3 2 ✓ ✓ ✓ 80% + - + + - ?
7 Drakensberg-Maloti 13,000 ✓ ? - - - - - -
8 Liuwa Plain 10,000? 1 ✓ ✓ ? + ? + ? + ?
9 Ais-Ais – Richtersveld 5,360 2 1 ✓ ✓ - - 80% - - - - -
10 Shashe-Limpopo 4,872 2 1 4? 9 1 ✓ ✓ ✓ ✓ 40% ? - + - - -
11 Lebombo 4,195 3 - - - - - 3+ ? - +? + - ?
12 Nyika-Mwaza Marsh 4,134 1 ✓ ✓ 70% + + + - ?
13 Kasunga-Lukusuzi 2,316 2 ✓ ✓ 60% + + + - ?
Major land categories:

State protected areas (SPA): NP – National Park, SA – Safari Area, FR – Forest Reserve,
Communal land designated as wildlife areas: GMA – Game Management Area (Zambia), Wildlife Management Area (Botswana), CAMPFIRE Area (Zimbabwe)
Free or leasehold land: PC – Private Land Conservancy, PF – Private/Commercial Farm Land (not under wildlife)
Traditional Communal farm land: CC – Communal Land Conservancy/Wilderness Area, CF – Communal Farming Land
Important diseases:
Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

FMD – Foot and Mouth Disease, BTB – Bovine tuberculosis, ECF – East Coast Fever (Theileriosis), Tryps – Trypanosomiasis (Sleeping sickness), BPP – Bovine Pleuro-pneumonia, ASF – African Swine Fever
Figure 2: Conceptual diagram of the linkages between wildlife, livestock, and human
diseases, and the potential implications of disease control strategies for livelihoods
and conservation. (From Cumming et al. 2007)
Humans
Increasing contact
Hu – DA – WA
Zoonotic
Domestic Wild
Pool
Animals Animals
Animal Wildlife Endangered

Production Production Species
Disease Control
Livelihoods Strategies Tourism
of farmers
Local, Regional &

National
Economies
Land use options, livelihoods, and sustainability

An initial overarching question is whether the establishment of a large trans-
frontier conservation area, centered on the recently created Great Limpopo
Transfrontier National Park, is a viable and sustainable form of land use for
the approximately 100,000 km2 and more than 500,000 people living within
its tentative boundaries in Zimbabwe and Mozambique alone. Might not other
development options be more appropriate or desirable? While the concept of a
national park is reasonably well defined, that of a TFCA is not. Many people
regard a TFCA as an extension of the protected areas that entails a vast area in
which wildlife-based tourism is the dominant, possibly only, form of land use.
However, the reality is that the GLTFCA includes land uses that range from
fully protected national parks to highly intensive agro-industries based on irri-
gation. GLTFCA is best viewed as a coupled social-ecological system. However,
a very large proportion of the area is held under communal tenure where the
dominant land use is subsistence agro-pastoralism that is heavily subsidized by
off-farm income and food aid. A central issue in the establishment and long
term sustainability of the GLTFCA is its potential impact on the livelihoods
of the people living in the communal lands and on the future development of
these areas. The interaction of factors affecting the livelihoods of small-scale
communal farmers are complex (Figure 3) and not readily resolved by simple,
single-sector, top-down development interventions (Ostrom and Jansen 2002).

Figure 3: Systems diagram of major influences affecting alternative livelihoods in
a communal agro-pastoral system in the GLTFCA (Mozambique and Zimbabwe)
(From Cumming et al 2007)
The evolution of these large TFCAs and the coupled social-ecological sys-
tems (SES) will result in benefits and losses (trade-offs). Wild and domestic
animal health, the sustainable delivery of ecosystem goods and services, and
associated human health issues form an important component of this dynamic
development. The key point here is the set of questions that deal with the likely
or possible courses of TFCA evolution.
Alternative development scenarios

What are the alternative scenarios for the development of a semi-arid area of
100,000 km2 covering a wide range of land use and tenure systems? Even if the
TFCA proceeds as presently planned, there are many uncertainties and possible
paths of development as it unfolds. Some of these paths are more likely to be
realized than others, but all reasonably plausible alternatives—and even fairly
unlikely but influential ones—should be examined. More specifically, these
questions relate to the various potential consequences in terms of synergies,
costs and benefits, and trade-offs between:
1. Alternative land uses and patterns of land use;
2. Alternative production and livelihood options; and
3. Alternative disease management strategies.
Further important questions will arise concerning: 1) the effects of alterna-

tive development options on biodiversity and ecosystem goods and services; 2)
the implications of alternative investment strategies; and 3) the risks of alterna-
tive development choices or paths to achieving sustainability.
A central question, nested under the overall question of system sustainability,
is “How does system health impact on the TFCA social-ecological system, and
vice versa?” However, instead of focusing on a single overarching question, a
more tractable approach would be to examine a range of linked questions or
themes within a common vision (such as long term sustainability and resilience).
The following themes provide starting points: (a) animal health and disease; (b)
land use, ecosystem goods and services, and animal health; and (c) human liveli-
hoods, ecosystem goods and services,1 and animal health.

Key Thematic Questions
Animal health and disease
For most TFCAs in southern Africa, even very basic information on the inci-
dence and spatial and temporal patterns of diseases in wildlife, domestic ani-
mals, and humans is not known—with the possible exception of one or two
diseases. So, the basic questions that need to be answered are:
1. What are the levels (i.e., both prevalence and incidence) and spatial and tem-
poral patterns of diseases in wildlife, livestock, and humans in the TFCA?
2. How are these patterns related to land use or land tenure or both—and to
human livelihoods?
Providing answers to these questions is not a trivial undertaking. Nevertheless,

these answers are necessary to develop a coherent set of more cogent questions
and a research program with predictive models on the role of disease and ani-
mal and human health in the development and sustainability of the TFCA. The
assumption that disease issues are of central importance needs to be challenged
by carrying out the necessary baseline surveys, analyses, and modelling. Cross
disciplinary examination of other key threats to sustainability is also essential.

Land use, ecosystem goods and services, and animal health
The underlying disease dynamics need to be known in order to explore many of
the issues that fall under the theme of land use, ecosystem goods and services,
and animal health. But that information is not presently available, nor is there
detailed information on the distribution and status of ecosystem goods and
services within the GLTFCA. Are there alternative, readily measurable, proxies
that can be used for examining the links between land use, ecosystem goods and
services, and animal and human health? The normalized deviation vegetation
index (NDVI) may serve as an initial proxy for primary production and the
state of ecosystem goods and services, and so provide the basis for answering
two primary questions more readily:
1. What is the distribution of primary production as reflected by NDVI (a
proxy for ecosystem goods and services) in the GLTFCA?
2. How does NDVI vary seasonally and annually in relation to soils, topogra-
phy, land use, and land tenure?
Once patterns of primary production in relation to land use and tenure have
been explored using remote sensing, the next step would be to conduct rapid
stratified (and preferably participatory) ground surveys and ground truthing
to determine livestock and wildlife numbers, condition, and disease status.
These preliminary assessments would provide the basis for developing a set of
models to inform current development and policy initiatives as well as provide
a sounder basis from which to explore more specific questions about the links
between land use, ecosystem goods and services, and wildlife and domestic
animal health.
Human livelihoods, ecosystem goods and services, and animal health

An evaluation of trade-offs between alternative land uses will need to examine
economic, social, and environmental costs and benefits. The questions linking
the elements within this theme—human livelihoods, ecosystem goods and ser-
vices, and animal health—and providing links to the two previous themes are:
1. What are the plausible alternative livelihoods (futures) for the GLTFCA and
the various components within it?

2. What are the associated social, economic, and environmental costs and ben-
efits of current and alternative futures?
3. What is the potential for synergistic linkages between major land use options
and how may they contribute to sustainability and resilience?
This problem will need to be tackled at three levels: a) local or farm commu-
nity/village; b) the sub-regional (i.e., within each country); and c) the regional,
i.e., the entire TFCA.
A Conceptual Framework and Key Questions

Answers to the main questions posed above would provide the basis for explor-
ing the linkages between animal, human, and ecosystem health and feed directly
into the important issues of social and cultural values and resource management
choices, i.e., policy and institutions. Social and cultural choices then lead to
management and feedback to the continuing exploration of ecosystem produc-
tivity and sustainability, costs and benefits to all stakeholders (including the
environment and biodiversity), and animal and human health and well being.
Further consideration of these issues leads to five important supplementary
questions that embed a TFCA in a wider context of national and international
linkages, summarized in Figures 4 and 5.
Figure 4: A conceptual outline for the AHEAD-GLTFCA program based on three initial
key questions that link to policy and adaptive management strategies and which pro-
vides a basis for feedback to ongoing research, learning, adaptation, and develop-
ment. (Revised from Cumming et al. 2007)
Diseases, Livelihoods & Sustainability in TFCAs
Ecosystem
Patterns
of productivity in relation
to landuse and tenure?
Social system
Disease Alternative Livelihoods
Patterns of disease in Wild & Costs / Benefits of
& Domestic animals alternative landuse
& Humans? & tenure systems?
Adaptive Mgmt. Values and Choices

Strategies (Policy & Institutions)
Primary Information flows

Feedback loops

Figure 5: A specific example of the application of the broader questions to a particu-
lar sector or component within the GLTFCA. (From Cumming et al. 2007)
Diseases, Livelihoods & Sustainability in the GLTFCA
A specific example: Irrigation in SE Lowveld of Zimbabwe
Ecosystem
Irrigable soils and water
(water yields from highveld)
+ Wildlife
Social system
Disease Cooperative links between large
and small scale irrigators
Malaria, Bilharzia, BTB, HIV More intensive landuse
+ space for wildlife tourism
Adaptive Mgmt.
Strategies Values and Choices
(for natural Resources (Policy & Institutions)
and Diseases)
Primary Information flows

Feedback loops
A key feature of this proposed framework is that it focuses on questions

that have to be tackled before the program can move into more advanced and
specific research areas, i.e., an initial characterization of the system is required
as the basis for developing more advanced research questions. This is not to say
that exploring advanced questions, developing models, or informing policy with
the best information will have to await the completion of baseline surveys. As
indicated in Figures 4 and 5 there are cross linkages and feedback loops between
the research questions, policy, and resource management (development) and, if
appropriately used, these can provide the basis for ongoing cycles of advance-
ment that serve to link, and overlap, with shorter- and longer-term goals. In
this way, the key ecological questions concerning productivity, ecosystem goods
and services, and land tenure could be tackled rapidly and at relatively low
cost. Information and analyses resulting from these answers lead to questions
about sustainability and resilience of the social-ecological systems that might
be encompassed by the GLTFCA. If the longer term objective is to develop a
sustainable, healthy, and resilient social-ecological system, then we might add
to, or reframe, some of the key questions along the following lines:
1. What types and pattern of land tenure will enhance system health, produc-
tivity, and resilience (sustainability) of the social-ecological system (SES) of
the GLTFCA? (In this context “health” refers to animal, human and ecosys-
tem health—a “One Health” concept.)
2. What is the state and trend of the five capitals (natural, human, social, finan-
cial, and physical) in each land use/land tenure component of the GLTFCA
and how might these change and influence system health under differing
scenarios?
3. How will the biodiversity, environmental, social, and economic trade-offs/
opportunity costs of alternative patterns of land use influence adaptability
and resilience of the SES?
4. What cross-subsidies exist within the system and how vulnerable are they to
disturbance or shocks?
5. What is the level of external subsidy to the GLTFCA and how dependent is
the system on, or vulnerable to, external subsidies? (How do external subsi-
dies support or hinder the development of adaptability, transformability, and
resilience of the SES?)

These are important questions, and even partial answers to them would
further strengthen the links between research, policy, and development, and
contribute to sustainable development of the GLTFCA social-ecological system.
The conceptual framework outlined in this essay places emphasis on the sustain-
able development of the TFCAs as linked to social-ecological systems. This is
framed in terms of overarching questions linking disease, ecosystem goods and
services, and socio-economic systems into an interdisciplinary “One Health”
paradigm. The framework provides a workable interdisciplinary research and
development framework for the AHEAD-GLTFCA program and for TFCAs in
general, focused on the role of disease in system dynamics.
1 The term “ecosystem good and services” as used here includes biodiversity and the wider con-
cerns of soil stability and primary production. The term “ecosystem health” could be used but
has been avoided because of the controversial connotations often associated with its use.

6.6 Securing Protected Areas: Compulsory Land
Acquisition in East Africa
Peter G. Veit+, Rugemeleza Nshala*, and Michael Ochieng’ Odhiambo^
+World Resources Institute, *Harvard Law School, ^Resource Conflict
Institute
Protected areas (PAs) are a traditional means for pursuing wildlife management
and have become increasingly central to conservation strategies (Hutton et al.
2005). As investments shift from community-based wildlife management and
other people-friendly approaches to placing more land in PAs, the future of
biodiversity rests largely on the security of PAs.
Efforts are underway to address actions that weaken or threaten PAs. In East
Africa, degazettement and significant in-park land use changes pose a serious
and growing threat to PAs. In Kenya, during the Moi regime, public land was
a common patronage resource used to garner votes, service favors, and achieve
other short-term political gains (Klopp 2001). Between 1962 and 2002, at least
200,000 illegal land titles were issued, most on orders of the president or other
senior public officials (Government of Kenya 2004). More recently, in Uganda,
the government has sought to degazette or change land use practices in sev-
eral PAs for economic development purposes, including the Pian Upe Wildlife
Reserve, Butamira Forest Reserve, Mabira Forest Reserve, and several forest
reserves on Bugala Island (Manyindo 2003; Tumushabe 2003; Tumushabe and
Bainomugisha 2004a).
Expanding PAs often involves the acquisition of private property in a com-
pulsory manner or eminent domain (the term “eminent domain” is not univer-
sal, but is used in East Africa). The procedures for extinguishing private land
rights, placing private property in the public domain, and transferring public
land into PAs are clearly spelled out in law. As competition for land increases,
community advocates are focusing on the law and practice of these procedures
to protect property rights.
In Kenya, courts have quashed attempted acquisitions on procedural
grounds, ruling that for compulsory acquisition to be lawful it must strictly
comply with the provisions of the Constitution and the Land Acquisition Act
(Sifuna 2005). In Tanzania, the High Court has ruled on numerous occasions
that PAs established through extra-legal means are “unconstitutional” and
therefore “null and void,” although it has not ordered remedies of degazette-
ment and reoccupation (Mchome 2002; Nshala 2004a, 2004b).
In 2004, the presidential Commission for Human Rights and Good
Governance issued a non-binding ruling that 135 Nyamuma villagers who were
forcibly displaced for the expansion of the Serengeti National Park should be
compensated for their losses and allowed to resettle on their land (Legal and
Human Rights Centre 2003; Government of Tanzania 2004). The government
rejected the Commission’s recommendations, and in 2005, the villagers sued.
The High Court dismissed this, but the villagers have lodged their dissatisfac-
tion at the Court of Appeal (Keregero 2005).
In Botswana, in December 2006 the High Court ruled that more than 1,000
San people from the Gana and Gwi clans “were dispossessed forcibly, unlaw-
fully and without their consent” by the government in 2002 from their ancestral
homeland and have the right to live, hunt, and gather in the Central Kalahari
Game Reserve (Survival International 2006). The reserve, the world’s second
largest PA, was established in 1961 specifically to protect the Bushmen and
preserve their homeland. Human rights advocates around the world hope this
case will set a precedent for other people seeking their traditional land rights.

To secure Africa’s PAs from a legal perspective, the codified procedures for
acquiring private property must be consistently implemented and enforced. To
promote local legitimacy, the procedures must be democratic—they must incor-
porate fundamental democratic principles, such as transparency, inclusion, and
accountability. Procedures that are not open, do not allow for public participa-
tion, and offer few opportunities for recourse and redress are not legitimate.
Little comparative research has been conducted on these issues, but anecdotal
information shows that some PAs were established by extra-legal means.
This paper presents the results of research conducted in Kenya, Tanzania,
and Uganda on the law and practice of eminent domain. Three issues are
addressed: 1) the permissible uses and purposes for expropriation; 2) the pro-
cedures for exercising eminent domain; and 3) the compensation awarded. It
concludes with recommendations to democratize eminent domain, promote
accountability, and protect the process from excessive external interference.
Eminent Domain and Protected Areas

Most land and natural resources in Africa are state-owned or public property
held in trust for the people by the government. In Kenya and Tanzania, “radi-
cal title” over land is vested in the president, who holds ultimate power over
all land; in Uganda, all land is public property and radical title is vested in the
people. Eminent domain authority is conferred on the president, but can be
delegated by him to other entities, including unelected and private bodies such
as corporations, for achieving valid public purposes. In many countries, lease-
holds are the principal legal means of securing land (statutory or granted rights
of occupancy) and eminent domain is the only legal method of extinguishing
private land rights.
The majority of poor rural people do not hold granted rights partly because
they lack the knowledge, capacities, and resources needed to navigate the
application process and meet the title conditions. The application process often
requires an expensive cadastral survey and management plan approved by the
government, while occupancy, use, and other conditions are not always consis-
tent with traditional land use practices. Occupancy conditions may require per-
manent residency while usufruct conditions tie security of tenure to prescribed
uses and the ability to show “proof of use.” Breach of these requirements can
lead to revocation of title.
Rural people more often secure their land through customary rights. In some
countries, customary rights—at the individual, household, and community level
—are recognized in law (customary or deemed rights of occupancy) but may
also tie security to occupancy and use conditions. In other countries, the law
does not provide customary rights the same level of legal protection as granted
rights. Where the law provides equal status, it has been difficult to implement
and courts have tended to rule in favor of granted rights (World Bank 2003a).
Secure property rights encourage investments and promote economic growth.
But private property that is absolute or limitless can impede a society, so it must
be possible for private property—customary and granted rights—to be expro-
priated for public purposes. Land acquisition laws that make it too difficult for
government to acquire private property can jeopardize public interests, while
procedures that significantly weaken property rights can limit investments.
With international attention on democracy and poverty reduction, conser-
vation-induced hardships are under increasing scrutiny. Societies are examining
the sometimes competing policy objectives of conservation and development,
weighing the public benefits of PAs—some that may accrue over time—against
the immediate needs of people who depend on land for their livelihoods.

Eminent Domain Uses
Legal scholars consider eminent domain a preexisting power of the state—an
attribute of sovereignty—not a grant of new authority. Still the authority is
recognized in many constitutions and legislation. In Kenya, eminent domain
authority can be exercised “...in the interest of defense, public safety, public
order, public morality, public health, town and country planning, or the devel-
opment or utilization of any property in such manner so as to promote the
public benefit” (Constitution 1992, 75(1)(a)). In Uganda, eminent domain can
be used when “the taking of possession or acquisition is necessary for public
use” (Constitution 1995, 26(2)(a)).
In Tanzania, the Land Acquisition Act (LAA) provides a more detailed defi-
nition of eminent domain uses, authorizing the president to “acquire any land
for…any public purpose” (LAA 1967, 2(a)4(1)) and more specifically, for:
• Exclusive government use and general public use;
• Any government scheme, social services and housing, and industrial, agricul-
tural and commercial development;
• Sanitary improvement, including reclamations;
• New, extension or improvement of city, municipality or other settlement;
• Airfield, port, or harbor;
• Mining for minerals and oil;
• Use by a community or community corporation; and
• Agricultural development by any person.
Further, when a corporation requires land for work “of public utility or in
the public interest or in the interest of the national economy,” the president,
with parliamentary approval, can declare such purpose to be a public purpose
(LAA 1967, 2(a)4(2)).
Laws that clearly and conservatively define public purpose, public use,
public benefit, and public interest give governments less discretion in exercis-
ing eminent domain and can protect citizens against the misuse of this author-
ity. Expansive and broad uses of eminent domain weaken private property
rights and can create legitimacy problems for governments, even when land is
acquired for genuine public purposes.
In Uganda, the courts have interpreted “public interest” narrowly to mean
that the acquired property must promote the general interest of the community,
not the particular interest of individuals. On numerous occasions, the govern-
ment has sought to amend the constitution and enabling legislation—including
an on-going effort to develop a new land policy—to grant the president the
authority to acquire land for investment and economic development pur-
poses (Government of Uganda 2004; Tumushabe and Bainomugisha 2004b;
Sserwanga 2007). This is reminiscent of the post-independence period when
laws emphasized state powers for development over the protection of private
property rights. At that time, many governments streamlined eminent domain
procedures—restricting opportunities for participation and recourse, limiting
or dispensing entirely with compensation, and allowing for the possession of
property before the payment of compensation (Dunning 1968).
The LAAs in East Africa do not explicitly note PAs as a public purpose, but
PAs are a recognized use of eminent domain. Governments justify compulsory
acquisitions for conservation by simply invoking PAs as an established use.
Legal scholars argue that eminent domain is justified when the public good
overrides private property rights—when the benefits to the public outweigh
the costs to the affected individuals. In Tanzania and Uganda, the government
is not required to justify the proposed land acquisition in these terms. But in

Kenya, “…the necessity therefore is such as to afford reasonable justification
for the causing of any hardship that may result to any person having an interest
in or right over the property” (Constitution 1992, 75(1)(b)), and the Minister
of Land is required to certify this justification in writing to the Commissioner
of Lands. The law does not obligate the government to actually value the public
benefits and weigh them against the costs to the affected people.
Eminent Domain and Protected Area Procedures

Two sets of procedures are involved in exercising eminent domain to establish
PAs—the procedures to acquire private land and place it in the public domain,
and the procedures for placing public land in PAs. In Kenya, there are six steps
to exercise eminent domain (Sifuna 2005):
• The Minister of Lands directs in writing the Commissioner of Lands to
acquire a particular parcel of land in a compulsory manner. The instructions
must indicate the purpose for which the land is required and the responsible
public institution.
• The Commissioner publishes a notice of intention in the Kenya Gazette—the
official government journal—and provides a copy to “every person who
appears to him to be interested or who claims to be interested in the land”
(LAA 1968, 9(1)(b)).
• The Commissioner publishes in the Gazette a notice of inquiry to hear claims
for compensation and serves a copy to every person with interest in the con-
demned land.
• The Commissioner convenes a public inquiry to determine which individuals
have legitimate land claims, the value of the land, and the amount of com-
pensation payable to each valid claimant.
• The Commissioner serves every person receiving compensation, awards
compensation, and files notices of all awards in the Office of the
Commissioner.
• The Commissioner serves notice to all persons with interest in the land indi-
cating the day the government will take possession, removes the land from
the register of private ownership, and places the land in the public domain
as public utility land.
Three steps are required to place public land in a PA:

• The Minister of Wildlife consults with and obtains the consent of the
Minister of Lands or, if the Minister dissents, the approval of Parliament.
• An environmental impact assessment is undertaken and all requirements
fulfilled.
• The Minister of Wildlife declares the land under protected area manage-
ment.
In East Africa, new legislation contradicts the LAAs enacted in the mid-
1960s. In Kenya, under the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act of
1976, the Minister for Wildlife has discretionary powers to declare “any land”
a PA. The Constitution and LAA, however, require the approval of the Minister
of Lands to acquire private lands in a compulsory manner and to place public
land in PAs. As a result, the Minister of Wildlife can only acquire private land
on a voluntary basis without the consent of the Minister of Lands to establish
a PA.
Moreover, public participation in eminent domain decisions is limited.
In Kenya, “…every person interested in the land, is entitled to be heard, to
produce evidence, and to call and to question witnesses at an inquiry” (LAA

1968, 9(6)). The legal position, however, is that when the public inquiry is
undertaken, the land has already been acquired, although the government has
not yet taken possession. The inquiry only determines who has valid claims and
what compensation should be paid to the claimants, not whether the acquisi-
tion is justified. The Minister exercises eminent domain without reference to the
affected landowners, who are advised through the notice only after the power
has been exercised. The environmental impact assessment which also requires
participation is a recent addition with the Environmental Management and
Coordination Act of 1999 and only applies to placing public land into specific
uses, not to the acquisition of private land.
In Kenya, a substantial portion of rural land that communities use in
common—rangeland, forests—is “trust land” held by local authorities. Local
authorities are enjoined to hold the land “for the benefit of the persons ordinar-
ily resident on that land and give effect to such rights, interests or other benefits
in respect of the land as may, under African customary law for the time being in
force and applicable thereto be vested in any tribe, group, family, or individual”
(Constitution 1992, 115(2)). Many, however, use such land with little regard
to the trust obligations and appoint the Commissioner to manage trust land
on their behalf. By doing so, local authorities are converting what is essentially
common property into public land. When such lands are required for conver-
sion into PAs or other public uses, they are acquired through a separate “setting
apart” procedure that does not require public participation.
In East Africa, the procedures for exercising eminent domain authority
are a wholly government affair. In democracies, the government’s authority
is checked by institutionalized accountability measures including civil society
monitoring and legislative oversight. In the absence of functioning democratic
institutions, such vertical and horizontal accountability measures do not exist
or are restricted and ineffective. With few limits and little oversight, govern-
ments have the freedom to exercise eminent domain at their discretion and
without repercussions.
In East Africa, any person aggrieved by the acquisition of land by the gov-
ernment may petition the High Court for redress. In Kenya, the courts have
tended to issue strict interpretations to the provisions of procedure set out in
the Constitution and LAA. In 1994, the court held that “…the notice published
under section 6(2)…must include the identity of the public body for whom the
land is acquired and the public interest in respect of which it is acquired. It is
only when a notice contains such information that a person affected thereby can
fairly be expected to seize his right to challenge the legality of the acquisition.
That is because the test of the legality of the acquisition is whether the land is
required for a public body for a public benefit and such purpose is so necessary
that it justifies hardship to the owner. Those details must be contained in the
notice itself for the prima facie validity of the acquisition must be judged on
the content of the notice. The test must be satisfied at the outset and not with
the aid of subsequent evidence” (Mombasa HC Misc. Appl. No.55, 1994). The
court went on to declare the notice in question defective and quashed the pro-
posed acquisition. The ruling was upheld by the Court of Appeal (Mombasa
Court of Appeal, No.252, 1996). These protections, however, are only available
to a minority of people who can pursue their rights in court.
Compensation
Compensation should ensure that displaced people are as well or better off after
their land is possessed as they were before. Providing compensation requires an
understanding of what property qualifies for compensation, who holds valid

claims, how the property is assessed and valued, and when the compensation
should be paid.
In Kenya, land, crops, trees, structures, and fixed improvements (i.e., houses,
fences, irrigation systems) are eligible for compensation. In Tanzania, the gov-
ernment is required to pay compensation for only certain land. “No compen-
sation shall be awarded in respect of any land which is vacant ground” (LAA
1967, 12(1)). (Agricultural and pastoral lands are not considered vacant but
they must be in “good estate management”.) Land that is not properly used or
inadequately developed is not eligible for compensation.
Further, in Tanzania, “…compensation awarded shall be limited to the
value of the unexhausted improvements of the land” (LAA 1967, 12(2)).
“Unexhausted improvements” is defined as “any quality permanently attached
to the land directly resulting from the expenditure of capital or labour by a
person…and increasing the productive capacity, utility or amenity thereof, but
does not include the results of ordinary cultivation other than standing crops
or growing produce” (LAA 1967, 12(7)). This excludes investments to improve
land, such as labor to develop the farm and soil nutrients to ensure high crop
yields (Nshala 2004a, 2004b).
People who hold only customary rights are often denied compensation. In
Tanzania, the 1952 law that established the Mkomazi Game Reserve explicitly
preserved preexisting customary land rights. In 1988, however, the government
evicted several thousand Maasai from the reserve and did not compensate
them. Some affected Maasai sued the government and in 1998 the High Court
awarded each plaintiff who testified $450 and ordered the government to relo-
cate them. Not pleased, the Maasai appealed and in 1999 the Appellate Court,
citing “indisputable surrounding circumstances,” overturned the High Court
judgment and ruled that the Maasai held no customary land rights and were
not entitled to any compensation (Lobulu 1999; Tenga 1999; Mchome 2002;
Veit and Benson 2004).
In Kenya, property owners are compensated by land replacement at new
sites—“land for land” compensation—or paid at market price. Crops and struc-
tural improvements are also assessed at market value. In Tanzania, compensa-
tion for land can be awarded in cash or “a grant of public land not exceeding in
value the value of the land acquired” (LAA 1867, 11(2)). With little unclaimed
or unoccupied land, however, the alternative land is often marginal and of
low value. Crops and other improvements are valued at government rates
which are usually below market value. Property is rarely valued at replace-
ment costs unless required—and paid—by international development agencies.
Government auditors, not independent assessors, often identify and value the
eligible improvements. Assistance for relocation is rarely provided.
When compensation is paid varies in East Africa. In Uganda, the law obli-
gates the government to pay full compensation before the acquisition—“…the
assessment officer shall take possession of the land as soon as he has made his
award…” (LAA 1965, 6(1)). Advocates have used this provision to try to quash
acquisitions (Kampala HC, Misc. Cause, No.100, 2005) while the government
has sought to allow the president to acquire land without first paying compen-
sation (Government of Uganda 2004; Tumushabe and Bainomugisha 2004b).
In Kenya and Tanzania, the law obligates the government to pay compen-
sation “promptly,” but does not require payment before taking possession of
the land. In Kenya, “…full compensation shall be paid promptly to all persons
interested in the land” (LAA 1968, 8) and “…the Commissioner shall, as soon
as practicable, pay compensation…” (LAA 1968, 13(1)). When compensation
is not paid on or before the taking of possession, “the Commissioner shall pay

interest on the amount awarded at the rate of six per cent per annum from the
time of taking possession until the time of payment…” (LAA 1968, 16(1)).
Compensation can be expensive. In Gabon, the cost to compensate the
people affected by 13 new PAs has been estimated at US $80 million (Cernea
and Schmidt-Soltau 2006). Africa’s development challenges are enormous and
budgets are stretched; few governments have the financial resources to cover
compensation costs. International organizations support PA management
(i.e., park staff salaries, infrastructure, anti-poaching patrols) and increasingly
direct payments to landowners who safeguard biodiversity on private property
(Ferraro and Kiss 2002), but they rarely contribute to paying eminent domain
compensation. In contrast, corporations are often required to pay such com-
pensation for land acquired for public works. In some cases, companies—and
donors that support development projects—provide a premium as a purchase
incentive, pay the full compensation award before taking possession, and cover
the costs of the acquisition process (World Commission on Dams 2000; World
Bank 2003b).
The number of people who have received fair compensation promptly is not
known, but anecdotal information suggests that many people displaced by PAs
have not been paid. Some governments are pursuing reconciliation to correct
past wrongs. In South Africa, restitution laws allow people to reclaim lost land.
In 1998, the Makuleke people regained full ownership and title of 24,000 ha
of Kruger National Park. The land—which had been taken by the apartheid
regime in the late-1960s and incorporated into the park—was returned after
the people reached a mediated settlement with the new democratic government.
Now, a Joint Management Board with the government manages the land in
ways that are compatible with wildlife. The Makuleke have entered into part-
nerships with private investors to build tourist facilities, and have used some
proceeds for community development initiatives (Maluleke 2004).
Recommendations
Several policy options and recommendations on the law and practice of eminent
domain are presented below.
Knowledge and Understanding

Little systematic and comparative research has been conducted on eminent
domain, conservation, and poverty reduction in Africa. Investigations are need-
ed on the law, practice, and outcomes of PAs established by eminent domain.
How does law balance the public goods of conservation and development,
and of compulsory acquisitions and secure property rights? How have courts
interpreted the law? Are compulsory acquisition procedures democratic and
consistently applied? How has eminent domain affected property rights, invest-
ment, and development?
New research is underway to better understand the affects of PAs on adja-
cent communities, identify best practices in mitigating park-people conflicts,
and establish the full value of PAs (Schmidt-Soltau and Brockington 2004;
Wilkie et al. 2006; Burke et al. 2007). Less attention is focused on the well-
being of people displaced by PAs. How many people have been displaced by
conservation and received fair compensation promptly? Are people better off
before or after being dispossessed of their land? Experience shows that invol-
untary resettlement, even when mitigated, often gives rise to severe economic
and social risks, including displaced and dismantled production systems, loss
of income sources, weakened community institutions and social networks,
dispersed kin groups and diminished or lost cultural identity and traditional

authority. What support do displaced people need to maintain or improve their
standard of living?
Eminent Domain Uses

To protect property rights, eminent domain must be disciplined and restricted
to genuine public purposes, not ordinary government business or economic
development. Eminent domain should be invoked as a last resort, after care-
fully considering and rejecting all alternative approaches and exhausting all
reasonable efforts to encourage voluntary relocation. Eminent domain should
be exercised when other conservation approaches are inadequate and when
PAs provide the best or only strategy for achieving conservation. Conservation
approaches that are less harmful or more beneficial to local people should take
priority over PAs.
Given the adverse effects of involuntary displacement, eminent domain must
have high justification standards. Governments should be required to provide
specific justification for proposed PAs. Notices of intention should include a
review of alternative conservation approaches and present the best possible
calculations of the proposed PA’s public benefits and the costs to the affected
people as well as to property rights. Such information can inform public debates
and help establish whether the PA benefits outweigh the collective costs.
Further, eminent domain should not be exercised unless the government can
provide evidence of its capacity to meet all procedural requirements and ensure
the land will deliver the public purpose. High costs and stretched national bud-
gets are not valid excuses for neglecting compensation. PAs established by emi-
nent domain that fail to meet their intended public purposes within a reasonable
and specified time period should be degazetted and reoccupied.
Eminent Domain Procedures

When administrative matters are not embedded in democratic institutions,
power is limited principally by internal accountability mechanisms and by
domestic and international pressure. Despite laudable political reforms, democ-
racy has not taken hold in many African nations. As a result, property rights
would be better protected by strengthening available accountability measures
and institutionalizing additional safeguards in the use of eminent domain.
Checks and balances help guard against the abuse and misuse of eminent
domain, limit arbitrary acquisitions, and ensure that governments use their
authority only for valid public purposes.
Accountability mechanisms include: granting communities the rights of
free, prior, and informed consent over eminent domain and conservation deci-
sions; mandating public participation in the process of acquiring land in a
compulsory manner; organizing referendums or other ballot-box initiatives on
potential land acquisitions and proposed PAs; requiring parliamentary approval
of eminent domain decisions; and establishing an ombudsman to hear citizen
complaints, mediate conflicts, and facilitate compromises. These measures have
been used effectively in Africa and elsewhere to protect property rights and
conserve biodiversity (Perrault et al. 2005; Alcorn and Royo 2007).
Compensation
With the payment of fair and prompt compensation, eminent domain is
essentially a compulsory sale. To ensure that people displaced by PAs recover
from the shock of involuntary resettlement, compensation should be provided

across all tenure categories. Customary rights-holders who lose land should be
recognized as legitimate claimants and they—or their descendents—should be
awarded compensation.
The procedures for assessing and valuing property must be transparent,
open, fair, reliable, and replicable. Condemned property should be valued
by independent assessors and shielded from politics. Property values should
be based on open market values or replacement costs, and a premium in the
form of incentive should be considered to encourage willing seller-willing
buyer arrangements. Many governments have established land funds, although
few have sufficiently capitalized them to provide any meaningful support.
Conservationists should help raise money to support these costs.
Further, displaced people should, at a minimum, receive a significant percent-
age of their award before the government acquires the land, and a time table
should be established for paying the remaining amount with interest pegged to
the national rate of inflation. If the government does not pay compensation by
the established date, the PA should be degazetted and the land returned to its
rightful occupants.
Conclusion
The links between conservation, development, and democracy are multi-dimen-
sional and complex, but there is little dispute that democracies excel in many
areas including establishing PAs with broad public support. While there are
winners and losers from many PAs, developing PAs through democratic means
ensures that the costs, benefits, and trade-offs from alternative conservation
approaches are addressed, increasing the likelihood that PAs provide public
benefits and that affected people are adequately compensated.
Biodiversity in Africa is threatened by both irregular degazettement and
extra-legal gazettement of PAs. Democratizing land transfers between the public
and private domains limits corruption and patronage while supporting conser-
vation and poverty reduction. Conservationists recognize the biodiversity divi-
dend of democratizing the process of transferring land from the public to the
private domain, but many see only short-term threats to democratizing eminent
domain procedures, not opportunities for sustainable conservation.
To meet Convention on Biological Diversity goals, governments must: limit
and discipline the authority of eminent domain; democratize the procedures
for expropriating landed private property; and implement the procedures for
exercising eminent domain, including paying fair compensation promptly. PAs
that are legally secure and locally legitimate are best-positioned to deliver sus-
tainable conservation. Such measures will also help regularize public-private
land transfers, protect private property rights, and promote the United Nations
Millennium Development Goals of poverty reduction.

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Part 1: WCS Case Studies – Africa

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Part 2: WCS Case Studies – Asia
2.1 Batang Ai National Park: The Different Conditions under which Local People
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Part 3: WCS Case Studies – Latin America

3.1 The Kaa-Iya del Gran Chaco National Park, Bolivia
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Lehm, Z., H. Salas, E. Salinas, I. Gómez, and K. Lara. 2002. Diagnóstico de actores sociales
PN ANMI Madidi. SERNAP, CARE y WCS. La Paz, Bolivia.

Mittermeier, R.A., N. Myers, P. Robles Gil, and C.G. Mittermeier, eds. 1999. Hotspots:
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conserving the earth’s most biologically valuable ecoregions. Conservation Biology 12(3):
502–515.
Rios-Uzeda, B., H. Gomez, and R.B. Wallace. 2006. Habitat preferences of the Andean bear
(Tremarctos ornatus) in the Bolivian Andes. Journal of Zoology 268: 271-278.
Rios-Uzeda, B., and R.B. Wallace. 2007. Estimating the size of the Andean Condor
population in the Apolobamba Mountains of Bolivia. J. Field Ornithol. 78(2):170–175.
Saignes, T. 1985. Los Andes Orientales: Historia de un olvido. IFEAS y CERES.
Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Salinas, E. 2007. Manejo de Conflictos Ambientales en el Sistema Nacional de Áreas
Protegidas. Unpublished report. Wildlife Conservation Society.
SERNAP, WCS. 2005. Plan de Manejo Parque Nacional y Area Natural de Manejo
Integrado Madidi. La Paz, Bolivia.
Silva, R., D. Robison, S. Mc Kean, y P. Alvarez. 2002. La historia de la ocupación del
espacio y el uso de los recursos en el PNANMI Madidi y su zona de influencia. Agro
ecología Sierra y Selva, CARE, WCS, SERNAP. La Paz, Bolivia.
Silver, S.C., L.E.T. Ostro, L.K. Marsh, L. Maffei, A.J. Noss, M.J. Kelly, R.B. Wallace, H.
Gómez, and G. Ayala. 2004. The use of camera traps for estimating jaguar (Panthera onca)
abundance and density using capture/recapture analysis. Oryx 38: 145-154.
Soux, M.L., M. Quiroga, R. Jiménez, A. Cardenas, y R. Milan. 1991. Historia de una
región paceña, Prefectura del Departamento de La Paz y Universidad Mayor de San Andres.
La Paz.
Wallace, R.B., H. Gómez, G. Ayala, and F. Espinoza. 2003. Camera trapping capture
frequencies for jaguar (Panthera onca) in the Tuichi valley, Bolivia. Mastozoologia
Neotropical 10(1):1 33-139.
Part 4: WCS Case Studies – North America

4.1 How Landscape and Socio-economic Transitions Impact Human Livelihoods within
a Mosaic of Wilderness and Communities
Adirondack Park Agency. 1989. Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan.
Adirondack Park Agency. 1982. Adirondack Park Agency’s Citizen’s Guide to Adirondack
Park Agency Land-Use Regulations.
Appalachian Mountain Club. 2007. Ozone in the White Mountains. Accessible from http://
www.outdoors.org/conservation/airwater/airwater-ozone.cfm.
Glennon, M.J., and H.E. Kretser. 2005. Impacts to wildlife from low density, exurban
development: Information and considerations for the Adirondack Park. WCS’ Adirondack
Communities and Conservation Program Technical Paper No. 3. Accessible from http://
www.wcs.org/adirondackresearch.
Jenkins, J., and A. Keal 2004. Adirondack Atlas. Syracuse University Press-The Adirondack
Museum. 275p.
Johnson, G.D., W.P. Erickson, and M.D. Strickland. 2002. Collision mortality of local and
migrant birds at a large-scale wind-power development on Buffalo Ridge, Minnesota.
Wildlife Society Bulletin 30(3): 879-887.
Keal, A., and D. Wilkie. 2003. Do Public Lands Constrain Economic Development in the
Adirondack Park? Adirondack Journal of Environmental Science 10(1)
Keller, J.E. 1980. Adirondack Wilderness. A Story of Man and Nature. Syracuse University.
Kenney, S.M. 1985. The Adirondack Park Private Land Use and Development Plan: Has
There Been a Taking? Cornell University.
Kretser, H. 2005. Housing Trends in Franklin and Brighton Townships (Franklin County,
NY), 1990-2000. Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies 12(2): 25-36.

New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH). 2007. Bottled Water Program.
Accessible from http://www.health.state.ny.us/environmental/water/drinking/bulk_bottle/
bottled.htm#I-162.
Omohundro, J. 2002. Expenditures by Nonmotorized Recreationists in the Adirondack
Park. Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies 9(1): 27-35.
Rabin, L.A., R.G. Coss, and D.H. Owings. 2006. The effects of wind turbines on
antipredator behavior in California ground squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi). Biological
Conservation 131(3): 410-420.
Merwin Rural Services Institute. 1998. An Analysis of Economic Impact and Overview
of the Industry in the Empire State. SUNY Potsdam and New York State Snowmobile
Association, Inc. Accessible from http://www.nyssnowassoc.org/impact.htm.
Terrie, P.G. 1994. Forever Wild: A Cultural History of Wilderness in the Adirondacks.
Syracuse University Press.
U.S. Census Bureau. 2000 Census of Population and Housing. Accessible from http://
factfinder.census.gov/servlet/BasicFactsServlet. Access date: 2 May 2007.
Part 5: WCS Cross-regional Thematic Perspective

5.1 Paying for Results: The WCS Experience with Direct Incentives for Conservation
Agrawal, A., and K.H.Redford. 2006. Poverty, development and biodiversity conservation:
Shooting in the dark? Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, NY.
Ferraro, P.J. 2001. Global Habitat Protection: Limitations of Development Interventions
and a Role for Conservation Performance Payments. Conservation Biology: 990-1000.
Ferraro, P.J., and A. Kiss. 2002. Ecology - Direct payments to conserve biodiversity. Science
298: 1718-1719.
Ferraro, P.J., and R.D. Simpson. 2002. The cost-effectiveness of conservation payments.
Land Economics 78: 339-353.
Mayrand, K., and M. Paquin. 2004. Payments for environmental services: a survey and
assessment of current schemes., Montreal, Canada.
Newmark, W.D., and J.L. Hough. 2000. Conserving Wildlife In Africa: Integrated
Conservation and Development Projects and Beyond. 50: 585.
Pagiola, S., K. von Ritter, and J. Bishop. 2004. How much is an ecosystem worth? Assessing
the economic value of conservation. The World Bank, The Nature Conservancy, IUCN,
Washington, DC.
Wunder, S. 2005. Payments for environmental services: some nuts and bolds. Center for
International Forestry Research, Bogor, Indonesia.
Part 6: Perspectives from Outside WCS

6.1 Reframing the Protected Areas-Livelihood Debate: Conserving Biodiversity in
Populated Agricultural Landscapes
Barry, D., J.Y. Campbell, J. Fahn, H. Mallee, and U. Pradhan. 2003. Achieving significant
impact at scale: reflections on the challenge for global community forestry. CIFOR
Conference on Rural Livelihoods, Forests, and Biodiversity. Bonn, Germany.
Cincotta, R.P., and R. Engelmann. 2000. Nature’s Place: Human Population and the Future
of Biological Diversity. Washington, DC: Population Action International.
Colfer, C., and Y. Byron, eds. 2001. People Managing Forests: The Links between Managing
Human Well-Being and Sustainability. Resources for the Future and Center for International
Forestry Research (CIFOR). Resources for the Future, Washington, DC.
Conservation International. 2004. http://conservationfinance.org (accessed October 18,
2004).
Hassan, R., R. Scholes, and N. Ash, eds. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Current
State and Trends, Volume 1. Washington, DC: Island Press.

McNeely, J.A., and S.J. Scherr. 2003. Ecoagriculture: Strategies to Feed the World and Save
Biodiversity. Future Harvest and IUCN, Washington, DC: Island Press.
Molnar, A, S. Scherr, and A. Khare. 2004. Who conserves the world’s forests? Community-
driven strategies to protect forests and respect rights. Washington, DC: Forest Trends and
Ecoagriculture Partners.
Molnar, A., S. Scherr, and A. Khare. 2007. Chapter 15: Community Stewardship of
Biodiversity. In S. Scherr and J. McNeely, eds. Farming with Nature: The Science and
Practice of Ecoagriculture. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Nepstad, D.C., S. Schwartzman, B. Bamberger, M. Santilli, D. Ray, P. Schlesinger, P.
Lefebvre, A. Alencar, E. Prinz, G. Fiske, and A. Rolla. 2006. Inhibition of Amazon
deforestation and fire by parks and indigenous reserves. Conservation Biology
20(1): 65–73.
Pfeffer, M.J, J.W. Schelhas, and L.A. Day. 2001. Forest conservation, value conflict and
interest formation in a Honduran national park. Rural Sociology 66(3): 382-402.
Pfeffer, M.J., J.W. Schelhas, and C. Meola. 2006. Environmental globalization,
organizational form and expected benefits from protected areas in Central America. Rural
Sociology 71(3): 429-430.
Poffenberger, M., ed. 2000. Communities and Forest Management in Southeast Asia. A
Regional Profile of the Working Group on Community Involvement in Forest Management.
Gland, Switzerland: IUCN.
Scherr, S., and J. McNeely. 2007. Chapter 22: Policy Implications and Knowledge.
In S. Scherr and J. McNeely, eds. Farming with Nature: The Science and Practice of
Ecoagriculture. Washington, DC: Island Press.
6.2 Protected Areas, Poverty, and Policy: A Review of Biodiversity and Protected Areas
within National Poverty Reduction Strategies
Bojo, J., and R.C. Reddy. 2002. Poverty Reduction Strategies and Environment.
Environmental Economic Series No 86. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Emerton, L., J. Bishop, et al. 2006. Sustainable Financing of Protected Areas: A Global
Review of Challenges and Opportunties. Gland: IUCN.
Hewitt, A., and A. Gillson. 2003. A Review of the Trade and Poverty Content in PRSPs and
Loan-Related Documents. London: Overseas Development Institute.
IUCN. 2005. Benefits Beyond Boundaries: Proceedings of the Vth IUCN World Parks
Congress.
Lapham, N., and R. Livermore. 2003. Striking a Balance: Ensuring Conservation’s Place
on the International Biodversity Assistance Agenda. Washington, DC: Conservation
International.
ODI. 2006. Addressing Environmental Objectives in the Context of Budget Support.
London: Overseas Development Institute.
Roe, D. 2004. Poverty reduction and biodiversity conservation: Rebuilding the bridges.
Oryx 38(2).
Sanderson, S. 2005. Poverty and conservation: The new century’s ‘peasant question’? World
Development 33(2): 323-332.
Sanderson, S., and K. Redford. 2003. Contested relationships between biodiversity
conservation and poverty alleviation.” Oryx 37(4): 1-2.
Sattherwaite, D. (ed). 2003. The Millennium Development Goals and Local Processes:
Hitting the Target or Missing the Point. London: International Institute for Environment
and Development.
Stiglitz, J. 1998. Towards a New Paradigm for Development: Stragies, Policies, and
Processes. 1998 Prebisch Lecture. Geneva: UNCTAD.
WWF. Undated. Congo Basin – Overview. http://www.worldwildlife.org/wildplaces/congo/.
Accessed 07 May 2007.

6.3 Hard Choices: Understanding the Trade-offs between Conservation and
Development
Agrawal, A., and K.H. Redford. 2006. Poverty, development and biodiversity conservation:
Shooting in the dark? WCS Working Paper No. 26. New York: Wildlife Conservation
Society.
Ambler, J. 1999. Attacking Poverty while Improving the Environment: Toward Win-Win
Policy Options. Background technical paper. UNDP-EC Poverty and Environment Initiative.
New York and Brussels: UNDP. 51pp.
Barrett, C.S., and P. Arcese. 1995. Are integrated conservation and development projects
sustainable? On the conservation of large mammals in Sub-Saharan Africa. World
Development 23: 1073-1084.
Barrett, C.S., K. Brandon, C. Gibson, and H. Gjertsen. 2001. Conserving tropical
biodiversity amid weak institutions. BioScience 51: 497-502.
Brechin, S., P. Wilshusen, C. Fortwangler, and P. West. 2003. Contested Nature: Promoting
International Biodiversity and Social Justice in the Twenty-first Century. Albany: State
University of New York Press.
Brockington, D., J. Igoe, and, K. Schmidt-Soltau. 2006. Conservation, human rights and
poverty reduction. Conservation Biology 20: 424-470.
Brown, K. 2004. Trade-off analysis for integrated conservation and development. Pp. 232-
255 in T.O. McShane and M.P. Wells, eds. Getting Biodiversity Projects Work: Towards
More Effective Conservation and Development. New York: Columbia University Press.
Chatty, D., and M. Colchester, eds. 2002. Conservation and Mobile Indigenous Peoples:
Displacement, Forced Settlement, and Sustainable Development. Oxford: Berghahn Books.
Christensen, J. 2004. Win-win illusions: Facing the rift between people and protected areas.
Conservation in Practice 5(1): 12-19.
GEF. 2005. GEF and the Convention on Biological Diversity. Washington, DC: Global
Environment Facility.
Jepson, P. 2005. Governance and accountability of environmental NGOs. Environmental
Science and Policy 8: 515-524.
Kramer, R., C. van Schaik, and J. Johnson, eds. 1997. Last Stand: Protected Areas and the
Defense of Tropical Biodiversity. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
McShane, T.O., and M.P. Wells, eds. 2004. Getting Biodiversity Projects Work: Towards
More Effective Conservation and Development. New York: Columbia University Press.
McShane, T.O., and S.A Newby. 2004. Expecting the unattainable: The assumptions behind
ICDPs. Pp. 49-74 in T.O. McShane and M.P. Wells, eds. Getting Biodiversity Projects
Work: Towards More Effective Conservation and Development. New York: Columbia
University Press.
Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. 2005. Ecosystems and Human Well-being: Synthesis.
Washington, DC: Island Press.
Oates, J.F. 1999. Myth and Reality in the Rain Forest: How Conservation Strategies are
Failing in West Africa. Berkeley: University of California Press.
OECD. 1996. Shaping the 21st Century: The Role of Development Co-operation. Paris:
OECD.
Robinson, J.G. 1993. The limits to caring: sustainable living and the loss of biodiversity.
Conservation Biology 7: 20-28.
Robinson, J., and K.H. Redford. 2004. Jack of all trades, master of none: Inherent
contradictions among ICDP approaches. Pp. 10-34 in T.O. McShane and M.P. Wells,
eds. Getting Biodiversity Projects Work: Towards More Effective Conservation and
Development. New York: Columbia University Press.
Sayer, J., and B. Campbell. 2004. The Science of Sustainable Development: Local
Livelihoods and the Global Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sutherland, W.J., A.S. Pullin, P.M. Dolman, and T.M. Knight. 2004. The needs for evidence-
based conservation. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 305-308.
Terborgh, J. 1999. Requiem for Nature. Washington, DC: Island Press.
Wells, M., and T.O. McShane. 2004. Integrating protected area management with local
needs and aspirations. Ambio 33: 513-519.
Wilkie, D.S., G.A. Morelli, J. Demmer, M. Starkey, P. Telfer, and M. Steil. 2006. Parks and
people: Assessing the human welfare effects of establishing protected areas for biodiversity
conservation. Conservation Biology 20: 247-249.
Winter, H. 2005. Trade-offs: An Introduction to Economic Reasoning and Social Issues.
Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
6.4 Deforestation vs. Poverty at Kibale National Park, Uganda: A Ten-year Perspective
Anonymous. 2005. Ancient Medicinal Tree Threatened with Extinction; Tree is leading
Remedy for Prostate Disorders Worldwide. Washington, DC, and Nairobi, Kenya: Future
Harvest. Available at http://www.futureharvest.org/news/prunusrelease.shtml.
Balmford, A., J. Moore, T. Brooks, N. Burgess, L.A. Hansen, P. Williams, and C. Rahbek.
2001. Conservation conflicts across Africa. Science 291: 2616-2619.
Chapman C.A., and L.J. Chapman. 1996. Mid-elevation forests: A history of disturbance
and regeneration. Pp. 385-400 in T.R. McClanahan and T.P. Young, eds. East African
Ecosystems and Their Conservation. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chapman C.A., and L.J. Chapman. 2004. Unfavorable successional pathways and the
conservation value of logged tropical forest. Biodiversity and Conservation 13: 2089-105.
Chapman C.A., L.J. Chapman, L. Kaufman, and A.E. Zanne. 1999. Potential causes of
arrested succession in Kibale National Park: Growth and mortality of seedlings. African
Journal of Ecology 37: 81-92.
Feeny, P. 1998. Accountable Aid. London: Oxfam.
Government of Uganda. 2002. 2001 National housing and rural settlement census, Census
Bureau, Kampala, Uganda.
Hamilton, C.A. 1984. Deforestation in Uganda. Nairobi: Oxford University Press.
Kaipiriri, M. 1997. Local use of non-timber products. Master’s thesis. Makerere University,
Kampala.
Kammen, D. 1995. Cookstoves for the developing world. Scientific American 273: 72-75.
Kingston B. 1967. Working plan for the Kibale and Itwara Central Forest Reserves, 2nd
edition. Uganda Government Forest Department, Kampala, Uganda.
Lwanga, J.S. 2003. Forest succession in Kibale National Park, Uganda: Implications for
forest restoration and management. African Journal of Ecology 41: 9-22.
Mulley, B., and J. Unruh. 2004. The role of off-farm employment in tropical forest
conservation: Labor, migration, and smallholder attitudes towards land in western Uganda.
Journal of Environment Management 71: 193-205.
Naughton-Treves, L. 1999. Whose animals? A history of property rights to wildlife in Toro,
western Uganda. Land Degradation and Development 10: 311-28.
Naughton-Treves, L., and C. Chapman. 2002. Fuelwood resources on fallow land in East
Africa. Journal of Sustainable Forestry 14: 19-32.
Osmaston, H.A. 1959. Working plan for the Kibale and Itwara Central Forest Reserves,
Toro District, W. Province, Uganda. Forest Department, Uganda Protectorate.
Plumptre, A. 2002. Extent and Status of Forests in the Albertine Rift. Wildlife Conservation
Society Albertine Rift Program, Bronx, New York.
Rocheleau, D., and D. Edmunds. 1997. Women, men and trees: Gender, power and
property in forest and agrarian landscapes. World Development 25: 1351-71.
Skorupa J. 1988. The effect of selective timber harvesting on rain-forest primates in Kibale
Forest, Uganda. Ph.D. Dissertation thesis. University of California, Davis.

Struhsaker, T.T., P.J. Struhsaker, and K.S. Siex. 2005. Conserving Africa’s rain forests:
Problems in protected areas and possible solutions. Biological Conservation 123: 45-54.
Vedeld, P., A. Angelsen, E. Sjaastad, And G.K. Berg. 2004. Counting on the Environment
Forest Incomes and the Rural Poor. Rep. 98 Washington, DC: The World Bank.
World Bank. 1993. Uganda. Agriculture. Washington, DC: The World Bank.
6.5 Transfrontier Conservation Areas, Animal Diseases, and Human Livelihoods: Issues
of System Health and Sustainability
Campbell, B.M., S. Jeffrey, W. Kozanayi, M. Luckert, M. Mutamba, and C. Zindi. 2002.
Household livelihoods in semi-arid regions: options and constraints. CIFOR, Jakarta.
Child, B.A. 1988. The role of wildlife utilisation in the sustainable economic development
of semi-arid rangelands in Zimbabwe. D. Phil. thesis, University of Oxford, Oxford.
Child, G.F.T., and T. Riney. 1987. Tsetse control hunting in Zimbabwe, 1919-1958.
Zambezia 14: 11-71.
Cumming, D.H.M. 1999a. Living off “biodiversity”: whose land, whose resources and
where? Environment and Development Economics 4: 220-226.
Cumming, D.H.M. 1999b. Study on the Development of Transboundary Natural Resource
Management Areas in Southern Africa, Environmental Context: Natural Resources, Land
Use, and Conservation. Washington, DC: Biodiversity Support Program. (66 pp. + 44 Figs.)
Cumming, D.H.M. 2004. Performance of parks in a century of change. Pp. 105-124 in B.
Child, ed. Parks in Transition: Biodiversity, Development and the Bottom Line. London:
Earthscan.
Cumming, D.H.M., and AHEAD Great Limpopo TFCA Working Group. 2004. Sustaining
animal health and cosystem services in large landscapes. 2nd draft. Concept for a
programme to address wildlife, livestock and related human and ecosystem health issues in
the Greater Limpopo Trans-frontier Conservation Area. 24 pp. Accessible from http://www.
wcs-ahead.org/documents/gltfca_cumming.pdf.
Cumming, D.H.M. 2005. Wildlife, livestock and food security in the South East Lowveld of
Zimbabwe. Pp 41-46 In S.A. Osofsky, S. Cleveland, W.B. Karesh, M.D. Kock, P.J. Nyhus,
L. Starr, and A. Yang, eds. Conservation and Development Interventions at the Wildlife/
Livestock Interface: Implications for Wildlife, Livestock and Human Health. Gland,
Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK: IUCN.
Cumming, D., H. Biggs, M. Kock, N. Shongwe, and S. Osofsky. 2007. The AHEAD
(Animal Health for Environment And Development) - Great Limpopo Transfrontier
Conservation Area (GLTFCA) Programme: Key questions and conceptual framework
revisited. Accessible from http://www.wcs-ahead.org/documents/gltfca_revisited.pdf.
Cumming, D.H.M., and T.J.P. Lynam. 1997. Land use changes, wildlife conservation and
utilisation, and the sustainability of agro-ecosystems in the Zambezi Valley: Final technical
report. Vols 1-7. European Union Contract B7-5040/93/06. WWF Programme Office,
Harare.
Cunliffe, R.N. 2003. PRA and questionnaire survey study in Sengwe-Tchipise Communal
Lands. Final Report Part 1: Corridor Analysis. Southern Lowveld Project, CESVI, Harare,
Zimbabwe.
Dolan, T.T. 1999. Dogmas and misunderstandings in East Coast fever. Tropical Medicine
and International Health 4(9): A3-A11.
Eilerts, G.S., and E. Vhurumuka. 1997. Zimbabwe food security and vulnerability
assessment 1996/97. USAID Famine Early Warning System (FEWS), Zimbabwe Office,
Harare. 51pp.
Gunderson, L.H., and C.S. Holling. 2002 Panarchy: Understanding Transformations in
Human and Natural Systems.Washington, DC: Island Press.
Holling, C.S., and G.K. Meffe. 1996. Command and control and the pathology of natural
resource management. Conservation Biology 10: 328-337.
NPWMA. 2007. Gonarezhou National Park Management Plan – draft April 2007. National
Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, Harare, Zimbabwe.

Osofsky, S.A., S. Cleveland, W.B. Karesh, M.D. Kock, P.J. Nyhus, L. Starr, and A.
Yang, eds. 2005. Conservation and Development Interventions at the Wildlife/Livestock
Interface: Implications for Wildlife, Livestock and Human Health. Gland, Switzerland, and
Cambridge, UK: IUCN.
Ostrom, E., and M.A. Janssen. 2002. Beliefs, multi-level governance, and development.
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Walker, B.H., J.M. Anderies, A.P. Kinzig, and P. Ryan, eds. 2006. Exploring Resilience in
Social-ecological Systems: Comparative Studies and Theory Development. Collingwood
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6.6 Securing Protected Areas: Compulsory Land Acquisition in East Africa

Alcorn, J.B., and A.G. Royo. 2007. Conservation´s engagement with human rights:
Traction, slippage or avoidance? Policy Matters 15.
Burke, L., D. Prager, and S. Greenhalgh. 2007. Value of Coral Reefs in Caribbean Islands.
Washington, DC: World Resources Institute.
Cernea, M.M., and K. Schmidt-Soltau. 2006. Poverty risks and national parks: Policy issues
in conservation and resettlement. World Development 34(10): 1808-1830.
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Public Lands (2003-2004). Nairobi: Government of Kenya.
Government of Kenya. 1996. The Commissioner for Lands v. Coastal Aquaculture Ltd,
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and Settlement and the Minister of Lands and Settlement, Mombasa HC Misc. Appl., No.
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Government of Tanzania. 2004. Nyamuma Report. Commission for Human Rights and
Good Governance. Dar es Salaam: Government of Tanzania.
Government of Uganda. 2005. The Republic of Uganda in the High Court of Uganda at
Kampala. Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment, Applicants v. Attorney
General, Respondent, Misc. Cause No.0100 of 2004. Kampala: Government of Uganda.
Government of Uganda. 2004. Government White Paper on 1. The Report of the
Constitution of Inquiry (Constitutional Review), 2. Government Proposal not Addressed by
the Report of the Commission of Inquiry (Constitutional Review). Kampala: Government of
Uganda.
Hutton, J., W.M. Adams, and J.C. Murombedzi. 2005. Back to the Barriers? Changing
Narratives in Biodiversity Conservation. Forum for Development Studies, No.2.
Keregero, K. 2005. Nyamuma Villagers Refer Case to Court of Appeal. IPP Media, 2
November, Guardian.

Klopp, J. 2001. Pilfering the public: The problem of land grabbing in contemporary Kenya.
Africa Today 47(1).
Legal and Human Rights Centre. 2003. Protection of Wildlife and Human Rights on
the Balance Sheet: A Case of Serengeti Killings. Dar es Salaam: Legal and Human Rights
Centre.
Lobulu, B. 1999. Dispossession and land tenure in Tanzania: What hope from the courts?
Cultural Survival Quarterly 22(4).
Maluleke, L. 2004. The Makuleke Story. Paper presented to the World Conservation
Congress, Bangkok, 17-25 November.
Manyindo, J. 2003. Conflicting Interests: Land Use Changes in Protected Areas for Private
Commercial Benefit. Uganda Wildlife Society, Wildlife Series No.3. Kampala: Uganda
Wildlife Society.
Mchome, S.E. 2002. Evictions and the Rights of People in Conservation Areas in Tanzania.
Faculty of Law. Dar es Salaam: University of Dar es Salaam.
Nshala, R. 2004a. Dispossess by Disowning: The Plight of Customary Land Rights Owners
in Tanzania’s Protected Areas; The Mighty is Right! Dar es Salaam: Lawyers’ Environmental
Action Team and World Resources Institute.
Nshala, R. 2004b. Supremacy of Customary Land Rights: Democratizing the Eminent
Domain Powers in Tanzania. Dar es Salaam: Lawyers’ Environmental Action Team and
World Resources Institute.
Perrault, A., K. Hervertson, and N. Manga. 2005. Establishing Conditions for Success (and
Environmental Justice) in Protected Areas: The Public Interest and Prior Informed Consent.
Washington, DC: Center for Environmental Law and World Resources Institute.
Schmidt-Soltau, K., and D. Brockington. 2004. The Social Impacts of Protected Areas.
Paper presented at World Conservation Congress, Bangkok, 20 November.
Sifuna, N. 2005. Using Eminent Domain Powers to Acquire Private Lands for Protected
Area Wildlife Conservation: A Survey under Kenyan Law. Law Environment and
Development Journal, Vol.2/1.
Sserwanga, M. 2007. Government’s new strategy on land. The Monitor, 12 February.
Survival International. 2006. Botswana: Bushmen win landmark legal case. Accesible from:
http://www.survival-international.org/news.php?id=2128.
Tenga, R. 1999. Legitimizing dispossession: The Tanzanian High Court’s decision on the
eviction of Maasai pastoralists from Mkomzai Game Reserve. Cultural Survival Quarterly,
Vol.22, No.4.
Tumushabe, G.W. 2003. Trading Natural Wealth for Fiction: A Legal Opinion on the
Proposed Degazettement of Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve. Legal Series No.1. Kampala: Uganda
Wildlife Society.
Tumushabe, G.W., and A. Bainomugisha. 2004a. Constitutional Reform and Environmental
Legislative Representation in Uganda: A Case Study of Butamira Forest Reserve in Uganda.
Policy Research Series, No.10. Kampala: Advocates Coalition for Development and
Environment.
Tumushabe, G.W., and A. Bainomugisha. 2004b. Submission on the Government White
Paper on the Constitutional Reform and the Political Transition Process. Memorandum to
the Committee on Legal and Parliamentary Affairs, Parliament of the Republic of Uganda.
Kampala: Advocates Coalition for Development and Environment.
Veit, P.G., and C. Benson. 2004. When parks and people collide. Human rights dialogue.
Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs, Series 2, No.11.
Wilkie, D.S., G.A. Morelli, J. Demmer, M. Starkey, P. Telfer and M. Steil. 2006. Parks and
people: Assessing the human welfare effects of establishing protected areas for biodiversity
conservation. Conservation Biology 20(1): 247-249.
World Bank. 2003a. Land Policies for Growth and Poverty Reduction. Policy Research
Report. Washington, DC: World Bank.

World Bank. 2003b. Northern Corridor (Kenya) Road Improvement Project: Resettlement
Policy Framework. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Commission on Dams. 2000. Dams and Development: A New Framework for
Decision-Making. London: Earthscan.

Background readings
Amend, M.R., J. Reid, and C. Gascon. 2006. Beneficios economicos locais de areas
protegidas na região de Manaus, Amazonas. Megadiversidade 2(1-2): 60-70.
Arambiza, E., and M. Painter. 2006. Biodiversity conservation and the quality of life of
indigenous people in the Bolivian Chaco. Human Organization 65(1): 20-34.
Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. 2007.
Fourteenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties. The Hague (Netherlands), 3-25 June
2007. Interpretation and implementation of the Convention: CITES and livelihoods.
Corbera, E., N. Kosoy, and M. Martinez Tuna. 2007. Equity implications of marketing
ecosystem services in protected areas and rural communities: Case studies from Meso-
America. Global Environmental Change 17: 365-380.
Dasgupta, S., U. Deichmann, C. Meisner, and D. Wheeler. 2005. Where is the poverty-
environment nexus? Evidence from Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam. World Development
33(4): 617-638.
Fleco, L.C., M. Amend, L. Painter, and J. Reid. 2006. Regional economic benefits from
conservation: The case of Madidi. Conservation Strategy Fund.
IUCN Commission on Environmental, Economic and Social Policy. 2006. Policy Matters
Issue 14: Poverty, wealth and conservation. Available at http://www.iucn.org/themes/ceesp/
Publications/newsletter/PM14.pdf.
Naidoo, R., and W.L. Adamowicz. 2005. Economic benefits of biodiversity exceed costs of
conservation at an African rainforest reserve. PNAS 102(46): 16712-16716.
Naughton-Treves, L., M.B. Holland, and K. Brandon. 2005. The role of protected areas in
conserving biodiversity and sustaining local livelihoods. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 30:
219-252.
Redford, K. H., and E. Fearn, eds. 2007. Protected areas and human displacement: A
conservation perspective. WCS Working Paper No. 29.
indigenous peoples. WCS Working Paper No. 25.
Scherl, L.M., A. Wilson, R. Wild, J. Blockhus, P. Franks, J.A. McNeely, and T.O.
McShane. 2004. Can Protected Areas Contribute to Poverty Reduction? Opportunities and
Limitations. Gland, Switzerland, and Cambridge, UK: IUCN.
Sunderlin, W.D., A. Angelsen, B. Belcher, P. Burgers, R. Nasi, L. Santoso, and S. Wunder.
2005. Livelihoods, forests, and conservation in developing countries: An overview. World
Development 33(9): 1383-1402.
Tacconi, L. 2007. Decentralization, forests and livelihoods: Theory and narrative. Global
Environmental Change 17: 338-348.
Woodhouse, P. 2002. Natural resource management and chronic poverty in sub-Saharan

Africa: An overview paper. CPRC Working Paper 14.
Wright, S.J., G.A. Sanchez-Azofeifa, C. Portillo-Quintero, and D. Davies. 2007. Poverty and
corruption compromise tropical forest reserves. Ecological Applications 17(5): 1259-1266.

WCS WORKING PAPER SERIES
WCS Working Paper No. 1
Bleisch, William V. (1993) Management Recommendations for Fanjing
Mountain Nature Reserve and Conservation at Guizhou Golden Monkey &
Biodiversity. (38 pp.)
Hart, John A. & Claude Sikubwabo. (1994) Exploration of the Maiko
National Park of Zaire, 1989-1994, History, Environment and the
Distribution and Status of Large Mammals. (88 pp.)
Rumiz, Damian & Andrew Taber. (1994) Un Relevamiento de Mamíferos y
Algunas Aves Grandes de la Reserva de Vida Silvestre Ríos Blanco y Negro,
Bolívia: Situación Actual y Recomendaciones. (40 pp.)
Komar, Oliver & Nestor Herrera. (1995) Avian Density at El Imposible
National Park and San Marcelino Wildlife Refuge, El Salvador. (76 pp.)
(English and Spanish)
Jenkins, Jerry. (1995) Notes on the Adirondack Blowdown of July 15th, 1995:
Scientific Background, Observations, and Policy Issues. (93 pp.)
Ferraro, Paul, Richard Tshombe, Robert Mwinyihali, and John Hart. (1996)
Projets Integres de Conservation et de Developpement; un Cadre pour
Promouvoir la Conservation et la Gestion des Ressources Naturalles. (105 pp.)
Harrison, Daniel J. & Theodore G. Chapin. (1997) An Assessment of
Potential Habitat for Eastern Timber Wolves in the Northeastern United States
and Connectivity with Occupied Habitat on Southeastern Canada. (12 pp.)
Hodgson, Angie. (1997) Wolf Restoration in the Adirondacks? The Question
of Local Residents. (85 pp.)
Jenkins, Jerry. (1997) Hardwood Regeneration Failure in the Adirondacks:
Preliminary Studies of Incidence and Severity. (59 pp.)
García Víques, Randall. (1996) Propuesta Técnica de Ordenamiento
Territorial con Fines de Conservación de Biodiversidad en Costa Rica:
Proyecto GRUAS. (114 pp.)
Thorbjarnarson, John & Alvaro Velasco. (1998) Venezuela’s Caiman Harvest
Program: A historical perspective and analysis of its conservation benefits. (67
pp.) (English with Spanish Abstract)
Bolze, Dorene, Cheryl Chetkiewicz, Qui Mingjiang, and Douglas Krakower.
(1998) The Availability of Tiger-Based Traditional Chinese Medicine Products
and Public Awareness about the Threats to the Tiger in New York City’s
Chinese Communities: A Pilot Study. (28 pp.)

O’Brien, Timothy, Margaret F. Kinnaird, Sunarto, Asri A. Dwiyahreni,
William M. Rombang, and Kiki Anggraini. (1998) Effects of the 1997 Fires
on the Forest and Wildlife of the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park,
Sumatra. (16 pp.) (English with Bahasa Indonesia Summary)
McNeilage, Alistair, Andrew J. Plumptre, Andy Brock-Doyle, and Amy
Vedder. (1998) Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda. Gorilla and large
mammal census, 1997. (52 pp.) (English with French Summary)
Ray, Justina C. (2000) Mesocarnivores of Northeastern North America: Status
and Conservation Issues. (84 pp.)
Kretser, Heidi. (2001) Adirondack Communities and Conservation Program:
Linking Communities and Conservation Inside the Blue Line. (62 pp.)
Gompper, Matthew. (2002) The Ecology of Coyotes in Northeastern North
America: Current Knowledge and Priorities for Future Research.
Weaver, John L. (2001) The Transboundary Flathead: A Critical Landscape
for Carnivores in the Rocky Mountains. (64 pp.)
Plumptre, Andrew J., Michel Masozera, Peter J. Fashing, Alastair McNeilage,
Corneille Ewango, Beth A. Kaplin, and Innocent Liengola. (2002) Biodiversity
Surveys of the Nyungwe Forest Reserve In S.W. Rwanda. (95 pp.)
Schoch, N. (2003) The Common Loon in the Adirondack Park: An Overview
of Loon Natural History and Current Research. (64 pp.)
Karasin, L. (2003) All-Terrain Vehicles in the Adirondacks: Issues and
Options. (72pp.)
Copies are available
WCS Working Paper No. 22 from www.wcs.org/
Clarke, Shelly. (2002) Trade in Asian Dry Seafood, Characterization, science
Estimation & Implications for Conservation. (92 pp.)
Mockin, Miranda H., E.L. Bennett, and D.T. LaBruna. (2005) Wildlife
Farming: A Viable Alternative to Hunting in Tropical Forests? (32 pp.)
Ray, Justina C., Luke Hunter, and Joanna Zigouris. (2005) Setting
Conservation and Research Priorities for Larger African Carnivores. (211 pp.)
Redford, Kent H., and Michael Painter. (2006) Natural Alliances Between
Conservationists and Indigenous Peoples. (24 pp.)
Agrawal, Arun and Kent Redford. (2006) Poverty, Development, and
Biodiversity Conservation: Shooting in the Dark? (50 pp.)
Sickler, Jessica, John Fraser, Sarah Gruber, Paul Boyle, Tom Webler, and Diana
Reiss. (2006) Thinking About Dolphins Thinking. (64 pp.)

Castillo, Oscar, Connie Clark, Peter Coppolillo, Heidi Kretser, Roan McNab,
Andrew Noss, Helder Quieroz, Yemeserach Tessema, Amy Vedder, Robert
Wallace, Joseph Walston, and David Wilkie. (2006) Casting for Conservation
Actors: People, Partnerships and Wildlife. (85 pp.)
Redford, Kent H., and Eva Fearn, eds. (2007) Protected Areas and Human
Displacement: A Conservation Perspective. (148 pp.)
Redford, Kent. H., and Eva Fearn, eds. (2007) Ecological Future of Bison in
North America: A Report from a Multi-stakeholder, Transboundary Meeting.
(64 pp.)
Smith, Brian D., Robert G. Shore and Alvin Lopez, eds. (2007) Status and
Conservation of Freshwater Populations of Irrawaddy Dolphins. (115pp.)
Redford, Kent H. and Eva Fearn, eds. (2007) Protected Areas and Human
Livelihoods. (198pp.)
WCS CANADA CONSERVATION

REPORTS
WCS Canada Conservation Report #1
BIG ANIMALS and SMALL PARKS: Implications of Wildlife Distribution and
Movements for Expansion of Nahanni National Park Reserve. John L. Weaver.
2006.

Freshwater fish in Ontario's boreal: Status, conservation and potential impacts
of development. David R. Browne. 2007.

Carnivores in the southern Canadian Rockies: core areas and connectivity across
the Crowsnest Highway. Apps, Clayton D., John L. Weaver, Paul C. Paquet,
Bryce Bateman and Bruce N. McLellan. 2007.

Wildlife Conservation Society
2300 Southern Boulevard
Bronx, NY 10460
Tel: 718-220-5100
www.wcs.org

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WORKING PAPER NO.

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS

protected areas and

Copies of the WCS Working Papers are available at www.wcs.org/science.

Cover photographs: © Kent H. Redford/WCS. Front cover: Fisherman in

Part 4: WCS Case Studies – North America ............................................................................. 105

Part 5: WCS Cross-regional Thematic Perspective .................................................................. 117

Part 6: Perspectives from Outside WCS .................................................................................... 130

Bibliographies .............................................................................................................................. 180

2 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 3

4 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 5

Madagascar is a remarkable biodiversity trust, containing a wealth of unique

The Biological Landscape: A Hotspot within a Hotspot

6 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

Fauna and Flora

Threats to the Landscape

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 7

The Human Landscape: Factors Influencing Resource and Land

8 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

Species Name Common Name Conservation Status

Households reported average annual cultivation of 0.80 ha of tavy rice and

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 9

Subsistence and Cash Crops

10 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

Non-timber Forest Products

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 11

Health and Education

The Managed Landscape: Conservation Activities, Land Use

12 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

In addition to this internal zonation there is an external Zone of Protection

Direct Management and Co-Management

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 13

Community Resource Management around the Protected Areas

Community Development Activities

14 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

The Future of the Landscape: Next Steps in the Antongil Bay

Food Security, Subsistence Resource Needs, and Human Welfare

Community Land Stewardship

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 15

Economic Alternatives and Revenue Generation

16 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

History of Protected Areas Establishment

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 17

Resource Use and Governance

18 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

Resource Use and Conservation Targets

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 19

20 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

Conservation and Livelihoods in Ruaha

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 21

Costs of Living with Wildlife in Ruaha

Table 1: Average livestock losses per household

Quantifying the costs of disease is more difficult. Disease and starvation

Benefits of Living with Wildlife in Ruaha1

22 Wildlife Conservation Society | WORKING PAPER NO. 32

PROTECTED AREAS AND HUMAN LIVELIHOODS 23

Table 2: Summary of protected areas effects on pastoral livelihoods