Conservation Theory Meets Practice

Protected areas (PAs) are a key strategy for protecting biological resources, but they vary considerably in their effectiveness and are frequently reported as having negative impacts on local people. This has contributed to a divisive and unresolved debate concerning the compatibility of environmental and socioeconomic development goals. Elucidating the relationship between positive and negative social impacts and conservation outcomes of PAs is key for the development of more effective and socially just conservation. We conducted a global meta-analysis on 165 PAs using data from 171 published studies. We assessed how PAs affect the well-being of local people, the factors associated with these impacts, and crucially the relationship between PAs' conservation and socioeconomic outcomes. Protected areas associated with positive socioeconomic outcomes were more likely to report positive conservation outcomes. Positive conservation and socioeconomic outcomes were more likely to occur when PAs adopted comanagement regimes, empowered local people, reduced economic inequalities, and maintained cultural and livelihood benefits. Whereas the strictest regimes of PA management attempted to exclude anthropogenic influences to achieve biological conservation objectives, PAs that explicitly integrated local people as stakeholders tended to be more effective at achieving joint biological conservation and socioeconomic development outcomes. Strict protection may be needed in some circumstances, yet our results demonstrate that conservation and development objectives can be synergistic and highlight management strategies that increase the probability of maximizing both conservation performance and development outcomes of PAs.

This study analyzes the role of Gunung Halimun National Park in the livelihoods of three communities living in and around or near the park, and the impact of the national park on the local people already living in or using resources from the area before it was designated as a national park. Local people practiced agriculture in the park area and collected forest products even within the park itself. Additionally, local people used a variety of plants, including trees, shrubs, herbs and vines, for food, construction, everyday implements, medicine, fuel and so on. Local people in the three villages frequently used domesticated plants, from swidden cultivation or gardens, as food. The use of fuelwood differed among the three villages. The people in the villages adjacent to the park and within an enclave inside the park had alternative places to gather fuelwood. They planted trees that were useful for fuelwood in gardens or took branches of clove or tea trees from neighboring plantation areas. However, as the amount of fuelwood from these resources did not meet their daily needs, they also gathered fuelwood from the national park forest. On the other hand, the fact that one village was located (illegally) within the park did not promote strong incentives for its people to manage domesticated plants for fuelwood; instead they depended largely on the park's forest. It is concluded that the existence of the national park scarcely changed the relationship between local people and the surrounding environment, but that the presence of local people had fewer negative effects than other disturbing influences like illegal logging or conversion. Rather, the current lack of adequate monitoring has made it possible for customary use of resources and the ideology of nature conservation to coexist. The unclear relationships between the park management and local people may be effective for the ad hoc park management, but may not necessarily ensure biological conservation for the future. Integrated management of the protected areas can be achieved only when institutional arrangements are constructed, in which benefits from protected areas are distributed equally among related stakeholders, leading to effective collaborative management.

The aim of this study was to emphasize the need for considering the stakeholders’ opinions on the planning, implementation and monitoring processes in determining the adverse effects created by the recreational and tourism activities in the protected natural areas. Natural protected areas are rich in terms of resource values. Therefore, the impact assessment of the stakeholders turns into a multi-criteria decision-making problem. In this respect, Kure Mountains National Park (KMNP), which joined Protected Areas Network (PAN) in 2012 and is one of the most important protected areas in Turkey, was selected as a sample area. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP), a multi-criteria decision-making approach, was used to compare the resource values dually between each other. As a result of the assessment, it was found that all the area stakeholders (managers, local people, experts and visitors) expressed that the adverse impacts of the recreational and tourism activities were observed primarily in the air and water quality. It was identified that the stakeholder groups assessed the recreational and tourism activities’ impact on the fauna, flora and vegetation at the same level. Consequently, the active involvement of the stakeholders in all processes in KMNP, which is run through a participatory approach, allowed them to have a common opinion on the impact assessment as well.

Management activities such as law enforcement and community outreach are thought to affect conservation outcomes in protected areas, but their importance relative to intrinsic environmental characteristics of the parks and extrinsic human pressures surrounding the parks have not been explored. Furthermore, it is not clear which is more related to conservation outcomes-the management itself or local people's perceptions of the management. We measured objective (reports by park staff) and subjective (reports by local people) levels of community outreach and law enforcement based on responses to 374 questionnaires. We estimated mammal abundance and diversity of 6 protected areas based on data from 115 camera traps in Xishuangbanna, southwest China, a biodiversity hotspot with high hunting and land-conversion pressures. We then examined correlations among them and found that local people's perception of law enforcement was positively related to the local abundance of 2 large, hunted species, wild boar (Sus scrofa) (β = 15.22) and muntjac (Muntiacus vaginalis) (β = 14.82), but not related to the abundance of smaller mammals or to objective levels of enforcement. The subjective frequency of outreach by park staff to local communities (β = 3.42) and park size (β = 3.28) were significantly and positively related to mammal species richness, whereas elevation, human population density, and subjective frequency of law enforcement were not. We could not conclude that community outreach and law enforcement were directly causing increased mammal abundance and diversity. Nevertheless, the patterns we detected are some of the first empirical evidence consistent with the idea that biodiversity in protected areas may be more positively and strongly related to local perceptions of the intensity of park management than to either intrinsic (e.g., elevation, park size) or extrinsic (e.g., human population density) environmental factors.

When the attitudes of local people towards wildlife and conservation are not aligned with those of other stakeholders, significant conflicts can result, potentially undermining conservation efforts. We collected attitudinal data from 171 local people and 59 governmental staff from a Nature Reserve in southwestern China. These attitudinal questions covered key topics of ecosystem services, protected areas and human-wildlife coexistence. Statistically significant (p<0.05) similarities of responses between local people and staff were identified and the nature of any disparity was investigated. The majority of attitudes relating to protected areas (60%) and coexistence (100%) were statistically similar between the two groups, unlike 25% of responses relating to ecosystem services. Few characteristics of staff were statistically associated with their attitudes, whereas responses from local people were frequently associated with sub-village. Such attitudinal studies inform recommendations that consider the potential for future conflicts that might persist following attitudinal disparity between two key stakeholders.

Sacred groves are important for the conservation of biodiversity in the Middle East, as more formal approaches to protected areas have often failed in this global biodiversity hotspot. This study aims to identify the most important social values, taboos and perceived threats around sacred groves in the Kurdistan province of Iran. We test whether values, taboos and perceived threats are lost in transmission across generations, with increased urbanisation, and with modernising livelihoods. Our survey of 205 local residents revealed that spiritual values, biodiversity and cultural heritage values are key motivations for local people to preserve sacred groves. Taboos restricting natural resource use were widely shared by local people and thus appeared as powerful pillars for conserving sacred groves. Local people expressed a strong perception that sacred groves are threatened, both by deliberate and accidental actions, and from both extractive and non‐extractive uses. Social values and taboos around sacred groves in Kurdistan seemed relatively stable, but we found clear differences. The key holders of values and taboos were elderly people, women, rural people and people with traditional lifestyles. We conclude that eliciting the traditional knowledge and management practices of these groups and empowering them to maintain and revitalise their customs, values and taboos through socioeconomic modernisation is crucial for any conservation strategy. Local residents who are young, male, more urban and follow a modern lifestyle may need targeting by awareness‐raising conservation programs. Maintaining and fostering informal conservation traditions such as those around sacred groves is particularly important in areas of conflict where other conservation approaches are lacking and where pressures on natural resources are high. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.

The present research focused on medicinal uses of plants by the local peoples at Sadar upazila of Sirajganj district was carried out from October 2019 to December 2021. The information about medicinal uses of rural people was collected through interview. A total of 78 plant species under 73 genera and 46 families have been recorded which were used for the treatment of 85 categories of diseases. This medicinal plants were used by the rural people for the treatment of various disease like diabetes, bronchitis, weakness, leprosy, insect and snake bites, high blood pressure, asthma, passing of semen, gonorrhea, skin disease, jaundice, headache, acidity, diarrhea, dry cough, cancer, dysentery, scabies, menstrual disorder, fever, toothache, burning wounds, stomachache, epilepsy, gout, rheumatism, traumatic injury, tonsillitis, abortion, vomiting, bleeding, ulcer, anemia , ring worm, hiccup, pneumonia, tuberculosis, arthritis, heart disease, diuretic, hypertension, paralysis, constipation, nausea, sore, dyspepsia, chicken pox, pain, pyorrhea, eczema, cholera, scurvy, infection, measles, itches, whooping cough, digestive system disorder, liver disorder, heart disease, sexual disease, gastrointestinal problem, lung infection, wound healing, high cholesterol, urinary tract infection, hepatitis, kidney disease, eye inflammation, cough, catarrhal fever, malarial fever, hair treatment, dry skin, scrofulous sore, piles, sedative, swelling, tumor and other diseases. The result of the study revealed that the local people had rich knowledge of medicinal plants and were using the plants for their primary health care though people inside the study area are most often dependent on allopathic medicine. Now day’s plants are used broadly in modern medication. Therefore, it would be important to document the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants for further healing purpose.

In Eastern Europe’s westernmost mountain region, the Carpathians, the Slovak State Nature Conservancy is preserving a unique biodiversity in line with directives of the European Union. This is being done in large protected areas (LPAs). In this paper, we discuss current challenges of LPA management with a particular focus on contradictions between local people’s views and nationally to internationally determined sectoral planning strategies. We take stock of the benefits LPAs offer local populations, analyse the reasons for conflict between conservation interests from outside the region and local people’s vital needs, and explore ways of uncovering, tackling, and solving land use conflicts at the interface of national or international conservation interests and sustainable local development. Slovak and Swiss universities (Banská Bystrica, Žilina, and Bern) and nature conservation partners adapted, tested, and analysed a transdisciplinary research approach to mitigate land use conflicts in and around LPAs. . A joint Slovak–Swiss financing mechanism enabled Slovak project partners to implement small innovative projects proposed by local stakeholders – so-called Seed Money Actions (SMAs). First results show that this might be a fruitful new form of cooperation between protected area managers and local populations, as it may ultimately lead to a higher acceptance of nature conservation among locals while offering Slovak mountain farmers more tangible benefits from nearby protected areas.

Development of management plans collaboratively with local people (e.g. co-management) is now an important means of protected area conservation. Yet formal protected area managers often need more specific information about the local people with whom they want to co-manage resources. We propose wider use of a method, which we describe, for studying time allocation, as an early step in the co-management of conservation areas. Use of time allocation data in co-management is illustrated from a conservation project in Danau Sentarum Wildlife Reserve (DSWR) in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Data from spot observations were analysed at three levels, namely those of 'macro-categories' (production, reproduction and leisure), an intermediate level (e.g. agriculture and food preparation), and that of individual activities (such as fishing, collection of forest foods and hunting).In the DSWR, the allocation of time differed according to gender, ethnicity and seasonality, throughout the year of the study. Our experience suggests that knowledge of such patterns of behaviour can help conservation area managers to understand local people's needs and desires better, improve managers' rapport with local people, and make better cooperative plans with local people.

Community wildlife management programs in African protected areas aim to deliver livelihood and social benefits to local communities in order to bolster support for their conservation objectives. Most of these benefits are delivered at the community level. However, many local people are also seeking more individual or household-level livelihood benefits from community wildlife management programs because it is at this level that many of the costs of protected area conservation are borne. Because community wildlife management delivers few benefits at this level, support for their conservation objectives amongst local people often declines. The study investigated the implications of this for reducing poaching in Serengeti National Park, Tanzania. Three community wildlife management initiatives undertaken by Park management were compared with regard to their capacity to deliver the individual and household-level benefits sought by local people: community conservation services, wildlife management areas and community conservation banks. Interviews were carried out with poachers and local people from four villages in the Western Serengeti including members of village conservation banks, as well as a number of key informants. The results suggest that community conservation banks could, as a complementary strategy to existing community wildlife management programs, potentially provide a more effective means of reducing poaching in African protected areas than community wildlife management programs alone.

Land use trade-offs associated with protected areas in China: Current state, existing evaluation methods, and future application of ecosystem service valuation

Understanding the dynamics of snow leopard-human conflicts and the perceptions of local people of the threats posed by snow leopards is important for gaining local support for mitigating the effects of the conflicts. This chapter presents an assessment of the knowledge and perception of local people of livestock losses due to snow leopards in the central and north-eastern Himalayas in Nepal. In nine settlements in three protected areas (Annapurna Conservation Area—ACA, Manaslu Conservation Area—MCA and Sagarmatha National Park—SNP) we recorded how the perception of local people of snow leopard depredation has changed over time, and its correlation with livestock losses. We carried out questionnaire-based interviews of 1015 households from 2004 to 2016, which included 26.45–100% of all households in the settlements. Herding of yak/nak (nak is a female yak), sheep/goats and cattle (cows, oxen and horses) were found to be the main sources of livelihood for all households in the villages. Herders reported losses of livestock mainly due to attacks by snow leopard and two other carnivores (wolf and lynx). Most of the (1.5–14.3%) losses were attributed to snow leopard, while the other predators accounted for meagre 0.16–5.3%. Predator-induced loss was substantial for the local families and reached $349 per household per year. However, livestock mortality due to other causes (disease or natural disasters) was higher than that attributed to predators. We also evaluated the effectiveness of existing mitigating programmes, designated community-based local mitigation measures, and assessed the subsequent reduction in the level of conflict. This revealed that the number of conflicts was lower than in 1990, and 50% of the respondents had changed their mind about snow leopard conservation. Surprisingly many respondents (15%) were against the conservation of snow leopards and even considered retaliatory killing of this predator as the best solution. Of the five snow leopard-human conflict mitigation measures, compensation from a community-based livestock insurance scheme and the improving of animal husbandry were the most popular in all the studied regions. Altogether, 15 human-induced threats to the future survival of snow leopards and its wild prey were identified in two protected areas. We conclude that there is still a major threat to the long-term survival of snow leopards and its natural prey in the studied areas. Mitigation measures identified during discussions with local people should be applied to create a win–win situation for both local people and the long-term survival of snow leopards.

Protected areas for conservation and poverty alleviation: experiences from Madagascar Charlie J. Gardner*, Martin E. Nicoll, Tsibara Mbohoahy, Kirsten L. L. Oleson, Anitry N. Ratsifandrihamanana, Joelisoa Ratsirarson, Lily-Arison Ren e de Roland, Malika Virah-Sawmy, Bienvenue Zafindrasilivonona and Zoe G. Davies WWF Madagascar and Western Indian Ocean Programme Office, BP738, Antananarivo 101, Madagascar; Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology (DICE), School of Anthropology and Conservation, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NR, UK; D epartement de Biologie, Facult e des Sciences, Universit e de Toliara, Toliara 601, BP 185, Toliara, Madagascar; Blue Ventures Conservation, Level 2 Annex, Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road, N7 9DP London, UK; ESSA-D epartement Eaux et Forets, Universit e d’Antananarivo, BP 175 Antananarivo, Madagascar; and The Peregrine Fund, BP 4113 Antananarivo, Madagascar

The common opinion of many conservationists is that protected areas are likely to fail unless residents are somewhat involved in conservation efforts that led to the development of community conservation. This study contributes to providing insights into the local people's perceptions of wildlife conservation and tourism in Kainji Lake National Park Support Zone, Niger State, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used in the selection of 112 respondents. Primary data were obtained on respondents' characteristics and their perceptions of wildlife conservation and tourism through the use of a structured questionnaire. Descriptive statistics were used for data analysis. Results showed that the majority of the respondents were male (94.98%), married (81.99%) and had no formal education (72.13%). The mean age and household size were 43 years and 8 members respectively. The local people had slightly positive perceptions of wildlife conservation (3.4) and wildlife tourism (4.1). Pearson Product Moment Correlation showed that the local people’s perceptions of wildlife conservation significantly associates with their perceptions of wildlife tourism (r = 0.72; p &lt; 0.05). Based on the results of the study, it was recommended that conservation organizations should foster positive local people perceptions and address potential causes of negative perceptions of wildlife conservation and tourism.

The long-term survival of a protected area (PA) may depend to a greater extent on the goodwill and support of the people residing around it. This study assessed local people's support for private sector driven wildlife conservation in Zimbabwe, using the Save Valley Conservancy (SVC) as a case. Specifically, the objectives of the assessment were threefold: (i) to establish perceptions on the current nature of the relationship between SVC and people living on its edge, (ii) to ascertain the proximate and underlying causes of local resistance to SVC, and (iii) to identify strategies local people employ to resist SVC conservation efforts. Data were collected through a household questionnaire survey during the month of April, 2018. In addition, photographs showing the nature of vandalism and sabotage imposed on the SVC ecosystem by fringe communities were also collected, as part of evidential data. A multistage sampling method was adopted, and this combined purposive sampling to select study wards: random sampling to select villages and systematic sampling to select households (n=71). Our results show that local people rate the current relationship between them and SVC owners as bad, i.e., undesirable interaction. The nature of this perceived bad relationship is attributed to a host of factors, key among them being, lack of wildlife-related benefits and escalation of wildlife-induced costs, which are crucial in determining local community's support for conservation. We conclude that the studied local community's support for private nature conservation is marginal; hence, there is a need for increased efforts by SVC owners to devise realistic incentives including an active engagement of local communities so that they cooperate with conservation efforts.