Case-studies of integrated conservation and development protects
World congress on national parks and protected areas
Costs and benefits of protected areas
People and parks: linking protected area management with local communities M. Wells & K. Brandon with L. Hannah. 1992. Washington, DC, IBRD/World Bank.
National parks, wildlife reserves and other types of protected areas are at the forefront of efforts to conserve biological diversity. But many are in crisis as conflicts of interest have arisen between protected area managers and local people living nearby or even within the boundaries of these areas. Traditional approaches and enforcement activities have been unable to balance these competing objectives.
In response to this challenge, a new set of initiatives has been launched in an attempt to reconcile the management of protected areas with the social and economic needs of local people.
Jointly labelled integrated conservation-development projects (ICDPs) by this book, these efforts include biosphere reserves, multiple-use areas, buffer zone management plans and regional land-use plans with protected area components and. particularly, large-scale development projects with links to protected areas.
This study, initiated jointly by the World Bank, the World Wildlife Fund-USA and the United States Agency for International Development, examines the early experiences of 23 of these projects in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The report explores the social, ecological, technical and institutional issues that arise, identifies vital elements of ICDPs and assesses the effectiveness of field experience. Finally, it elaborates lessons for future programmes.
The results of the study are sobering. Although many of the projects considered have resulted in numerous benefits for local people, principally through income gains and improved access to social services, in virtually all of the projects the critical linkage between development and conservation is either missing or obscure. In many of the projects, the study evidences that local people have been treated as passive beneficiaries rather than active collaborators. For example, in a reserve to protect a butterfly wintering area in Mexico, although the local people received gate receipts from tourists, this has not prevented local residents from illegally logging in the reserve.
Another key question raised by the study concerns the debate as to whether ICDPs should be top-down or bottom-up in their design and implementation. Top-down tends to be associated with governments and international organizations, and bottom-up with non-governmental organizations. The case-studies reveal little evidence that either of these approaches, in isolation, can bring success. Rather, a partnership approach between the two would appear to be essential.
The study concludes with a number of lessons from the future, grouped into seven areas in descending priority: projects as part of a larger framework; scale of projects; organizations participating in projects; project site selection; local participation in projects; financial resources of projects; project design and implementation. That is to say, although lessons regarding on-the-ground project design are critical to project success, even if applied perfectly they would not overcome barriers created by a lack of attention to the previous elements. According to the authors, full success of an ICDP would be likely to be precluded by the lack of any of the following elements in the larger framework: a serious political commitment to the project; legislation conducive to the achievement of ICDP objectives; realistic institutional arrangements for project management; compatibility with regional development initiatives; systematic attention to landownership and other resource access rights of the project's intended beneficiaries; and a commitment to institutional reorientation.
Therefore, the authors conclude that "the challenge is not just to implement more effective ICDPs. That should be feasible, although it will require more financial support and creative modifications of existing approaches, with a more thorough understanding of rural development. The greater challenge will be to engage the individuals and organizations with the commitment and capacity to establish social, economic, legal and institutional environments that facilitate instead of frustrating achievement of ICDP biodiversity conservation goals."
Parks and people is complemented by summaries of each of the 23 projects studied. Well-written and carefully constructed, this study is a valuable element in laying the groundwork for development and implementation of conservation and development efforts in the future.
S.A. Dembner
Parks for life: Report of the IVth World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas J. McNeely, ed. 1993. Gland, Switzerland, IUCN
Every ten years, the World Conservation Union (IUCN) convenes a congress to assess the status of protected areas and chart a course for the future. The IVth World Congress on National Parks and Protected Areas was held in Caracas, Venezuela, from 10 to 21 February 1992. Its ambitious objective was to define the role of protected areas in a healthy relationship between people and the rest of nature. This volume is the report of the Caracas congress, summarizing its programme, the major results and IUCN follow-up action.
Some of the basic questions the congress posed to its 1840 participants from 133 countries were: How can protected areas contribute in sustainable ways to economic welfare without detracting from the natural values for which they were established? How can local people be provided with more of the benefits of conservation, therefore becoming supporters of protected areas? How can protected areas be managed to support both biological and cultural diversity? How can a worldwide alliance be established to support protected areas, politically, scientifically and financially? What modifications are required to apply conservation approaches developed on land to coastal and marine habitats. In short, what is required to enable protected areas to survive and prosper into the twenty-first century and beyond?
The congress report, Parks for life, contains the complete texts of the congress's major outputs, the Caracas Declaration, Action Plan and congress recommendations, as well as short summaries of the aims and conclusions of each of the workshops. Key decisions of the congress relate to the need to take urgent action to integrate protected area planning into larger planning frameworks; expand support for protected areas; strengthen the capacity to manage protected areas; and to expand international cooperation in the financing, development and management of protected areas. The goal, as expressed in the Caracas Declaration, would be to identify immediately areas of critical importance for conservation and to ensure that at least 10 percent of all important ecosystems are safeguarded by the year 2000.
The report's complete listing of congress participants, including addresses and telephone contacts, amounts to a current and potentially very useful "who's who" in the sector.
Copies of Parks for life may be obtained from IUCN Communications Division, rue Mauverney 28, 1196 Gland, Switzerland; or IUCN Publications Services Unit, 181 a Huntington Road, Cambridge CB3 0DJ, UK.
S.A. Dembner
Economics of protected areas J. Dixon & P. Sherman. 1990. Washington, DC, Island.
The establishment and management of parks and protected areas are receiving increasing attention worldwide. Whether spurred by the realization that protected areas play a valuable role in maintaining our inheritance of biological diversity or by a desire to reap economic benefits from tourism and other direct uses, governments are analysing the prospects of establishing and managing these areas. However, as the true economic value of protected areas is difficult to measure, the short-term financial gains from exploiting biological resources frequently appear more attractive than the long-term benefits of conservation. The goal of Economics of protected areas is to explain how economics can be used to help make decisions involving natural areas.
The book is divided into two parts. Part I takes a broad look at the economic issues associated with establishing and managing protected areas, especially in developing countries (the book is based on a study undertaken in Thailand with funding from the United States Agency for International Development). Chapter 1 begins with a brief look at the history of protected areas and the types of protected area found today. It then discusses the overall benefits and costs, associated with protected areas. Chapter 2 addresses the issue of how to value the benefits of protected areas. After explaining why many of the benefits provided by protected areas are hard to evaluate in monetary terms using market prices, the authors describe a number of methods that can be used to overcome these difficulties and estimate both the market-based, financial value and the socio-economic value of various benefits. In Chapter 3 the book turns to policy-making and examines how economics can be used to improve the decision-making process for establishing protected areas. Chapter 4 deals with a number of protected area management issues, including determining allowable uses, generating revenues and institutional consideration.
Part II deals with the application of this approach in various locations around the world. Thailand is considered in considerable detail in Chapters 5, 6 and 7. Chapters 8 and 9 consider examples of economic analysis of protected areas in other countries, including Australia, Cameroon, Indonesia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Chapter 10 provides a summary of the lessons learned and their policy implications.
The approach taken in the book is aimed primarily at resource managers, planners and analysts in national governments and aid agencies who must make hard decisions on land use and the allocation of funds for protected areas. As such, Economics of protected areas should help governmental and non-governmental agencies to consider the benefits and costs associated with establishing and maintaining protected areas and to deal with the difficult task of assigning them monetary values.
S.A. Dembner
