Epilogue

Six decades after the Grzimeks first arrived in the Serengeti, their quest still shapes the way that tourists, scientists, park staff, and Tanzanians are invited to understand the park’s origins and its significance for global conservation, as this short ethnographic moment at the Serengeti Visitor Center in Seronera reveals. A better exhibit script, one more attuned to a Tanzanian national context, would dispense with the white “charismatic megascientist” theme and focus squarely on the hopes and aspirations of political modernizers and customary land users in the early 1960s. Without a retooling of public outreach, the goal of integrated conservation and development in the Serengeti that is attuned to local priorities cannot be achieved.

In pursuit of multidimensional justice: Lessons from a charcoal ‘greening’ project in Tanzania

Over the last 30 years, Tanzania has adopted different policy approaches to conserve forests. However, the idea that providing livelihood benefits is a key strategy for achieving conservation effectiveness has persisted throughout the shift from earlier integrated conservation and development approach to the ‘newer’ green economy. This one-dimensional conception of what ‘local people’ value and why precludes a clear understanding of substantive social justice considerations – what is being contested, why, and by whom – when conflicts arise in policy implementation settings. Using a green economy project that addresses charcoal-driven forest loss in Kilosa, the paper examines a conflict between forest conservation and farming and studies the variegated notions of justice that farmers express in relation to the conflict. The paper builds upon a developing strand in the political ecology literature, namely of empirical analyses of rural people’s justice conceptions in environmental conservation, to demonstrate analytic and practical values of a multidimensional justice framework. It illustrates how the framework can help to assess and reframe environmental interventions, going beyond one-dimensional conceptions, to focus attention on the diverse ways in which justice can be recognised or denied at different levels and in different ways for different groups of people. Particularly, it highlights that context matters, as despite the distributional ‘success’ of the project, disregarded concerns over procedural and recognition justice dimensions led to farmers’ loss of land, covert resistance, and continued struggles over compensations. This paper therefore argues that being attentive to a range of justice dimensions can expose locally valued and contested conservation aspects, as well as guide more just environmental conservation.

Making sense of conservation behaviours in Mustang, Nepal

Integrated Conservation and Development Projects (ICDPs) have been undertaken in many countries due to expectations of their supporting both natural resource sustainability and livelihoods. However, they have been challenged by critics over the years, who claim that conservation goals take precedence over local development in practice, thereby worsening the vulnerability of resource-dependent people. Nonetheless, one ICDP implemented in Nepal, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP), has been largely regarded by researchers and practitioners as an ICDP success case. Under the authority of a conservation-oriented NGO, ACAP, the ICDP engages local communities participatory for resource management. One community within ACAP has been found to have a substantial timber surplus that satisfies conservation goals, but could also become a sizeable and sustainable source of income for local development. We interrogate the rules and practices of timber management in this community to explore the why behind this practice, discussing how modes of environmental governance aimed at producing behaviors to manage natural resources in particular ways (‘environmentalists’) feature in the seemingly conservation-oriented de jure rules and de facto practices and in authority relations in and around the community.

Comparing the community dependence on natural resources in Nyungwe National Park and the contribution of revenue sharing through integrated conservation and development projects

Rwanda Development Board (RDB) has recently established a tourism Revenue Sharing Scheme (RSS) to create a win-win approach in protected areas for effective biodiversity conservation and management. Through this scheme, around 1 billion Rwandan francs wereinvested to support around 152 Community Based Conservation Projects (CBCs), and integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs). This paper assessed the contribution of CDCs projects around Nyungwe National Park (NNP) by evaluating their efficiency and effectiveness, and their socioeconomic impact to the local community development. Secondary data about the revenue sharing projects and the amount of money allocated to each project were collected from RDB office. Primary data were collected through the interview and focus group discussions. To verify the findings from RDB, interview and focus group discussion (FGD) were used. Interview was done with 500 households of local people around Nyungwe National Park and with community conservation wardens, while threats to NNP were verified by the consultation of reports from ranger based monitoring officers. The results showed that the value of resources collected by people from the park is higher than the revenue sharing support offered by RDB as (31.3 %) of respondents mentioned that exotic tree species were stolen and sold as poles where one pole was sold at around 6,800 Rwandan francs and 38.6 % of respondents proven that mining gave the much income. and consequently the revenue sharing scheme did not significantly reduce threats to biodiversity and its impact around NNP.A small percentage of people are happy because they were supported but a big number becomes unhappier and threaten the Park due to the gap in creating a win-win situation in biodiversity conservation. We recommend the revision of the whole revenue sharing scheme, taking into account the cost of livelihoods of community surrounding the park.Keywords: Efficiency, Effectiveness, Integrated Conservation, Development Projects, Revenue Sharing Scheme

The Effects of Road Access on Income Generation. Evidence from An Integrated Conservation and Development Project in Cameroon

Many integrated conservation and development projects use road construction to induce a shift in income activities, since road access can reduce both poverty and environmental degradation. There is, however, little empirical evidence on the effects of road access on income patterns. We contribute to existing literature by analyzing the effects of road access on income activity choice in Korup National Park, Cameroon using a difference-in-difference approach. Road access led to a rise in total household income by 38% due to higher household participation in self-employment and wage labor. We neither found an effect on income from crop farming nor on participation in hunting activities. The effects of road access can be diverse and unforeseeable. Road construction in protected areas should thus be carefully considered and planned and only be implemented when other options are not feasible.

The Perceived Benefits of Protected Areas in the Virunga-bwindi Massif

SummaryDespite decades of continuous research highlighting the biological success of mountain gorilla conservation in the Virunga-Bwindi Massif, there is little knowledge of whether people living near the mountain gorilla parks perceive benefits from protected areas (PAs). This paper is the first study in the region to use the sustainable livelihoods framework to understand drivers of local perceptions of PA benefits. We used a logit regression to examine the relationship between household socioeconomic characteristics and the costs and benefits that 752 men and women living near mountain gorilla PAs reported. Integrated conservation and development projects (ICDPs) in the Virunga-Bwindi Massif have improved perceptions of mountain gorilla PAs, but they need to prioritize projects that improve human and social capital. The frustration voiced about inequitable benefit distribution highlights the need for further social equity research to ensure ICDPs, including revenue-sharing schemes, are managed transparently and equitably.